BA Air Strike

[shoesonfire]

Wow, thanks for the quick and excellent reply. I can now put my head on my pillow and sleep peacefully. I was following the BA info as the strike evolved and was very impressed with their organization and contingency plans. Makes me feel that I certainly made the right choice when scheduling BA for our flight to meet our cruise ship. Life is good!!!!

[Globaliser]

Do you mean you would still continue to book a flight on 13 May with BA because their contingency has worked well, or do you mean I should consider rebooking another airline?

Yes, FlyerTalker has it right. If I now had a need to travel on 13 May, I would be booking BA as normal.

[AmoMondo]

Does anyone know if BA manged to still operate the heathrow to brazil flights during the strike? I'm due to fly with them to sao Paolo on 19th April and was originally hoping that the strike would be completely over by then or that Unite would need a new mandate to call more strike dates, but I'm now concerned at the talk of them setting other dates after 14 April. I've got a connecting flight from edinburgh which i realise is likely to be cancelled if they have a strike on 19th but that doesn't unduly worry me as I can easily get the train down to London instaed. However I'm worried about the Sao polo flight being cancelled and missing the strat of my cruise.

[NorbertsNiece]

Does anyone know if BA manged to still operate the heathrow to brazil flights during the strike? I'm due to fly with them to sao Paolo on 19th April and was originally hoping that the strike would be completely over by then or that Unite would need a new mandate to call more strike dates, but I'm now concerned at the talk of them setting other dates after 14 April. I've got a connecting flight from edinburgh which i realise is likely to be cancelled if they have a strike on 19th but that doesn't unduly worry me as I can easily get the train down to London instaed. However I'm worried about the Sao polo flight being cancelled and missing the strat of my cruise.

 

Can you give me the flight number? I have a list of all BAs flights and what occured during the strike.

[H2Otstr]

BTW, it looks like the Heathrow-Basel flights were subbed to Astraeus Airlines, which is perhaps best known for this (trivial and totally irrelevant) fact: One of its captains is Bruce Dickinson, of Iron Maiden, doing his day job.

 

 

My husband asked if Bruce was going to be our Captain and he was told "No, not this flight." We were hoping to meet him.

 

BTW, other than a cold meal and no breakfast on our March 20th flight, there were no problems at all.

[Globaliser]

Can you give me the flight number? I have a list of all BAs flights and what occured during the strike.

On the current timetable:-

LHR-EZE BA247

EZE-LHR BA246

LHR-GIG BA249

GIG-LHR BA248

[NorbertsNiece]

On the current timetable:-

LHR-EZE BA247

EZE-LHR BA246

LHR-GIG BA249

GIG-LHR BA248

 

 

I'm not able to confirm whether they operated or not as expected.

This is from a list compiled a few days pre-strike.

 

BA 247 LHR GRU 20-Mar-10 21:25 Cancelled

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 20-Mar-10 13:15 Operating

BA 246 GRU LHR 20-Mar-10 17:15 Operating

BA 247 GRU EZE 20-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

 

BA 247 LHR GRU 21-Mar-10 21:25 Cancelled

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 21-Mar-10 13:15 Operating

BA 246 GRU LHR 21-Mar-10 17:15 Operating

BA 247 GRU EZE 21-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

BA 248 GIG LHR 21-Mar-10 22:30 Operating

BA 249 LHR GIG 21-Mar-10 12:15 Operating

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 22-Mar-10 21:25 Cancelled

BA 247 GRU EZE 22-Mar-10 20:45 Cancelled

BA 247 LHR GRU 22-Mar-10 12:40 Cancelled

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 22-Mar-10 13:15 Operating

BA 246 GRU LHR 22-Mar-10 17:15 Operating

BA 247 GRU EZE 22-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

 

BA 246 GRU LHR 23-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

BA 247 LHR GRU 23-Mar-10 21:25 Operating

BA 248 GIG LHR 23-Mar-10 22:30 Operating

BA 249 LHR GIG 23-Mar-10 12:15 Operating

 

[Globaliser]

I'm not able to confirm whether they operated or not as expected.

And I'm sorry that I can't do any more myself. There is a site that shows the flights that operated to/from Heathrow on those days, but it does not indicate whether they operated as passenger flights or cargo/positioning flights. Flights of the latter type will have been shown as "cancelled" to passengers.

[AmoMondo]

 

I'm not able to confirm whether they operated or not as expected.

This is from a list compiled a few days pre-strike.

 

BA 247 LHR GRU 20-Mar-10 21:25 Cancelled

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 20-Mar-10 13:15 Operating

BA 246 GRU LHR 20-Mar-10 17:15 Operating

BA 247 GRU EZE 20-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

 

BA 247 LHR GRU 21-Mar-10 21:25 Cancelled

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 21-Mar-10 13:15 Operating

BA 246 GRU LHR 21-Mar-10 17:15 Operating

BA 247 GRU EZE 21-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

BA 248 GIG LHR 21-Mar-10 22:30 Operating

BA 249 LHR GIG 21-Mar-10 12:15 Operating

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 22-Mar-10 21:25 Cancelled

BA 247 GRU EZE 22-Mar-10 20:45 Cancelled

BA 247 LHR GRU 22-Mar-10 12:40 Cancelled

 

BA 246 EZE GRU 22-Mar-10 13:15 Operating

BA 246 GRU LHR 22-Mar-10 17:15 Operating

BA 247 GRU EZE 22-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

 

BA 246 GRU LHR 23-Mar-10 07:00 Operating

BA 247 LHR GRU 23-Mar-10 21:25 Operating

BA 248 GIG LHR 23-Mar-10 22:30 Operating

BA 249 LHR GIG 23-Mar-10 12:15 Operating

 

 

Thanks Norbet'sNiece. It is BA247 that my cruise line has booked me on. Guess I'll just need to sit tight until Thursday and find out if they call more strikes and if they do, if my flight is impacted. At least it's good to know that they did operate some of them during the last strike dates.

[nordski]

I'm also waiting patiently to find out, by Thursday, if our April 17th flight (YYZ to LHR) is in jeopardy. In the last two job actions the Saturday flights from YYZ did not seem to be affected.

 

Interesting that there is a noticeable silence on the part of both sides. Hard to know what that means.

 

I noticed one comment in a news source that Unite has no love for Gordon Brown and wouldn't mind embarassing him in the election campaign. Now that, it seems to me, would be the definition of short-sightedness.

[AmoMondo]

Hi nordski

 

Well we have just one more day to wait to find out if our travel plans are going to be all up in the air (or rather not!).

 

It is weird that it appears to have all gone quite. I did hear on the radio this morning that Unite officials were having a meeting today to decide whether to call more strike days but there has been absolutely nothing else reported since then. let's hope they are in talks with BA and we will both be ok for our flights.

[Globaliser]

Interesting that there is a noticeable silence on the part of both sides.

It is weird that it appears to have all gone quite.

It's been quiet because they have been talking. But there has been released news this afternoon. The BBC reports:-

BA strike: talks between airline and union resume

 

Talks between British Airways and the Unite union aimed at resolving the cabin crew strike have resumed, Unite has said.

 

Joint general secretary of the union Tony Woodley said "serious progress" had been made and discussions would continue over the next few days.

 

...

 

Unite said talks with BA had resumed over the Easter weekend and are ongoing.

 

"It is welcome that talks have resumed and I am pleased that some serious progress has been made over the issues that have divided us," said Mr Woodley.

 

He added that no further strike dates would be set while the talks continued.

 

...

As BA has been firm in its stance and much of the union's own membership refused to actually strike when push came to shove, I suspect that most of the "progress" has come from the union side.

 

Minimum notice for a strike is 7 days, so I think that anyone flying on Wednesday of next week is now definitely safe, and the noises reported by the BBC suggest that at least the couple of days after that should be reasonably safe already.

[KCcruisin07]

Here is some recent news from Skytalk. Sounds like both sides need to negotiate.

 

"British Airways is feeling the cost of March's strike action after it announced it had cost them £40m-£50m. Skip related content

 

The airline has revealed its passenger and capacity numbers for March.

It says economy passengers fell by 14% in March, while first and business class ticket sales dropped by 7%.

Traffic numbers were down 11.4% for March 2010, compared to March 2009.

BA attributed half of the decline to winter capacity reductions and half to the strikes which saw cabin crew walk out from March 20-22 and March 27-30.

The Unite union has ruled out more strike dates while it is holding talks with BA's management.

The union's joint general secretary Tony Woodley said: "It is welcome that talks have resumed and I am pleased that some serious progress has been made over the issues which have divided us.

'However, there is more work to be done, and further discussions will take place with the company over the next few days.

'I reported to representatives of our cabin crew today and explained that it would be unnecessary to set further strike dates while these talks are continuing and making progress.'"

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100407/tuk-ba-strike-action-costs-airline-over-45dbed5.html

 

I hope they can work it out. We are flying BA next month.

[jotabecu]

Here is some recent news from Skytalk. Sounds like both sides need to negotiate.

 

"British Airways is feeling the cost of March's strike action after it announced it had cost them £40m-£50m. Skip related content

 

The airline has revealed its passenger and capacity numbers for March.

It says economy passengers fell by 14% in March, while first and business class ticket sales dropped by 7%.

Traffic numbers were down 11.4% for March 2010, compared to March 2009.

BA attributed half of the decline to winter capacity reductions and half to the strikes which saw cabin crew walk out from March 20-22 and March 27-30.

The Unite union has ruled out more strike dates while it is holding talks with BA's management.

The union's joint general secretary Tony Woodley said: "It is welcome that talks have resumed and I am pleased that some serious progress has been made over the issues which have divided us.

'However, there is more work to be done, and further discussions will take place with the company over the next few days.

'I reported to representatives of our cabin crew today and explained that it would be unnecessary to set further strike dates while these talks are continuing and making progress.'"

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100407/tuk-ba-strike-action-costs-airline-over-45dbed5.html

 

I hope they can work it out. We are flying BA next month.

 

 

 

Hope so, I am flying May 4 LHR to Capetown

[NorbertsNiece]

A general election has been called for May 6th. I'm thinking that the union will not want to detract from the election build up by causing problems at this time. The link of Unite to Gordon Brown could cause him to drop valuable points in what could turn out to be a hung parliament. There is more important news happening over here right now. Just my opinion.

[Globaliser]

Sounds like both sides need to negotiate.

The union needs to negotiate more than BA does.

 

BA released estimated earnings impact figures during the strike, of £7m per day during the first weekend (3 days), and a reduced amount of £5.5m per day during the second weekend (4 days). So the total figure now quoted is not news.

 

In any event, BA is seeking to secure cost savings of about £150m per year from the cabin crew. If it takes more strikes to do that, it will be pain worth suffering.

 

However, the chances of there being much more in the way of strikes is pretty minimal. During the strike periods, cabin crew turnout at Gatwick was 100%, Heathrow short-haul about 80% and Heathrow long-haul was 60%. Together with the volunteer strike-breakers from every department across the company, BA could easily survive at least a month's worth of continuous strike by the cabin crew, by which time the cabin crew union would be completely broken.

 

The union aren't (completely) stupid, so they can see the writing on the wall. They are the ones who need to negotiate, which they are now finally doing after more than 12 months of prevarication and burying their heads in the sand.

[nordski]

The union needs to negotiate more than BA does.

 

BA released estimated earnings impact figures during the strike, of £7m per day during the first weekend (3 days), and a reduced amount of £5.5m per day during the second weekend (4 days). So the total figure now quoted is not news.

 

In any event, BA is seeking to secure cost savings of about £150m per year from the cabin crew. If it takes more strikes to do that, it will be pain worth suffering.

 

However, the chances of there being much more in the way of strikes is pretty minimal. During the strike periods, cabin crew turnout at Gatwick was 100%, Heathrow short-haul about 80% and Heathrow long-haul was 60%. Together with the volunteer strike-breakers from every department across the company, BA could easily survive at least a month's worth of continuous strike by the cabin crew, by which time the cabin crew union would be completely broken.

 

The union aren't (completely) stupid, so they can see the writing on the wall. They are the ones who need to negotiate, which they are now finally doing after more than 12 months of prevarication and burying their heads in the sand.

I agree the union are in a pretty weak position and will have to make concessions.

 

On the other hand, a little less chest thumping from Willie Walsh might provide more room for the requisite face-saving.

 

As a tabloid writer said, perhaps they both need to sit down over a cup of tea and a mutually acceptable auntie to get the deal done.

[Globaliser]

On the other hand, a little less chest thumping from Willie Walsh might provide more room for the requisite face-saving.

I'm sure that there will be some face-saving measures thrown in to help any deal get made. It is notable that there has been no chest thumping at all while the current talks have been going on. In fact, even since Unite made this announcement BA has been completely silent about the talks.

 

Current rumour has it that Unite has taken over the negotiations completely, totally sidelining BASSA (the BA-cabin crew specific branch of the union). If true, that would speak volumes - particularly about the oft-expressed view that BASSA is run by the most senior (and expensive) cabin crew whose main interest in this dispute is trying to preserve their own well-feathered nests, regardless of the true interests of the rank and file membership.

[nordski]

I'm sure that there will be some face-saving measures thrown in to help any deal get made. It is notable that there has been no chest thumping at all while the current talks have been going on. In fact, even since Unite made this announcement BA has been completely silent about the talks.

 

Current rumour has it that Unite has taken over the negotiations completely, totally sidelining BASSA (the BA-cabin crew specific branch of the union). If true, that would speak volumes - particularly about the oft-expressed view that BASSA is run by the most senior (and expensive) cabin crew whose main interest in this dispute is trying to preserve their own well-feathered nests, regardless of the true interests of the rank and file membership.

Thanks for the update. It's a certainly a good sign that discussions are behind the scenes and not in the media.

 

Is there a point at which Unite has to return to the members for a vote to continue job action?

[Globaliser]

Is there a point at which Unite has to return to the members for a vote to continue job action?

That's an interesting question, to which I don't know the answer. I've been trying to find out myself.

[ashelsi]

That's an interesting question, to which I don't know the answer. I've been trying to find out myself.

 

I have been following this pretty closely due to the fact that I too have tickets to fly on BA. I remember reading in a few articles that they do need to announce more strike dates by a certain date otherwise they would need to have thier members vote again. I tried to find the article again but couldnt find it. If my memory is correct I want to say they have to announce more strike dates before April 18th.

[nordski]

I have been following this pretty closely due to the fact that I too have tickets to fly on BA. I remember reading in a few articles that they do need to announce more strike dates by a certain date otherwise they would need to have thier members vote again. I tried to find the article again but couldnt find it. If my memory is correct I want to say they have to announce more strike dates before April 18th.

I thought I read somewhere the 8th, but your remembered 18th seems more plausible given the continued media silence.

[NorbertsNiece]

The Times Online article is confusing...... mixes in a different strike with the RMT (Railways/ underground)

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article7091075.ece

[AmoMondo]

According to The Scotsman on 4th April, Unite had to inform BA by Thursday 8th April. Let's hope they were right - although all this silence looks promising this time.

 

here's the link

http://news.scotsman.com/transport/British-Airways-Fight-of-flight.6202457.jp

[bobcholmes]

I think what is particularly sad here is that the union measures their "success" in all this by the numbers of public that they inconvenience, or the amount of money they can cause an already struggling business to lose. And this company pays them good wages. Pretty sorry commentary on the state of labor relations, in general.