We were planning to buy tickets for October flights on British Airways. The strike now makes us worry that it might not be prudent to buy tickets on this airline (flights might be canceled, it might go out of business, etc.).

Would you recommend that we go ahead any buy those tickets for October flights?

If not, why not?

Thanks

Any airline could go on strike. BA has already done that this year so I wouldn't worry it will happen again anytime soon.

Your trip could also be interrupted by a dozen other things beyond anyone's control. You cannot plan for everything that could possibly go wrong so just go with the airline offering best price/schedule for your needs.

I have flown w/BA at least 12 times and I like them very much. I would have no hesitation to book with BA again.

Another note--when BA recently went on strike there was plenty of warning. It's not like they just didn't show up for work one day. In the unlikely event this should happen just before your trip you will know well in advance.

Strikes in the UK are heavily controlled by law. A union may strike only after a ballot of its members, and then only during the specific period its members have authorised, and with legally-enforcable notice periods.

That's why there are so many reported strike ballots: typically a union uses members' strike approval as a negotiating tool, extracts a management concession on the back of it and calls the strike off.

Practically all legacy airlines share BA's problems to some extent. Looking six months out, if you want to avoid a strike use an Asian airline - but betting whether a strike's significantly more likely on BA, Lufthansa or Delta is a mug's game.

The only people who suffered in the recent BA strike were people trying to travel internally within the UK from/to LHR as they were the flights that were cancelled.

Virtually no-one else was affected

If BA goes out of business,"hell has frozen over" .No way!

Dan55, what did you decide to do?

I'm in the same predicament looking for a flight to Spain in October. BA has a perfect evening flight time for me; however, I talked with a travel agent who feels it's too iffy with BA. Getting to Spain is not necessarily the problem - it's flying from London to Madrid and back again. Delta has a flight that leaves the next morning, which is doable, but not optimal. But, maybe the more prudent course?

golfmom my answer to you is the same as to the OP, please see 2 posts above. If BA has the best schedule and price for you then go for it. I think it's much more likely you will be OK than to get caught up in another strike.

P_M, Thank you for responding. It had been a couple months since the original post and I wasn't sure if the current circumstances warranted a different plan. I'll go ahead with the BA flight. With one week to spend on a trip, every 12 hours counts!

I am a recent "victim" of the BA strike. We made it to our destination but our flights home were cancelled. Fortunately for us, we had used an agent to book our flights and she was able to get us return flights on Luthansa. This worked out ok for us even though we had to change our schedule a little and get up at 3:30 a.m. in order to get the first flight. Also, we had to make an extra connection. I know we prevented stress by using an agent. I guess though that you can never be sure which airline to book and what the situation might be so I guess you are right to go ahead and book and hope for the best. Happy travels!!!!!