And even the traditionally union-supporting Mirror can only sit on the fence:
There would be no winners from a British Airways strike over Christmas and New Year - except rival airlines.
Both sides in a potentially catastrophic dispute are utterly convinced of the rightness of their case.
Ba chief Willie Walsh argues he must slash costs to save the ailing airline. One of the most decisive ballot results in recent years says the staff equally believe they are treated unfairly.
But one way or another it will be settled and it is better for both parties if we don't wait for a victor to emerge from the smouldering wreckage of a crashed company. So the airline's senior executives and Unite leader Len McCluskey should sit down immediately to pilot a way out of this confrontation. Passengers caught in the middle will curse one side or another or both, but a strike isn't inevitable if negotiators roll up their sleeves and start talking.
We hope there's a deal for the sake of BA, its staff and, most of all, long-suffering travellers.
Similar ambivalence from the Daily Star:
CHRISTMAS is cancelled. Well, at least for all the suffering BA customers planning to jet abroad.
Staff voted unanimously yesterday to walk out for 12 days.
And they’re doing it right when tens of thousands want to fly to loved ones for the festive period.
The nation sympathises with their fight for better pay and jobs.
But once again WE are the ones to pay for their action.
This not only destroys Christmas for those travelling but the families *desperate to see them too.
It’s not fair.
They’ve left their strike decision far too late for many to book alternative flights.
It means a miserable end to 2009 and a lonely start to the new year.
BA chiefs and staff need to redouble efforts to resolve this crisis *immediately.
They owe it to their customers to work together and finally sort things out.
These strikes cannot be *allowed to happen.