I would be grateful if you could allow me to interpose between the expressions of internecine feuding hitherto set out in this thread to provide a customer’s point of view. I will not demean myself by assuming the egregious SLF sobriquet. Put simply, I and the rest of those who travel BA are customers who contribute revenue the company so desperately needs to maintain its operations in the current harsh economic environment.
I am a frequent traveller who chooses, wherever possible, to fly BA. I do so because I believe my choice goes some way to promote the country’s economy as well as keeping folks in a job who will ultimately pay taxes to maintain my pension and benefits further downstream. In a way it’s an “I’ll scratch your back if you will scratch mine” relationship. I’ll also say I’m intensely proud of British institutions and up until now that has included BA. Like one person has already mentioned, I've felt at home the moment I step onto one of the company’s aircraft at airports all around the world. Perhaps I should also declare an interest in the current situation because I’m due to fly Club to/from Hong Kong in a few days and Los Angeles in March.
Recent statements from the union side about no intention of striking across Easter are of no comfort to me. So far as I can tell, my return journey from KLAX is in jeopardy. Consequently, I will reluctantly be making alternative arrangements with another One World carrier to avoid uncertainty. One person’s return Club class fare may not be a big deal but you can bet many like me will take similar action thus inflicting great financial harm on BA. I’m sorry if people are already way ahead of me on this, but I still think it’s worth an ordinary customer stating the “bl**dy obvious”.
By announcing that strikes will not be held over Easter, the union side is suggesting its aim is not to disrupt holiday traffic. That begs a question. Is the strike tactic aimed at depriving the company only of its most important revenue flows - that is from first and business travellers? But these people are the very folks most capable of finding alternative carriers who provide higher degrees of certainty of service provision. If they do, I wonder how many will come back to BA once fear of industrial action is over. Some might but many won’t.
All BA employees need to wake up to reality and I suspect many have. The general public does not discriminate between BA management, office workers, engineering, ground operations and aircrew. It sees only British Airways. The general view is, even if the latest strike is avoided, there will be another dispute in the wings just waiting to take centre stage thus perpetuating uncertainty and dissuading them from booking BA . Can you wonder therefore why ABBA, the rallying cry of travelling public, is reaching a crescendo?
Read the exasperation expressed in the comments sections of on-line newspapers to understand that in the current economic circumstances, where everyone is hurting, there is no place for pointless industrial action. Like so many other businesses, BA has been creative about holding on to core staff and providing work arounds to maintain employment and services. Sadly, some of its people have had to leave. Unless all of the company’s employees work together to save BA, the rest of you will be joining your recently released colleagues on far less advantageous terms. The country will be poorer for the loss of a great British icon such as BA but no institution has a right to survive.
Lastly a few words directly to BA cabin crew. I would suggest the next time you walk through the premium cabins during a flight look upon the passengers there as “pay packets”. Then consider every empty seat, along with those occupied by colleagues on staff travel concessions, as a loss of pay! You can increase the pay packet pool by providing not only professional but also consistent service. By and large, the airline’s customers want only one thing. They want to book their seats and then turn up at the airport in the certainty they can depart on or about the scheduled time of the flight service they have paid for. You will have started to complete your ballots indicating your support of further industrial action and you have the strike sanction at your disposal. But before you tick the “Yes” box remember the travelling public whose plans you are about to disrupt also has the sanction to go elsewhere for its flights. It will be for you to decide which is the more powerful of these two sanctions and which will impact most upon your personal circumstances.
I trust reason will prevail and BA has an opportunity to weather this particular storm.