HEATHROW STRIKE UPDATE: British Airways and Virgin Atlantic emergency measures

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• Yorkieflyer says:

  3 Aug3 August 14:14

  Absolutely appalling behaviour by BA in not publishing the list of flights that will be cancelled until Sunday and refusing to allow customers to cancel either. How are we to plan our travel? It just shows the contempt they hold their passengers in

  • Shoestring says:

    3 Aug3 August 21:28

    there’s no list to publish at the moment

    sure, BA know which flights will get cancelled if the strike goes ahead but I suggest it is actually better for all concerned to wait until 5pm Sunday when the list goes firm as opposed to supposition/ likelihood right now

    for those of a nervous disposition – BA is already allowing SH passengers to switch flight dates/ times free of charge (and we can read into that the fact that most LH flights won’t be cancelled, which is normally the case anyway)

    I personally can’t see how BA can be faulted on the way they are dealing with somebody else’s possible strike

• Combatjohnny says:

  3 Aug3 August 15:17

  I’m flying home from Kuwait on the 5th(BA to Heathrow), should I expect any issues

  • Rob says:

    3 Aug3 August 17:58

    No, unless you are connecting to a domestic in Heathrow.

• Dermot Kehoe says:

  3 Aug3 August 15:21

  What does this mean for flights returning INTO Heathrow? Will some of these be cancelled too?

  • Rob says:

    3 Aug3 August 17:58

    If the outbound doesn’t go, the inbound won’t be coming back ….

• Alex says:

  3 Aug3 August 16:17

  I am not flying, i am just curious what the no hand luggage is for? I assume to speed up security but surely it can’t make that much of a difference? My whole cabin bag normally just goes through the x-ray and comes out – no hassle

  • Nick says:

    3 Aug3 August 16:36

    Yours might… because you’re smart and know the rules. Other people are (frankly) dim idiots who haven’t flown in the 10 years since the rules were last changed, which means lots of bags still need manual screening, which of course means more staff are required. Get people to check in bags and the risk of undeclared liquids (for example) decreases massively. Similarly the need for multiple trays decreases with fewer iPads, liquids, etc., which means throughput per security lane can be increased – essential when there aren’t enough staff to man all the lanes. We already know for example that all fast track lanes will be closed.

    • Mike says:

      4 Aug4 August 10:27

      I get it and it makes sense. And yet checking in bags also needs tonnes of staff to get bags hauled into (and out of) planes. Not sure what the worse prospect is: long queues at security, possibly delaying flights, or bags taking forever to be loaded and offloaded, also delaying flights.

• The Jetset Boyz says:

  3 Aug3 August 16:17

  Air New Zealand services into and out of London Heathrow are scheduled to operate as normal. They’re offering customers booking flexibility should they wish to avoid travelling on the proposed strike days.

  • Nick says:

    3 Aug3 August 16:37

    I imagine all airlines with only one flight per day will be absolutely fine. It’s those with multiples that will bear the brunt of changes.

• Roy says:

  3 Aug3 August 17:06

  O/T: Amex have different MR conversion rates with their partners in different countries. With the pound so low, there is obviously a risk that the conversion rates to MR redemption partners will have to made less attractive. In extremis, if we reach pound-dollar parity, there’s no real reason to expect that GBP MR will continue to have more favourable conversion rates than USD MR.

  My question is, does Amex generally give notice of such devaluations, or (assuming we have a good idea as to where we want to use our MR points) are we better off converting preemptively?

  • Roy says:

    3 Aug3 August 17:21

    I have to admit, though, I have no idea *why* the pound might be so weak. My personal theory is that the markets regard the increase in Plat card annual fee, plus the removal of PP restaurant benefits just makes the UK a less attractive place to do business 🙂

• Shoestring says:

  3 Aug3 August 18:04

  well, I’ll put my ‘chancer’ neck on the line and guess that there won’t actually be a strike on Monday! all will probably be sorted, though unless they agree this before about 5pm tomorrow there will still be a lot of disruption, there’s unfortunately a critical time after which the airlines will start sending out flight cancellation notices

  come on people – focus on the middle ground – that’s where it will end up anyway so might as well get there earlier rather than later

  • Kipto says:

    3 Aug3 August 18:55

    I think you are spot on. My optimistic head says that there will be some sort of agreement tomorrow afternoon.

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Aug4 August 21:09

      yep

• Shoestring says:

  3 Aug3 August 19:42

  & the good news is: in Euro Traveller (or HBO), free tea/ coffee and biscuits make a comeback! 🙂

  there must be some people hoping the strike goes ahead now I’ve told you that

  • Marcw says:

    3 Aug3 August 20:06

    Oh no! Please BoB! Much better – more choices ! It seems Lufty will be next to implement it!

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