BA passengers expecting strike delays get luxury upgrade

Airline has borrowed nine Qatar Airways jets for strike cover

Time frame: Qatar Airways services are among the departures from Heathrow Terminal 5 (Simon Calder)

At 6.49am this morning, around 100 passengers who had booked on British Airways from Heathrow to Brussels departed from Terminal 5 on a much more luxurious aircraft than they expected.

Rather than one of BA’s Airbus A320 jets, seating 177, they were aboard a Qatar Airways plane of the same type – but with one-quarter fewer seats.

Economy passengers were able to enjoy extra legroom and on-demand audio entertainment. Passengers reported that free catering had returned to the cheap seats, in the shape of yoghurt or a cereal bar. Earlier this year British Airways replaced complementary drinks and snacks with a "buy on board" policy.

On the Qatar Airways plane, a dozen passengers who paid the BA Club Europe fare, anticipating the usual high-density seating, could instead lounge around in “deep reclining seats” for the 45-minute flight.

Change gear: a Qatar Airways Airbus A320 in Brussels, preparing to fly to Heathrow for British Airways (Hazel Gulliver)

Hazel Gulliver flew from Brussels to Heathrow on the return leg, as the first stage of a journey to Vancouver. She said her short flight had been "a pleasant experience really, with very friendly cabin crew."

Ms Gulliver said she had heard "absolutely nothing from BA" about the likely impact of the strike. She describing the lack of information as "not fun when you can't look forward to a trip of a lifetime for fear of not getting there".

The plane she flew on is one of nine that British Airways has borrowed from its part-owner in Doha. The aircraft and crews have been idle since Qatar Airways was banned from flying to a number of its Gulf neighbours.

Passengers to Nice, Munich and Tallinn also experienced the Qatar Airways service on the first day of a 16-day strike by mixed fleet cabin crew working for BA at Heathrow.

Neil Taylor, who was aboard the flight to the Estonian capital, said: "There was amusement at the start, when the pilot announced that we were heading for Tallinn in Ukraine, but he was quickly corrected.

"We at the back got free catering: a wide range of drinks, a hot pasty and some chocolate cake. Those who had planned to buy their snacks on board therefore saved considerably."

After 26 previous strike days so far this year, British Airways and Unite have reached agreement on pay. But this 16-day strike is over what the union says are “punitive sanctions” – the removal of bonus payments and staff travel concessions – against 1,400 members who took part in previous strikes.

The Unite union objects to the deal with Doha on safety and human rights grounds, but for British Airways the unexpected availability of aircraft is ideal.

With Qatar Airways flying around 30 services a day, the arrangement allows BA to guarantee that no short-haul flights will be affected.

Two long-haul round trips will be cancelled today, both flights to the Gulf and back: one to Muscat in Oman, the other to Doha. The Doha flight is cancelled all week, with passengers transferred to Qatar Airways. Abuja is another cancellation tomorrow.

Even though BA says 99.5 per cent of flights will operate, the strike will affect the airline’s earnings. While the total number of cancellations is likely to amount to an average of only five flights a day, some passengers will book on different airlines at the first sign of uncertainty. In particular business travellers, who are so important to BA, may move to rivals’ services.