British Airways Strike Possibility
 

I hope some one has some advice on options to consider with the possibility of a British Airways strike.

I am traveling roundtrip from NY to London on British Airways. Leaving mid-March and returning mid-April. Strike vote will be announced on February 22. Strike could begin as early as March 1. Promises have been made by the union to fly during the Easter holiday, whatever that means.

I've called British Airways for their advice. They won't commit to anything at this time. I asked what if I bought a one way ticket to London on another airline. If there were a strike where I would miss my outbound BA flight, could I still use my return ticket. BA stated that by current rules, if I did not show up for my outbound flight, my return flight would be invalid as well.

I reviewed the policys stated by BA in advance of previous strike actions. They were willing to provide refunds. Also, they would rebook passangers, but I'm not clear what that meant.

I was willing to book a round trip ticket on another airline, and then if BA does not go on strike, pay the change fee of $275 to rebook next year. But that does not work well. I would have to schedule my outbound flight within one year of the booking date. That means if I book my flight on February 1, 2010, I would have to fly by Jamuary 31, 2011. Not in March.

Alternatively, I could book a full fare round trip. But the cost is around $2500. Gulp.

I can't think of the right way to protect my vacation. Any ideas?

Grrrrr. We are booked on BA in March-will be watching for the advice you seek as well.

I am nervous about this as well as our flights are departing 3/21 and returning 4/3. I signed up to follow BA and Unite on Twitter to get the latest updates (if any).

Right now it is a sit and wait game to see what happens and then scramble at the last minute to rebook if needed. I'm hoping the bad press they got over the Christmas holiday with their vote to strike will prevent them from voting this one in.

As of yesterday things are back in the High Court: http://www.unitetheunion.com/campaig...e_arrives.aspx

Here is some info from BA as well: http://www.britishairways.com/travel...t/public/en_gb

Hopefully an amicable solution can be reached soon!

A bit of an update from Bloomberg News:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aao2KSpVoN24

We have been caught in an Air France strike. You just call and they will put you on another airline. You should have plenty of time to have them re-book you. It's easier than trying to do it yourself. They may have a set limit on their strike so you may not have a problem at all.

Unfortunately BA doesn't have the same policy as Air France:

If strike dates are announced

Customers booked to travel during that period will be able to rebook, free of charge and subject to availability, onto other British Airways flights outside of the strike period for up to 12 months from the original date of travel.

Refunds will be available if flights are actually cancelled.


In the event that cancellations are made due to strike action
Customers booked to travel during that period will be able to:

* Rebook onto another British Airways flight within 12 months of the original date of travel
* Rebook onto another British Airways flight to/from the nearest alternative airport (for example, if booked to/from Boston you could rebook to/from Philadelphia or New York)
* Cancel your booking and get a refund.

All rebooking options will be subject to availability.

More detailed information about rebooking options, including specific dates covered by these guidelines will be made available if a strike is announced.

Normal conditions of carriage will apply for any flights that are cancelled outside of the strike period.

That's very interesting. Between that policy and the fact that you can't get a seat assignment until 24 hours before the flight unless you pay more, doesn't make BA too desirable anymore.

Air France couldn't do enough for us. PLUS we received an apology from the president of the company on our e-mail.

I know, right! I'm glad you had a good experience, though. I just hope they can come to a resolution without a strike! :)

Cabin Crew voted for the strike, overwhelmingly :(

http://www.unitetheunion.com/news__e...erwhelmin.aspx

Now we wait to hear the dates and hope they can resolve this in the meantime. I read that the dates could be announced on Thursday.

They may have voted to strike but will they actually do it?

On BBC World today they advised that BA have warned each member of staff that should they participate in the strike, they will lose there travel perks...for life.

Anyone have recent info? Have looked a bit online but don't see possible start dates.

From BA's website:

Unite must give a minimum of seven days notice from the day they announce proposed strike dates to the first day of a strike.

Strike action must also commence within 28 days of the ballot closing on 22 February 2010.

So, the strike must start before the 22nd of March? Does anyone know how long it will last? Do they usually have a prescribed time or is until demands are met?

Unite met on Thursday with over 1,000 cabin crew and they decided not to set dates and continue to negotiate.

Some interesting articles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...ay-strike-date

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ide-union.html

I am constantly searching google news for updates and following BA & Unite on Twitter with automatic text updates as our flights are scheduled to depart 3/21.

The last news about this is on BBC. Both parties agreed to end their negotions, successful or not, on Tuesday March 9th, which means that if the industrial action by cabin staff is called, it can start March 16th. I am wondering if BA can cancel my entire ticket if return is not available(I am flying to Spain on 12th and return on 21th)

Here is a link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8552049.stm

Thanks for the update

Kommers -- thanks for the link. We are also anxiously watching the situation. Do you (or anybody else) have any idea how long a strike would last? Is it a specific period of time to send a message or is on going until demands are met?

BKP - no one really knows. They are saying it would be scheduled for 10 days but there is lots of speculation it would break up before then. There is interesting commentary on the flyertalk.com and pprune.com boards and there are folks there that are BA cabin crew participating. I've been spending a lot of time there to keep up on the latest news.

What the link Kommers provided doesn't mention is that Unite proposed a plan that would involve a 3.4% pay cut and pay freeze for 2 years in lieu of the cabin crew reductions on flights which seems to be the main sticking point in this negotiation.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...r-pay-cut.html

As far as length of the strike is concenred: what I'll say is of course nothing but a speculation, but here is one thing: everyone knows that BA Christmas strike decision was struck down by High Court of UK because of incorrect ballot procedure, but little attention was paid to the fact that this was not the only reason. If you read High Court decision it also mentions that 12-day strike should not be allowed because it will have devastating effect on British Airways. I doubt that this remark went unnoticed by the Unite barristers; I am sure they realize that the very same reason may be used once again to reverse their decision if the strike is announced now. Also, during the interviews, cabin crew members who voted for the strike, said that they didn't know that the Unite leaders wanted to go for 12 days and the length of the strike appalled the union members themselves. Therefore, it is my belief that if the strike is called again, they will be proposing somewhat shorter time for it.

I spent the morning pouring over flyertalk.com. Kommers, I think many people agree with your speculation. IF there is a strike hopefully it won't be too long. It was all an interesting, if long, read. I can't tell that it was particularly productive because it is mostly speculation, but it did calm my nerves a bit. We fly long haul at the end of the month. Fingers crossed that it will be all sorted by then!

BKP: you are in better position than I am. Union said that it will not strike during the Easter, so beginning of April is ruled out and they have to complete their strike in March. It is also known from previous history of the Unite and BA conflict that once Unite decides to go on strike, it will not delay the strike and will give immediate 7-day notice as required by law. Since they have to complete their negotiations regardless of results by the end of next Tuesday, I would expect Unite to give 7-day warning within 48 hours of negotiantion's end which means that strike will begin on March 16 or 17 and will be relatively short (My guess is no longer than 7 days). So, this means the end of March is unlikely on their platter for industrial action. In my case, I am flying from Lisbon to US on March 21 so my flights will be affected if the strike begins.
Also, if you read Mr Walsh statement on BA page, he said that BA will be able to completely cover all its flight schedule with alternative crews to and from Gattwick and London City airports; the only airport that may be affected will be Heathrow (that is, if you flying to/from London). In my case it is Heathrow so I may see something here.
Keep in mind also, that Unite doesn't really want to strike. All they want to do is to look good in the eyes of their members showing how they defend their members agains "capitalist ugly shark British Airways". In the past, they tried twice and twice Mr. Walsh won the court cases barring the strike. Not sure if they want to try again; my feeling is that they try to generate as much publicity as they possibly could, and then let it slide this way or another. Even if they do, I don't expect too many of the crew staff to walk out: they are not idiots; they know that if strike ends without success and proposed BA job cuts go into effect, they will surely make the top of the list of these whose jobs will be eliminated. To top it off, they will lose all BA perks for life for participation in this strike. So, if we consider all the things realistically, Mr. Walsh has much higher chance of breaking Unite's spine than Unite has breaking his.

Well said Kommers. That pretty muchs sums it all up! We have flights on March 21st, 27th and April 3rd so we are anxiously awaiting news as well and our flights are into and out of LHR also. It certainly isn't fun to be in a "wait and see" game when you are anxiously awaiting the vacation of a lifetime!

Here is the latest news today. Not much actvity in terms of the news coverage, but still something:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...fty-fifty.html

Thanks, Kommers. Hate to see an airline go bankrupt but why can't people who work for them be treated with respect. Have unions gone too far? It's a difficult question.

Well, one question that immediately rise is this: why unions want to settle their score with employers at my expense? I work all my life for non-unionized companies so I can't just walk out and cause inconvenience to other people who depend on my work. These people who work for unionized companies can do a lot of harm to me: airline won't fly and ruin my vacation, surgeon won't not operate and ruin my health, my children won't go to school because teachers are on strike, etc, etc, etc. Basically, these unions take the rest of the population hostage, and the rest of the population has to swallow it, without being able to fight back. I agree, workers interests should be protected, but the shape this protection takes is ugly and unjust. Trade unions were invented over a hundred years ago; maybe, it is time for them to somehow reform and change their methods?

Kommers: You (and I) are probably going to get slammed for what you (and I) said, but I agree. Unions were made for sweat houses...which are still in business, but I truly don't believe they're made for airlines and other companies. This is a world where if you don't like your job or what you're paid...then change. If no one wants to work for that company, they'll change there ways to get good people. I also believe that unions protect the lazy and useless. You should get paid what you're worth and fired if you don't do your job.

+1 Kommers and Ann1! No slamming here. Unions are outdated for the most part and have their use in certain industries. When your union and its activities begin to infringe upon the customers of the business its just plain wrong.

I know that's their point. To hurt the company enough so they'll back down. Problem is.....we're innocent and it hurts us.

Another update:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...oposals-strike

I still think that what Unite tries is mostly a publicity action, to keep a good face for these whose interests it is supposed to defend. I red some of their statements and selfishness just spills over the mug here. Take this, for instance, in which they talk about daily negotioations this is funny:

"We have made ourselves available at any time since then. Despite our offers to continue talks BA has chosen to leave the building at 6pm or earlier on numerous occasions."

Yeah, these BA bastards, they go home after 6pm to their families, whereas we offered to stay late! How dare they??

Enough said, huh?

As someone who has worked for an airline for most of my life, I agree that the unions have no place in the airlines in this day and age. The problem with BA and other European airlines is that they never readjusted like the US airlines in regards to staffing and pay cuts.
Most of us have lost a week's vacation;have no pension after 30 plus years;work understaffed flights and make less now than we did 10-15 years ago.They need to wake up and smell the coffee about today's economy.

BA staff still think that are working for a natioanlised government company.

Many government workers in the UK need a rocket up their behind and a sharp reminder of waht real life in a deep economic recession is like. I have long suspected that BA have managed to get by for years by milking the routes where they have little competition.

Only hope that if things do go wrong, and the staff get a sharp lesson in market forces, Gordon Brown doesn't come and bail them out like the slob bankers.

In short if they do strike - vote with your feet. Go elsewhere.

I'd love to vote with my feet but unfortunately I (and many others) can't. We have nonrefundable tickets booked during the potential strike period. I also have events scheduled and deposits paid for, of which I doubt I can recoup in the worst case scenario. Instead we are all waiting to see what will happen to our vacations that have been saved for for months, some years....

crsnyder4

I realise that and it is a situation that as a prepaid customer, you should never be in. It still think that it is an absolute scam that airlines have got away with 100% payments in advance for non tangible, easily scheduled services.

I am open to correction here (by anyone) but I do not see why standard industry terms should not be payment on the day of travel say with a 25% holding deposit paid on booking.

That way in the event of their non delivery you could walk away.

The vote with your feet was a suggestion to prospective cutomers who haven't yet booked who should punish BA and their staff for the way YOU have been treated.

I just truly hope for an amicable resolution to this for everyone involved (BA, cabin crew and passengers)! I like your idea of airlines charging a deposit. That would be fabulous and would but the customer in more control. :)

Thanks again for any updates

A couple of years ago we were re-directed onto two BA flights..Frankfort to London, London to DC because of an Air France strike. When the flight attendant ask about what happened and we explained and two of the attendants said BA paid well. Well, as mentioned before....We're all taking pay cuts, many mega companies are not giving pensions anymore, medical insurance is being cut, etc, etc. They have to deal with it, too.

Many years ago we didn't pay for our reservations until just before the flight. Now they keep and use our money for months.

We are scheduled to take BA (first time!) March 16 PHL-LHR-AMS and March 24 CDG-LHR-PHL.

Will a strike decision be made on the 9th, or is that just the last day of talks?

Thanks... keeping my fingers crossed.

Your guess is as good as mine Melissa19. Last week they said they'd announce dates on Friday and then that got changed. Now they are saying Tues "close of play." Who knows anymore....

melissa19: 9th is the last day of talks, but not necessarily the day of strike days announcement. If they go on strike, they have to announce it no later than 15th and start the strike no later than 22nd (by law, they must give BA 7 days advance warning). Therefore, technically, the time frame for the strike start is March 16-22

I guess I would have a little bit of warning then. Would you expect BA to start rescheduling and notifying people immediately?

This is not a good start to our vacation!