British Airways chaos: 8,000 flights cancelled and possible staff walkout

British Airways passengers face more chaos as staff vote in favour of a summer holiday strike.

The carrier's cabin crew and ground staff have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action, with 97 per cent of those polled voting in favour.

The survey - the latest sign of unrest at the beleaguered carrier - doesn't authorise strike action, which can only be approved by a formal vote.

However, with hundreds of BA flights taking off every week, any disruption would cause mass chaos. 

The vote result is "no surprise," said a spokesperson for Unite, the union representing 16,000 BA workers.

"To anyone that has flown on British Airways recently, this overwhelming consultative ballot result will come as no surprise," they said. 

“British Airways’ management now can no longer ignore the universal discontent across their own workforce, in the way they have ignored the needs of their own customers.”

The ballot is a worrying development for the airline, which was recently forced to cancel 8,000 flights in its March-October schedule.

On top of this, 15 to 20 per cent of BA travellers on cancelled flights still won’t be at their destination 24 hours after they were meant to arrive.

So how did things get so bad - and is the end in sight?

British Airways has had a difficult couple of months.

Under short staffing pressure, the airline announced last month that it had reduced its schedule by 10 per cent - around 8,000 round trips - between March and October.

The carrier insisted that customers would be notified of these pre-planned cancellations in advance, and would be entitled to seats on other flights.

If the cancellation was announced less than a fortnight in advance, passengers are also entitled to financial compensation.

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