BA flight chaos as cabin crew strike
Source: Agencies |
March 21, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH Airways canceled more than 1,000 flights after its cabin crew launched a three-day strike yesterday, wreaking havoc on the plans of tens of thousands of passengers just before the busy spring holiday season.
Hoping to keep as many passengers happy as possible, BA scrambled to shift some to other services, chartered planes from rival airlines and drafted in volunteer crew. But it still had to scrap more than half of its 1,950 scheduled flights over the period.
Chief Executive Willie Walsh issued a direct apology via YouTube for the walkout, the airline's first in almost 15 years, saying it was a "terrible day for BA."
The strike - backed by some unions in the United States, Germany and Spain - also risked harm to Britain's Labour government before a tough general election expected before June.
Meanwhile, railway signal workers added to the government's problems by voting to strike over job cuts and changes to work practices, raising the threat of a first national rail strike in 16 years. They did not name a date.
Any action would disrupt hundreds of thousands of passengers and be a headache for Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The RMT rail union said 54 percent of its members backed the walkout.
Both sides in the dispute have agreed to meet for peace talks at conciliation service ACAS next week, a spokeswoman for the agency said. Maintenance workers who belong to RMT have already voted to take action.
Yesterday morning at BA's London Heathrow hub, the cavernous Terminal 5 was nearly deserted after some passengers had flown out early to avoid the strike or simply stayed away altogether. But delays were beginning to mount.
One man trying to get home to Sweden said he was already looking at a four-hour delay. "Our flight from Dallas arrived two hours late, and now we're waiting to go to Stockholm - that flight is two hours late as well," said Bjorn Barka, a high school principal.
The Eurostar train service between London and continental Europe and Virgin's rail services between London and Scotland were expected to be busy as passengers sought alternate routes.
BA also warned that the disruption would likely last several days beyond the three-day strike, because of a knock-on effect on flights that would carry through to the end of a second strike planned for March 27-30.
Aside from hurting BA financially, the strike is also unwelcome for Britain's governing Labour Party before the looming elections.
Brown irritated strike organizer the Unite union, a major political donor, by calling it "deplorable" and saying as late as Friday night that it should call off the strike.
Opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron criticized the stranglehold unions have over Labour.
Hoping to keep as many passengers happy as possible, BA scrambled to shift some to other services, chartered planes from rival airlines and drafted in volunteer crew. But it still had to scrap more than half of its 1,950 scheduled flights over the period.
Chief Executive Willie Walsh issued a direct apology via YouTube for the walkout, the airline's first in almost 15 years, saying it was a "terrible day for BA."
The strike - backed by some unions in the United States, Germany and Spain - also risked harm to Britain's Labour government before a tough general election expected before June.
Meanwhile, railway signal workers added to the government's problems by voting to strike over job cuts and changes to work practices, raising the threat of a first national rail strike in 16 years. They did not name a date.
Any action would disrupt hundreds of thousands of passengers and be a headache for Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The RMT rail union said 54 percent of its members backed the walkout.
Both sides in the dispute have agreed to meet for peace talks at conciliation service ACAS next week, a spokeswoman for the agency said. Maintenance workers who belong to RMT have already voted to take action.
Yesterday morning at BA's London Heathrow hub, the cavernous Terminal 5 was nearly deserted after some passengers had flown out early to avoid the strike or simply stayed away altogether. But delays were beginning to mount.
One man trying to get home to Sweden said he was already looking at a four-hour delay. "Our flight from Dallas arrived two hours late, and now we're waiting to go to Stockholm - that flight is two hours late as well," said Bjorn Barka, a high school principal.
The Eurostar train service between London and continental Europe and Virgin's rail services between London and Scotland were expected to be busy as passengers sought alternate routes.
BA also warned that the disruption would likely last several days beyond the three-day strike, because of a knock-on effect on flights that would carry through to the end of a second strike planned for March 27-30.
Aside from hurting BA financially, the strike is also unwelcome for Britain's governing Labour Party before the looming elections.
Brown irritated strike organizer the Unite union, a major political donor, by calling it "deplorable" and saying as late as Friday night that it should call off the strike.
Opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron criticized the stranglehold unions have over Labour.
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