We are due to fly out on the 19th

It's really weird the way different Education Authorities have different dates for school holidays

Up here in Cumbria, half term doesn't start until 29th May.

our girls are still little so school holidays are not a barrier

dmiller – Member

There are possibly thousands who could drive a trolley down an aisle handing out pre packaged food,it happens on the railwys every day.

Its not as simple as that claim. You have to be able to work the door as well…

Posted 15 hours ago # Report-Post
project – Member
Most modern trains are passenger operated,just realeased by the driver.

Posted 15 hours ago #
dmiller – Member

Most modern trains are passenger operated,just realeased by the driver.

I meant the planes mate…

Posted 15 hours ago # Report-Post

Do you realy need somebody to actually shut the door, is what i was saying as opposed to somebody pressing a button and the system taking over, and fail safe locking.

as for the trolleys, why not have vending machines.

The truth of the matter is BA are in a position where person-for-person, their staff costs them more than it does their competitors.

Source?

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6466748.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6957927.ece

Heathrow cabin crew are 'the best paid in the country by some way' earning £29,900 a year compared with £14,400 at Virgin Atlantic. Senior cabin crew average around £56,000 a year.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/travel/article.html?in_article_id=501407&in_page_id=1093#ixzz0ncNn0TW3

I know a fairly experienced cabin crew member for BA. His comment was that the staff don't know a good thing when they're on it and can't see the damage it's going to cause complaining about cutbacks. I'd tend to agree with him.

They could have considered the passengers a bit more by scheduling the strike further in advance
It would have still hurt BA but given passengers more of an opportunity to make other arrangements

They could have considered the passengers a bit more by scheduling the strike further in advance

Unions aren't thinking about passengers. Short notice of strike action means less time for BA to organise replacement staff/planes.

Could be interesting, BA have trained up a lot of volunteers to be cabin crew from other areas in the company. If they flew almost a full schedule of flights then in theory the cabin crew could strike as much as they want. All the cabin crew would be doing then is losing a months pay.

tandemjeremy I fear you have an idealistic view of the unions, rather than the militant megalomaniac reality. After the last round of strike ballots lots of BA crew came forward to say they voted yes to strike, not yes to striking for such a long time over a key holiday period. They suggested that if the ballot had been specific- "do you want to strike for 10 days over Xmas" it would have been voted down.

As with previous strikes its a clash between old-school militant tendencies and capitalists, with the actual workers (and customers) caught in the middle.

Scargill tried to bring a government down (though launching a fuel strike in spring was always going to be a flawed approach) and instead gave the tory government motive and opportunity to destroy a union, and the industry with it. Willie Walsh and BA shareholders have as much to lose and wont let it happen.

On a lighter note the classic ellen degeneres sketch

sums up the attitude to trolley dolleys.

and I still do this on planes

Unions aren't thinking about passengers. Short notice of strike action means less time for BA to organise replacement staff/planes.

They have their contingency plan, they can put it into place in 48hrs, so giving BA less time is not a valid excuse

Hahaha Nice Munge-chick so right about seat comfort!

Hope the OP gets sorted.