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

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• Ali says:

  24 Aug24 August 09:38

  if they cancel the outbound flight, does that invalidate the return too?

  • Shoestring says:

    24 Aug24 August 10:29

    no – they want you to re-ticket the outbound flight of course

    I don’t think the normal rules apply as regards missing your outbound means return is automatically cancelled

    if it were me, and you make different arrangements for outbound without involving BA, I’d be telephoning in a few days’ time to tell them you still need the return flight

• Doug M says:

  24 Aug24 August 09:46

  I’ve been lucky in that my return from Berlin was cancelled, simply went online and booked an Avios return to London City, so at the moment 7.5K Avios and 50p down, which is a win compared to many I’m sure.
  BA do not handle disruption well, I know you can’t have hundreds of trained standby operators, but the IT and phone systems are poor. Website says says you need to call, call and you’ll be referred to the website and lines are busy, they then cut you off. Tried several ways of contacting gold line and all slightly different but all end the same in disconnection. A more sophisticated system would be they take your contact details and call you back without the wait.
  Also, and this happens on and off continually, but all future bookings disappear from account, so you have to have the PNR to do anything online anyway.

  • Shoestring says:

    24 Aug24 August 10:42

    check the math? – how about including the refund of your original flight cost or Avios

    • Doug M says:

      24 Aug24 August 14:02

      That’ll be 4K or 4.5K Avios and £17.50. It’s not the sort of money/Avios that makes for any concern, more about getting an alternate in place. Lucky that I have LCY flights option as a backup.

• Bunks says:

  24 Aug24 August 09:46

  received the cancellation email for flight on 12 Sept this morning. spent 90 mins on phone with BA Gold helpline and they have rebooked us with Iberia, after some to’ing and fro’ing- our original flight was showing as ‘not cancelled and still on timetable’ but BA could not guarantee it as strike action would affect positioning of plane and crew etc. they are rebooking flights between 8-13 September inclusive.
  just relieved I managed together another flight as we are off to South America

  • Charles says:

    24 Aug24 August 10:12

    What number did you call?

    • Simon says:

      24 Aug24 August 11:18

      Contact Information
      Telephone

      Blue: 0844 493 0 747
      Bronze: 0800 597 7580
      Silver: 0800 408 0 009
      Gold: 0800 123 111

      I called the ‘Gold’ number and have been left waiting with that awful music – better than being auto cut off with any of the other numbers.

    • bunks says:

      24 Aug24 August 11:19

      I called the 0800 no on my BAEC gold. Got cut off twice and put on hold at third attempt for 40mins, but they did pick up the call and deal with it

• Alex says:

  24 Aug24 August 09:50

  We are flying LHR-CFU on 26th September – I haven’t received any email about cancellation – However do people think it would be best to bring it forward a day or two just to be safe? My outbound although not cancelled when i look on “manage my booking” comes up as Red as though it may be affected

• Ted says:

  24 Aug24 August 09:59

  Quick question someone here may kindly be able to answer:
  My return holiday flight falls on the 10th. I’m able to rebook for the 14th. If I rebook, does this exclude me from being able to claim up to £200 per night for a hotel room from BA? I ask because BA states I’m able to rebook any available date up to 355 days away. BA obviously wouldn’t want to pay for a hotel room for up to 355 days. Do I need to be ‘stranded’ with no return flight booked to be eligible for hotel payments after my original return date?
  I realise what I’ve written doesn’t make much sense, my head is sore. Apologies
  Many thanks
  Ted

  • Shoestring says:

    24 Aug24 August 10:37

    you make a good point

    you’ll be fine to claim the £200/ room per night if you fly on the 14th, if you couldn’t get an earlier flight home

    if you chose to fly back on (say) 25th, I think BA would simply reject the duty of care refund (or knock it back to 3 days) unless you could prove there were no alternative flights home for those 15 days

    • e.thomas says:

      24 Aug24 August 11:36

      We are also due to fly back on a strike date. BA have twice said that NO expenses will be paid for extra hotel booking to cover days we cannot fly.
      Is this really true or should we have the £200 expenses?
      In addition it’s an avios booking and no changes can be done online.
      I have held on now for 4 hours

    • Ted says:

      24 Aug24 August 22:28

      Thank you for the information, Shoestring.
      The 14th was fully booked when I had an opportunity to rebook. The nearest other day is the 17th, one week after the original return date. BA person I spoke to on the phone couldn’t confirm if I would be eligible for a monetary contribution towards extra nights stays. He said to speak with customer service on Monday (presumably Tuesday as its bank holiday?). I’ll wait and see what they say. If I can get a contribution then great. If I can’t then never mind. I’ll just crack on and sort something out myself. The only really irritating part in this, is that my wife booked everything up for this trip, including the exorbitant ticket costs for club from London to kefalonia. Live and learn I guess.
      Thanks again,
      Ted

      • Shoestring says:

        24 Aug24 August 22:43

        just take some screenshots or other proof that this was the earliest flight possible, they *must* provide this duty of care to you

• Optimus Prime says:

  24 Aug24 August 10:21

  We’ve dodged a bullet, flying to ATH on the 25th. All the best to all of you impacted, hope you can get rebooked asap.

• Lynne Fraser says:

  24 Aug24 August 10:40

  We received two emails (suspicious in itself maybe??) late last night that our flight from LHR-BWI on 12 Sep was cancelled. On checking my account on the website they have also cancelled our flight back from PHX & connecting flight to LHR on 01/02 Oct.
  However they have not cancelled the NCL-LHR flight on 12 Sep. It doesn’t make sense to me… can anyone explain???
  Can’t rebook as they were Avios + Amex Comp voucher & they have not credited the points back to my account.
  I’ve tried every number going and get cut off – will continue trying following the comment earlier about if queue exceeds 1 hour then the ‘auto-cut off’ kicks in.
  Its not whats expected form BA

• Charles says:

  24 Aug24 August 10:49

  Question – I have had my flight on the 11th to Dubai cancelled as some have mentioned previously. Disappointing !

  A lot of people are mentioning EU compensation on here for cancellations less that 14 days. Some years ago, in more BA strikes (July 2016 – I think), me and 7 friends had our flight cancelled the day before and was told no compensation as strikes were an extraordinary circumstance! Is this the case having been auto cut off around 30 times I am feeling more empowered to fight back!

  • John says:

    24 Aug24 August 15:52

    It’s not about compensation, EC261 covers the rebooking and duty of care when your flight is cancelled.

    • guesswho2000 says:

      25 Aug25 August 11:13

      It is about compensation, EC261 specifically covers compensation (as well as those you’ve mentioned).

      I *believe* that strikes of third parties (ATC, ground staff, etc.) are extraordinary circumstances outside of the airlines’ control, but airline staff (pilots, crew) are not, so you may be entitled to compo in such circumstances. Which is why I expect they’re cancelling flights now, more than 14-days out – so no compo is due this time.

      Your past issue may be eligible though, if it’s within 6 years since the event, and the cancellation was less than 14 days out (along with various other eligibility criteria), then you might be in with a chance.

      • Charles says:

        25 Aug25 August 19:44

        Thanks ! Any idea on how it works ? I’ve exhausted the BA complaints process and was told no no no.
        Where do I go next?

        Appreciate your help!

        • Shoestring says:

          25 Aug25 August 20:05

          you first go to research https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1948451-2019-ba-compensation-thread-your-guide-regulation-ec261-2004-a.html

          you then go to MCOL

          you can post your details on the FT thread above and whilst they will expect you to bring yourself up to speed by reading the thread to some extent, you’ll also get good advice

          yes – plenty of people have received compo for previous BA strikes, usually with BA folding & paying before a MCOL case was actually heard

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