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British Airways pilots strike – what you need to know for Monday, Tuesday and 27th September

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Pilot unit BALPA is staging a number of strikes throughout September.  BALPA represents about 90% of British Airways pilots.

The strike dates are Monday 9th, Tuesday 10th and Friday 27th September.

You can find the latest information on this special strike page of ba.com.

Note that flights from London City Airport are not impacted, except for the New York service which is operated by Gatwick flight crew.

BA 747 retirement

Monday 9th / Tuesday 10th – what is cancelled?

Everything, basically.

Only ONE British Airways flight was operating from Terminal 5 on Monday 9th September.  This was a Tokyo service and was retained due to the Rugby World Cup.  The only other flights operating were to Cairo (operated by Air Belgium at the moment due to a shortage of BA aircraft) and the Iberia flights to Madrid.

From Gatwick, the only flight was a New York JFK service which is currently operated by Evelop Airlines on behalf of BA, again due to a shortage of BA aircraft.

All passengers were contacted over two weeks in advance of travel.  Despite some initial hiccups (which forced The Civil Aviation Authority to publish this statement) British Airways was eventually very proactive in moving passengers to other airlines with over 50 carriers involved.

What about Wednesday 11th?

A normal schedule will operate, although some services are likely to be cancelled due to planes and staff being in the wrong place.  There is no space at Heathrow to store the entire British Airways fleet, and so aircraft have had to be parked at other airports across the world.

What about Friday 27th?

Cancellations have not yet been done for the strike on 27th September.

The cut-off date for British Airways is 13th September, which is the last date they can cancel your flight without offering compensation on top of a reroute.  Note that some flights on 28th and potentially also 26th will also be cancelled for operational reasons.

What can I claim if I am stranded abroad?

For people stranded abroad, British Airways has confirmed that the standard £200 per night per room hotel allowance will be available.  This can be exceeded but only if you have strong evidence that no rooms are available for that price.  You cannot remain in a £500 beach resort and reclaim that if there is an airport hotel available for under £200.

Other subsistence costs (food, taxis etc) can also be claimed.

You are not technically liable for additional costs incurred in the UK before or after travel due to date changes, but it is worth submitting receipts to BA anyway.

Will I receive Avios and tier points for cancelled flights?

Yes.  If you accepted a refund or were moved to a non-oneworld airline, you can ask BA to credit you with the Avios and tier points you would otherwise have earned.

Don’t forget to sign up to earn points from the airline you were moved to, if it is not a BA partner!  Nothing stops you earning twice.

Could the strikes be called off?

BALPA has offered to reopen talks with British Airways, but the airline has stated that no new offer is available.  The airline appears to have decided to push on with strikes rather than accept the pilot demands for profit sharing.

Can more strikes be called?

Yes, but 14 days notice must be given.  Your trip is safe once you are inside the 14 day period.

(And, to be honest, a lot of people have been getting some good results in terms of alternative carriers!  Being moved from British Airways onto Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines etc etc – if you are travelling in Business Class – would be a good result.)

BALPA’s strike ballot, held earlier this summer, is valid until January.  This allows BALPA to continue calling strikes throughout the Autumn without requiring a further member vote.

For the latest information, check out ba.com here.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

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You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (417)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Charlie says:
    24 Aug24 August 08:13

    I have a BA Holiday booked, we go out on 4th Sept they have cancelled the flight home on the 11th, Car parking etc all booked and paid for. BA Gold, but cant get through. Any ideas? I assume my contract with them covers all of it not just the flights.

    • Joan says:
      24 Aug24 August 08:30

      Same for us . Return flight 9 Sept which BA cancelled last night .so I have booked a return with easyJet and will argue with BA to pay for it when we can eventually get through to them .

  • Jacqueline says:
    24 Aug24 August 08:23

    Hmmm yes I’ll be stranded in Canada. Opportunity for sightseeing.

  • Alan says:
    24 Aug24 August 08:31

    Anyone had success changing Lloyds Avios voucher booking yet? 30 min and counting on BA Silver line but won’t be surprised if they then say they can’t deal with it!

    • Don says:
      24 Aug24 August 08:36

      Just hope they answer! I waited an hour and was then auto cut off!

      • Robert Bongo says:
        24 Aug24 August 08:55

        I don’t think the line is operated weekends , definitely not on Sundays as I found out a few months back..
        I got the dreaded cancellation of card letter last month…In Vietnam now on pending cancellation notice..It worked a couple of days ago but have back up should it stop.
        Shame to see it and benefits go but hey ho , like many have had hundreds of £ and thousands of extra avios in compensation for their inept avios management fiasco…

        • Simon says:
          24 Aug24 August 09:35

          My account was run faultlessly. Unfortunately! Didn’t even get the bonus voucher…

    • Simon says:
      24 Aug24 August 09:31

      Also on hold but with using the avois number that opened at 9. Will report back if I ever get through.

      • Simon says:
        24 Aug24 August 11:41

        got through after 2 hours! Helpful chap but then put me on hold when I got cut off again. What a fun Saturday morning!

    • Bunks says:
      24 Aug24 August 09:47

      have changed BA companion voucher booking to Iberia- assume process will be the same?

    • Andy Young says:
      24 Aug24 August 14:15

      You need to ring Avios about it, BA will not deal with you. I phoned Avios, got through in 35 minutes, got my outbound re booked with AA for the same day, took all of 10 minutes

      • guesswho2000 says:
        25 Aug25 August 11:18

        They did with me, Lloyds voucher booking via Avios.com, I called them Saturday morning and they moved my cancelled flight to a revenue booking with QR, guy I spoke to was really helpful. No status with BA, but I am OWE with another carrier, which is on my booking (no idea if that helped or not).

        If you have issues, HUCA – easier said than done with the wait times, even when I called I was on hold for about an hour.

  • Jon says:
    24 Aug24 August 09:28

    I received an email this morning that my Flight to Lima, Peru on the 8th September had been cancelled. My wife called up this morning and managed to speak to someone after repeated attempts. We have been reassured that our flight is still active and NOT cancelled. The operator said it was a bulk email? I’ll call again in a day or so to double check. There is still hope lol.

    • Bunks says:
      24 Aug24 August 09:57

      am also travelling to SA with BA next month (or I was..!). I had a similar phone call with BA this morning and queried their response as my email clearly stated my flight was cancelled (and my booking was flagged red on MMB too). the operator conferred with his supervisor and said that whilst my flight was not directly affected, they could not guarantee it would fly as the strike action would disrupt crew/plane positioning- so they are offering to rebook folk on flights between 8-13 inclusive. we asked them to rebook us with Iberia as this would get us to our destination on the same date, which they did. this was a 241 IN F, and is now a 241 in Iberia J and we have regained a fistful of Avios too.

  • Simon Spanswick says:
    24 Aug24 August 09:32

    BA’s shambolic IT strikes again. Have had two notifications of flights cancelled but none of my future bookings are showing on the app or on my BAEC web portal. Now a hunt for emails starts to find booking references.

  • Dicksbits says:
    24 Aug24 August 09:33

    My rtn from ARN is cancelled on Sep 11th (not a strike day) according to an email I received this morning. However when I look to rebook via MMB it states that it’s only subject to disruption. I can rebook on the same flight time and others on the same day! 🙄 What’s going on? If I had to fly back on the 12th that would be no big deal, but would BA pay for the night’s accomm in ARN?

  • Jill (Kinkell) says:
    24 Aug24 August 09:37

    well, having posted yesterday that my flights seemed fine on the 11,12 and 28th, I received, late last night, the ‘your flights are cancelled for the 11 and 12th and a red marker on the 28th. No chance of changing via MMB as it’s a 241 open jaw and requires a phone call. So , up at crack of dawn to phone the silver line and was cut off after an hour. Found the ‘You First’ number as we are flying in F ( thanks to previous poster who did this) and after a half hour wait got through. The CS rep seemed quite perplexed about my flights as she stated the out bound on 11 and 12 were still bookable and they had no notification that they were cancelled and as far as she was concerned they were fine… but she would check with Operations. Meanwhile she did say that our in bound from Atlanta on the 28th was definitely cancelled ( but we have had no email to tell us this). So return flights moved on 24 hours, which is fine, and she would phone me back to confirm it all….just not sure when she’ll phone back. A bit anxious that its a fob off. ( am I being harsh?) Meanwhile nothing has changed on MMB.
    What a great start to my birthday.

    • Andy says:
      24 Aug24 August 09:55

      Are you flying to Atlanta on 11th or 12th? I’ve had the dreaded cancellation e-mail for my flight to Atlanta on 11th (flying in F) but the flight is not showing as cancelled in manage my booking or on my app. Also shows availability for booking with cash on their website.

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:
        24 Aug24 August 10:10

        Open jaw. We are flying to Washington, D.C. and returning from Atlanta

        • Andy says:
          24 Aug24 August 10:18

          Thanks. I’m open jaw too, but flying to Atlanta’s on 11th and return on 23rd from Washington DC.

          First time in F, so really hope it’s not cancelled!

          Trying to get through to CS on their first line and on hold for 20 minutes now

  • LewisB says:
    24 Aug24 August 09:38

    My outbound is now coming up with the dreaded red warning under manage my booking. I’ve decided to cut my losses and request a refund for the both flights. Found a good priced last minute KLM flight from Cardiff. From First to Economy! Ha!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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