Talks between British Airways management and cabin crew union BASSA have ended without a resolution.  The union advises an announcement will be made 12 noon on 11 March UK time (ie in just over 12 hours time).

If, as seems likely, they announce a strike there must be 7 days notice, and the last possible date for a strike to commence without requiring a revote is 22nd March.

If I was flying BA on 18-20th March I’d now be actively making contingency plans.

Edited to add – 18th March is safe since today’s press announcement did not confirm a strike.  The at risk travel period is now 19-24th March.

Edited to add – strike dates have been announced as 20-22 March and 27-30 March.  As yet, British Airways have not cancelled any flights. For up to date information check out BA’s strike information page.  See the new BA strike post with more details and advice.

No news is good news, at least for those flying British Airways in the next couple of weeks.  No announcement yet of a cabin crew strike, which if it occurs must commence within 4 weeks of the ballot result being confirmed and with a minimum of 7 days notice.  The vote to strike was confirmed over a week ago.  Today’s reports of negotiations extending into next week (source Guardian) means the likely earliest start date of  a strike is around 17 March.  The latest is about 22 March.

Here’s hoping there is no strike.

Travellers booked to fly British Airways in early March can breathe a sigh of relief.  The BASSA cabin crew union meeting today did not announce a strike date but instead talks with management are continuing, perhaps spurred on by the recent court decision in the airline’s favour.

Under UK law if there is any strike it must commence within 4 weeks of the end of the ballot and must also have 7 days notice.

Hopefully there will be no strike.

BASSA, the main cabin crew union for British Airways, has announced the result of their ballot for strike action – 81% in favour of strike and 80% vote turnout.  They have not yet announced a strike and it seems will do so on Thursday.  This makes 4 March the earliest possible date for a BA strike.

Some air traffic controllers in Paris are striking the next 4 days.  Both Paris Orly and Paris Charles de Gaulle airports are affected. Most airlines are running normal or slightly reduced schedules except for Air France which has cancelled most shorthaul flights. Air France longhaul flights will operate as normal.

The Lufthansa & Germanwings strike has been lifted after 1 day with the pilots having returned to work (for now).  Even though the strike is lifted expect significant disruptions for the next couple of days, particularly for longhaul passengers.

Most Lufthansa and Germanwings flights are expected to be disrupted next week. Note, however, that some related airlines’ flights are all operating. This includes Swiss, Austrian, bmi, Brussels Airlines, CityLine, Eurowings, Lufthansa Italia.

Lufthansa has published a schedule of their flights which they anticipate being able to operate. All flights not listed on that schedule between 22 and 25 February are cancelled.

At present they are allowing refunds, rebooking onto other Lufthansa flights (in the same cabin but any available booking class), and heavily restricted rebooking onto non Lufthansa flights (requires same booking class). Hopefully the restrictions on rebooking onto other airlines will soon be eased otherwise there will be a lot of people unable to travel on the days they want to. For domestic German flights, Lufthansa also allows rebooking onto Deutsche Bahn trains.

For the latest information for affected passengers check the link above to Lufthansa’s website.

Airline assistance (EU reg 261/2004)

EU reg 261/2004 articles 5 and 6 apply for cancellations and delays respectively. This means food, 2 phone calls, and accommodation (if necessary) must be provided to passengers whose flights are cancelled or materially delayed. Lufthansa will likely argue that article 7 compensation will not apply due to the exemption for extraordinary circumstances.

The latest round in the ongoing struggle between British Airways and their cabin crew union BASSA was a clear win for the airline.  In the judgement, all points were in favour of BA – confirming that it wasn’t unreasonable for British Airways to make the changes in crew numbers and arrangements given the circumstances.

In a few days the month long union ballot will be completed and shortly thereafter we’ll hear if there is to be a strike. Back in December a 12 day strike was called for over Christmas but was cancelled by court injunction due to voting irregularities.

This latest court decision is too late to effect the ballot (which almost certainly will be another vote to strike), but should play on the minds of union officials as they determine what to do next.

The best outcome for travellers will be if the union accepts the judgement and takes a softer line.

A 4 day strike running from Monday to Thursday next week has been announced by pilots at Lufthansa and Germanwings (source New York Times).  While other airlines in the group are not directly affected there probably will be some impacts on their flights too, not least due to many thousands of rebooked passengers.

Edited to add.

Related airlines which are not directly affected by the strike include:

• Swiss
• Austrian
• bmi
• Brussels Airline
• CityLine
• Eurowings

In all cases it is the operating airline that matters, not codeshares. Check your flight details carefully.