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British Airways strike dates known? The pilot strike may be on – flights pulled from sale in September

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With many thanks to Flyertalk posters who have been digging around on ba.com this evening.

It is possible that British Airways has been given strike dates by the pilots union BALPA this evening.

Non-refundable tickets for flights from London Heathrow and London Gatwick – plus BA1 to New York from London City – seem to have been removed from sale on the following dates:

Wednesday 11th September to Monday 16th September

Thursday 26th September to Saturday 28th September

British Airways strike dates

IF this is due to a strike – and for clarity we don’t know this – it is potentially not for all the dates listed.  There may be some contingency at the end to allow planes to reposition and to allow passengers to travel whose flights have been cancelled on earlier days.

As a reminder, flights from London City – except for New York – will operate as normal whatever happens.

More to come, potentially on Friday morning.

For 100% clarity though, we do NOT know for certain that the removal of tickets for sale is due to a pilot strike.

The Flyertalk discussion about the mysterious removal of tickets is here.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (48)

  • Jenni says:
    23 Aug23 August 14:51

    Ok so say it’s a strike. There are four of us flying on Avios and 2×241 Amex vouchers CW MAN-LHR-US-LHR-MAN outbound is the 11th and return 28th September. From past experience can anyone tell me will they stick to the ‘BA metal only’ rule for cancellations and rebookings in a strike situation? I would be more than happy with AA Business from Manchester connecting in PHL for example for the onward journey. It wouldn’t be a big deal if it were just me and OH but we are taking his parents on a kind of a last ever trip to the US to see family type thing so would really hate for it to get cancelled/messed up.

    • Stu_N says:
      23 Aug23 August 15:08

      Put simply, no-one knows – it’s just all speculation until (1) strikes are confirmed, which could only be a day or two ahead of actual strike days and (2) BA’s policy on re-booking is published.

      We have a 2-4-1 return leg during the 11-16 Sept period so definitely have an interest in this. My take on it is:
      – no point worrying about it as it’s 100% outside my control and until any strike dates are announced, I don’t actually have a problem anyway.
      – keep an eye on the news and if strikes look like they are going to happen on days we are flying, have a look into back-up options and see what might work on other carriers.
      – be ready to jump on the phone as soon as there is a confirmation of strikes and re-booking options are published.

      Beyond that, there’s not much to be done IMO.

      • Jenni says:
        23 Aug23 August 15:16

        Thanks! I’m not too worried, I was just wondering if anyone had experience of this situation from a past strike action. We have flexible hotel options etc so I don’t mind even shifting the trip by a few days of needs be. OH and I are trying to figure out all available options really and keeping the in-laws in the dark haha we already have a stressful situation in the immediate family so they don’t need to know about this as well until the day if/when our plans will change.

  • Autumn says:
    23 Aug23 August 15:29

    I have LHR-GIG booked in WTP on 14 September – what would be options if they were on strike?
    Paid for Economy (£200 BA100 fare) and upgraded to WTP with cash. Thanks

  • Grant says:
    23 Aug23 August 16:22

    God Save the Points reporting (from a source ‘directly informed on the matter’) that the strike dates are 9th, 10th and 27th September.

  • TGLoyalty says:
    23 Aug23 August 16:49

    Well I thought I was safe but now return flight affected. It’s Long Haul so maybe ok. Can think of worse times for it to happen than returning from holiday 🙂

  • Chris says:
    23 Aug23 August 20:58

    So what happens if I have a reward flight seat cancelled on one leg of a two part journey (both booked with BA redemptions)
    LHR – KUL 9th – cancelled (avios redemption seat)
    KUL – ADE 10th – not affected but will miss it! ( avios redemption seat)
    Will they book me another flight even though it was a redemption flight?

    • Shoestring says:
      23 Aug23 August 21:04

      yes, treated the same as if you paid cash

      • Shoestring says:
        23 Aug23 August 21:10

        that’s Avios on BA metal, though – somebody over on FT has been told (by non BA loyalty prog) that his redemption flight on BA metal booked with some other loyalty prog points can’t be rebooked unless there’s redemption availability – probably bad info

        but Avios ticket on BA? they won’t check for reward availability and will just re-ticket you

        • Chris says:
          24 Aug24 August 07:19

          I’ve talked to BA and they will change the Avios booking, but only the impacted first leg as the second has a 24hr+ delay? So they are proposing that we go from a 30hr layover to a 3 day layover.
          Does anyone know anything about the rules for this?

  • Princess says:
    23 Aug23 August 23:39

    Hi, it’s a bit late so you maybe don’t see my reply, but thought to post it anyway.
    We got in a similar situation an year ago: we were travelling back from Italy and BA manage to loose all our 3 luggage on our inbound flight.
    They were really vague at the desk and said we could buy essentials stuff but didn’t give us a budget or explained anything. I called Amex platinum but they don’t cover inbound.
    As we were coming back home I waited a couple of days, but then went out and bought replacements for everything I don’t usually have double at home, like skincare, make up and clothes for my twins (as they were still quite little most of their stuff were coming with us)
    I spent around £350
    Claimed back to BA that paid without asking anything
    Bags arrived after 5 days
    I think is the Montreal convention that explain that you will be cover for any item you can justify a real need for.
    I hope this help

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