12th March 2010
British Airways cabin crew are set to strike for 3 days starting
from Saturday 20 March and again on the following Saturday, 27
March for 4 days, potentially throwing the holiday plans of
hundreds of thousands of travellers into chaos.
Union Unite announced the strike action after negotiations with
BA broke down following several months of intense talks.
Unite members voted to strike in a ballot last month over job
cuts as BA looked to make £60m of savings from cabin crew
costs.
Over 12,000 members voted in favour of a walkout, with some
calling for a 12-day strike over the Easter holidays to cause
maximum disruption.
An Easter strike has been averted, with Unite deciding on
two strikes totalling 7 days at the end of March.
The union also said there could be further strike action after
14 April if an agreement has still not been reached.
However, BA chief executive Willie Walsh insists that the strike
will not ground the airline and has trained 1,000 ground staff as
cabin crew to step in for their striking colleagues, with 6,000
more staff volunteering to support BA's flying programme.
The airline will also use 23 fully-crewed planes from another
company as well as bring in staff from rival airlines.
Mr Walsh expects all long haul flights from Gatwick and 50% of
short haul flights to operate during the strike.
A "substantial" number of long and short haul flights are also
expected to operate from Heathrow.
What to do if you affected by the BA strikes:
BA state that customers "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 355 days from the original
date of travel.
Refunds will only be available if flights are actually cancelled
or if the original booking conditions
allow."
If your flight is cancelled you will be able to:
- Rebook onto another British Airways flight to the same
destination within 355 days 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.
British Airways Executive Club members will continue to earn
Tier Points and BA Miles for flights cancelled due to any
strike action.
Further information can be found on Ba.com.
Useful links:
How to claim flight cancellation
compensation
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