BA Strike

Remember to ask to buy a scratchcard and see what response you get !

I think most people may be pleasantly surprised by the alternative airlines, to be honest.

Do you think BA will have to lower their prices because of the strike?

[Darren Wheeler]

Do you think BA will have to lower their prices because of the strike?

Short-term? Yes. They'll need to get bums-on-seats to recoup the costs recently incurred.

Long-term? No.

I've been out at a restaurant near LHR tonight and all I saw were BA planes taking off so looked like quite a lot were operating.

[Nottingham Nick]

I assume it will be a classic battle between PR and revenue management,

PR will want to have a big sale and great offers for regular pax - improve their standing after all the negative press.

Rev management will say that the strike has cost a shed load of money and prices need to stay high to recoup the huge losses.

I hope for the big sale, so that VS follow suit.

Nick

[Darren Wheeler]

That works for me. Something to cover end of October would be good.

[Darren Wheeler]

According to Unite, 38 member have been suspended for making posts on Facebook, Twitter etc. and for talking to the media.

Link to Video

Hmmm. They must have a short memory. Facebook 13 anyone?

I know my contract has a clause about speaking to the media about anything to do with work.

BA have confirmed that anyone who went on strike at the weekend will lose their travel concessions:

Link here

Our flight operated from MRU as scheduled and landed bang on time. Slight delay in departure due to taking on extra catering for the pax who wanted to transfer from the cancelled VS372. Quite Ironic really, but I was so glad they operated in what turned out to be a stellar flight and great crew. Fingers crossed for tomorrows flight to BEG.

Iain

[HighFlyer]

My flight home from SEA was operating but was delayed coming in and went out with a reduced service (i.e; no hot food and less crew than usual). I'll do a TR later to fill you in on the details. I was glad the flight was still operating but the food situation was dire.

BA say 70% of long haul flights are operating. I guess most of the cancelled flights are ones where there are multiple flights a day to a destination and they can condense them down.

My flight home from SEA was operating but was delayed coming in and went out with a reduced service (i.e; no hot food and less crew than usual). I'll do a TR later to fill you in on the details. I was glad the flight was still operating but the food situation was dire.

BA say 70% of long haul flights are operating. I guess most of the cancelled flights are ones where there are multiple flights a day to a destination and they can condense them down.

Be interesting to read your TR Sarah and to find out what the reduction of staff actually means in terms of service.

The no hot food being available is apalling ! would be different if the ovens broke down etc but to pre-plan it is bad.

Poor you Sarah - do they give you the choice not to fly with the reduced crew and service?

[HighFlyer]

Poor you Sarah - do they give you the choice not to fly with the reduced crew and service?

Yes, to their credit, BA have been offering the option of rebooking onto another BA flight free of charge or getting a full refund if your ticket allows. The problem is that schedules of which flights are operating with the reduced service are not finalised until days before so if you wanted to move to another BA flight that isnt affected the flights are in high demand (as my outbound was and was duly overbooked) and if you want to cancel and move to another airline and skip BA the fares available at that late stage are pretty much full J. VS019 on the first strike dates was ~£8000 return.

A rock and a hard place springs to mind...

An ex colleague of mine flew IAD-LHR on the last day of the first strike, in First (had the new First by the way, which he said was exceptional) - but also with reduced service, everyone in First only had Y meals.

BA may be running flights, but a lot of people will be experiencing non-BA service.

BA may be running flights, but a lot of people will be experiencing non-BA service.

And I think thats the problem that will hit BA hardest in the long term.

From what I have seen / read BA have been saying that they are running the flights they are running at the same level of service as previous - or are at least giving the impression its service as usual when its not.

True I've not been on the BA site but thats the impression I cam getting from the news reports.

everyone in First only had Y meals.

BA may be running flights, but a lot of people will be experiencing non-BA service.

I cancelled our Easter BOS trip, apparently the reduced service crap was happening days after the first strike period.I really have had enough of this strike.

T5 was as busy as I have ever seen it this morning so the strike is not deterring people from travelling. Once checked in our flight was shown as being operated by Jet2 but in reality it was a BA 319 with BA crew. Lots of wet leased aircraft on stands, Air Finland, Astreaus, Euro Atlantic. In honesty if we had got a jet2 a/c we would not have been bothered. The main point was that we were travelling to our destination. IMHO I think BA have done quite well in the situation.

Iain

[honey lamb]

T5 was as busy as I have ever seen it this morning so the strike is not deterring people from travelling. Once checked in our flight was shown as being operated by Jet2 but in reality it was a BA 319 with BA crew. Lots of wet leased aircraft on stands, Air Finland, Astreaus, Euro Atlantic. In honesty if we had got a jet2 a/c we would not have been bothered. The main point was that we were travelling to our destination. IMHO I think BA have done quite well in the situation.

Iain

Saw lots of those aircraft landing at LHR this morning. Wondered why but now I know.

To be honest, given a choice of getting to my destination with out a hot meal (regardless of class of travel) or not getting there, I'm pretty sure I know what I'd do. It's hardly 'appalling' - just a bit of a minor inconvenience.

To be honest, given a choice of getting to my destination with out a hot meal (regardless of class of travel) or not getting there, I'm pretty sure I know what I'd do. It's hardly 'appalling' - just a bit of a minor inconvenience.

All our travel is for fun, I really don't like spending money and not getting what I have paid for.Y or W probably not a great deal of difference with reduced service.J and F it is appalling when it is dragging on days after the strike with a full crew out of LHR.Our last 3 trips have either had the Sword of Damocles hanging over them or cancelled,I really am thinking about a defection to *A.
BA's service standards have steadily slipped over the past 7 years they still do have some fantastic crew but they also have a lot of rubbish.F service is barely at the standard of J from 20 years back and J now is what WT+ should be.Premium food and wine have been degraded as the hard product has improved.The BA soft product trails miles behind the likes of SQ, CX & LX.

[Scrooge]

To be honest, given a choice of getting to my destination with out a hot meal (regardless of class of travel) or not getting there, I'm pretty sure I know what I'd do. It's hardly 'appalling' - just a bit of a minor inconvenience.

While I would agree, the problem is not the fact that a hot meal was not offered, it's the choice or lack off of what was offered.

What happens if the pax is allergic to seafood ? or in this case does not like seafood. It would be far better to offer a plain salad and a couple of different dressings.


I went through this problem on a VS flight a couple of years ago, everything offered in UC had onions in it, I have serious issues with them, so I was stuck with a PE meal, not so good when your paying serious money for a ticket.

[Pete]

While I would agree, the problem is not the fact that a hot meal was not offered, it's the choice or lack off of what was offered.

What happens if the pax is allergic to seafood ? or in this case does not like seafood. It would be far better to offer a plain salad and a couple of different dressings.

Agree with that. I seem to remember from Sarah's TR that they were told beforehand that hot meals wouldn't be available, but instead a plated salad. Being a veggie I may have assumed that meant I'd be ok, and no need to make provisions before the flight - but if I was then to be only offered a seafood salad, I'd have been a bit miffed to say the least. Especially in a J class seat.

Slightly off topic, but I have been 'enjoying' reading the CC thread over on Pprune, but apparently eventually you come to the end of viewing as a non member!!

Do you know if you have to actually be in the airline industry to be a member? I am just nosey about this thread!!!

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