Reputation Management Online

The second spell of  BA strike that is drawing to a close saw the grounding of over 227 flights, which in other words would mean that one in three flights from Heathrow were grounded.  The British Airways cabin crew started a three-day strike on Saturday after the talks to settle the over pay and conditions collapsed, leaving thousands of travellers in dire streets. The two consecutive crippling strikes, which extended over weekends caused travel woes for thousands of passengers ahead of the popular Easter holiday weekend. The estimated loss due to the seven day strike of the  UK carrier British Airways’ cabin crew union Unite is put at about GBP100 million.

Meanwhile, the Unite union is threatening a third phase of industrial action should an agreement not be reached, soon after Easter, around 14 April.  A solution to the all out war brewing between the BA management and the union regarding cost cutting measures and working conditions of over 13,500 cabin crew is no where in sight. While the workers demanded better perks,BA is sticking to its stand that  even as the company registered a loss of nearly £300million in the first half,  the cabin crew had faced no pay cuts and remained “the best rewarded in the UK airline industry”.

As the claims and counterclaims continue unabated, the passengers are meted out with a raw deals, blotched holiday plans and undue hardships for no fault of theirs. What is astonishing was that even when the nation is grinding to a halt by a spate of airlines and rail strikes, the government machinery does not seem to be in a hurry to resolve the issues and minimise the hardships of its citizens.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown stuck to his opinion that  “The disruption to services is completely unacceptable, it places passengers who have already booked flights in a very difficult position.”

From a reputation management point of view, the national airliner of the UK has fared really badly in handling the labour strike as it runs a risk of losing a major chunk of its customer base. As other airlines are enhancing capacity to cope with extra demand, the risk of a major revenue loss for BA is on the cards!

• BA strike returns – Ballot today!
• BA Cabin Crew Goes Glug Glug Glug
• What lies behind the British Airways Strike
• British Airways – Legal action to save reputation!