I'd rather not celebrate Christmas at Terminal 5

December 15, 2009 10:12 AM

I have a ticket to fly British Airways home for Christmas next Tuesday. What should I do?

I'm set (or was set) to fly from Heathrow to Baltimore (LHR-BWI) next Tuesday, the 22nd. This is now, of course, the very day that the strike is supposed to begin. Christ almighty.

Reports are saying the RyanAir and EasyJet are being called in to pick up the slack, but they don't fly to the States. I know you're not psychic, but if the strike does happen, what is going to happen to BA's transtalantic flights? I can't imagine there's much wiggle room to put hundreds of thousands of people on other international carriers at this time of year. This site says that I might not get a re-route until January. I paid a fortune for these tickets and desperately need this holiday -- am I really not going to be able to go? And should I be doing something? Pestering them? Making voodoo dolls?

posted by venividivici to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

In a nutshell, BA will try and save its premium routes first. Which means ones like New York-Heathrow. I don't know quite how that helps you, but it's worth thinking about how you'd get up there if you get offered a ticket on one of those flights.

The flights that will get sacrificed first are domestic and short haul European.

And yes, call BA. Then call your travel insurer.

If all else fails, go on local TV and see if a well-wisher will fund a flight with someone else.

There is going to be a fair bit of pressure on the strikers, and BA to resolve this issue as it will affect the best part of a million people, but don't hold your breath.
posted by MuffinMan at 10:21 AM on December 15, 2009

Assuming you haven't got money to burn, I think you do have to sit tight (though by all means call BA, and make sure, via BA.com, that your contact details are up to date, so that they can call you when needed).

You don't know that the strike will go ahead, nor that if it did it would affect your flight, nor that if your flight was affected you'd be entitled to a refund instead of a reroute — so you can't spend money now, even if you can find an affordable flight, with any guarantee of getting it back later.

(Of course, if you can afford to lose a thousand bucks, you can buy transatlantic tickets on Kayak.com right now, if you're happy to go via New York and possibly also via Frankfurt or some other European capital.)

If you call BA, find out if there's anything you can do to signal your willingness to fly to EWR, JFK, Toronto, whatever...
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 10:26 AM on December 15, 2009

Oops, new info here on BA.com. It seems to imply: a) that you could at least try to change your flights to flights outside the strike dates, and b) that if your flight is cancelled you can be sure of a refund option.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 10:34 AM on December 15, 2009

Logically, from that, it would seem to follow that if you can find another flight on fully-refundable terms, or with only a small refund fee, or where you can get credit with that airline for future travel, it might be worth booking one now. I'll stop now.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 10:35 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I've had a flight (Canada-U.S.) rebooked on another airline due to a pilot's strike. I've also successfully managed to rebook a flight a day early because of a big-ass snowstorm bearing down on the airport I was flying out of (it was the hub of the airline in question.)

Based on these experiences, if leaving a day earlier is an option for you, I would call up BA and ask if they would be willing to re-book you and waive any change fees. It is in BA's interest to have fewer people clamouring for re-bookings after the fact; if they can get you to your destination in an otherwise empty seat on the 21st, that's one less person they have to worry about on the 22nd. The warden's link above seems to imply that BA would be willing to help you out in this way.
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:51 AM on December 15, 2009

If all else fails, go on local TV and see if a well-wisher will fund a flight with someone else.

This is the most insanely implausible piece of advice I've ever seen on the Green.
posted by b.an.dekker at 12:06 PM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

In a nutshell, BA will try and save its premium routes first...The flights that will get sacrificed first are domestic and short haul European.

Yep. Management will likely fill in for staff on transatlantic flights. Especially since American customers are much less likely to sympathize with labour than Europeans are.

I've had a flight (Canada-U.S.) rebooked on another airline due to a pilot's strike.

BA's contract of carriage conspicuously omits rerouting via other carriers. It's conceivable that BA might rebook you on an AA or other Oneworld (Iberia via Madrid? Mexicana via Mexico City?) flights, but there are no guarantees.

I paid a fortune for these tickets and desperately need this holiday.

Do you just need a holiday or do you need to go home and see the folks? If the former, maybe you could cancel the trip to Baltimore and go to a beach resort instead. Heck, since you "paid a fortune", perhaps you could use the difference to pay for the folks you want to see to meet you in, say, Mexico.
posted by randomstriker at 12:29 PM on December 15, 2009

Best answer: The strike is still only about 50-50 likely to go ahead, I'd say. A full 12-day strike will kill the airline -- there's already talk of them opting for bankruptcy so they could emerge without their monster pension obligations -- and both sides know this. BA is pursuing a legal challenge to try and stop the strike; if that fails I imagine we'll see some negotiating starting up.

If it does go ahead, BA procedures in previous strikes have been to a) offer refunds, b) transfer to other carriers, c) attempt to operate important flights, esp transatlantic, with their own staff, d) offer to shift tickets to new dates any time in the coming year. According to their site, it's going to be pretty much the same deal if this strike goes ahead.

I'd sit tight for now. The picture is going to become a lot clearer in the coming days, and you're going to be a ticket agent's dream customer if you're travelling alone and very flexible about where you can go to.
posted by bonaldi at 1:08 PM on December 15, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for the help, everyone. I've called BA but the hold times are 4.5 hours to speak to a representative (!), so I don't know if I'll ever get through. I think I'll just sit tight for now and see what unfolds.

The whole thing is just a serious pain. You should see the news reports on TV over here; people are murderously livid.
posted by venividivici at 3:49 AM on December 16, 2009