Jaunted

Meanwhile the Unite union has launched a full-blown web ad war against the airline, complete with made-to-go-viral YouTube clips. That's smart insofar as the British public heavily opposes them, their strategy, and their leaders. But it's likely to fail because the perception of BA crews as overpaid and spoiled has been far more successful in going viral. The union has a bunch of arguments why there are larger issues at stake, but—and this is the crucial point—few people agree with them, and the British media know their audience. So the union will talk about travel perks and newspapers will run photos of children crying in airports.

BA has also tweaked its media strategy a little bit since the last go-round during the winter. Instead of reraising by talking about well-trained replacement crews, they're talking about how huge numbers of union workers are crossing the picket line. The message is that union leaders have hijacked the organization to the detriment of even their members. That may or may not be true—it's the obvious argument to make, which makes us suspicious—but it's likely to resonate with the British public. Justified or unjustified, we just don't understand what the union thinks they're doing.

[Photo: quinn.anya / Flickr; BriYYZ]

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· Union leader offers to suspend BA strikes in eleventh hour bid to halt action [Daily Mail]
· Airline Strikes [Jaunted]
· Europe Travel [Jaunted]