dougzz

Possibly, I suspect you have a better overall understanding than myself. But the CW improvement seems to be lots of talk and not so much real action. The lead time of the bedding changes and cabin refits of the older planes seems to be how slow can we do it, rather than let's get it done. Against that I'm far from convinced that BA doesn't see this as another cost saving.

LordBuckethead

I would put forward an alternative perspective here. A few months ago, yes this was true. But with the longer strikes in the last few weeks the disruption has been considerably increased. Almost all MF flights are going crew down, people are starting to notice reduced service more (including on FT), and flights are being cancelled, even non-MF routes (e.g. BAH and Saudi Arabia), to free up WW crew to operate MF flights. As mentioned this will be having a big effect on NPS. And then you've got the increasing costs with non-striking crew's expenses, time on operational duties for normally office-based managers, more hotels than normal for disrupted pax, and the QR wet leases. I doubt BA will let this on, but the costs will be starting to mount, and goodwill from elsewhere inside the company falling.

MPH1980

So I'd counter again with:

• Cancellations haven't gone above 10 flights in a day - that's less than 2% of the schedule at LHR - and were less at the end of the last strike period than earlier in it.
• Yes - flights have been going out crew down - but the service has only been slower, not substantially degraded. Customers will be happy to fly if they are told there's a strike and the reason they get dessert on the tray is because of that. Faced with 'be cancelled' or 'slower service' - consumers will pick 'slower service' when it comes to their summer holidays. There's also a massive difference between 'slow', 'degraded' and 'none'. If flights were going out with no food ... or no drinks ... or first class being closed ... or other such major impact - it'd be different.
• We've no idea what's happening on NPS yet - and that'll be BA internal. Deciphering an NPS drop from the strike against the, almost certainly, much larger impact of the IT issues would be very hard. I'd bet money on BA's mgmt team using the IT issues as the excuse for any NPS drop for the next month or two.
• If BA were going to give in on costs - they would have already when they looked at that QR bill and the associated problems with getting it approved. This isn't about cost for them.

If MF wanted to impact BA (given BA aren't concerned about costs) - they need photos of crying families appearing in the newspapers. Look at the piece that appeared in the Guardian (or was it the Independent) a few weeks back where they had to pepper the story with photos of the impact from the IT debacle because the photos of impact from the strike simply don't exist. The fact those photos don't exist means the editors of the DM (which, like it or not, is the most read daily in the UK) will be saying "not interested!"

You can argue all you like about internal impact to BA - but if BA mgmt are happy to absorb the costs - then it doesn't matter how furiously they are paddling below the water, as long as the swan seems to glide on the turbulent lake and they can be arguing to the outside world that the strike isn't hurting.

wesport

Is the best number to call if your flight gets cancelled and you don't like the reroute 1-800-airways ? Is there a better number?

MPH1980

Yes - just call your local office (in the unlikely circumstance you get cancelled)

KARFA

If you are an executive club member call your usual number, or if not have a look under "contact information" at the bottom of this page https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...=BOT_contactus

denhaagflyer

In the short-term that is all correct - but as I am planning my trips for the fall, why would I book on BA, with the uncertainty that they might cancel my flight one or two days before departure and even if I fly there is a risk of sub-standard service (not that the BA is up to standard even in normal times nowadays). And even if only 2 or 5%, why would I take this risk, if there are other options?

MPH1980

But none of this is short term. This action has been going on since December! If it was affecting forward bookings - it would be dealt with by now.

denhaagflyer

Yes, but before it was two days here, three days there (a month or two later). Now, it is a permanent strike, with one or two off-days in between.

MPH1980

And I'd say this - if you're planning for the autumn - I'd be expecting it to be over one way or the other by then.

Either the strike fund will run out of money and MF will give up or the costs that BA are incurring will get too much and they'll back down.

Simple maths tells us the strike fund won't be able to last that long without public support (and they haven't caused enough of a ruckus to get it!). E.g. let's assume the average MF crew is getting 16k a year (BA claim full time is 21k) - that's 1.3k per month pre-tax, 1080 post tax. According to earlier posts there are 2.7k members of unite in MF. So trying to pay all 2.7k members their post tax wage would cost the fund £3M for a month.

Even if it's only a 50% turn out for the strike - it's £1.5M. So the payouts will be a lot lower than full wage which means the strikers are going to be hurting given the wages are 'poverty pay'.

Others have done good estimates of the costs BA are incurring with the QR wet leases and such. At this point - it's really about who's pockets are deeper.

denhaagflyer

Probably right, but following the end of the strike there might be an announcement: passengers have told us that they like the lower crewing levels we have introduced, especially in premium cabins, as this provides them with more privacy (as in: being ignored).....

Agree, it'll be over eventually, but my fall (in professional terms) starts on 19 August with a long-haul flight, and I am sure not booking BA for that one.

Calchas

QR did attempt to set up a second airline called Al Maha, and bought four A320s for it. That may leave them with an oversupply.

Also even if diplomatic relations are restored, it could take a few weeks before it is worth running a full schedule again.

Agent69

I thought strike pay was <£100 a week?

Agent69

There are suggestions from USA that the dispute blew up as a result of a UAE hacker posting on social media in the name of the boss of Qatar. While this may be a route to diffuse the dispute it is unlikely normal service will be resumed any time soon. Time is against MF as in a couple of months time the LCC wil be reverting to winter schedules and may have resources spare (same as at the beginning of the year).

BA.MF.CSM

Considerably more than that....

Kind regards

BA.MF.CSM