news about cheap fares and airlines from travel search engine Trabber

British Airways and its biggest union are due to resume talks on Monday in a last-ditch attempt to avert a 48-hour strike by cabin staff that could affect more than 140,000 passengers.

A spokesman for the Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&G) said discussions, held at a secret location over the weekend, would start again on Monday.

A comment was not immediately available from BA.

Europe’s third-largest airline has already cancelled around 1,300 flights this week in anticipation of the walkout planned for Tuesday and Wednesday.

source: CNN

As BA announces more cabin crew strikes and flight cancellations next week, low cost customer friendly airline Thomsonfly is offering flights at taxes only on BA affected routes to Prague and Salzburg.

Thomsonfly wants to ensure no one misses out on their travel plans, so has dug deep and released first-come first-served tickets to fly with them instead, paying just taxes and charges. This applies to selected flights from London Gatwick, London Luton and Bournemouth airports.

source: Easier

British Airways was today forced to cancel virtually all of its flights out of London next Tuesday and Wednesday because of a strike by more than 11,000 cabin crew.

In a dramatic move, the airline scrapped all of its 550 flights from Heathrow and a further 170 from Gatwick.

Only six long-haul flights will still go ahead, from Gatwick. It means more than 150,000 passengers booked to fly with BA during the two strike days have been left with their winter holidays and business trips in ruins.

source: ThisIsLondon.co.uk

British Airways said that it has been advised by the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) that the union has called off the first 24 hours of a planned 72 hours stoppage by cabin crew, due to begin on Jan 29.

The airline intends to announce a flying programme tomorrow for Jan 30 and Jan 31. Strikes are still scheduled to take place on those dates, followed by 72-hour walkouts on Feb 5 and Feb 12.

In the wake of the decision, British Airways said in a separate statement that the TGWU ”should act immediately” to call off its planned strikes completely.

source: Forbes

The Transport & General union, representing around 30,000 workers at British Airways, said on Monday cabin crew had voted for strike action over a deal put forward by the airline to tackle its pension deficit.

The airline has agreed to make a one-off contribution of GBP800 million pounds (USD$1.57 billion) into the pension fund in return for changes to benefits as part of a plan to lower its GBP2.1 billion (USD$4.13 billion) deficit to GBP900 million (USD$1.77 billion).

source: Airwise

British Airways Plc canceled about 40 percent of its short-haul flying schedule at London Heathrow airport during a third day of disruption caused by dense fog, stranding thousands of passengers at Europe’s busiest airport.

British Airways, Europe’s third-biggest airline, is operating all long-haul flights, and is using twin-aisle planes to boost capacity on some short-haul routes from Heathrow. The three days of cancellations, including all U.K. domestic flights, will reduce earnings for the carrier this quarter, said Cathy West, a British Airways spokeswoman who declined to specify when an estimate will be released.

source: Bloomberg

British Airways said on Wednesday it had been forced to cancel all domestic UK flights serving Heathrow Airport due to bad weather and said flights between Heathrow and Europe were also severely disrupted.

BA said it planned to operate its longhaul schedule as normal “‘albeit with some lengthy delays'”.

source: Reuters

British Airways said it had purchased American Airlines’ stake in Spanish carrier Iberia for 19 million euros ($24.29 million).

BA, Europe’s third-largest airline, said in a statement it now owned about 10 percent of Iberia, up from 9 percent previously.

source: Reuters