BA Christmas Strikes

[Octohohohoho]

To think that maybe they are selfish gits who are screwing up my family's christmas and thousands of others? It really could wait til the new year.

Shame on you.

This strike has been on the cards for months. I am a gold card holder and loyal BA customer, but booked my xmas trips with an alternative airline because of the risk of strike action. I know they have big financial problems, but I'm not a fan of some of the things Willie Walsh is trying to do. It feels like he is trying to turn BA into a low cost carrier but with business prices. He has already done this at Aer Lingus.

I have already written to him a couple of times this year. He has removed the Guardian and Wall Street Journal from the lounge to save costs, and replaced with DM. 500ml bottles of Highland Spring replaced with a small glass of water. All this in Club Europe where you can pay £500 for a flight which lasts 1 hr. Thankfully we still have wine or there would be uproar

Seriously, not good news if you have xmas trips booked, but at least BA seem to be allowing passengers to change their plans.

It wasn't on the cards when I booked 9 months ago . We only booked with them as we live near Heathrow and it is convenient to fly to Geneva. It will cost us a lot more to rebook with another airline assuming we can actually get flights. The taxi to alternative airports will probably be more than the flights.

BA don't have a choice but to 'allow' passengers to change their plans.

"Does anyone know what this strike is about? All I can find is job losses and contract changes, but no details. It's understandably irritating, but unfair to judge without knowing what they are attempting to achieve."
I think the turnaround on longhaul flights is to be cut so that they have no time to get over long flights.

"I think the turnaround on longhaul flights is to be cut so that they have no time to get over long flights."

Ouch! That can't be good for them

I think the turnaround time changed for longhaul flights from other airports ages ago and have a feeling that the turnaround for the pilots is shorter already too. They have days on longhaul before the crew come back, iirc.

Again, I might be wrong. Will ask my friend again tomo and report back after checking 'the facts'

They do have days on long haul flights. My mum had the misfortune to be staying in the same hotel as them in Cape Town last year. Their behaviour spoilt her holiday.

I never understand the use of strikes in these sits.

I've known DH's oldowrkplae to strike before over someone being treated in a racist manner- fair,designed to make a point of mutual beneift;ikewise over say silly working hours or moving area.

But why do people strike when their employer is going under? Do they not realise the long term consequences of that will be likely irreparable damage to the employer and redundancy? Loss os custoomers, revenue, trust....

I find that befuddling

DH booked our summer holiday a few weeks ago. Choice of BA or Olympic Airlines. He said he was sorry to say he'd have to go with the latter as he could not trust BA crew not to be striking during the summer holidays. Because of course, holiday time is always when they choose.

We used to fly BA a lot when we lived in the US - they were way better than most of the US airlines then.

How seasonally appropriate. Turkeys voting for an early Christmas.

I assume they don't understand company balance sheets. BA's major instituitional investors are completely supportive of BA management's stance - the share price has hardly moved today.

the business is in financial difficulties, by striking they are signing their own death sentence effectively, it seems so short sighted.

it is also immensely unkind at a time when so many families are trying to get together. My family will be split up this christmas if the strike goes ahead, and it was the first time in years (after a number of bereavements) that we were all finally beginning to look forward to christmas again

They may well resolve the dispute before it even starts. This is what historically often happens. Even if it does start, I'd say it's very unlikely to last the full 12 days, but it is still incredibly damaging for the company even if it doesn't go ahead.

Just got back from lunch with my friend. She says that her dh (BA pilot) thinks that lots of people won't actually strike because they won't want to be out of pocket.

Apparently, only about 1000 people were balloted to strike and all these were more senior crew (who have most to lose) and those who are due to take voluntary redundancy (how he knows this, I don't know!). They were only asked whether they wanted to vote for strike action, not when or how long for.

BA want to change their pay sructure so that the cabin crew get a higher basic salary but less allowances when away and they want to amalgamate the long/short haul flight crews so that they don't have two separate groups. Gatwick have mostly shorthaul flights so they don't mind as much but heathrow have more long haul flights and these crews do not want to lose their longhaul allowances by having to change to short haul (apparently, there is also hardship pay to fly to miami as no-one wants to fly there, which flight crew do not get).

Friends dh thinks that lots of people will work and not strike and if anyone strikes, there is a risk of being sacked as legally they should not be striking according to court case recently.

So, all is not lost, flights may well still be running - they have a website for crew to log in and show they will be working anonymously i.e. with an id code, so hopefully BA can plan.

BA will favour running the long haul flights over short haul as these are more difficult for passengers to alter and find alternatives for.

Not sure if this makes it any clearer or not!

DaftApeth: This is pretty much what I've been reading on an aviation forum I lurk in. A lot of cabin crew there are very unhappy about the way this situation has been handled, both by management and the union (allusions to Scargill and the miners have been made). There are allegations that some of the ballots went to people who had taken voluntary redundancy, or were in the process of doing that, contrary to the rules. Some of those who voted "yes" weren't aware that the union would call for a 12-day strike over Christmas. Maybe they were naive.

From what I gather, BA needs to cut costs in order to survive. Their proposals were rejected by the union, who offered their own proposals instead. The union proposals apparently fell far short of what was required, so in turn were rejected by BA management who then imposed the restructuring which the union rejected.

There are some cabin crew on that forum who say they will cross any picket line, some who will volunteer to do extra shifts; even one who is retired and wants to volunteer (but a lapsed CRB check won't make that possible).

It is a total mess, because no-one can tell how it will work out, even if the current talks result in something workable for the next couple of weeks or so.

But: 12 days of (strike) Christmas. Call me cynical if you wish....