British Airways will cancel 320 flights at London Heathrow over the 10-day Easter break, beginning Friday (March 31), due to ongoing strike action by security staff.
The airline is cancelling 5% of its schedule, amounting to 16 short-haul return flights per day – that is 32 flights cancelled daily – ending on Easter Sunday (April 9). The airline will rebook most affected flyers on other flights within 24 hours, or refund them completely.
The striking security guards work in Terminal 5, used exclusively by BA, as well as in campus security, according to The Guardian.
BA has promised that customers will be able to check in their extra hand luggage free of charge to speed up queues.
“Following Heathrow’s requirement for us to reduce the number of passengers travelling during the period of its employees’ proposed strike action, we’ve regrettably had to make a small number of adjustments to our schedule. Our teams are continuing to work closely with Heathrow to ensure that our customers’ journeys run smoothly,” said a BA spokesperson.
“Our contingency plans will keep the airport operating as normal throughout. We are deploying 1 000 additional colleagues and the entire management team will be in the terminals, providing assistance to passengers over the busy Easter getaway.”
