New BA Cabin Crew Strikes - 18/5 - 22/5, 24/5 - 28/5, 30/5 - 3/6, 5/6 - 9/6 2010

[Dave Noble]

From the Guardian ,
10:21 : One of the 3 judges Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, has allowed the appeal .

if one more of them agrees, then the appeal will be upheld

 

[Mal]

if one more of them agrees, then the appeal will be upheld

That's a bit misleading from The Guardian. They are seeking "leave to appeal", not actually "appealing". If they get a second judge to say yes, then they will get into the actual appeal!

 

[Dave Noble]

I thought that the question was on a leave to appeal, but the site does talk about the appeal being upheld

 

[Dave Noble]

10.43am: 2nd Judge , Lord Neuberger, the master of the rolls, has dismissed the appeal

All depends on the 3rd Judge's verdict

 

[Dave Noble]

11.09am:
Unite has won its appeal.

A five day strike by BA's cabin crew is now expected to go ahead next Monday. Two further five day stoppages will also go ahead.

Lady Justice Smith sided with the Lord Chief Justice to allow Unite's appeal against high court injunction on the strike

Also see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10130274.stm

 

[Mal]

11.09am:
Unite has won its appeal.

That's annoying for travellers (and BA!).

I still can't work out how it went from getting "leave to appeal", to "appeal" so quickly. The "appeal" apparently wasn't supposed to be heard until 12pm or so (if leave to appeal was granted).

So somewhere things have been condensed.

 

[Dave Noble]

That's annoying for travellers (and BA!).
.

But seems fair to me based on the very trivial technicality that was used to try and get the injunction.

Is annoying since I have a flight booked to AMS , so looks like will be on KLM

 

[Danger]

The BA website simply says:

"We are very disappointed that Unite’s appeal has been upheld, allowing them to proceed with potential strike action.

We are currently reviewing our contingency plans.

We will update ba.com as soon as we have more information."
​

You can almost feel their pain.

 

[Mal]

But seems fair to me based on the very trivial technicality that was used to try and get the injunction.

The court has ruled. The judicial process has decided. So yes, it is fair in that sense.
But just because something is "fair" doesn't mean it isn't "annoying".

 

[Dave Noble]

The court has ruled. The judicial process has decided. So yes, it is fair in that sense.
But just because something is "fair" doesn't mean it isn't "annoying".

The appeal may have been annoying for BA but the injunction was annoying for Unite

Dave

 

[Dave Noble]

The BA website simply says:

"We are very disappointed that Unite’s appeal has been upheld, allowing them to proceed with potential strike action.

We are currently reviewing our contingency plans.

We will update ba.com as soon as we have more information."
​

You can almost feel their pain.

A v sulky response methinks but page is now extended to list passenger options again

 

[Danger]

My parents are currently in Switzerland, booked to fly GVA-LHR at the end of the month on one of BA's now cancelled flights. The routing is SIN-LHR-CDG,GVA-LHR-SIN, ticketed on QF. I phoned QF to get the options. I was on hold for about six or seven minutes before the agent came back with the options: fly on the BA flight two hours earlier that hadn't yet been cancelled (meaning a six instead of four hour layover) or depart 30 minutes later on Swissair. I asked him to put an anotation in the booking while I phoned my parents for their choice.

They preferred the Swissair option so I phoned back. After getting past the 'do you have authority to act on their behalf part' (which I didn't get with the earlier agent) I was put on hold for about 15 minutes. When the agent came back she said that since BA had not yet formally advised QF of the cancelled flights, they were unable to change the booking without charging a change fee.

Bugger.

So I have to wait until tomorrow which, as I pointed out to the agent, gives BA's European customers a big headstart in re-booking their flights. Oh well.

 

[digga]

A v sulky response methinks but page is now extended to list passenger options again

Sulky it is, but nothing compared to the message playing on their UK reservation line - 2 minutes of "unite is evil, they've really destroyed your plans, how mean are they??". It's really out of line given the context, and frankly I find it pretty offensive to have to listen to a company so publicly take sides against their staff (and use their internal customer services as little more than a platform from which to belittle and chastise their own workforce, whatever their differences). A press release is one thing, but this is ridiculous.

 

[Dave Noble]

Sulky it is, but nothing compared to the message playing on their UK reservation line - 2 minutes of "unite is evil, they've really destroyed your plans, how mean are they??". It's really out of line given the context, and frankly I find it pretty offensive to have to listen to a company so publicly take sides against their staff (and use their internal customer services as little more than a platform from which to belittle and chastise their own workforce, whatever their differences). A press release is one thing, but this is ridiculous.

I fully agree. I haven't had to call BA UK yet so havent heard the propoganda yet

 

[digga]

I fully agree. I haven't had to call BA UK yet so havent heard the propoganda yet

Let me know what you think if you do - it's pretty heavy stuff (oh, and if you do, and aren't impressed, please don't hesitate to voice your disapproval. I got so caught up in the conversation I forgot to vent last time I called).

 

[deka2]

We are caught up in this strike, and have four BA flights in Europe over the next two weeks all on QFF points.
Our first flight is on Monday LHR-CDG and our flight is one of those cancelled.
Rang Qantas last night but couldn't help. I was told that there are full economy seats on the next flight at 380STG plus taxes EACH.
Silence from BA, and I'm ringing them this morning.
If we cancel that part we will get back a little in charges and some points. Doesn't help us get to Paris. Oh and I have checked the Train and a Eurostar ticket is about $250 each.

Addendum

Spoke to BA this morning, very helpful and just ticketed us on the next flight. Not sure why Qantas didn't tell us that this was possible.

Very Happy.

 

[Andyzx]

From The Australian this morning

While BA and the union have reached broad agreement on the issue of pay, the sticking point is now the heavily discounted flights available to off-duty cabin crew - key perks which have been taken away from workers who have gone on strike.

I can understand why they would fight for the perk but it is a perk not a right.

I just want to get on a plane, served some food and drinks, sleep a little and arrive where I am going roughly on time. This just adds to much stress and inconvenience to an already stressful (although also enjoyable) travel plans. But hopefully the BKK situation will get better in a few weeks.

 

[markis10]

Qantas have updated their Waiver for people affected on QF tickets:

http://www.qantas.com.au/agents/dyn/qf/policies/BAIndustrialWaiver210510.pdf

 

[Voyages]

Spoke to BA this morning, very helpful and just ticketed us on the next flight. Not sure why Qantas didn't tell us that this was possible.

Very Happy.

I am glad you got the next flight. Though I am not flying BA until next weekend, I am a tad anxious. Can you please tell me if you phoned BA Australia or BA UK?

 

[Mal]

Spoke to BA this morning, very helpful and just ticketed us on the next flight. Not sure why Qantas didn't tell us that this was possible.

That was nice of them - but they normally would have responded with "speak to Qantas". They certainly have in previous strikes. Perhaps they're getting better at how to handle industrial action or you found a super happy helpful staffer (prob. one of the volunteer staff manning the call centre to assist with rebooking passengers). That's one of the interesting things about this strike. The only people with issues are the BASSA cabin crew. All other staff are bending over backwards to keep BA running.