British Airways (BA) Strike News

Visiting a local market on the Continent and picking up a “Louis Vuitton” handbag or bling sunglasses for a few euros may strike holidaymakers as a harmless pursuit, but it could land them in hot water at the end of their stay. French and Italian governments have recently introduced harsher penalties for those found buying and selling counterfeit goods. In France, those caught buying fake items such as handbags, watches, designer gear, sports wear and sunglasses are subject to fines of up to 300,000 (about 260,000) or a prison sentence of three years. Nicholas Phillips, a copyright solicitor, told the BBC website that The most likely thing to happen to British tourists if they walk through customs with a counterfeit Louis Vuitton bag is customs officers will tap them on the shoulder and take it away from them. They will also potentially fine them twice the value of the original bag, not the fake. That may run to several thousand euros – imagine twice that. Across Europe, seizures of fake goods more than doubled last year. Customs authorities seized almost 180 million counterfeit items, most of which were imported from China.

Source: http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/2009/08/holidaymakers-warned-against-buying-fake-goods-abroad.html

This week, British Airways is celebrating 90 years since Transport & Travel Ltd (a precursor to British Airways) launched the world’s first commercial flight, which departed from London to Paris on August 25, 1919.Since then, the airline has carried more than 1.2 billion customers on its extensive route network. Paying tribute to the airline, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, “British Airways has never lost the pioneering spirit and vision that saw it take to the skies with the world’s first daily international flight from London to Paris on this day in 1919.”British Airways chairman Martin Broughton said: “Over the past nine decades, British Airways has played its part in many historic episodes. We provided the first air links to far-flung capitals in the days of empire, flew Winston Churchill across the Atlantic during wartime, brought Queen Elizabeth back to Britain after the passing of George VI… and have often proudly transported home our sports teams from success overseas.”To honor the anniversary, Swarovski has loaned a giant bejeweled Union Flag to the airline. The stunning four-foot-by-two-foot artwork is embossed with more than 126,000 crystallized Swarovski Elements and will be in the British Airways arrivals lounge in Terminal 5 until September.An internal exhibition will showcase memorabilia from nine decades of travel, while customers in Terminal 5 have been treated to members of the BA cabin crew, along with TV personality Kirsty Gallacher, modeling vintage uniforms in the terminal in the run up to its anniversary week.

Ryanair is now more expensive on certain routes than full-service competitors such as British Airways, according to a report in The Sunday Times. The paper identified ten routes for which the low-cost carrier charges more than BA three of which were more expensive even before surcharges were added. Researchers found that a family of four who travel to Ibiza in mid-August would pay 1,057 with Ryanair, compared to just 913.20 when flying with BA. The flag carrier also came up trumps in cheap flights to Venice charging 89.30 for a one-way trip over Christmas, against Ryanair’s 109.52 while the cost of a four-person skiing holiday to Salzburg next February was once again lower with BA. After factoring in baggage surcharges and payment handling fees, Ryanair became the more expensive carrier on several other popular routes. The Sunday Times noted that a passenger who travels with 20kg of luggage, pays for priority boarding and buys a snack and drink in-flight would pay an astonishing 194 in surcharges with Ryanair. That falls to just 31 with easyJet, and zero with BA. Ryanair responded by insisting that 80 per cent of its passengers do not check-in luggage. “The comparison is unfair because it is not comparing like with like,” a spokesman said.

Source: http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/2009/08/ryanair-more-expensive-than-british-airways.html

A planned two-day strike by thousands of British Airways cabin crew has been called off, the airline has said. Talks between BA and the Transport and General Workers Union had been taking place over the weekend to try to avert a mass staff walkout planned for Tuesday and Wednesday this week. BA executives and union leaders said an agreement had been reached on the key issue of pay and the management of sickness absence. BA will now attempt to reinstate as many flights as possible. BA had already cancelled all flights out of Heathrow and domestic and European flights out of Gatwick for Tuesday and Wednesday. Although the strike has now been called off, BA said that the agreement had come too late to prevent disruption to many of its flights. Two potential 72-hour strikes earmarked for February have also been called off. BA chief executive, Willie Walsh, said: We are pleased that our negotiations with the T have resulted in an agreement that removes the threat of strikes.We have always said that our cabin crew do an excellent job and we believe this agreement lays a firm foundation to enable us to provide even higher standards of onboard service for customers in the future.He added: Unfortunately, the decision has come too late to prevent disruption to the travel plans of tens of thousands of our customers tomorrow and Wednesday.”We will endeavour to reinstate as many flights as we can for those days. We will give more details later today.

Source: http://news.flightmapping.com/07/01/29/ba-strike-called-off_1171.html

Merger talks between British Airways and the Australian national carrier Qantas have collapsed. Qantas said that following “detailed discussions” the two carriers could not reach an agreement on the “key terms” of the proposed 3.6bn deal that the airlines have been trying to hammer out in recent weeks. The merger was strongly opposed by Australian unions, who argued it would affect the jobs of several thousand employees. Qantas had argued a deal with BA would help it save on maintenance costs and weather the global financial downturn. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce warned last week that the merger faced major hurdles and would only go ahead if Qantas could secure major revenue and cost benefits. Today both the airlines said that “Qantas and BA will continue to work together on their joint businesses between Australia and the UK as part of the Oneworld alliance.” Qantas has previously said that should the talks with BA fail, the carrier might seek to strike a similar deal with an Asian rival.

Source: http://news.flightmapping.com/08/12/19/ba-merger-talks-with-qantas-collapse_2030.html

Thousands of airline passengers are facing travel misery after talks between British Airways and the Transport and General Workers Union to avert a major strike broke down. The industrial action threatens to halt flights on Tuesday January 30 and Wednesday January 31. If the strike goes ahead, all BA flights from Heathrow airport will be cancelled, as well as all domestic and European BA-operated flights to and from Gatwick. The dispute is over sickness absence, pay and staffing.As well as next weeks strike, 72-hour walkouts are scheduled on Monday February 5 and Monday February 12.Customers concerned about their travel plans can call the airline’s free telephone number 0800 727 800 or visit the ba.com website.

Source: http://news.flightmapping.com/07/01/25/passenger-misery-as-ba-strike-looms_1165.html

British Airways pilots have ruled out taking strike action over the Easter holiday period.The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has said it will not take industrial action during one of the busiest times of the year for flights, saying its problems are with British Airways and not the general public.BALPA general secretary, Jim McAuslan, said: “Our row is not with the travelling public who will have worked hard for their Easter break.”Union officials and British Airways management had agreed to talks overseen by arbitration service ACAS, but the two sides have failed to come to an agreement and discussions are currently on hold.Talks between the two sides were arranged after BA pilots, who are members of BALPA, voted to take industrial action over a dispute relating to claims that British Airways would employ lower-paid staff for its new Open Skies subsidiary.Following the collapse of talks British Airways warned BALPA that if strike dates were issued, it would seek a court injunction to prevent pilots taking industrial action.

Source: http://news.flightmapping.com/08/03/13/ba-pilots-rule-out-easter-strike_1719.html