HEATHROW STRIKE UPDATE: British Airways and Virgin Atlantic emergency measures

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• Harry Hv says:

  3 Aug3 August 00:57

  “If you are booked to travel on a British Airways operated shorthaul flight from London Heathrow on 5 or 6 August, you can rebook onto an alternative British Airways operated flight in the same cabin.”
  Er, what if you are booked on a LONGHAUL flight?

  • Rob says:

    3 Aug3 August 08:33

    Tough.

• Bill says:

  3 Aug3 August 02:43

  Time to do a Reagan and fire these idiots. A hell of a lot easier to do too as it’s only just above bottom of the barrel stuff, unlike air traffic control. Wait until after November 1st. Fire the lot. Replace them with competent people from outside the U.K. who will do a hell of a better job. I have no sympathy for any of them. At a time when GBP is consistently weaker than it has been for a while, and there are large numbers of tourists, how do we welcome them? Strikes. BA nonsense ‘you can’t cancel your flight’. Grumpy taxi drivers at Heathrow and the monopoly of the Hotel Hoppa. Plus how many hard working people are having their hard-earned holidays disrupted? So: do a Reagan. And much easier to do too. You could train for these jobs in a few weeks, tops.

  • Linke says:

    3 Aug3 August 05:39

    What an unpleasant individual you are. There is nothing incompetent about people standing up for their rights – the right to strike is indeed a human right. These are hard working people with families working in a stressful and challenging environment – and they deserve dignity and fair pay. Pay and conditions have been eroded over decades – it’s not surprising people are fighting back. Of course the inconvenience is unfortunate – but if these people were a bit more appreciated in the first place it wouldn’t have come to this! It’s sad how quick people are to take the side of billionaires over hard working ordinary people. Anyway simply firing everyone in the way you want is completely unfeasible as well as illegal.

  • Anna says:

    3 Aug3 August 06:53

    Security screening is “just above the bottom of the barrel”?! I for one would feel safer knowing the staff were motivated, which isn’t going to be achieved by paying them less than the living wage!

    • Stoneman says:

      3 Aug3 August 10:09

      Well, I wouldn’t put too much faith in these people actually catching a terrorist given they barely pay any attention. If the terrorist has rocked up to the airport with a bomb in their bag then it won’t be detected by the guy pretending to pat you down and observing your bag. The whole security clearing process is all a charade designed to make the passenger feel safer but it’s actual value is in deterring potential bad guys from trying it on in the first place.

  • BJ says:

    3 Aug3 August 07:05

    “it’s only just above bottom of the barrel stuff” – I find this quite offensive – every job, including unskilled jobs, has value and we should all recognise this. And, on what basis do you think these people might be any less hard-working than the business and leisure customers they serve? Do you think they are happy about going on strike? I very much doubt it; many have probably been driven to it by in-work poverty, something that is a very real fact of life for many hard-working skilled and unskilled employees at the lower end of the salary scale. It is clear the Unions do not want this or the pilots strike, they have appeared to conduct themselves professionally and patiently in an effort to avert the strikes, as has become increasingly typical in recent years it has be management, not unions, who have escalated and prolonged industrial action with the games they play and idiot laws that allow them to challenge industrial action on the most minor of technicalities,.

    • Simon says:

      3 Aug3 August 07:25

      +1

    • Lyn says:

      3 Aug3 August 08:21

      +1 Well expressed BJ. Thank you.

      And this from someone with a short haul BA flight on Monday evening to a destination where the next BA flight is not until Thursday.

      • Polly says:

        4 Aug4 August 08:27

        Good luck for your flight then, Lyn

        • Lyn says:

          4 Aug4 August 20:09

          Thanks Polly. Looks as if I will be OK, which is lucky, and a relief, because there wasn’t really a good alternative.

    • John says:

      3 Aug3 August 12:15

      Disagree that “every job has value”. Many people have jobs that shouldn’t exist. Obviously the security staff are doing it because the job was offered to them and they need the money (and they may have bought into the hype that they are actually doing something useful), so given that the role exists, they should be paid fairly and have proper working conditions – but it doesn’t mean their job is of value.

  • sunguy says:

    3 Aug3 August 10:46

    Bill – did you ever visit EDI or LGW security BEFORE they were sold off out of the BAA ?

    If so, you would have noticed that although you most definitely had the security staff “little hitlers” and the some of the guards that were not so nice but also dim – they were all properly trained AND experienced. They were also paid quite well for the type of job they do.

    All of these make such a huge difference. Have you visited EDI or LGW recently? Have you noticed the fact that there are FAR more bags manually searched along with staff that seem far less knowledgable, FAR younger with longer queues?

    This is because both airports “lost” quite a number of BAA trained staff on transition (when I say lost, I mean redundancies (also from BAA during 2009 as they prepared for the sale)or moving to far less favourable Ts&Cs after the initial TUPE) – they lost an absolute wealth of experience – funny to note that the snow of December 2009 when LGW closed for several days – something unprecidented – it was less than a month since GIP took the airport over!

    PS. I also speak from experience as I worked for BAA when I was a student, and would definitely not call the jobs “just above the bottom of the barrel stuff”. When this happened during my time with BAA, the new company cut the pay to minimum wage for all new starts and dropped the training (including on job) from 1 month to 1 week.

    So, these strikes at LHR (considering that LHR is the last bastion of BAA), are about much more than just pay and conditions – they are about preserving the knowledge and the job – they are about safety both for passengers and staff. Im not sure I would want to fly through an airport where 99% of the staff do not speak the local language as a 1st language AND had all had minimal training AND had only been employed for a week or two!!!

    Have a look at a number of chain resturaunts that have been failing and restructuring – you may notice a theme on the type of staff that they employ – there are similar reasons!

    • Stoneman says:

      3 Aug3 August 10:57

      Yet when you look at evidence of catching criminals and/or terrorists the security clearing people fail abjectly. Their purpose is to deter so why our you pay anything other than minimum wage for this?

      • BJ says:

        3 Aug3 August 11:28

        …because it is a miserable morale-sapping, unappreciated, undervalued, unrewarding experience for anybody who is on it, even more so for those under the age of 25. Living wage my ass, it is exploitation by employers, by government and everybody who condones it. Thankfully not everybody who is better off appears to do so, for example see comment from Lyn above.

        • Bazza says:

          3 Aug3 August 13:11

          I can see how anyone with decency would disagree with BJ’s comments

      • sunguy says:

        3 Aug3 August 13:46

        Maybe because they arent looking for criminals or terrorists – that is the job of the police and the security services – the BAA security staff are there for the first line of defence of the protection of the airport and aircraft – they work alongside the Police and other law enforcement agencies – they DO NOT however arrest or profile terrorists or criminals.

        I remember the first group of monkeys that were brought in on minimum wage. One guy kept on knocking himself out by doing daft things, another thought it would be fun to light the end of an aerosol cannister, another punched out an aircraft engineer infront of a group of passengers and another tried his hardest not to do any work in the hope of being fired as he had only taken the job after being forced into it by the job centre – if you are fired you almost immediately qualify for job seekers allowence however if you quit, you dont get it for a month or two….this was an intake of 12……oh and one more – the most serious of all – he was employed to do work on the ramp, decided he couldnt really be bothered because he wasnt being paid enough (still min wage after being there 2 years), he was responsible for doing the last and final check at pushback time to walk round the aircraft and confirm all doors, and hatches were secure – dont know how often – but at least 4 times he failed to do the actual walk round the aircraft but confirmed to the flight deck that he had and that all was good!

        So, do I need to continue as to why you should not pay minnimum wage with no real benefits for these folks ?

        Why DO you think when the government wanted to privatise NATS that all the major UK airlines got together as odd bedfellows to bid together for the company ?

        • Shoestring says:

          3 Aug3 August 13:55

          pay peanuts, get monkeys

          always paid my top team: top decile

        • Stoneman says:

          3 Aug3 August 14:14

          If they are not looking for criminals and terrorists then what exactly is their purpose? Why not just do away with it all?

        • AJA says:

          3 Aug3 August 15:41

          “always paid my top team: top decile”

          And what about those who weren’t your “top team”?

          That attitude of only paying the “top team ” top decile is precisely why HAL staff are striking. Fairer to pay all employees the same percentage increase. All staff are important and deserve to share equally in any pay rises.

        • Shoestring says:

          3 Aug3 August 17:35

          @AJA – top decile for a security agent at the airport might be living wage, call it £9.50/ hr, +(say) another 30%

          no problem with that logic at all

          eg Lidl are well known for paying their till staff a lot more hourly rate than Tesco pays – helps you recruit, motivate & retain good staff

    • Bagoly says:

      4 Aug4 August 09:07

      Interesting point about BAA having better (trained) low level staff.

      But it’s also true that the management who took over from BAA organise most things much better, E.g. actually having enough screening lanes at LGW.

      Perhaps this is a more general issue: Private Equity manages assets, and possibly senior staff better, but neglects the fact that effective and efficient (which means motivated) junior staff also affect the whole.

    • sunguy says:

      4 Aug4 August 18:17

      Because as I previously stated – they are there to secure the airport and work along side the security and law enforcement services.

      They are there not exactly as a deterrent, but as a first measure of keeping airside as sterile an environment as they can – but they are not specifically on the look out for criminals or terrorists – thats the job of law enforcement – which is not

      If you still dont quite understand – think of them as doormen/women at a nightclub……who are there to make sure people dont get too rowdy or smuggle in contraband/weapons and work with law enforcement to help out as and when but – the only power of arrest they have is the same as you and I!

• Howard says:

  3 Aug3 August 06:34

  Flying Venice to London City on Tuesday with BA.

  Very limited WiFi where I am. Do you think we will be ok?

  Thanks for any advice.

  • Shoestring says:

    3 Aug3 August 06:35

    London City is apparently not affected at all

  • @mkcol says:

    3 Aug3 August 06:38

    Given the strikes are for Heathrow airport employees, as clearly stated in the article, I don’t understand your concern. City Airport is not Heathrow.

  • Captain Obvious says:

    3 Aug3 August 07:52

    The strike is at Heathrow so if you read the article properly, it should be clear that you’ll be fine.

    • Mr Peter A Galvin says:

      3 Aug3 August 09:30

      Seriously do you have to be so rude?
      The gentleman asked a question and may fully understand city operations are different.

      • Linda Chamberlain says:

        3 Aug3 August 09:48

        I agree Peter, really no need to admonish someone asking for reassurance about his travel plans.

        • Danny says:

          3 Aug3 August 09:56

          Yes but a lot of people are either lazy to read the articles properly or want to be spoon fed everything.

        • Pete 1 says:

          3 Aug3 August 10:21

          hahah Danny you clown!

          I’ve read the article properly and at no point does it say that City is not affected. Just because the article only refers to heathrow its reasonable to assume that other airports may be affected without explicit clarification otherwise – which the article does not provide.

          I agree it does tend to indicate heathrow is the only airport affected but most people will realise asking for re-assurance is fair.

          Its a shame I had to spoon feed you this piece of advice…

        • Rob says:

          3 Aug3 August 10:46

          I will tweak.

        • Bazza says:

          3 Aug3 August 13:01

          Danny is 100% correct. Last couple of years this site has become full of lazy readers who ask for answers that can clearly be found in the articles

      • Howard says:

        3 Aug3 August 13:39

        Thanks for replies. It might seem I have not read article in full and I have not but please understand I am sailing on cruise with very little internet coverage and two of our last three BA flights have been cancelled and we are concerned.

        Peter – thank you for your kind words.

        • Pete 1 says:

          3 Aug3 August 15:40

          The HfP comments board is a small knit and dedicated community aimed at helping others in regards to travel experiences – be it miles, hotels or, as is this instance, irr ops. What may seem obvious to a experienced reader may not be to new comers. The majority of HfP readers are willing to share their knowledge for the wider community.

          If it bothers you so much Bazza and Danny that HfP commenters are willing to answer, what actually was a legitimate clarification, then don’t read the comments. I can just about understand if the answer was in the title but it wasn’t. The question was in-fact a clarification of a related topic not directly answered in the article.

  • Lee J Thornton says:

    3 Aug3 August 16:52

    I’m sorry people have been so rude to you, this is not what this community is usually about. As others have said you’ll be fine and I for one understand the confusion with BA also being the subject of separate strike action.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Aug4 August 18:11

      I think the comments above were fair enough and no particularly rude.

• Waribai says:

  3 Aug3 August 06:49

  Granted, no one has a crystal ball but on Monday morning I fly in from HKG on VS. What do you reckon is the likely impact? No baggage on arrival?

  • Shoestring says:

    3 Aug3 August 06:57

    probably just a longer wait than normal at the carousel

    your flight is not affected – but some Virgin routes using Gatwick:
    Monday 5th August

    These flights will now arrive into Gatwick
    VS138 – New York-JFK-London Heathrow (departing 4 August)
    VS154 – New York-JFK-London Heathrow (departing 4 August)
    VS104 – Atlanta-London Heathrow (departing 4 August)

    These flights will now depart from Gatwick
    VS3 – London Heathrow-New York JFK
    VS153 – London Heathrow-New York JFK
    VS1 – London Heathrow-New York Newark
    VS157 – London Heathrow-Boston

    Tuesday 6th August – To be confirmed

    These flights will now arrive into Gatwick
    VS4 – New York-JFK-London Heathrow (departing 5 August)
    VS138 – New York-JFK-London Heathrow (departing 5 August)
    VS2 – Newark-London Heathrow (departing 5 August)
    VS158 – Boston-London Heathrow

    These flights will now depart from Gatwick
    VS3 – London Heathrow-New York JFK
    VS153 London Heathrow-New York JFK
    VS1 – London Heathrow-New York Newark
    VS157 – London Heathrow-Boston

    • Waribai says:

      3 Aug3 August 21:36

      Thanks!

  • Nick says:

    3 Aug3 August 11:40

    Baggage handlers are not employed by HAL, rather by the airline (or subcontracted to a handling agent), so inbound bags won’t be affected at all.

• Tony says:

  3 Aug3 August 07:00

  It will be chaos, I spent a considerable amount of time speaking to BA yesterday and trying to cancel without any success. I asked what their policy will be on flight cancellations and they would not say. I have no choice but to fly on Monday, not looking forward to it… I understand that you can take a small item of hand baggage such as a small backpack “You’ll only be allowed to take one small personal item of hand baggage that can fit under the seat in front of you. Any additional items of hand baggage must be checked in.”

• J says:

  3 Aug3 August 07:11

  I’m due to fly to Buenos Aires with BA on Mon eve. Am taking a laptop with built-in battery (for work) and my partner is taking a Playstation (unboxed). Can anyone advise if these can go into checked baggage, or would ‘personal bag’ include a small backpack into which each us could squeeze an item?

  Have a connecting flight so not possible to change flights.

  • The Original David says:

    3 Aug3 August 10:56

    Does your company policy allow you to check in a work laptop though? Both the companies I work for explicitly ban me from doing so.

• Andrew says:

  3 Aug3 August 07:16

  According to the BA website information, they are only allowing rebooking on short-haul NOT long-haul. So I think you need to edit the article Rob.

  • Rob says:

    3 Aug3 August 08:32

    Done, apologies.

• Alison says:

  3 Aug3 August 07:34

  Someone at BA hasn’t thought through the rules for changing flights operated by partners. We have a codeshare Aer Lingus flight on the 6th and Aer Lingus emailed to suggest we rebook. But, they can’t rebook for us because the ticket was bought from BA.
  The BAcall centre isn’t letting people change flights if the flight is operated by another carrier…
  It doesn’t seem to matter at all that the ticket was bought from BA and that the operating carrier is recommending that we change.
  So, both BA and the operating carrier are suggesting I rebook. I want to rebook, but can’t.
  BA is treating passengers on codeshare flights as second class.

  • Anna says:

    3 Aug3 August 07:53

    I feel so sorry for anyone trying to deal with BA customer service at a time like this. If at all possible, try and speak to someone in a UK based call centre (use the UK number with the withheld function on your own phone). IME they are much more likely to apply common sense to the situation!

    • Mikeact says:

      3 Aug3 August 09:34

      I feel sorry for customer service…..

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