By Kevin Peachey
Union members at British Airways are planning a fresh round of walkouts, including strike action on key holiday dates.
Members plan to walk out for four separate five-day strikes. The first will begin on 18 May, ending on 22 May, with further strikes planned for 24-28 May and on 30 May to 3 June - taking in the UK bank holiday.
The final round of stoppages is planned for 5-9 June - just days before the football World Cup in South Africa.
The latest planned action comes after cabin crew went out on strike in March in the ongoing dispute about cost-cutting plans.
So how are individual travellers affected by the latest plans?
I've got a flight booked with BA - what should I do?The seriousness of the disruption will depend on how many staff decide not to turn up to work on the strike days.
Soon, customers will be able to use their passenger reference number to check their booking on the BA website to see if their flight is still operating.
However, BA has already said that flights to and from Gatwick and London City airports will not be affected by any strike action.
The picture is not as clear for passengers using Heathrow, although BA says some flights will still operate.
If your flight is affected by the strike action, there will be various options offered. They include:
- Rebooking onto another BA flight to the same destination within 355 days of the original date of travel
- Flying on another BA flight to or from the nearest alternative airport
- Rebooking onto an agreed alternative airline, subject to availability
- Cancelling the booking and getting a refund
BA says it will release more details soon on its plans to deal with the disruption.
Full details will be on the BA website.
Will my insurance cover me?
A cancelled holiday means potential losses over other holiday costs such as car hire and hotels.
If you booked a package holiday, the travel agent or operator has a responsibility to provide all the elements of that package.
So customers should contact their agent or operator as soon as possible. The agent or operator will try to find alternative flights but, if that is not possible, will refund the cost of the whole package holiday.
For those who booked the separate elements of their holiday themselves, the picture is slightly more gloomy.
If their holiday is cancelled, they will need to try to claim the extra costs through their travel insurance. Some will pay out, but some will not.
The small print in the insurance documents will explain exactly what cover is offered in the event of a strike delaying or cancelling flights, although some insurers do give leeway.
Alternatively, if the holiday was booked on a credit card, then people might have a claim through their credit card provider for costs of over £100.
This comes under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, explained on the Office of Fair Trading website.
Anyone claiming would need to have bought the policy and made their bookings before the strike dates were announced, the Association of British Insurers says.
Travellers booking a flight now - knowing that it is during the strike dates - will not be covered by insurance if it is cancelled.
You can read more about travel insurance here.
What happens now?The Unite union says that it is willing to talk to BA to avert the strike action. So the disruption could yet be prevented.
Buying a second ticket with an alternative airline, only to find that the strike is cancelled or alternative flights found, would leave a passenger with two tickets and no right to a refund.
In the meantime, anyone affected by disruption caused by the volcanic ash will have certain rights to refunds, accommodation and refreshments. You can read about those rights here.
BBC News
