rant British Airways - Anyone else about to have Xmas ruined?

[supra_aero]

The 30% lower salary is only for new staff. Existing staff are facing a 2-year pay freeze.

 

I think the main complaint is about the change made back in November to reduce long-haul staffing from 15 crew to 14, so the remaining crew have to do something like 15% more work on those flights.

 

To be honest, with or without this strike or these changes, BA are looking right up sh*t creek anyway. Walsh is doing well to hang on to his job at the moment!

 

If this is true they are being very greedy & selfish indeed.

[Wez]

Terminal 5 is owned by BAA - separate company.

 

I know its owned by BAA but how much did BA invest in the Terminal, surely BAA havent allowed them sole use of the Terminal for free

[JamesArup]

To the OP - forget flying, book on the ferry to Santander, take the car with you and drive across to Madrid. Travel with a bit of style and leg room, all for ~£100 each way.

 

Book a cabin for two, if you think you'll get bored en route!

 

Hahah! It's not so much the me going there thing that annoys me. It's her coming here that I am most annoyed about.

 

We've been together 2 years now and this is the first chance she's had to come. Alot of planning and time and effort has been put into this. She's not had a proper family Christmas for 25+ years due to her home-life, so she's very excited, and I was really looking forward to making it special. I am just one of tens of thousands of people who have this problem!

 

Just saw that BA are now taking legal action against the Union to stop the strike as they believe the ballot was not valid. Hope it works. Service will be dismal, but at least we'll get to where we need to go!

[Meko]

The BA staff really do need to suck it up and take the 30% cut. (Which is better money than being on job seeker allowance).

Then the bosses need to also take their cut and further sort out the company's finances.

 

.

 

 

if they rent - job seekers. They'll get their rent, bills and council tax paid for.

[caseys]

I know it's no comfort but if flights are canned have you looked at the trains? Madrid to Paris and then Paris to London?

[Abz]

A 2-year pay freeze is not something to throw your toys out the pram for. This is not helping me feel any more sympathetic towards the strikers.

I've taken a pay freeze & took it without a question, the firm didn't do too bad last year but I will not be asking for a bonus as you have to think long term. If I had to take 3 years pay freeze in the current climate then I would. Though if the market was not so bad & the economy\company were doing well then I might throw the toys out of my pram.

[Bobbeh]

We booked with AA, so no.

[TLicense]

I don't agree with the reasons behind why they are striking, but I can see why they're doing it at Christmas. Because it will have the most effect.

What's the point of having a strike that no-one will notice? None at all. Do it when it'll have the biggest impact.

Yes it is blackmailing the company, but a strike at any time is exactly that.

 

BA should tell them to do one, and get replacements in. The airline industry, as has been said, has been hit hard over the last few years so I imagine there would be plenty of out of work cabin crews ready to step up to the plate on much less money and be bloody grateful for it. Plus it's not like a picket line made up of stewards and stewardesses is going to be particularly threatening is it!

[Chewie]

Summer holiday would be better when the schools break up in July. I can't muster up any sympathy when I've seen so many people lose their jobs in the manufacturing sector. Frankly I can't scrape up an atom of sympathy for those loaded enough to afford to fly out to the Maldives for Xmas too. Don't you know there's a recession going on. Bah humbug!!!

[Nick]

I've had a flight booked from Tokyo to London with BA for months and when I heard they were going to vote on a strike I quickly booked a back up flight with Virgin, the cheapest I could find (but still bloody expensive) just in case. I go back once a year for Christmas and dates are pretty much fixed because of work. It's either pay up and know you're going, or take a gamble and I didn't like the odds. Feel for people that can't take that option, especially for those with families where costs are multiplied.

 

As I understand it UNITE and BA are going to court in Feb where a judge will decide if the proposed changes in staffs terms and conditions are a breach of contract. Trying to strong arm management in the interim, especially over the Christmas period, is nothing less then blackmail. That aside, I don't see the logic in striking right now, at least in the medium to long term. Yes it has the maximum impact and there's a chance management will cave, but the cuts are being made because they're in serious trouble. Next year they might not have jobs to go back to. Costing the company 400mil and pissing off neary 1million customers is not good for business. People will go elsewhere, and assuming they're still in business come Christmas 2010 I wonder how many will book with them again?

 

Anyway, if anyone from the BA crew is reading this I just want to say F&*K YOU VERY MUCH.

[Charlotte]

As I understand it UNITE and BA are going to court in Feb where a judge will decide if the proposed changes in staffs terms and conditions are a breach of contract. Trying to strong arm management in the interim, especially over the Christmas period, is nothing less then blackmail. That aside, I don't see the logic in striking right now, at least in the medium to long term. Yes it has the maximum impact and there's a chance management will cave, but the cuts are being made because they're in serious trouble. Next year they might not have jobs to go back to. Costing the company 400mil and pissing off neary 1million customers is not good for business. People will go elsewhere, and assuming they're still in business come Christmas 2010 I wonder how many will book with them again?

 

Anyway, if anyone from the BA crew is reading this I just want to say F&*K YOU VERY MUCH.

 

[AlanM]

no sympathy for them at all, total greed and selfishness. I have had a 20% paycut this year (and get paid a lot less than them), you just have to live with it in this climate. Chances of being paid off as well come April

 

They have had things too good, too long

[Abz]

Guys, some good news... Got an update, I've PM'ed the OP:

 

===================================================================================================

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: 17 December 2009 15:56

To: [email protected]

Subject: BA wins injunction to prevent Cabin crew strike

 

 

Dear all,

 

We have just won our injunction to prevent a strike over the Christmas period on the basis that there were irregularities in the ballot process which would make striking unlawful. Whilst this does not resolve the dispute, it will be a huge relief to anyone travelling at this time. We do not know further details of what the next steps will be, but will follow with further updates asap.

 

As always any questions please let me know

 

Kind regards

 

Ben

 

Ben Cooksey | Corporate Account Manager | British Airways PLC

Waterside (HABG) | PO Box 365 | Harmondsworth | UB7 0GB

[JamesArup]

:more::nana:

 

i.e. Yay!

 

I just hope there is no fog or snow etc ... that's usually the other issue for flights at this time of year!

 

I just really hope I can pick her up in the beast, that would round everything off nicely

[TTRickeh]

BBC story about the christmas strikes being overruled by the court here:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8418805.stm

[stevie_b]

Even though the strike's been cancelled, it's still a hell of a mess for BA. What about those who have purchased alternative flights when it was looking like the strike would still take place? I doubt their insurance will cover them because there is no strike. They're just left with 2 air tickets, one of which will either be cancelled for whatever money they can get back, or binned.

[JamesArup]

This was the main problem they were talking about on the news, and the main problem facing me.

 

Do I book tickets with another airline based on BA's promises that customers will be refunded if the strike is cancelled. Or do I wait to see what happens and cross my fingers. But there was also the issue of, if I do decide to book new tickets, how long do I wait before risking the fact that there will be no seats left!!

 

They were basically saying that if you book tickets with someone else, and your BA flight goes ahead, then there is nothing that can be done and you will lose that money .... which is basically what's happened to lots of people.

 

Luckily I decided against that option and it's all seemed to work out!

 

Bet the flights get cancelled for fog or snow now instead

[Konrad]

There are alternatives. Maybe not the best, but definatelly cheap and without strike ghost hanging around - Ryanair is flying to Madrid for peanuts from all major airports. I know it's not the best or most comfy one, but hell - do anyone care? It's not long haul flight, but only 2 hours trip - around the time you need to get from Wolverhampton to Birmingham centre in highest traffic time lol.

[JamesArup]

I am fine to use things like Ryanair or EasyJet or whatever, the flight is under 2 hours and I just geek out on the DS or something. Only problem is that, as far as I am aware, none of these airlines fly from Heathrow. They all go from Gatwick or Luton or somewhere like that. Those are all on the wrong side of London for me and Heathrow is just a 15 min drive away!

 

With all the cost and hassle of getting to the airports that these airlines fly from, I might as well just pay a little extra, get a designated seat, decent baggage allowance and go with BA or Iberia.

 

I took EasyJet once from Madrid to Gatwick. They managed to take 9.5 hours to do what BA do in 2.5 hours. And I think the dude I was sitting next to had TB or something, it was 2 hours of horrible coughing, and me wondering what kind of tropical diseases I was going to be sporting after I got off!!