Just arrived at my hotel, somewhere in Europe, after operating a packed flight out of LHR this morning.
Like TorC, I've arrived at my hotel (on my day off) somewhere in Europe. My flight was also packed. A passenger thanked me on boarding saying that this was one flight he did not wish to miss adding that he had to fly today to support BA. Several passengers also did the same, all extremely grateful that we were there to serve them.
I was the only one who turned up on my trip but there were enough main crew who were on standby to replace the 'no shows,' three crew were immediately called to operate with me. I also spoke to several other CSDs who were waiting to be called out on trips from standby though my trip was confirmed yesterday.
I parked normally in the Crew Car park with no reservations having driven pass a picket line which was manned by a handful of crew.
BA have provided some brilliant security measures to protect crew who have reported to work. Once in T5 I was amazed to find that even in the lift to CRC, volunteers were present to prevent any level of intimidation to operating crew.
The atmosphere at CRC was brilliant as Torc described. I had a brief chat with Bill Francis who said that there will be compulsory redundancies as a result of the Strike, however crew who turn up for work will be recognised.
The only slightly unpleasant bit today was when we arrived at our destination in Europe, the Purser who took over the aircraft from me refused to talk to me while I was trying to give her a handover. The rest of the crew avoided eye contact with me and all my crew making them feel terrible and a little upset.
I've also been informed that according to Bill Francis that strikers will only come back to work when BA invites them which could take up to six months!
Thanks to all the volunteers for making it safe for us to come to work.