According to the Wall Street Journal BALPA has agreed to meet VS management on 6 September.
(UPDATE: Pilots Union Plans Sep 6 Meet With Virgin Atlantic - WSJ.com
If this is right, I think it is commendable (and by way of disclosure, might also fit well with my September travel plans!). My view remains that the pilots have a good case and will, I hope, enjoy the public's support in their battles with VS management.
Does anyone else here agree that any perceived rush to industrial action cannot be a good strategy? Statements like B747Bill's:
Everyone is committed to protecting our agreements using whatever methods we can, which means a strike!
seem to me destined to alienate support.
Industrial action should be a last resort, not the first thing to cross one's mind especially in a dispute which management could so easily spin as being about pilots trying to secure 120 days a year off work.
I know the VS pilots have exercised massive restraint over this long-running dispute, but comments like B747bill's could be (mis)interpreted as endorsing a race to a strike. Lose the traveling public's sympathy and it follows that VS might lose more in the weeks, months and years to come - bookings, revenue and jobs.
VS is my favourite airline and I hope the pilots and BALPA tread carefully. There is a great deal at stake here for everyone involved.