Roughly 1,500 check-in staff, handlers, and crew threatened British Airlines that they will ditch their duties for 48 hours starting December 23. This is due to the payment disputes that have been going on for some time.
According to a DailyMail report, there's a good chance that thousands of passengers will be caught in the middle of an issue with British Airways staff and crew and its management. The timing is just as bad as it looks given that there will be thousands of booked or to be booked flights in risk of getting delayed.
This cover thousands of cabin crew that have stopped working due to the "poverty pay and broken promises." This is coming from the Mixed Fleet who got hired from 2010 up to the present.
However, Independent reports show that British Airways is still confident that the workers won't actually pull off the threat. Despite the chance of affecting roughly 40,000 passengers scheduled for flights to Heathrow on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, British Airways still believes that the "heartless and unnecessary action" will fail.
"We will plan to ensure all our customers' travel to their destinations so that their Christmas arrangements are not ruined. We will publish more details within the next 72 hours," says British Airways spokesperson in an interview.
Furthermore, it is said that the British Airways still has enough number of non-flying staff who can take over in case thousands of cabin crew actually decides to not come to work on the mentioned dates until Christmas and Boxing Day. Training ground-based staff of some basic cabin-crew operation has been part of the company's contingency plans since 2009.
If all else fails, British Airways still has the option to switch passengers to other airlines ahead of time for some short-haul routes. However, passengers who are booked for European destinations on the 25th and the 26th still have the option to reschedule their flights or simply request a refund.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
