Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

British Airways might go on strike

nans vacation

By nans vacation,
in Cruise Air

Recommended Posts

nans vacation

nans vacation

Posted
Posted

British Airways" labor union" is talking about going on strike around Apirl 25th. WE have a flight out of London on British Airways Apirl 28th to Venice,to go on a cruise . We do have travel insurance. Has anyone ever had to deal with this type of thing. If so, can you tell me what happened or what to do.:mad:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SwissDave

SwissDave

Posted
Posted

BA have said that all longhaul flights will operate, and all shorthaul destinations will be covered - that means there might be some shorthaul cancellations. These will mainly be the destinations that have 5 or 6 flights per day, e.g. Geneve, Paris etc. Venice is a once a day from Heathrow and 3 times a day from Gatwick.

 

Therefore it is entirely likely that your heathrow flight will operate as normal. Nearer the time, if there is a strike, BA will inform you via the website of any cancellations.

 

If for some reason the one flight from Heathrow is cancelled then it should be possible to move your booking to Gatwick.

 

Any strike will only affect Heathrow, and there will be at least 7 days notice of a strike as a minimum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KCcruisin07

KCcruisin07

Posted
Posted

We ran into this returning from Prague our last trip. Those with a travel agent received notice and help re-booking. We didn't receive notice, but checked online after a friend told us her flight was changed.

 

We were using frequent flier miles from our credit card, but had upgraded our seats. That gave control to BA:(. We had problems online because it showed we had flown our last segment, and we could not get through to BA on the phone. We took a limo (hotel type) to the airport to get 'er done fast and get back to sightseeing.

 

We had to be re-routed through Chicago on American, but we did make it back to Phoenix late the same night.

 

In some respects, we had the worst case scenario because there were some other problems, and we had to re-confirm at Heathrow and Chicago. In other ways we were lucky we were not delayed more.

 

If you are coming from the US, if there are problems I agree it would affect the short leg of your flight. Also BA has been through this recently and knows how to make contingency plans.

 

If they strike and you receive notice, just try to re-book asap, so they can get you there another way.

 

And hopefully the strike will never happen!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SwissDave

SwissDave

Posted
Posted
This appears to be the strike that some others said would never come, yet I can't think of another major airline that has more strikes.

 

At least BA has lots of experience with strikes and is probably coming up with contingency plans.

 

It's not yet a strike, it has not been called, and no dates announced. The ballot was in favour of a strike, by 43% of the cabin crew overall. About 9700 crew were polled (i.e. those in the union) 6981 ballot papers were returned, 5811 voted for a strike, 1170 voted against.

 

As was proven when the last strike actually happened, many of those who voted for it actually did not strike and went to work.

 

The union branch secretary is on record as saying that a strike probably wouldn't happen anyway.

 

Contingency plans are in place, as well as volunteer crew there is the 'new fleet' crew who are not in dispute with the Company.

 

As in the past, if the strike does eventually go ahead then the impact will be very small and most people flying with BA probably won't even realise that there is a strike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
room010

room010

Posted
Posted

Are you planning to fly into Venice the same day as your ship departs? An airline strike (during the Easter holidays, natch) is just one reason why it's risky. BA are used to dealing with strikes :o so there may not be any major disruption but in your shoes I'd be thinking about travelling a day earlier so you have a 24hr 'buffer' if something does hold you up for some reason, strike included.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KCcruisin07

KCcruisin07

Posted
Posted

Are you flying in the actual day of your cruise?

 

Did you book through a travel agent, the airline, or ?

 

At this point I would wait and see. As someone said there may not be a strike because from what I've heard the cabin crew just is not solidly behind striking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nans vacation

nans vacation

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Are you flying in the actual day of your cruise?

 

Did you book through a travel agent, the airline, or ?

 

At this point I would wait and see. As someone said there may not be a strike because from what I've heard the cabin crew just is not solidly behind striking.

 

I booked the flight through Expedia. The cruise goes out of Venice on May 1st. So I am not worried about missing the cruise. Our duaghter is going to college in Bergen Norway and she is flying into Venice to visit with us, the same day( April 28th.) So we would like to be in Venice by the 28th also, to spend time with her. She in not going on the cruise because she dose not feel she can take that much time off. We have not seen her in six months.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
scottbee

scottbee

Posted
Posted
This appears to be the strike that some others said would never come, yet I can't think of another major airline that has more strikes.

 

Kind of comparing apples to oranges. The other large airlines in the world are mostly USA based; where legislation (the Railway Act) puts huge constrains on the actions US based airline employees can engage in.

 

Kind of like saying "There's no strikes in China"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SwissDave

SwissDave

Posted
Posted
If this is a cabin crew dispute, why will only Heathrow flights be affected and not Gatwick? I don't understand.

 

Gatwick crew are on a different contract and have been working to the same onboard crewing levels that have now been implemented at Heathrow for a few years.

 

The strange thing is that when Gatwick was changed (under different circumstances granted) the union didn't bat an eyelid as it didn't affect Heathrow. As soon as anything is mentioned at Heathrow to change the union (bassa) get in a tizzy because of the sense of entitlement that the reps and a very small minority of crew have (and I do NOT mean all the Heathrow crew).

 

It just so happens that in the past the senior cabin crew were also the union reps, and as they were senior they could virtually pick and choose which routes they flew on so they could make the most money. Any challenge to that cozy existence and all hell breaks loose and s*d anyone else caught in the crossfire. With the gradual move to the new mixed fleet the process of being able to pick and choose routes has gone (as far as I know).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sargent_Schultz

Sargent_Schultz

Posted
Posted

BA strike: passengers urged to buy travel insurance

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/mar/29/ba-strike-passengers-buy-travel-insurance

 

Will British Airways strike snarl traffic for Royal Wedding?

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/03/british-airways-strike-wedding-easter/149800/1

 

 

The fourth strike ballot in less than two years? Must be a world record!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SwissDave

SwissDave

Posted
Posted

 

The fourth strike ballot in less than two years? Must be a world record!

 

It probably is, but is down to the fact that the union branch is totally incompetent and the last two ballots were declared illegal!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sargent_Schultz

Sargent_Schultz

Posted
Posted
Kind of comparing apples to oranges. The other large airlines in the world are mostly USA based; where legislation (the Railway Act) puts huge constrains on the actions US based airline employees can engage in.

 

Kind of like saying "There's no strikes in China"

 

It probably is, but is down to the fact that the union branch is totally incompetent and the last two ballots were declared illegal!!

 

In other words, there ARE some constraints.

 

None of this has anything to do with China. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...