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The union representing British Airways cabin crew has said its members will go on strike for three days from 20 March and for four days from 27 March. The union confirmed it would not strike over Easter, but warned there could be further action after 14 April if a resolution had not been agreed. The union said it would also ballot its members on a new offer from BA, but added it could not recommend it. But BA boss Willie Walsh told the BBC that the offer was no longer available. He said the offer was conditional on strike action being averted, and so had been withdrawn. Unite's assistant general secretary Len McCluskey said this latest move by British Airways "beggared belief" and denied that the offer was ever conditional.
After months of negotiations the two sides failed to agree on a package of measures aimed at saving the loss-making airline more than £60m. They have both reasserted that they are available for further talks, but language on both sides has hardened since the strike announcement. Walsh said the two parties were "not close at all" to coming to an agreement.
BA has announced that for all LHR and short-haul LGW BA flights booked to travel March 19 through March 31, 2010, passengers have the choice of rebooking or canceling and obtaining a refund. Policies are all subject to change. For the latest policies and updates, visit batraveltrade.com/strike
A message to our customers from British Airways CEO, Willie Walsh
I wanted to update you, our customers, on what we propose to do in the event that a strike does go ahead. Unite, the union that represents our BA cabin crew, has not as yet announced any strike dates. It must tell us by March 15 whether a strike will happen and it cannot go on strike without first giving us seven days notice of the first day. Any action must then start by March 22. In the meantime we continue to have talks with Unite and we want to resolve the issues between us. I want to reassure you that a strike will not ground British Airways. We have had nearly 6,000 volunteers in total to support our flying program, including nearly 1,000 who have trained as cabin crew and the number is growing. We have been putting plans into place and although we cannot announce the precise schedule we will operate until we know for sure what Unite would do, I can tell you what our plans are:
- We will operate all our flights from London City airport, including long-haul
services to New York.
- We will operate all our long-haul schedule at Gatwick, and about half of our short-haul schedule.
- At Heathrow, we will operate a substantial proportion of our long-haul program and a good number of short-haul flights too, assisted by chartered aircraft with crews from a number of UK and European-based airlines.
We have also arranged to secure seats from other carriers, so thousands more of you can reach your chosen destinations. At this stage our plans do not include crew at Heathrow who may choose to work normally. More than 4,000 of all crew did not vote for strike action....We want to help you as much as we possibly can. Should a strike be called, we will offer rebook and refund opportunities (please check batraveltrade.com for details) but every day we will fly tens of thousands of our customers to where they want to go.
Contract talks between American Airlines and its flight attendants broke off with the union declaring that negotiations were hopelessly stalemated while the company said it is looking forward to more bargaining. The union said that it would ask federal officials to start a 30-day cooling-off period, after which the flight attendants could strike. There is no guarantee that officials will grant the union's request. The National Mediation Board has rejected many similar requests from other unions in the airline industry, and it could order both sides to resume negotiations.
Lufthansa plans flights to Iraq. Baghdad and Erbil to be new Middle East destinations. As Iraq’s civil aviation continues to open up, demand for flights to the country is growing. Lufthansa is therefore examining the possibility of launching several new services to Iraq and is currently planning to serve the capital, Baghdad, and the city of Erbil in Northern Iraq from its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. Lufthansa aims to launch the new services in the summer of 2010, once it has obtained the necessary traffic rights. Further infrastructure requirements are also being examined. With the resumption of flights to Iraq, Lufthansa is pursuing its policy of expanding its route network in the Middle East, which it presently serves with 88 flights per week to 14 destinations in eleven countries. Lufthansa operated flights to Baghdad from 1956 until the start of the Gulf War in 1990. Erbil is already being served from Vienna by Austrian Airlines, which is part of the Lufthansa Group. From next summer, Baghdad and Erbil will be linked to Lufthansa’s hubs in Frankfurt and Munich and will thus be integrated into Lufthansa’s global route network. The fares and exact flight times with connections from and to the U.S., will be announced at a later date as soon as booking for the new routes opens.
Michelin releases 2010 Red Guide, 26 French restaurants get top ratings. USA Today story.
Airline passengers flying to the U.S. from 14 countries with terrorism problems will face extra checkpoint screening at overseas airports according to the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA directive targets people flying from or through 10 "countries of interest" as well as the four nations that are considered sponsors of terrorism. The countries of interest are: Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. The State Department lists four countries that sponsor terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.
Airline alliances commentary by Dan Reed of USA Today
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Travel Safety advice from EWA
Cruise Corner
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