Air travellers planning a Christmas getaway may find airports closed on key dates over the festive season if airport firefighters and security staff vote to follow union recommendations and strike.
Should union members decide within the next fortnight to reject BAA's latest pay deal, strikes will go ahead on 15 December, 23 December and 2 January, causing havoc during a peak travelling period.
Although BAA staved off an earlier threat by unions to strike on 28 November, 2 December and 10 December with an increased pay offer, the Christmas period strike looks set to go ahead.
The Transport and General Workers Union said it was still holding out for more money. 'Our feeling is that this offer doesn't take account of the increased security duties post 9/11,' said a spokeswoman. 'The workers usually follow union advice.'
An Association of British Travel Agents spokeswoman said: 'We were optimistic that strikes wouldn't go ahead but now it's not looking so good.'
If strikes occur, BAA-operated airports at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh may close. However, BAA said it would implement contingency plans including transferring staff from desk jobs to security posts to try to ensure all major airports remained open.
Tour operator Thomson said if the strikes went ahead it would expect passengers to be flexible about departure dates and would advise them not to carry hand luggage, to minimise any wait. Even if some airports closed, it would advise passengers to check in as normal before being diverted to other airports such as Luton, Manchester and Leeds/Bradford. Although passengers might not be able to fly to their destination on their departure date, they would not automatically qualify for compensation. 'We'll move heaven and earth to enable flights,' said a Thomson spokeswoman.
British Airways will compensate stranded passengers. 'Customers due to travel on cancelled flights will be offered an alternative flight,' said a spokesman. 'If they can't make that, we'll give them a refund.'
More than 336,000 people use BAA airports on an average day, and this number increases around Christmas and the New Year. BAA said there had not been a strike since it took over the airports in 1987 and it was confident the Christmas strikes could be averted.
