ZZ100

Anyone know how i can get hold of the policy department or something!?! Would love to talk to them!

Mr Enigma

Just out of interest, I wonder what the financial implication to BAA will be if the strike does go ahead. I would have thought that BAA would have to compensate all the carriers at all affected airports and also all the shops etc due to loss of business.

This would surely amount to a lot of money...

I am on the 10th Jan in Club to ORD and back again on the 15th hopefully we will be ok...

adrianjc32

If you mean BAs, you cant. A commercial policy will be activated if the strikes take place. BA has no magic mirror on this and are waiting to be advised of the formal outcome the same as every other airline. Until that time there is nothing that can be done apart from waiting and considering alternatives. Commercial Policies usually allow for free changes or refunds if your flight is disrupted.

Dr Groggy

I have booked (MFU'd WTP to CW) a pair of seats on BA with the outbound on 17 Jan (inbound end of the Jan).

It is important I get to my destination on time, strike or no strike and I don't want to wait until the last minute to find out that I could be delayed.

My backup plan involves the travel insurance (Amex Plat chargecard) which should (fingers crossed) cover delayed departure in case the planned 48-hour strike on 17 Jan goes ahead.

I resorted to booking a fully flexible one-way LCY-CDG + CDG to my longhaul destination on AF. The question remains whether I can persuade Amex to cover the cost of J travel on AF.

Has anyone been in a similar situation before (i.e. rebooking themselves on another airline and using Amex cover to recoup the costs?)

Obviously if the strike goes ahead it wouldn't be possible to fly the BA outbound, but I'd like to know that this won't affect the inbound reservation at the end of Jan which ought to remain valid. There is a minor question mark over this as well, can anyone shed some light?

Land-of-Miles

I think you may be out of luck here. Amex Plat pays out £150 max for travel delays, so I don't see Amex ponying up the cost of a replacement itinerary I am afraid to say. Strikes are covered by Amex Plat provided you made the booking before the strike was announced.

Dr Groggy

Yes I booked the BA flights back in October before the strikes were announced.

Here is what Amex say:
(https://www.iplatinum.americanexpres...ryBenefits.pdf)

To my mind this appears to cover not being able to fly the outbound on BA due to the 48-hour industrial action on 17 Jan (should it happen). Am I missing something?

KenJohn

Your plan will almost work. You just need to book a fully flexible "return"
If no BAA strike; cancel fully flexible return and fly BA. If BA strikes, then go for the full refund option; which will be available (although allow some time for the refund to be processed). You cannot fly return if no outbound flight.

PUCCI GALORE

So speaks a man with sense. If this strike goes ahead - I suspect that there will only be one day when this happens and the Government will really have no other option but to get involved as the sheer number of airports that will be affected and the number of airlines involved will be out of all proportion.

With luck this may see the break up of the BAA and - hopefully a UK organisation with some idea of PR and UK Industrial Relations taking over. Nationalisation is out of the question as the Government has agreed in all but name to underwrite and nationalise Northern Rock if all else fails.

Nice to see one's taxes being used in such imaginative ways rather than dreary old hospitals and schools.

majoreyeswater

According to the BoE we are already on the hook re Northern Rock for more than the NHS budget for a whole year and has anyone noticed that most companies were forced out of final salary pension schemes due to our sub-Prime Minister's pension tax 'adjustments' in 1997?

It will be interesting to see how Gordo responds to his Old Labour mates as they gather around the braziers on the 7th - when I will be trying to get through Zone R...

And don't get me started on CGT...

Land-of-Miles

Sorry I missed that I was looking at the travel inconvenience section rather than cancellation (since I did not realise this section covered changes). It is a shame that this benefit only seems to apply if you make changes prior to outbound travel, it appears you are stuffed if you are impacted by strikes etc. whilst downroute.

carrliadiere

I just phoned BA and was told that they would know if the 'proposed strikes' were going to go ahead 4 days before the date, and the more information about what BA would do would be released then - 3rd Jan.

I also asked about what would happen if the strike did go ahead, and I was told there would be a seemingly quite robust reschedule/refund/rebook plan. The guy said 'we would initially offer you the next best flight, and if that doesn't suit your plans we would work out the best option for you, which could be a refund if needs be'.

This has soothed my mind considerably. I'll only lose about 15 quid on cancelling the hotel if I must, and can then book it for a week later or something. All a tad annoying that this is my first ever self-funded, self-planned holiday since leaving home and getting a job.

Still, impressed at the BA response from the man I spoke to. Hope this info helps anyone looking for it.

IAMORGAN

In my view, that is different to striking to protect employees who have not even joined the workforce yet. Is BAA really such a bad employee? It seems to me that transport employees seem to strike more than any other industry I can think of. I suspect this is because they are the only real industry that is still unionised (with exception obviously of national entities such as the civil service, which seem not to strike excessively). I think the thing unions must realise is that every strike costs them; it alienates them from the public and government. If the unions want to see their employees unable to strike because their action is damaging to the economy, then they should carry on. In France, it seems that the public are turning against the unions.

I have said before on this forum that I am not of the belief that striking over these issues is productive, it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth of both employees and employers. I think it shows two things;
1. BAA is a poor employer with very bad relations with employees
2. The unions are perhaps not so willing to negotiate fairly (i.e. give and take) than other unions.

As for banning strike action -that is quite a dangerous path to go down. Being a 'capitalist' at heart, it shows to me that our economy is not strong enough; if people see a reason to strike, it shows me that something is going wrong and it is a very sad situation to be in that no one, except the unions, want to be in -it is hard for employees and hard for employers, and the knock on effect on the economy and on the travelling public, along with BA and other airlines will be profound which is a shame, because BA really need some good luck.

If the unions really want to hit the nail in to BA though, I would negotiate and delay the strike action, acting very reasonably and gaining media support, then saying in about the end of FEB that baa is being unreasonable and that strike action will occur on say 27 March -the day T5 opens.

IAMORGAN

I am !due! to travel LHR-MUC on the 8th coming back on the 9th JAN and hope that there won't be knock on cancellations on the 8th due to a/c and crew being out of position!! Due to be on the BA952 which leaves LHR at 1230 and returning on the BA957 leaving muc at 2110 on the 9th. It's I class so can't really change (I would go BHX-DUS-MUC if I could cancel/refund the BA flight, I cannot postpone this meeting, so just have to hope that everything is ok on the day following the strike.

kingsroadgal

I don't take much solace from the fact that BA are planning to announce a policy on January 3. We are staying in London now. We are due to leave for Florence on January 1, returning on January 7, with Club World departure (MFU) on January 8 for LAX. The last thing we want to do is miss that January 8 flight...assuming it goes as scheduled, which I know is a big assumption. I also don't want to get bumped down to coach under any circumstances. Our flight to Florence, is a non-refundable....this is about the first time I have bought a non-refundable ticket in recent memory. At my husband's urging, I might add. We don't know whether to leave and risk that we might not get back in time for the trans-Atlantic flight. We are even considering not going to Florence and hoping that the ticket might be refunded at some later time. My kids need to be back in school, and my husband needs to get back to work. It is very aggravating. January 3 doesn't do me much good. I'm a big BA fan, but despite several calls, the only option they have given us is to change the return date of our Florence ticket for about 600 pounds. I paid 900 pounds for the tickets, so that is not very palatable. Any insights would be appreciated.

clubman

But what are you expecting them to do at this stage?
Their not going to refund, or change, your non refundable flights until they know the strikes are indeed going ahead, and have a policy in place.
Once again, this strike is not BA's doing.