British Airways strike leaves 70,000 stranded
All Heathrow flights cancelled after transport, food workers walk out
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The Associated Press
Updated: 9:21 a.m. ET Aug. 12, 2005
LONDON - At least 70,000 travelers were left stranded Friday as British Airways canceled all flights to and from Heathrow Airport after a wildcat strike among catering staff spread to baggage handlers and other ground crew.
Staff handed out food and water to hundreds of tired and frustrated passengers, many of whom had spent the night on airport benches and floors. Travelers stood in long, slow-moving lines in an attempt to get on alternate flights.
“We’re trying to get on any flight to Germany,” said Helge Kreckel from Frankfurt. “We don’t care where or which airline, just any flight. Then we can take the train to Frankfurt. We’re not leaving this line until we get it.”
With almost 100 BA aircraft and 1,000 pilots and cabin crew out of position around the world because of the strike, Heathrow management warned that disruption at the world’s busiest international airport could last for days.
Problems for British Airways’ flights started Thursday after baggage handlers and other ground staff walked out in support of employees who were fired by the airline’s caterer after going on strike. The caterer, Gate Gourmet, said they were trying to resolve the dispute.
About 1,000 people spent the night on floors and in seating areas at the airport, BA spokesman Tony Cane said. He said BA had been able to put up about 4,000 others in hotels near the airport, the airline’s main hub, although most of the stranded travelers had opted to return home.
Cane said about 500 BA flights had to be canceled — 250 in and 250 out of Heathrow. The suspension would last until 6 p.m. London time on Friday at the earliest, he said.
“We’ve requested that staff come back to work and we’re now waiting to be advised of their plans,” Cane said.
Qantas and Sri Lankan Airlines, which use BA ground staff, also canceled their flights from Heathrow on Friday.
BA appealed to customers booked on Friday’s flights not to come to Heathrow but to check on their status online or by calling BA.
Other airlines, including Ireland’s Aer Lingus, said they were taking overflow passengers from BA on their flights.
Heathrow’s managing director, Mick Temple, said there would be “significant disruption” for several days to BA flights.
Allen Sing, an American businessman from Hong Kong, said he had already checked in for a flight Thursday when he was told no meals would be provided and he was given a voucher to buy food at the airport.
“Eventually when it became clear all flights were going to be canceled, I wanted to return to my hotel but was told that if I left the airport I might not see my checked baggage ever again,” Sing said. “I’ve been rebooked on another airline, but I still don’t know how to retrieve my baggage.”
All BA flights from Heathrow were canceled and arriving flights were diverted to other British airports as the dispute escalated.
Around 35 flights throughout the United States and Canada were canceled Thursday night, according to British Airways spokesman John Lampl. BA flights to Gatwick and Manchester were not affected. Lampl said the airline attempted to place passengers on other airlines to London and other destinations that typically include a London layover. Passengers who could not be accommodated were either sent home or put up in hotel rooms and given meal vouchers, he said.
The dispute started when Gate Gourmet, which provides onboard meals for British Airways flights, fired 800 workers on Wednesday, according to a union representing the catering workers. The company said only 667 workers had been dismissed.
BA baggage handlers and loaders represented by the same union — the Transport and General Workers Union — stopped work in sympathy with the fired catering staff.
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Gate Gourmet Chief Executive Dave Siegel said the firm was “actively engaged in trying to find a solution.”
Later Thursday, another union representing British Airways check-in staff advised their members to stop work for health and safety reasons after disgruntled passengers took out their frustrations on staff.
“The way BA are treating people is disgusting,” said Bill Holmes, 64, waiting for a flight to Boston. “We’re done with this place. Some way to run a business.”
British Airways Chief Executive Rod Eddington said in a statement Thursday that nearly 100 aircraft and 1,000 pilots and cabin crew were left “in the wrong places around the world” because of the dispute.
“It is a huge disappointment to us that we have become embroiled in someone else’s dispute,” Eddington said.
Gate Gourmet, which is owned by the Fort Worth, Texas, buyout firm Texas Pacific Group, claimed that workers staged an unofficial strike, but the Transport and General Workers Union accused managers of deliberately provoking the dispute.
This is the third consecutive year that BA has suffered a disruption at the height of the summer holiday season. Last August, thousands of disgruntled vacationers were stranded at Heathrow after the airline canceled scores of flights because of staff shortages and technical hitches.
In July 2003, an unofficial walkout by several hundred check-in staff disrupted thousands of passengers and cost BA tens of millions of dollars.
Like all airlines, BA is also being challenged by high fuel costs. It reported a loss of 23 million pounds ($41.25 million) last financial year, and was expecting a 25 million pounds ($44.84 million) loss in the current year.
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