It seems things have broken down with BALPA and British Airways and the expected pilots strike is going ahead.
British Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner approaching Heathrow – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has given notice to British Airways that it will call on its members to strike on 9th, 10th and 27th September 2019.
With BALPA and British Airways disagreeing on pay offers, the pilots will walk out.
In the strike vote, 93% of its membership voted for a strike.
British Airways is responding, with the airline stating
If you have a flight booked with us on those dates, it is likely that you will not be able to travel due to BALPA’s strike action. We will be offering all affected customers full refunds or the option to re-book to another date.
We’re very sorry about the impact BALPA’s action will have, and we’ll do everything we can to get as many people as possible away on their journeys.
Flights on BA CityFlyer, SUN-AIR and Comair are not affected
We’re exploring options to supplement our fleet by using aircraft and crew from other airlines (wet leasing)
We’re working with our partner airlines to schedule larger aircraft to take the maximum number of customers
This is going to be ugly
A pilots strike with a high level of backing is never a good sign for flights to operate on strike dates. Therefore, please start planning now, and consider rebooking on different dates or postponing travel.
- BALPA’s statement can be found at https://www.balpa.org/Media-Centre/Press-Releases/BA-pilots-to-strike-in-September
- British Airways statement can be found at https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/strike/latest-information
Expect codeshares/Joint Venture services to be busy too.
But this could turn messy, very quickly on strike dates. Please don’t get caught up in this!
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