British Airways pilot strike on 27th September is called off in a bizarre BALPA move

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• Paul says:

  19 Sep19 September 06:54

  It’s a clever move by BALPA. Ball now in BAs court.
  If no movement from them then the justification for a 10 day strike increases.
  There will also be enormous pressure on BA to prevent that if there is also a no deal Brexit. Yellow hammer scenarios suggest there could be issues with some supplies and air freight will be both essential and at a premium in the first month following such an outcome.

• TripRep says:

  19 Sep19 September 06:54

  “BALPA look reasonable in the eyes of the public by cancelling strike, BA look bad, cancellations cost BA loads, eating into profits and eroding customer confidence in BA.”

  This.

  Totally this, it was exactly my first reaction, in direct opposition to the guy reaction Rob had.

  Pilots have the backing of Pax, BA management are generally disliked by majority of Pax. Management continue to be the bad guys for not giving them the ability to negotiate.

  • AJA says:

    19 Sep19 September 07:43

    Pilots have the backing of some passengers who support them. Likewise BA has loyal individual customers (eg those who like being Gold or Gold Guest List and all the perks that go with that) and BA also has some very loyal corporate customers who will choose BA for the deals negotiated and the direct routes they fly from LHR.

    On the other hand there are plenty of potential customers both individual.and corporate, who dislike BA and the pilots for the disruption caused by the potential to strike.

    I think BALPA is playing a dangerous strategy, many here think BALPA have played a blinder. But their actions may result in people switching allegiance to other airlines permanently.

    Equally there are many who will just be happy there is no strike and the possibility they can fly on 27 Sep and see it as BALPA caving in. All BA has to do is have the seats available at the right price and they will be sold. Many corporate customers will be thinking oh good I can.now fly on 27th and have that meeting in addition to others now rescheduled.

    • Paul Pogba says:

      19 Sep19 September 15:09

      If the airlines people switch to grow to accommodate the ex-BA passengers they’ll have to recruit pilots. The pilots only lose if the overall market shrinks.

      • AJA says:

        21 Sep21 September 11:48

        I don’t understand how your comment has any relevance to the BA pilots grievances. If other airlines recruit pilots from BA they are apparently not going to offer them the same salary or level of seniority as they currently receive on BA (that’s according to many here and on FT). If other airlines do however offer that then I’d say all BA pilots have to do is vote with their feet and leave BA if they don’t like the deal on offer.

• Flyoff says:

  19 Sep19 September 07:00

  I thought this was a strange decision initially. It has caused BA massive issues reorganising and paying for alternative flights. I wonder if BALPA can see this and also may be driven by the rostered pilots for the next strike not having their discounted flight perk removed by BA.

• TripRep says:

  19 Sep19 September 07:04

  “CANCELLED: British Airways pilot strike on 27th September is called off in a bizarre BALPA move”

  It’s been a while since you have been so opinionated, quite refreshing. But my gut reaction is your headline feels like one I might be unfortunate to digest if I happened to glance at the front page of the Daily Mail.

  I completely disagree with your opinion.

  BALPA are being canny here and I’m surprised that you haven’t seen why.

  • BrianDT says:

    19 Sep19 September 07:42

    You mean the largest selling newspaper in the UK…..by far ?

    • charlie says:

      19 Sep19 September 10:42

      Not True, The sun is the biggest selling newspaper 1.37mill per day, the Mail sells 1.2mill. Accuracy not your strong point?

    • TripRep says:

      19 Sep19 September 13:59

      Brian,

      Sounds like you’re equating Quantity with Quality?

      Really, surely even you’re not that naive?

      The majority of HFP’s readers here tend to be higher earning intelligent folks and I would reason, not overly keen on simplistic sensational headlines.

  • MrCinnamon says:

    19 Sep19 September 08:09

    Agreed. I interpreted their statement in an entirely different way.

  • Rob says:

    19 Sep19 September 08:53

    BALPA has been weak all along. The week before the first strike they were publicly begging BA to return to negotiations so they could call it off.

    The position is VERY clear.

    BA will not give the pilots (and de facto all staff) a 7% profit share. The airline could not be clearer. This puts the pilots in a bind, because they know (because BA has held the line) that BA won’t blink. On the other hand, BALPA has blinked multiple times already. BALPA has lost and is now looking for an easy way out.

    Next week BA will offer each pilot a free banana per day whilst working, BALPA will hastily agree and will claim ‘BA has met most of our demands’.

• Michael says:

  19 Sep19 September 07:19

  In my opinion BALPA are especially doing this in order to cause chaos for BA, they announce a strike and once BA have informed customers of cancellations and therefore re-routing, BALPA go and cancel the strike so BA are left with no strike and empty planes. This is BA’s biggest nightmare because it can happen many times whilst BALPA would say that this strike (3rd day) has not happened!

  This outcome potentially is way worse for BA than a strike going ahead. Its total UNCERTAINTY for the near future for BA!

  • TripRep says:

    19 Sep19 September 07:23

    100%, great synopsis Michael

    • Dermot K says:

      19 Sep19 September 07:28

      yes I agree too. presumably the pilots will now get paid for those days too, yet BA will still have lost millions through the rescheduling.

      BA thinks its being clever by cancelling everything far enough in advance that they don’t have to pay compensation. But if BALPA do this then that strategy backfires.

      • Mark Rogers says:

        19 Sep19 September 08:05

        Agreed. And since the strikes have been cancelled, the pilots won’t be away from work and will be paid to sit around doing nothing because there’s no passengers to fly.

        The harm inflicted on BA is at least as high as a strike, and the damage to the union and its members is reduced.

        Tube drivers use a similar strategy: strikes announced well in advance (as they have to be) cancelled after people have already made alternative arrangements. Disruption with no cost to the drivers.

        • Andy says:

          19 Sep19 September 10:16

          Not really the same analogy for the tube though as it’s a walk-up service.

  • Joachim says:

    19 Sep19 September 08:22

    Agreed.

    BA moved pax to avoid having to pay EU261 compensation. Now there is no strike on that date but BA cannot move people back. (The date is now less than 14 days out and if BA moved people’s flights, it would have to pay out EU261 compensation.) So the planes will fly empty for the most part. BA has to shoulder the cost of reticketing pax on other airlines.

    Meanwhile, the pilots will show up for work on the 27th and can demand regular salaries to be paid.

    So this is genius on part of the union. It totally defeated BA’s strategy which was supposed to be mitigating.

    • ADS says:

      19 Sep19 September 14:34

      so EU261 has effectively becomes a tool in BALPA’s favour

      when London Underground unions announces a strike – management make preparations, but nothing like the costs that BA incur to avoid EU261

      so when LU unions cancel their planned strike, it’s much less dramatic that BALPA’s cancellation

  • Doug M says:

    19 Sep19 September 09:31

    The problem with this idea is that continually organising threats of labour withdrawal which you have no intention of following through on would leave BALPA and it’s members on the hook for a huge civil action by BA.

• Roy says:

  19 Sep19 September 07:57

  I think it makes sense for BALPA to pause to consult with and ballot their members again. If a new, longer strike still gets 95% support of the pilots, *despite* BA’s playing hardball, that will carry much more weight politically than a strike that was balloted for weeks ago when the lay of the land was rather different.

• Mike says:

  19 Sep19 September 08:14

  You have the ‘public image’ and the ‘private reality’
  BALPA are giving the public image that they are offering an olive branch and doing all possible to resolve the strike and that they are great people because they’ve cancelled the strike. But in their private offices and between the negotiators they know that the private reality is that BA are screwed having already rebooked everyone and unable to ‘undo’ the strike as such.

• alan young says:

  19 Sep19 September 08:41

  Slightly OT, but regarding BA recent strike. Fortunately I have never had to make a claim until now re my cancelled flight last week. I need to know what the process is in making a claim i.e.the form etc.
  My claim is for 2 extra nights hotel, transportation & meals. I have receipts but not sure the way forward in making the claim. Was advised by BA that I could claim up to £200 night for accommodation + +, as they sent us 2 days earlier.

  • George K says:

    19 Sep19 September 10:05

    I’ve recently done this too, and found it straightforward. The only question was which category does the claim fall under, if not under EU261. Some have advised ‘Other’ while others under general flight cancellation, despite it stating that if it was cancelled more than 14 days in advance and also because of strike, you are not eligible. I went with the latter, and hope that it will go through OK. I am wondering about how long it’ll take.

    • alan young says:

      21 Sep21 September 08:45

      Thanks, done it. Seemed quite straight forward

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