As a British Airways strike appears increasingly likely to happen this weekend, an old axiom comes to mind “It could always be worse.” Travelers who have already scrambled to reschedule canceled flights might doubt that. Alas, it can get worse, and is likely, to get much worse.
Anyone whose British Airways travel starts March 27 should beware.
Here’s the current situation. For those who are booked March 27-31, British Airways is offering full refunds, or the opportunity to reschedule outside that time period. So far, so good.
This weekend, the airline claims it is operating 60 percent of their flights, with replacement workers and “scab” labor.
Except, right now, no one knows which flights will be canceled during those four days.
For next weekend, March 27-31, the airline has not announced which flights will be canceled in the event of a continuation of the strike. Worse, BA does not expect to do so until next Monday March 22 or Tuesday March 23.
To make things more complicated, because the schedule is uncertain, British Airways has suspended sales on ALL flights during those four days. Even the flights that are operating through the strike this weekend.
In one case, I have a client who is booked on a Boston-London flight March 29, who now needs to bring a co-worker along. Except that we can’t book the flight until next week … if it operates. (It is operating this weekend.)
And because the flight from Boston is a daylight flight leaving at 8:15 a.m., there is no backup that will allow them to make a connection to India. There’s not even the possibility of booking them on a different airline.
So the passengers are stuck. They can cancel an important business dinner the night before, and change their schedule to fly with different airlines, at a higher price. Or, they take a chance that the flight will operate and that we can book a second seat Monday or Tuesday. Neither option is appealing.
In some markets, British Airways has plenty of competition, so one flight being unavailable doesn’t pose as much of a problem. But, especially for travelers heading to parts of Africa and Europe, the airline has some of the only flights available.
While no one knows for sure what is going on in the minds of the airline and union, The Guardian, an admittedly liberal British newspaper, is convinced British Airways is planning to try to bust the union and is willing to lose over $100 million to do it.
Meanwhile, the Times of London is reporting that Unite is trying to enlist the support of other unions around the world, including the U.S. Teamsters. In the meantime, British Airways claims increasing numbers of their own cabin crew are willing to cross picket lines and come to work.
The only good news — Unite has promised not to disrupt the Easter holiday week with more strikes. But, what happens if the strike is not resolved by the end of next week?
The only thing we know is that we don’t know anything.
