At this point, British Airways’ labor dispute with their UNITE cabin crew union has almost degenerated into a line from the old song, “War, what are we fighting for? Don’t tell me I don’t give a damn…”
And in truth, the original issue, reducing cabin crew by one on wide-body flights has now been superceded by British Airways’ management sticking to their threat that flight attendants who struck the first time would lose flight benefits. (Admittedly, the most important perk for many airline workers.)
But at this point, with a series of strikes that started in March, sandwiched around the Icelandic volcano eruption, many travelers and travel agents are getting to the point of not caring whose fault this is and moving to other airlines.
Personally, as an agent I’ve been a big British Airways supporter for years. Their business class seats are a huge improvement over United’s old style seats, and their mid-class has been a great alternative to sitting in the cattle car that economy class has become. (Unlike United’s economy plus, British Airways’ mid class seat are physically different and better seats, not just regular seats spread further apart.)
Virgin Atlantic, while they have a good on-board product, doesn’t have the route structure of the bigger airlines, and they don’t participate in any of the big airline frequent flier alliances. (They have partnered with USAir and Continental, though it’s hard to imagine that United will keep the partnership once their merger with Continental is complete.)
In any case, mileage and seats aside, these days selling and flying British Airways is the travel equivalent of banging your head against a wall. At some point even the hardest heads start hurting.
Now, the volcano was clearly not the airline’s fault, although even then, passengers were on their own for rebooking. Things haven’t improved during the current strikes.
British Airways is making some attempt to give passengers upfront information, by publishing a schedule through June 9 that they HOPE to fly. But actual flights will not be confirmed until 3-7 days in advance. (London time, which means even less notice for anyone in the U.S., except serious night owls.)
So the situation now is that passengers and agents booking British Airways can just hope for the best, while preparing for the worst. I have discovered that even getting up early, or staying up REALLY late for the updated strike schedule doesn’t guarantee finding a seat when a booked flight has been canceled.
Moreover, for travelers thinking they will wait until the schedule is set before booking, there are no advance purchase waivers for new bookings at this point, so travelers will be paying full last-minute airfares. (Nor, are there bonus mile offers, although perhaps that is planned for the future.)
The worst part of it is, while the airline has set up information about potential canceled flights and contingency plans through June 9, there is NO guarantee that after the next round of strikes that this booking circus will be over.
Personally, I have had two elite frequent fliers with the airline say “Enough”! They have asked me to book them on other carriers in the future. From a travel agent point of view, it’s awfully hard to book an airline (like BA presently) where you KNOW there is a decent chance a passenger could get stranded, or at the least that the booking may require many times the usual work.
One long-time client, after I had reissued his ticket twice, asked me “So I am curious, it’s probably not enough, but how much are they paying you for each time you have to do a new ticket?” The answer, as travel agents — even preferred agents — know, is nothing.
At this point in fact, it appears that management is committed to their hard-line stance, as is UNITE. And both passengers and travel agents are caught in the crosshairs of a war that could go on indefinitely.
In a travel world of limited choices, “Never again” often doesn’t mean forever, and other airlines have recovered from strikes. But it’s also hard to see how both sides won’t suffer from this dispute for a long, long time.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
