The day BA pilots brought Heathrow to a standstill
Strike hits 195,000 passengers
BRITISH Airways passengers have endured the worst disruption for almost a decade after an unprecedented pilots’ strike forced it to ground almost all its flights.
Britain’s flag carrier admitted it had no idea which pilots were turning up for work and which aircraft they were qualified to fly.
On one of the most turbulent days in its 100-year history, BA said this left it with ‘ no option but to cancel nearly 100 per cent of our flights’.
The airline said more than 1,700 flights scheduled during the 48-hour action yesterday and today have been grounded – affecting around 195,000 passengers. Some knock-on cancellastrikes tions are expected tomorrow which was due to fly from Pisa because aircraft are not at the to Heathrow yesterday evening. right airports. Others who have managed to
The majority of BA’s 4,300 secure alternative flights have pilots are involved in the strike, had to cut their holidays short. which has caused the most To compound their frustration, severe disruption for passengers they have been told by BA since the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull that they are not eligible for volcano in Iceland compensation because the more than nine years ago.
After the airline urged passengers not to turn up at airports, the departure lounge at Heathrow’s Terminal Five, the airport’s BA hub, was almost deserted.
Passengers have hit out at BA’s handling of the crisis, which comes as it celebrates its centenary year. Many have complained of having to spend hours on the phone to organise alternative flights, or to get a refund.
They include a head of a language school who had booked a flight for 50 Italian children are beyond the airline’s control. Another 100,000 passengers due to fly on September 27, when a third strike day is planned, are waiting to hear if their plans will be wrecked.
The prospect of this and further walkouts over Christmas appeared more likely as the war of words between BA and pilots’ union Balpa escalated. Balpa’s £141,000-a-year general secretary Brian Strutton said pilots and BA had ‘fallen out badly’. He said ‘fat cat managers’ had ‘lost the trust and confidence of pilots because of cost cutting and dumbing down of the brand’.
Balpa says pilots took pay cuts when BA was hit by the financial crisis, but deserve more money after it posted record profits of almost £2billion last year.
BA chief executive Alex Cruz hit out at the ‘cynical actions of the pilots union’. He called the strike an ‘own goal for the union’, that would ‘punish’ customers, the brand and other staff.
BA has offered pilots a pay rise of 11.5 per cent over three years, plus a 1 per cent bonus, which it said would push the average pay of captains above £200,000.
Captains are paid an average of £167,000 a year, not including extra allowances. First officers – or co-pilots – average around £90,000. The 11.5 per cent rise has been accepted by 90 per cent of staff, including cabin crew on more modest salaries.
BA is obliged to rebook passengers on alternative flights – including with other airlines – or offer refunds. But it has said it is not liable to pay compensation because the strike counts as ‘extraordinary circumstances’.
Passengers whose flights were cancelled have complained they have spent hours on hold waiting for calls to be answered.
The airline said it has dealt with 394,000 calls since the dates were announced. But it was unable to disclose how many passengers have been forced to cut, delay or cancel holidays.
‘An own goal for the union’
THE travel plans of 200,000 passengers have been ruined and one of the world’s busiest airport terminals was turned into a ghost town as British Airways pilots began the first of two 48-hour walkouts yesterday.
With salaries for senior captains touching £200,000, they are already among Britain’s best-paid employees.
And they have been offered what to most workers would seem a generous 11.5 per cent increase over three years. Indeed other BA unions have already accepted it.
But the pilots demand this rise PLUS a share of the airline’s profits (which ironically will be much less because of their strikes).
Industrial disputes where workers have genuine grievances about low pay or bad conditions engender considerable public sympathy. Sadly, this one appears to be motivated largely by arrogance and greed.