British Airways’ Cabin Crew Ready to Strike Again

**UPDATE: The strike is off, for now, having been overruled by the courts. British Airways has won a 20-day injunction, during which Unite cannot strike.

British Airways is staring down yet another strike by its cabin crew union, Unite, which is set to start the first of four five-day work stoppages tomorrow. British Airways will once again claim, in court, that Unite’s latest strike ballot was flawed and should not be considered valid. After successfully staving off a strike in December by pointing out errors in Unite’s balloting process, the BBC reports that “[British Airways] lawyers are now arguing that the follow-up ballot was also flawed because Unite did not observe the precise rules of how to announce the result.”

British Airways chief Willie Walsh told the BBC he does not expect any last-minute agreements between the two sides.

If a strike does commence, it will displace untold thousands of passengers. The airline says that at Heathrow it will “operate more than 60 per cent of longhaul flights and more than 50 per cent of shorthaul flights in the first strike period,” and will add to the schedule if possible. Operations at London City and Gatwick should be at or near 100 percent.

Information for travelers is available on British Airways’ website.

Readers, have you had enough of this bickering and back-and-forth? Are you concerned that the strike will affect your travels?