British Airways confirm strike action
British Airways have announced the planned union strike dates. These 4 days fall square on my booked return flight putting me in the middle of what could be total chaos.
I am not going to moan, British Airways staff are the highest paid in the commercial airline business in the uk, but that’s because they are the best! I fully support the plight of the cabin crew and staff who disagree with recent changes that have been made to their contract and pay.
What the fuck is wrong with people today? In the news story linked at the top of this page you will see a couple complaining that their honeymoon will be effected. They will have to fly economy instead of luxury. Boo fucking hoo! So what? They still get their honeymoon, they just fly a different class. If they have booked their honeymoon as a package, they will be covered and will have more options. Stupid British people, they just love to complain about everything.
This strike would in theory cause a number of problems and concerns as I would not be getting just one flight, I would be getting 3 connecting flights. If one were delayed or cancelled, I could be stuck at an airport with no way to get home, except to wait out the strike action. We have all seen footage of airports during strikes where the whole airport becomes one big doss house with customers sleeping everywhere they can.
However, this is a blessing in disguise. British Airways announced that all customers flying within the strike period (March 20 – 24) have 2 options. A full refund (after cancelling) or rebooked return flight at no extra cost. I had not planned to return to the uk on these dates and was going to stay here in the philippines, getting a short break to a neighbouring country so that I do not overstay my visa. This is ideal because it now means I can re-book my return flight at no extra cost, saving me a lot of money and falling in-line with my original plans.
My luck regularly works like this. I will lose my camera, money and lots will go wrong. Then something else will go wrong that falls straight into my hands creating a positive effect. With the money I save re-booking my flight, I can buy the short 1 or 2 day holiday I had planned on booking to prevent me overstaying my visa. Call this what you will, a work of god, karma, whatever. I prefer to think of my luck as a cosmic algorithm.