British Airways strike: the cancelled flights which are not actually cancelled
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
We have a separate pinned article on the home page covering the pilot strike. However, it is important to repeat something we added yesterday and which we covered on social media.
British Airways emailed a lot of people on Friday night to say that their flights were being cancelled due to the strikes.
What did people do when they received these emails? They went to ba.com and triggered the cancellation and refund. They then either booked – often at substantial expense – a replacement flight on another airline, or decided not to travel and cancelled non-refundable hotel rooms.
Oops.
BA was only kidding you. Surprise.
Yes, a lot of flights have been cancelled before, on and after the first batch of strikes on 9th and 10th September. However, a lot of flights – despite people receiving cancellation emails – were NOT cancelled. Someone at BA pressed the wrong button.
You should, overnight, have received a second email from British Airways if you were mistakenly told your flight was cancelled.
However, if you received a cancellation email from BA, do NOT necessarily believe it. Do these two things:
Go to Manage My Booking and look at your flight. If it says ‘cancelled’, it’s cancelled. If it simply shows in a red font then it IS operating although it remains at risk, depending on how many pilots report on the day and how many replacement aircraft BA can source.
Go to ba.com and try to book a seat on the flight you are on. Without wishing to state the obvious, if you can still buy a seat, the flight is going. If you can’t, it’s not.
Note that British Airways has not yet cancelled any flights for the 2nd strike on 27th September. It has until 13th September to cancel them to avoid EC261 compensation.
PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 70,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (July 2025)
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:
Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:
British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card
30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review
British Airways American Express Credit Card
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
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.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 Read our full review
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
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.
The American Express Business Platinum Card
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
The American Express Business Gold Card
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
The Original Nick 
Lady London 
Alex 
David S 
Dev 
Fc99 
Shoestring 
Russ 
Federico 
Matt 
Chris 
Mr. AC 
CH 
boi 
Andrew 
Rob 
Comments (82)