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Airline Strike Watch: British Airways and American on the Ropes

March 9, 2010 at 4:03 PM | by | Comments (2)

It's turning into a pretty rough month for the oneworld alliance. Founding members American Airlines and British Airways are both locked in labor disputes that threaten to escalate into full-blown airline strikes, with unions demanding benefits and managements insisting that the money just isn't there. In both cases it's pretty obvious that employees are playing a weak hand: what are they going to do, devastate the company and put themselves permanently out of work? But in both cases the unions seem intent on going right to the line of mutually assured destruction, which means lots of uncertainty for lots more time.

As if American Airlines wasn't having enough problems with their flight attendants threatening a walkout, now they've got to deal with a potential pilot strike. The money quote being run this morning is that they're "far apart" on a new contract, with the pilots asking to have their purchasing power restored to 1992 levels. The airline insists that's a no-go since their labor costs are already higher than the industry average. A federal mediator is trying to bring the two sides together, which distinguishes this dispute in no way from the negotiations between American and its flight attendants. Or between American and its ground operators. Lots of fun for everyone.

On the other side of the pond, the British Airways negotiations that we've been following are grinding on. This morning's news is that the unions have extended their deadline for talks, putting off the drop-dead date that sets a 7-day clock ticking on a formal strike. That's good news to the extent that more talking means less striking. The union, though, had already ruled out striking over Easter / Spring Break. So it's not like this is a huge sacrifice.

Now British Airways has a plan where they would install replacement crews in place of striking workers, for better or worse. American Airlines - not so much. So if you're a oneworld traveler who was worried about the service you'd be getting on BA during a strike, you can cheer up a tad. But just a tad.

[Photo: FRED / Wiki Commons]

Related Stories:
· Airline Strikes [Jaunted]
· American Airlines [Jaunted]
· British Airways [Jaunted]

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Return to » Airline Strike Watch: British Airways and American on the Ropes


AA strikes

There aren't going to be any strikes. Any of the labor groups would be foolish to attempt a walk out. It would be the proverbial cutting off the nose to spite the face. Negotiations, especially in our business are notoriously long and painful and just because the pilots are rattling their sabers, doesn't mean a darn thing.
dfwpeon on March 10, 2010 at 2:10 PM #Permalink

Strike? Not so fast.

What many don't understand is that these negotiations take a LONG time to finish. Lots of issues to discuss, salary expectations that can be far apart, etc. Timing issues aside, it is very, very tough for airline workers to strike. There is a long process involving federal mediation, cooling off periods, possible presidential involvement... let's just say that I'm still booking on AA with confidence. They are nowhere near the point of a walkout, and likely will never get there.
EXP100K on March 10, 2010 at 6:17 PM #Permalink

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