Travel

Heathrow Airport strikes: are they still happening and how will my flight be affected?


STRIKE action at Heathrow Airport has been called off – for now.

Thousands of passengers were set to face disruption at Britain’s busiest airport over the next two days, but today’s has been axed at the eleventh hour. Here are the latest updates.

 Heathrow Airport strike latest news: Today's strike at Heathrow Airport has now been called off - but talks are still ongoing about tomorrow's planned action

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Heathrow Airport strike latest news: Today’s strike at Heathrow Airport has now been called off – but talks are still ongoing about tomorrow’s planned actionCredit: Alamy

When was the strike planned for?

Some 2,500 workers at Heathrow Airport had planned two days of strike action between August 5-6.

The airport had initially worked with airlines including British Airways to “proactively cancel” 177 flights out of the hub.

This means one in seven departures would have been cancelled.

BA, which is based at Heathrow, was expected to be one of the most heavily affected.

The two-day strike involving security guards, firefighters, engineers, passenger service operatives and passenger service drivers was set to affect 88,000 passengers, Unite estimated.

 Heathrow Airport strike latest news: Travellers have been warned to expect long queues at border control

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Heathrow Airport strike latest news: Travellers have been warned to expect long queues at border controlCredit: Alamy

Have the strikes been cancelled?

The strike on Monday, August 5, was called off by airport workers at the eleventh hour.

British Airways, Air Canada and Aer Lingus flights will all run as normal – though passengers have been advised to check their status.

Many of the passengers will have already been rebooked onto other flights and should check with their airline to see if there is any change.

Virgin Atlantic has not cancelled flights, but will continue to move them from Heathrow to Gatwick.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said: “These services will not revert back to the original London Heathrow schedule and will remain in place.”

A Heathrow spokesman advised passengers to check with their airlines to see if there were any changes to cancelled fights.

He said: “We regret that passengers have been inconvenienced by this and urge them to contact their airline for up to date information on the status of their service.”

Strike action is still planned for tomorrow, August 6, but talks are continuing to prevent the walkout.

Will I get my money back if my flight is cancelled or delayed?

If your flight is cancelled, you have the legal right to either a full refund within seven days or a replacement flight to your destination.

This applies for whatever reason your flight was cancelled or how long before you were told it would no longer be flying.

If your flight is delayed by three hours or more and you were flying to or from a European airport, or with an EU-based airline such as Ryanair or British Airways then you can claim compensation up to  €250 (£229) for short-haul flights and €400 (£367) for mid-haul flights and €600 (£530) for long-haul flights.

But the airline might not pay out if it’s out of their control, for example, due to bad weather or strikes.

You can find out more here.

How am I affected?

Heathrow says security queues at the airport could be longer than normal.

Passengers are being advised to arrive at least three hours before long-haul departures and two hours before short-haul.

Airlines also said they would impose restrictions on hand luggage to speed up boarding, the BBC reports.

Passengers are advised to check Heathrow website for updates.

What is the strike about?

The planned strike comes after Unite union rejected Heathrow’s latest pay offer.

They said it amounted to just £3.75 more per day than its first offer and warned the airport could end up having to pay £4.6m in compensation costs to airlines if two further strikes take place later in August.

Wayne King, a regional officer at Unite said: “Our low paid members will sacrifice a day’s pay if they go on strike and are only too aware of the disruption it will cause.

“However, they are at a point where they have had enough with being given crumbs while shareholders pocket billions in dividends and the chief executive enjoys a pay rise of over 100%.”

Heathrow said the offer was worth 7.3 per cent over two-and-a-half years.

The union has to give two weeks’ notice of any industrial action.

British Airways’ tight turnaround schedule revealed in behind the scenes video – and crew have just 20 minutes to get the cabin ready for take off





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