BA strike

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by ShirleyD
SAd Sad news
[/quote]

Ditto[msnsad]

[anorak]

I am afraid I can't find much sympathy for BA cabin and checkin staff or management or the company.
Every time I fly with them its an unpleasant experience.
The only good things I can say is that the planes always seem well maintained and that I have confidence in the pilots, and those of course are really the most important things.

And of course you do sometimes get a good deal on the tickets if you look hard.

Why are the BA cabin crew so offhand and unhelpful if you fly economy? They just treat you like dirt.
No doubt its different if you fly first class and not cattle class like we do.
Virgin cabin crew are so much friendlier and more helpful, what makes the difference?
Mybe the BA crew have been too long in their jobs and need a good shakeup, maybe they are just unhappy people? Its not a job for older folk really is it and the Virgin crew seem considerably younger.
As far as US airlines are concerned Continental seem at least as poor as BA on customer service but many of their planes are old and grubby as well. Nice to know our national carrier isn't the worst.

The union, whose members include about 11,000 of BA's 14,000 cabin crew, laid the blame for the collapse of the talks firmly at the airline's door.

It said it had put forward proposals which would have led to the resolution of the dispute but that those proposals had been rejected by BA.

Its deputy general secretary, Jack Dromey, said: "We are dismayed and saddened that BA failed to grasp this genuine opportunity.

"The company has failed to hear the voice of common sense. This is a sad day for passengers and cabin crew alike."

Describing the company's conduct of the negotiations as "incomprehensible", Mr Dromey added: "Our door remains open."

The strike was due to last three days but was reduced to two by the union as a gesture of goodwill and to allow more time for talks.

The union said that BA had "simply failed to respond" to this gesture of goodwill.

[msnsad][msnsad][msnsad]Its cabin crew have complained that a new regime on sickness pay, introduced 18 months ago, means they are forced to work when they are ill.[msnsad][msnsad][msnsad]

BA insists the measures were needed to cut high levels of sickness absence.

It says staff now take an average of 12 days off sick each year, reduced from 22 days before the new rules were brought in.

Starter pay rates for crew members is also a bone of contention.

As well as next week's strike, 72-hour walkouts are due to begin on Monday February 5 and Monday February 12.

[alastair]

Acording to the BA website flights from Gatwick to Orlando are not affected.

From the BA website:-

British Airways will:

Operate no longhaul or shorthaul flights from London Heathrow during the strike period (0001 GMT on Tuesday January 30 until 2359 GMT on Wednesday January 31)
Operate no shorthaul services from London Gatwick during the strike period
Longhaul services from London Gatwick will operate during the strike period except flights to Tampa, Bermuda and Barbados.
All BA Connect, franchise and alliance partner flights will continue to operate, please see details below
In addition the airline may experience further disruption to its flight schedule in the days following the strike as it seeks to recover its operation and position aircraft and crew around the world.

We wrote to you on January 22, to advise you of planned industrial action by the Transport and General Workers Union's (T&G) cabin crew branch.

Unfortunately, despite continued talks, industrial action will be taking place on January 30 and 31. Further planned strikes are also scheduled to take place February 5, 6 and 7 and February 12, 13 and 14.

We are writing to you to reassure you that we are committed to finding a resolution to this situation. We are working day and night to try to come to an agreement with the T&G that will stop any further planned strikes from taking place.

In the meantime, we have published our flight schedule for January 30 and 31 on ba.com. If you are planning to travel with British Airways over the disruption period, we would strongly recommend that you visit our website for the latest information at http://ba.com/lfn .



Yours sincerely

British Airways

[Katys Grandad]

It looks like it's going ahead as talks have ended without agreement tonight. I was flying on BA today and the mood seemed to be that the cabin crew expect to be out on strike next week.