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Strike Action on British Air

I see this morning that BA Service Attendants have voted to strike. The BA site says all long haul flights will continue to fly as normal and others, Flights operated by BA CityFlyer and our franchise and codeshare partners will continue to operate as normal.
We have a flight from Heathrow to Toulouse and our ticket says it is operated by BA so does anyone know that means our flight will be okay?

Posted by
33847 posts

The ballot results were announced yesterday (28th) but no industrial action has been announced. If the union wants to act on the results of the ballot they must give 7 clear days' notice, and the action must commence within 28 days of the results being announced or the ballot expires. Nobody will know until after a strike is called, and the airline has a chance to set plans what will or won't definitely be affected. I would have thought that Toulouse would not be considered long haul.

Posted by
105 posts

Thanks for your information. I've found that, like you said, it is not a long haul but the flight from Heathrow to Toulouse is run by BA and not the CityFlyer or other franchise or codeshare partners so this fight would be affected. Hopefully it will be settled before our June 18th flight.

Posted by
17437 posts

So no actual strike dates have been announced? I recall reading some thoughts that they would target dates around the royal wedding, which will definitely affect our flight from Heathrow to Spain on April 27.

Posted by
33847 posts

No, Lola, as far as I can see, and I have looked quite a lot, no specific industrial action action has been notified; I last checked at 2251 UK time, 30 March 2011.

Posted by
33847 posts

2253 1 April 2011 - still no announcement

Posted by
17437 posts

But don't they have until 25 April to announce the dates?

Posted by
284 posts

Mary, Very good question. Assuming your flight is only from Heathrow to Toulouse then they should try to accomondate you on another flight although it maybe a day or two either way. If this is a connecting flight they should try to accomondate you only on this one segment and not the entire flight. This is still their policy. For example, you are flying from the state to London and then connecting to Toulouse. Your flight to London should not be affected but if your flight from London to Toulouse is you maybe put into a spot where you can no longer make your connection. Welcome to wonderful wacky world of BA. Edwin

Posted by
33847 posts

Lola, you're right (what's new?) The 25th is the deadline. They could announce any day until then and the strike could be no earlier than 7 days after that. (no news today that I am aware of)

Posted by
17437 posts

OK, so I just have to hold my breath until April 21. If they haven't announced the strike dates by then, we should be good. We do have a backup plan to get from London to Spain, but it will be pretty hectic to arrange at the last minute. I could have chosen a flight on Iberia to get from Heathrow to Spain, but didn't.

Posted by
91 posts

The smart money is they're going to strike around Easter. I'm holding my breath as well. I leave for London and then onto Frankfurt on May 12.

Posted by
2297 posts

We got caught in this last year, only our long haul-leg was the one that got cancelled. I have to say, they were very accommodating and once we were able to make contact (we were in Italy and had a hard time getting our phone to work) with BA, they were good about getting us on another flight. They don't seem to strike the same way we are used to in the U.S.; they seem to pick a set group so there are still other options. If you think this may affect you while you're in France, make sure you have contact phone numbers before you get there.