EDIT: You should ignore this article. The official British Airways strike dates have now been announced and can be found here.
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
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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About Head for Points
I presume Iberia flights, even under BA codeshare, are unaffected? I’m not sure whether BA / Iberia ‘share’ pilots in a way that may mean the strike affects Iberia also.
I believe all of IAG’s operating companies are run independently, so Iberia pilots wouldn’t be a part of this dispute, as they would be on different terms and conditions.
Correct
I have LHR-DXB on 27 Sept booked in CW. Fingers crossed it’s not a strike date. What usually happens to people like me in these situations?
They cynic in me might suggest that it would be a shrewd move if one were to hold status and perhaps be unlikely to quality for same in the next year to purchase a fully flexible ticket during this period, then cancel it strike or not as in previous major disruption – iceland, IT etc. they have subsequently extended status periods by a year.
Looks like refundable tickets to Prague have also been removed on 26th September
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.
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.
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.
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
I got on that too, was the upgrade £195??
£239 each way, £478 return to Rio in premium economy. So £678 total price. Worth it?
God Save the Points reporting (from a source ‘directly informed on the matter’) that the strike dates are 9th, 10th and 27th September.
Same dates confirby by BALPA tweet:
https://twitter.com/BALPApilots/status/1164923404870443014?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1164923404870443014&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flyertalk.com%2Fforum%2Fbritish-airways-executive-club%2F1973603-possibility-ba-employees-going-strike-lhr-lgw-based-pilots-91.html
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 🙂
http://news.sky.com/story/british-airways-pilots-to-strike-for-three-days-over-pay-dispute-11792289
Strikes announced for 9 10 and 27 Sept. According to sky news!
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?
yes, treated the same as if you paid cash
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
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?