BA cabin crew strike expected to affect a million Christmas travellers

British Airways, whose cabin crew voted yesterday for a 12-day strike starting on 22 December, will wreck the holiday plans of nearly a million air passengers during the festive season of Christmas and further sink the loss making UK flag carrier.

Britain's biggest union, The Unite union said that more than 12,500 cabin crew had cast their ballots with the majority of a record 92.49 per cent, on a turnout of 80 per cent voted in favour of a strike.

"This is an incredibly high return by any standard," said Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite. "The decision has been taken to have the maximum impact."

The strike was announced at a mass meeting at Sandown Racecourse in Surrey organised by the two unions involved, Unite and the T&G, where the media was not allowed.

BA's cabin crew have been at loggerheads with the management since the past six months over the changes made in working conditions, which include a cut in the number of staff on board each flight, a freeze on pay and plans to recruit new staff on inferior terms and conditions.

The unions have said that they have 18 different issues in dispute with BA, but the main issue is since the past four weeks is that the BA management has arbitrarily reduced one cabin crew member on each flight.