Heathrow Airport strike update – all you need to know

If you are looking for further information on the potential Heathrow Airport strikes on Monday and Tuesday, keep an eye on this HfP article which is pinned to the top of the home page.

We are updating it as we go.  The latest developments include:

Virgin Atlantic confirming that some US flights will definitely arrive into, and depart from, Gatwick instead of Heathrow on Monday – with similar changes on Tuesday a possibility

Heathrow Airport confirming that it has agreed a list of 170+ flight cancellations with the airlines – but British Airways is waiting in case the strike is called off.  We expect the cancellations to take place around 5pm.

The main area of confusion at present is over BA’s ban on taking anything through security which is not “a small personal item”.  Historically this has meant nothing bigger than a purse or small handbag.  Many people believe that they will be able to take laptop bags through, on the basis that they are relatively small.

Whilst this is logical from a size perspective, this is NOT about size.  It is about the fact that there will be very few security screeners working on Monday or Tuesday.  Laptops are a considerable cause of delay at security as they need to be removed from bags and sleeves and placed in separate trays.

What is also odd is that British Airways appears to be the only airline to announce this rule (it is not mentioned on the Heathrow Airport strike information page) meaning that a BA passenger could be in theory be refused access to security screening whilst – at Terminal 3 – a Cathay Pacific passenger in front with an indentical bag could be waved through.