BA to lease 9 Qatar A320s + crews during strike
Jul 5, 2017, 8:55 am
#361
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
I find this absolutely astonishing - this is the 9th set of notified strike action, of which 7 have actually taken place, over a period of just over 6 months.
Just when on earth is the CAA definition of "unusual and unlikely to happen frequently" reached then?
All the other criteria may well make perfect sense, and leaving aside the issue of sympathy with the MF crew I'd have no issue with my own safety stepping on a QR plane, but this sort of statement does nothing to disprove a theory that the CAA is but a glove puppet for the aviation industry in this country in far too many ways.
Just when on earth is the CAA definition of "unusual and unlikely to happen frequently" reached then?
All the other criteria may well make perfect sense, and leaving aside the issue of sympathy with the MF crew I'd have no issue with my own safety stepping on a QR plane, but this sort of statement does nothing to disprove a theory that the CAA is but a glove puppet for the aviation industry in this country in far too many ways.
Yes and no doubt yes.
Jul 5, 2017, 11:08 am
#362
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Singapore
Programs: BA Gold. KrisFlyer Gold
Posts: 732
Just had a fantastic experience on one of the Qatar replacement planes; so glad I was lucky to have this on one of my routings. What I found hilarious was that the cabin crew (and captain) used the entire flight as an opportunity to big up their own brand, constantly apologising for the fact that their arrangement with BA meant they were being forced to dish out a sub-standard service. I also liked that, because the cabin was small, full and out of the ordinary, there was great camaraderie between the passengers who couldn't agree more with the points that the crew were making. It was almost like the atmosphere at one of the bars on a QR A380!
Jul 5, 2017, 12:49 pm
#364
Join Date: Jan 2015
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,627
For those who are interested, the CAA wrote to me this morning enclosing a copy of their advice to the secretary of state for transport (now on their website).
To summarize,
To summarize,
- there were seventeen comments on the wetlease (including mine), comprising one from BALPA, one from Unite, thirteen private individuals objecting, one individual making neutral comments, and one individual in favour;
- as far as is permitted by EU law, the CAA adopts a "liberal" policy towards wetleasing of foreign aircraft;
- the CAA accepts that the industrial action is "an exceptional need", is "unusual and unlikely to happen frequently" and does not think it is relevant whether this is something BA could have avoided;
- the lack of available crew (rather than the lack of aircraft) is a valid reason for a wetlease (this might be of concern to the pilots union);
- the safety grounds raised by Unite are dismissed (rightly in my view);
- a fresh application for wetleasing beyond the 16th of July would have to be made, the open-ended nature of the original request was impermissible.
Pleased to see that Unites' contemptible attempt to play the health and safety card was kicked into touch. However, somewhat surprised that over 1000 MF crew voted to strike but only 17 formally raised concerns.
Jul 5, 2017, 12:56 pm
#365
Join Date: Jan 2015
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 1,627
I guess it depends whether you see the current round of industrial action as one dispute or 7.
Jul 5, 2017, 1:06 pm
#366
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
You have misunderstood: this was a consultation open to the general public. The CAA were not canvassing MF for their opinions on this. One of the comments was from Unite, the union involved in this dispute. Another was from the British Airline Pilots' Association. The remainder were from individuals (and at least one, mine, was someone with no connection to BA other than being a customer). Not all comments were opposed to the wetlease; one was in favour of it. Another was neutral.
Last edited by NWIFlyer; Jul 5, 2017 at 2:17 pm Reason: Remove quote from deleted post (itself quoting a deleted post!)
Jul 5, 2017, 2:21 pm
#368
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,477
The MF crew numbers complaining is, I think, something of a red herring - in these circumstances you expect the organisation representing you to make the objection, and the CAA would see anything else as a double count and an attempt to manipulate the process, which wouldn't look good on anyone in the longer term if it came to raising further objections to another application.
Jul 5, 2017, 2:25 pm
#369
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: London, Hong Kong
Programs: OZ*G, LA/Emerald, StarbucksHK Lifetime Gold
Posts: 50
Now that Unite has announced another round of strikes from the 19th of July. chances for BA being granted the new permit to wet lease the 9 QR birds and if so, where are they gonna stash the birds (and crew) for 2 full days?
Jul 5, 2017, 3:26 pm
#370
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: Mucci, BA, AF
Posts: 10,129
Strongly doubt they'll fly back, probably parked at LHR just like the BA birds are parked now. I think they'll rotate some crew into and out of DOH though, as I suppose most were told they would only be away from base for two weeks...
Jul 5, 2017, 9:33 pm
#372
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Quite close to NQY
Programs: BAEC Silver,clubcard,clubcard plus, BA Amex................ And Mucci x3 ;)
Posts: 9,488
cs
Jul 5, 2017, 11:44 pm
#373
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 5,797
If Qatar get their regional feud resolved by then they may want them all back.
Jul 6, 2017, 4:29 am
#374
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: London
Posts: 17,007
Jul 6, 2017, 5:01 am
#375
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: Mucci, BA, AF
Posts: 10,129
It's free to park them over in BA-land AFAIK. Haven't been to LHR except a quick connection on Tuesday but I'm guessing that's where most of the BA Airbus are parked now.