BA strike news – live: Latest updates as almost all flights cancelled in second day of pilot walkout
The walkout is the biggest strike in the airline's history
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.British Airways pilots that are members of the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) have walked out for the second day in a 48-hour strike over pay.
It's the biggest walkout in the airline's history, with almost all flights cancelled from Heathrow and Gatwick. Flights from London City are unaffected.
British Airways has warned passengers not to show up at the airport if their flight is cancelled.
Follow below for live updates
If you're looking for a silver lining in grounding of almost all BA flights...
A headline in satirical website News Thump reads: "British Airways wins environmental award for record reduction in flights"
Some stressed-out travellers are looking for reassurance from BA as to whether the further strike day planned for 27 September will go ahead.
One social media user tweeted: "Wish I could get excited for my holiday, but British Airways are stressing me out not knowing whether they will 100% be cancelling on 27th!"
Scottish Rugby has confirmed to The Independent that British Airways laid on two special flights to get the men’s team to the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Using planes flown by “management pilots”, the squad travelled on the only BA domestic flight to operate on Monday.
BA1461 arrived 25 minutes early at a deserted Terminal 5. After two hours, the squad boarded flight 007 to Tokyo’s Haneda airport, where they arrived on schedule on Tuesday morning.
British Airways warned its pilots that their travel perks would be stripped if they participated in this week’s strikes.
In an email sent on Friday night, the airline said that benefits including a 90 per cent discount on flights for friends and family and a free set of business class tickets annually would be removed from pilots for three years. Any flights already booked under the scheme will be cancelled.
It also said that from 31 October, pilots will no longer receive discounted tickets to travel to work.
A BA spokesperson said: “We make no apology for doing everything we can to protect our customers from further disruption.”
Although no British Airways flights are taking off or landing for the next 12 hours, the airline's executive lounges in airports are evidently still operating.
BBC World News producer Richard Gordon tweeted a picture of an empty BA lounge in Singapore – with plenty of food to go round...
And in other news, a Qantas plane was forced to divert mid-flight after a fight broke out about a mobile phone.
According to another passenger, the altercation started when the younger man refused to turn his phone off while flight QF1421 was still taxiing on the runway.
The unnamed witness told news.com.au that they didn’t hear a fight break out, but that word quickly spread that the older man had “snatched the other guy’s phone and threw it”.
The flight attendant allegedly got involved, saying to the older man: “That’s not your job that’s my job.”
Following the brief altercation, the pilot spoke over the tannoy to inform travellers that the plane would be turning back to Sydney and that “any passenger altercation won’t be tolerated onboard.”
For the first time since the "ash cloud" shutdown in 2010, no BA flight is in the air anywhere in the world.
There was one inbound flight from Sydney and Singapore that arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 this morning.
Read Simon Calder's analysis on the strikes: "British Airways pilot strike bears uncanny resemblance to industrial disputes of the 1970s":
There are no British Airways flights anywhere in the world, as shown by Flight Radar:
Although the strikes will be over by midnight tonight, there could be disruption on Friday as self-styled "drone activists" plan to shut down Heathrow airport.
The Heathrow Pause group says the action is “to highlight the incompatibility of Heathrow airport’s expansion with the government’s own legally binding commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050”.
The group – a splinter of the Extinction Rebellion movement but separate from it – plans to fly what it calls “toy drones” within the exclusion zone specified by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
“Drones may be flown at just above head height in the restricted 5km zone surrounding Heathrow but not within flight paths,” the activists said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments