To add to people's woes, a friend in Canada who is due to fly over here in February forwarded this email recived from BA's business division:
From: "British Airways On Business"
Reply-To:
BritishAirwaysOnBusiness.674p4fy0f.gw@b ... sob.p0.comTo: "Alison
Subject: Proposed Cabin Crew Strike
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:27:40 PST
Dear Ms XXXX,
The Transport and General Workers Union's (T&G) cabin crew branch has announced that it is planning industrial action on January 29, 30 and 31; February 5, 6 and 7; and February 12, 13 and 14.
We would like to assure you that we remain committed to resolving this dispute through continued talks. We have today asked an external mediation service to assist us in taking this process forward with the T&G.
In the meantime, all British Airways flights continue to operate normally.
We are currently assessing the impact any potential industrial action will have on our flight schedule, in the event that a strike does take place. We are working as quickly as possible to confirm our plans for the affected period. If any of your employees are due to travel between January 29 and February 16, we understand that they may wish to change their plans. As a result, we have introduced a policy that enables you to rebook flights for a different date.
We understand that this is an uncertain time for our customers. We would like to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to make sure that disruption is minimised in the event of any industrial action. To enable us to reach your travellers with the latest travel information before their flights, we recommend that all bookings contain passenger contact details (mobile number, email address). Travellers should visit Manage My Booking at ba.com to ensure their details are up to date.
We hope to make full information available regarding the first period of action from Wednesday, January 24, and will update you accordingly. With this said, if we have to make flight cancellations as a result of this industrial action, we will publish a comprehensive policy that will cover rebooking, rerouting and refund options.
You may be able to make changes to your booking via the Change Booking facility on ba.com.
If you are unable to make changes to your booking on ba.com, you can call British Airways or contact your travel agent.
If you are in the US or Canada, you can call us at 1-800-AIRWAYS. In the UK you can reach us on (freephone) 0800 727 800.
For the latest information on the situation, please go to the latest flight news pages on ba.com.
Thank you for your support during this time.
Sincerely yours,
British Airways