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British Airways Grounds Flights As Strike Spirals Out of Control

Posted on: Friday, 12 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

TENS of thousands of air passengers face chaos today after a wildcat strike by baggage handlers prompted British Airways to cancel hundreds of its flights to and from Heathrow Airport.

After cancelling dozens of flights yesterday and seeking emergency hotel accommodation for stranded passengers, the airline last night announced it was cancelling hundreds more Heathrow services up until this evening.

Up to 70,000 passengers will be prevented from travelling until at least 6pm today after the airline decided it could not run any flights to Europe, the UK and long-haul destinations including the United States, Australia, South Africa and Asia. The cancellations affect all Heathrow services with Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

A BA spokesman last night urged passengers due to travel today not to turn up at Heathrow but to contact the airline or their travel agent to arrange a refund or to rebook their travel plans.

A spokesman in Scotland said the airline was making efforts to get people onto alternative flights or into hotels if they could not return home.

BA would normally operate 550 flights a day, with August being one of the busiest months of the year for the airline industry. A further five airlines have been affected by the disruption - Sri Lankan Airlines, Finnair, GB Airlines, British Mediterranean Airlines and Qantas.

The walkout was in support of several hundred employees of BA's catering supplier, Gate Gourmet, who were sacked on Wednesday in a row over working practices. Many of the sacked Gate Gourmet employees mounted picket lines at Heathrow.

Last night Sir Rod Eddington, British Airways' chief executive, who leaves next month, said of the BA flight cancellations: "This unprecedented move is a result of the crippling operational impact of unofficial industrial action by staff from the Transport and General Workers union.

"I would like to apologise unreservedly to our customers. It is a huge disappointment to us that we have become embroiled in someone else's dispute.

"I have urged the Transport and General Workers Union and Gate Gourmet managers to resolve this dispute and end this misery for our customers."

One of those affected last night was Jackie Rowland, 39, who was attempting to get to Glasgow with her husband for a funeral today.

Mrs Rowland, from London, said: "Our flight was due out at 6:15pm, but it has been cancelled. We were told to just keep on checking with staff and watch the flight information boards, but it's not looking good."

Earlier, flights had departed without any food on board, with passengers being given vouchers to buy their own before boarding.

Meanwhile, the GMB Union told its workers not to cover for any of the striking workers and expressed strong support for the Gate Gourmet staff - prompting fears that the chaos could continue until at least the weekend.

Hundreds of confused passengers crammed floors inside the Terminal Four departure hall. Loudspeaker announcements asked anyone not flying to leave the building as staff closed the main doors to prevent overcrowding, leaving hundreds more waiting on the pavements outside.

Zimbabwean Ella Greene was among those sitting inside waiting for a flight to Harare.

She said: "You can't get any information, I went up to the information desk and they couldn't tell me anything." She added: "They fob you off, they are barely polite."

A spokesman for BAA in Scotland which operates Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, said last night that disruption to passengers in Scotland was on a much smaller scale than at Heathrow.

"Obviously, there has been some disruption but we are doing everything we can to provide operational support for passengers.

"We are liaising with British Airways to help those who have arrived to find their flights to Heathrow cancelled."

Source: Scotsman, The

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