British Airways cabin crew to strike over Christmas
December 15, 2009
British Airway’s cabin crew have decided to strike from December 22nd to January 2nd. The move could quite possibly destroy the airline and has come as a shock to both the airline industry and passengers. Although BA has said that they will refund the price of tickets to passengers who are affected as well as try to find alternative flights it looks like most people who planned to travel with the airline over Christmas will be stranded.
Willie Walsh, BA’s chairman said that if cabin crew went ahead with the strike it would be commercial suicide. The action would cost the airline, already in dire financial straits, around £500 million. At the centre of the disagreement between airline staff and management are plans to cut jobs and reduce pay. Mr. Walsh pointed out that BA staff were already being paid twice as much as those at rival airline Virgin Atlantic and that in order to insure BA’s survival costs had to be cut.
Travel experts have urged passengers who hold tickets for flights over the extremely busy Christmas period not to panic just yet. They say that passengers should not buy another ticket as they will be entitled to a refund or a re-route. BA has already announced that it will give its customers who are affected by the strike action the opportunity of changing flight dates to any time in the next year at no extra cost. This may be of little consolation to the million people who had planned to fly with the airline over the Christmas period.
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