Please, guys, I think there is very little uncertainty!

Bealine, much to Mrs Bealine's chagrin (a green tinge of jealousy, I fear), having now got his "wings", is part of Willie's Volunteers along with literally hundreds of staff from many different departments of BA. On my training course, I was rubbing shoulders with engineers, managers and our friends from customer services in the good old US of A!

So far, in our track record of previous strike action, Gatwick's flights were completely unaffected.

If future industrial unrest goes ahead, then we plan to operate 100% of our Gatwick based flights, and 100% of Heathrow longhaul services. Given the sheer number of volunteers qualified to operate Boeing 767, 777 and 747 aeroplanes, I am confident that every man-jack of you that wants to fly with us will be able to - as long as there's no industrial action by BAA or Air Traffic Control or other people beyond BA's control, of course!

The only disappointment will be the lack of proper catering. Bealine will treat you all to the warmth of his "smiles in the aisles" and try to give excellent customer service, but he is only trained to give you cold food and tea and biccies. If you ask me for any fancy cocktails, I might just have to ask you how to do it - but I will do my best!

I can assure you, though, that British Airways has provided an extremely thorough training to all the volunteers so in no way will your safety and security ever be compromised.

Thank you for sticking with us!