BA freezes bookings as strike talks go on

British Airways revealed details of plans to minimise bank holiday flight chaos as talks aimed at stopping a strike by baggage handlers and check-in staff suffered an unexpected setback last night. Airline and union negotiators had had expected to announce a deal by 7pm, but negotiations were still continuing at BA's Heathrow headquarters late into the night.

British Airways revealed details of plans to minimise bank holiday flight chaos as talks aimed at stopping a strike by baggage handlers and check-in staff suffered an unexpected setback last night. Airline and union negotiators had had expected to announce a deal by 7pm, but negotiations were still continuing at BA's Heathrow headquarters late into the night.

The unions were believed to have accepted the principle of a three-year pay offer and incentives aimed at reducing days lost through sickness. But a stumbling block emerged when BA said it wanted the absenteeism policy to cover all employees. Officials representing cabin crew, who were not initially part of the dispute, objected to arguing that their members would be unfairly penalised by the proposal.

The Transport and General Workers Union has said its members will strike for 24 hours from 4.30am next Friday if the deadlock is not broken. The GMB has given notice to BA that its members will also walk out for 24 hours on the same day.

In an effort to minimise disruption if the strike does go ahead, BA announced it will not be taking bookings for flights leaving from or arriving at UK airports from 27 to 30 August. It willstart cancelling flights from Monday if the talks fail, and will contact travellers urging them to make alternative arrangements.

BA has offered a pay rise of 8.5 per cent over three years and an extra £1,000 if sickness absence is cut by half. Unions were not happy at linking pay to absence but had said they were prepared to continue talks as they were increasingly hopeful of reaching a deal.

The GMB chief negotiator, Ed Blisset, said that the union had to give seven days' notice of any industrial action, but said he remained hopeful that the strike would not go ahead.

Experts have suggested that the industrial action would cost BA, which has been hit by sharp increases in the price of aviation fuel, about £10m a day. Unions said it would cost little more to resolve the eight-month dispute.

Meanwhile, Eurostar workers are to stage a 24-hour strike on the bank holiday Saturday in a dispute over pay differentials between London and Ashford in Kent, it was announced yesterday. Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union have said that they will walk out on 28 August after voting to reject a pay offer. The company attacked the strike call and insisted that services would not be affected.It was planning to run extra trains over the bank holiday weekend to meet passenger demand.

It added: "The RMT have chosen the bank holiday to try to cause maximum disruption. Travellers are fed up with the RMT's attempts to disrupt their holiday plans."

The union complained that workers at the terminal in Ashford, Kent, were paid £4,000 a year less than staff at London's Waterloo station. The RMT is also campaigning for higher pay rates from the train operator.

The general secretary, Bob Crow, said: "Unequal and unfair pay have no place in any modern transport system. Our members have made it clear they will no longer tolerate it."

Mr Crow said that Eurostar still had time to avert industrial action by returning to the negotiating table with a "fair and more equal" pay offer.