12 Days Of Interrupted Service: British Airways' Holiday Strike Nightmare

Posted by Stephanie Startz on December 15, 2009 05:23 PM

The airline that stole Christmas!

British Airways' 13,500 cabin crew members voted in an overwhelming majority yesterday to stop work on Tuesday December 22, until January 2, as a part of a dispute over working conditions.

The vote was supported by 92.5 percent of British Airways' cabin crew employees and members of the trade union Unite, who are protesting the airline’s cost cutting measures. British Airways is trimming the number of staff on board flights, instituting pay freezes, and issuing unfavorable contracts for new staff.

British Airways' first walk out by staff in 12 years will affect 1 million customers and comes during the airlines busiest time of the year, when it usually services 650 flights and 90,000 passengers daily.

The airline brand is expected to cancel most flights, forcing passengers with advanced bookings to make alternative arrangements. British Airways will offer customers full refunds or issue waivers to fly with the airline at a later date. It will not pay passengers to fly on competing carriers.

The strike is a blow to an already hampered airline; British Airways reported losses of £401 million earlier this year and had predicted continued losses for 2010 prior to the strike. The strike is estimated to cost £10 million a day.

British Airways management called the strike an “overreaction” to their “modest” cuts. The airline maintains their cuts are essential, and defended its pay packages as the most competitive in Britain. Today the airline is pursuing legal recourse, claiming the union's balloting featured “irregularities” and is not legal.

Competitors have been quick to exploit British Airways' misery. Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet plan to use larger planes on heavily traveled routes, opening up more seats for sale. EasyJet will provide priority booking to travelers with British Airways Gold and Platinum memberships. While Virgin’s Richard Branson expressed, surely sincere, disappointment at the turn of events, “It is a nightmare for passengers, and you have to feel for them at Christmas time.”

British Airways' management called the strike “suicidal,” acknowledging that the strike may cost the airline customers for life.

The strike is not only a financial hit, but also a branding sucker punch. Business and holiday travelers will undoubtedly sour on the airline as it is demonstrates a failure to negotiate with its own employees at this time of the year.

More about: British Airways, EasyJet, Unite, Virgin Atlantic, Airlines, Strike, Holiday travel

Simon Middleton says:

This strike, if it goes ahead, will undoubtedly do damage to the BA brand. Strikes are after all a tool designed to threaten the prosperity of a business. Historically, withdrawal of labour was a powerful and vital expression of the will of downtrodden working people. But I think the world has changed. In today's economy, particularly in an industry so technically sophisticated as air travel, I don't think this kind of industrial action can be anything but damaging for everyone. Whatever the desired outcome of the strike, the actual outcome will be worse for all, with fall in income and brand reputation leading to redundancies and so on. If Unite really wants to protect its members then I believe it should be working with the brand, not against it. Having said that, it may well be that BA's management needs to negotiate in a more collaborative way itself. After all, without cabin crew there is no airline. In my few months working with BA I found a huge and consistent degree of loyalty amongst staff. People who work for BA love the brand and are fiercely proud of it. My impression formed at the time was that despite this loyalty, there remained somewhat archaic union practices and attitudes with regards to cabin crew duties, whilst the rest of the huge workforce were working hard to be innovative and forward looking. There is another dimension to this, which is the effect on brand Britain. BA is the national carrier after all and its fortunes and misfortunes reflect on the international reputation of the country. Thankfully Britain has a superb reputation around the world, so has BA, although not as good as it once was. For all our prosperity, this is not a time to damage the BA brand. This strike could fatally wound the brand: I think passengers won't forgive it for a decade.

December 16, 2009 06:36 AM #

bedroom furniture beds says:

That's really a nightmare. To be delayed in the airport is really irritating. I think bed is also cause by nightmare.

February 24, 2010 09:31 PM #

assignments says:

although not as good as it once was. For all our prosperity, this is not a time to damage the BA brand. This strike could fatally wound the brand: I think passengers won't forgive it for a decade.

March 16, 2010 05:36 AM #

Boiler Scrappage says:

There is a lot more to this than first sight. Following the court ruling the Unite union has again balloted its members and they are again going to strike. The impact has been that Pilots are not communicating with cabin staff - the team looking after us in the air. Also it has now been revealed that the Unite union has two discussion teams interfacing with BA and neither of these will talk to each other. Whilst this mess of an industrial relations pickle rolls out no one seems to focus on the brand impact and the long term damage to profits and job prospects. Brands are long term assets and unions and management should pay far more attention to how their actions build or destroy brand value as that is the foundation for a successful aitline business that does no want to be the price leader.

March 2, 2010 05:39 AM #