VintageKrug - 12/03/2010 11:25 GMT
I think the other thread takes ages to scroll down, so have started a new one. Would be good for BT to consider having longer threads divided into pages to make access on portable, and other, devices easier.
Seems a shame it has come to this.
Remember:
- Just because dates have been announced, does not mean a strike is certain to occur
- A formal commercial policy will be announced by BA in due course
- ALL exLCY services including CWLCY to JFK New York will operate as normal
- ALL Gatwick longhaul and most Gatwick shorthaul will operate as normal
- BA has enough crew to operate an almost normal 777 fleet from LHR
- BA has in place arrangement to wet lease aircraft and crews to keep services operating
- BA can rebook you onto other carriers if it is unable to get you to your destination, but check the copmmercial policy for details.
- You still get BA Miles and Tier Points on services involuntarily cancelled due to strike action
In short:
http://davidsudworth.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/keep-calm-and-carry-on.png
BA has now released a proposed schedule for the strike period:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/strike-ballot/public/en_gb
GTR_Skyline - 12/03/2010 13:52 GMT
We should all support BA where we can...I am happy to consider changing my return flight from Sinagpore on the 22nd or finding an alternative route. Well done WW for withdrawing the offer too....lets see how many staff actually strike considering the staff travel benefits they will loose.
Looks like the website is being updated fairly frequently.
I am flying with BA during the first proposed strike period and the following message appears above the details of the flight (In Manage My Booking)
"Your flights are currently planned to operate as normal.
During the strike period you may experience a different level of onboard service or your flight may be cancelled.
So that you can better manage your travel plans you have the following options:
•You don’t have to do anything, you can keep your booking as it is.
•You may rebook these flights and other flights free of charge, subject to availability.
You can rebook your flights on ba.com.
•You may obtain a full refund by cancelling your entire booking on ba.com.
If these flights are cancelled, we will notify you by email or text message/SMS. Please ensure your contact details are up-to-date.
Details of the onboard service in CW if your long haul flight does fly:
"On flights under 9 hours a meal will be served at your seat, with snacks available at the Club Kitchen in the galley throughout the flight.
On flights over 9 hours a meal will be served with a light snack available later in the flight.
Snacks and savoury items will also be available at the Club Kitchen in the galley throughout the flight.
Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide hot meals on board.
The usual range of hot and cold drinks will be available along with a bar service.
We are increasing the amount of catering available in both the departure and arrivals lounges and would encourage you to make use of them."
In WTP:
On flights under 9 hours a meal will be served with snacks and savoury items available from the galley at any time during the flight.
On flights over 9 hours a meal will be served with a snack available later in the flight.
Snacks and savoury items will also be available from the galley at any time during the flight.
Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide hot meals on board.
The usual range of hot and cold drinks will be available along with a bar service.
We are increasing the amount of catering available in both the departure and arrivals lounges and Gold and Silver Executive Club members are encouraged to make use of them.
Same deal for WT
And, for the sake of completeness, for First passengers:
On flights under 9 hours customers will be served a meal will be at their seat, with snacks available at the Club Kitchen in the galley throughout the flight
On flights over 9 hours a meal will be served with a light snack available later in the flight.
Snacks and savoury items will also be available at the Club Kitchen in the galley throughout the flight
Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide hot meals on board.
The usual range of hot and cold drinks will be available along with a bar service.
We are increasing the amount of catering available in both the departure and arrivals lounges and would encourage customers to make use of them.
I too am flying during the first proposed strike period, and I have the same message showing in the Manage My Booking section of ba.com as SiteAdministrator.
Interestingly (or not), the flight is slated for 744 operation exLHR.
FaroFlyer - 12/03/2010 18:03 GMT
Well, I've chickened out. I was booked FRA>LHR>LIS on Friday 26th with BA. Have now re-booked on FRA>LIS with LH as I need to know that I shall be back in Portugal that day. My choice for the route was BA, probable disruption; LH, Captains strike hopefully over; TAP Captains 6 day strike due to start that day.
During the entire build up to this BA dispute I have received absolutely no communication from BA despite having a Portugal > Dusseldorf round trip next Monday / Wednesday on BA, and a London connection on my AMS>LGW>FAO flight yesterday.
To add insult to injury I sat next to a guy on the LGW>FAO sector yesterday who was on the same route in December and received 25,000 unsolicited bonus miles for worry for each of he, his wife and daughter, and my wife and I received nothing, nix, nada although we also travelled that route during the 12 day period. And I'm a Gold card.
Not impressed with WW and BA management whose strategy seems to rely on the blind support of BA regulars.
GTR_Skyline - 12/03/2010 18:18 GMT
This appears to be a more controlled approach to dealing with the strike - BA did not have any contingency plans during the gate gourmet strikes...at least they are being up front...but agree, there is no consistency in providing compensation....I'm sure if you write in, they will honor the same level of compensation...BA issued 100's of thousands of BA miles in compensation during the gate gourmet strikes...I'm sure there will be more this time around too.
GTR_Skyline: I think FaroFlyer's seatmate was referring to the strike action originally planned for the Christmas 2009 period, immediately prior to which British Airways gifted ex-gratia BA miles dependent of class of travel to Executive Club members who 'kept the faith', even though no action ultimately took place.
The Gate Gourmet action rewarded customers whose flights had actually been disrupted.
It remains to be seen how the company will react during this episode, although it's clear that they're currently focussing their efforts on keeping their aircraft flying, rather than collapsing in a heap, throwing their arms in the air and showering members with even more miles.
That's both practical and commendable as a priority, but BA will need to go far beyond that if it is to rebuild the confidence and goodwill of its customer base. Though they have made strides, and though they know that other carriers to whom passengers may temporarily defect are facing similar levels of IR uncertainty, the airline is apparently some way behind the best, if not even the majority, in understanding the power, reach and leverage of modern media and social networking in exposing inconsistency and also common experience amongst savvy consumers.
Facebook, Twitter, web fora et al are not merely routes to free advertising and PR; they're mirrors reflecting truths that only sustainable businesses can confidently parade in front of in the long term.
VintageKrug - 12/03/2010 20:11 GMT
Slightly better effort than Gordon Brown's derisory performance on YouTube:
www.britishairways.com/travel/strike-ballot-ba-response/public/en_gb
I like the way they have used this approach to communicate with customers; shows some considerable planning is going in to managing the message to customers, and that planning to mitigate this strike is well advanced.
As ever I first need to declare my (dis / non)interest of being a member of Unite. Much as I wish out of work re this carry on, I have no real option not to be. If it wasn't for so many of these ****** union mergers then civil aviation would have nothing to do with healthcare.
Any ideas what effects the first phase of the strike will have on flights for Tuesday 23rd? I'm booked on a domestic redeye that morning, always the first to get cancelled for weather, strikes, baggage, security, wrong kind of deicing fluid, etc etc.
Can't believe that Unite hasn't messed up somewhere on process...
VintageKrug - 13/03/2010 09:04 GMT
It is possible the strike may never happen.
Although BA is wet leasing crewed aircraft, Domestic flights are (rightly in my opinion) the most at risk as these are the flights for which it is easiest for passengers to make alternative arrangements (rail, road, coach or simply postponing by a day).
The London City flights will operate as normal, so in the first instance (if possible) try and book a flight arriving there; otherwise I would have a back up plan ready just in case.
Nut if you believe it's time to stop being held to ransom by Trades Union Trots, then I would urge you to support BA and keep your booking with them if possible.
Note that BA will publish a timetable of flights for the initial strike weekend shortly, so you should know in good time whether or not your flight will operate.
Mr Vintage Krug
Why you address Mr Bannerman as 'Nut?'
What he said wrong?
This very rude and disrespectful thing to say.
I'm used to being called much worse!
To be fair to VK I'm sure it's a typo which should read "But"!! - the letters are adjacent and devices with predictive text can be tricky. On the iPhone, the Gaelic word "Slainte" meaning "Cheers" (literally "Health") gets converted to "Elaine" - with obvious suspicion amongst recipients of my message!!
I also have a shorthaul connection at LHR on Tuesday 23rd. My domestic leg is from Glasgow, does BA have crews & aircraft based there? - I recall the engineering facility being closed - or do the crew of the last flight from LHR the previous day overnight and return the next morning. Not sure if it makes any difference to whether the flight would operate or not anyway. Saving grace might be it doesn't run on each of the 3 strike days, so the crew and aircraft from Friday evening will still be there on Tuesday morning!
Come on ye BA!!
The 'n' key and the 'b' key are adjacent to each other. Clearly, the word should read 'but' and not 'nut'.
The YouTube piece from Willie Walsh came across, to me at least, as an excellent communication; strong content delivered with conviction and authority.
However, I do worry that some of the power of his message is compromised by unnecessary cutaways to 'Blair-hands', and by using the backdrop of a calm, spacious, modern corporate office to discuss 'the most significant crisis that this company has ever seen'.
It would give detractors far less ammunition if any future communications were directed and produced with a slightly more customer-focussed eye. This piece looks a little too much like internal corporate comms, which though highly professional and well-scripted, may not present customers with an image that they associate with the realities of flying with BA in 2010, even when operations are running 'normally'.
Next time, a gate lounge at Glasgow, Edinburgh or Newcastle, between flights, might be a little more resonant. Just a thought, and only because I wish the company well.
FaroFlyer - 13/03/2010 11:12 GMT
VK, normally I agree with your advice, but not this time.
For now you have the opportunity to re-book and take a refund for travel anywhere within the 11+ days of interruption. If you wait until you see the schedule, you will then only be able to cancel if you know your flights are affected. We all know that there is going to be a huge knock-on effect. Will 747s to HK etc really fly on Fridays 19 & 26? If so, will they return empty? Will 747s return the days after the strikes, or will they have to wait for new crew etc? I do fully agree that the main LHR cancellations will be domestic and short hauls like CDG & BRU.
If you are on a cheap fare, as I was, re-book if you can, then cancel before the revised schedules are announced.
I fully support the fact that BA should manage the airline, not a union living way back in the past, but I don't think that management have gone about it as well as they could.
If the dispute is really about a crew compliment of 15 reducing to 14, and CC are really only worried about service levels, then they should have been asked to work for 14/15 of pay and perks, to maintain the service levels, with a similar adjustment on all crew reduced flights.
VintageKrug - 13/03/2010 14:21 GMT
Well, I cannot predict the future, but if, and it's a big if, this industrial action ever materialises, BA has a wet leased fleet of smaller aircraft to operate shorthaul journeys from LHR.
Domestic is highest risk for cancellation, and I did book my upcoming Domestic on bmi for that very reason.
Things should get back to normal very quickly on 23rd, and if JimBannerman takes my advice and rebooks to LCY there is zero risk of disruption. Can you connect to your onward shorthaul destination from LCY?
Personally, I would probably try and delay a day just to be on the safe side.
markymark - 14/03/2010 23:24 GMT
Hi everybody,
reading the previous comments, many people seem to think that crew are overpaid people who should not get paid extra for working weekend, nights, Xmas...
One of the main issue in the current dispute is the creation of the New Fleet, it will mean that current crew will have their most profitable routes taken away to this New Fleet and bit by bit, this fleet will grow when the current ones will start disappearing.
You will find some of the conditions regarding this new fleet and just have a think if working under such conditions, whether you will have on-board professional people who are committed to their jobs or just 20 years old taking the job for a couple of years to enjoy "their holidays".
Will you think that BA will be the premium airline of choice when you are attended to by people who will be so overworked that they won't be bothered at all and leave within a couple of years as it is currenlty the case in Gatwick.
BA seem to have spent a lot of money into making a great PR campaign and making believe a lot of people (as seen on this forum) that it has not a hidden agenda.
How would you feel if your boss told you that he/ she will start recruiting people on a much lower basic and working conditions and knowing that your post will dissapear in the long term. Would you really agree to it?
Think about that!
Marky
What would New fleet look like?
• New Fleet will exist as a totally separate fleet to all existing fleets
• New Fleet with have its own routes – both long and shorthaul
• New Fleet will operate to reduced crew complements
• Routes will be transferred across from existing LHR fleets as soon as BA can crew them
• New Fleet will have its own negotiating body
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet with have separate terms and conditions
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will work to basic Scheme
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will have no flying agreements
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will have minimum rest at base and
downroute
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will have scheme minimum days off i.e.
one day in seven off. Including time off down route, no double
nights
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will have minimum statutory annual leave
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will stay in minimum spec Hotel, probably
at the Airport
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will have NO seniority and no bidding for
working positions
• Cabin Crew on New Fleet will have their “performance” determined
by their manger before this is paid
• Cabin crew on new fleet will have no annual increases based on
length of service increments, they will receive only a flat rate of
pay
• “Performance” will be determined on factors such as sickness,
general attendance, customer satisfaction, punctuality, uniform
standards etc.
• Flying allowances will be based upon an hourly rate resembling LGW
• LGW hourly rate is now taxed at 65%
• There will be no other variable payments
• Basic pay will equate to market rate plus 10% - This is expected to
be around GBP11,000 for main crew and GBP20,000 for the single
supervisor
• There will only be one paid grade of supervisor on all aircraft both
long and short haul
• There will be rostered GROUND duties
• There will be no redeployment agreement for any New Fleet crew
• All future recruitment will be in to New Fleet ONLY
• There will be NO TRANSFER RIGHTS for existing Cabin Crew at LHR or LGW in to New Fleet
• Gatwick Cabin Crew may no longer transfer in to existing LHR Fleets
• New Fleet contracts will contain the bare minimum of employment
protections
• New Fleet employee policies will be based upon a minimum statutory code of practice (including discipline, grievance, sickness, maternity and special leave)
• Staff Travel policy for New Fleet crew is yet to be determined
(Remember: No Seniority)
