Heathrow strike off – but 30,000 travellers are still grounded
STRIKE action at Heathrow Airport was called off at the last minute last night – but not before 177 flights were cancelled, leaving thousands of families facing holiday misery.
Workers, who are members of the Unite union, agreed to suspend action planned for today but warned the strike could go ahead tomorrow if a pay dispute was not resolved.
However, their announcement came too late to reverse a decision to cancel and re-route flights which were due to land at Britain’s busiest airport.
As a result, thousands of people face disruption to their holiday plans and substantial financial losses.
The strike was threatened following a ballot of airport workers, including security staff, firefighters and engineers, who voted almost nine to one against a pay offer worth 7.3 per cent over two and a half years. Union bosses will continue discussions with the conciliation service Acas today following a weekend of talks.
Last night, Unite said: ‘Tomorrow’s talks will involve senior directors from Heathrow Airport and senior Unite officials with the aim of averting a second day of planned strike action set to start at 00:01 and finish at 23:59 on Tuesday August 6.’
Some 177 flights, across both today and tomorrow, were cancelled as a precautionary measure ahead of the strike, affecting about 30,000 people.
Families who booked their own accommodation, car hire or attractions based on their original flight plans are likely to be left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
The situation was made worse by the fact that Heathrow and the 91 airlines had not published a list of all the cancellations by yesterday afterlives noon, leaving frustrated and confused travellers in a state of limbo.
Heathrow told people to contact their airline – but many of the companies offered only general information on their websites and social media feeds.
Nancy Lambrianides, who is originally from the UK but now in Cyprus, feared her family’s £4,500 holiday to Disneyland Paris could be ruined by the industrial action.
She said: ‘I am very upset, I booked these flights a year ago. It was a treat for the kids… The anxiety has been killing me since Friday.’ Emily Razzell tweeted to ask airport bosses to tell her if her husband Tim would be able to travel home from Tel Aviv today. She asked: ‘My twoyear-old really wants his daddy home.’
Heathrow Airport said that it had advised the airlines on the total number of flights that needed to be cancelled and then left it up to them to choose which ones they should be.
A spokesman said: ‘We will continue talks with Unite tomorrow and we remain hopeful that we can find a resolution and stop this disruptive and unnecessary threat of strike action.
‘Airlines may choose to reinstate impacted flights.We regret that passengers have been inconvenienced by this.’
‘My son wants his daddy home’