High Court rejects British Airways injunction to stop pilot strike

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On Monday, an overwhelming majority of British Airways pilots voted in favour of industrial action in the ongoing pay dispute.

The exact terms of the industrial action had not been announced, pending a High Court ruling on an injuction British Airways filed based on potential weaknesses in the balloting processes.

The hearing began at 10.30am on Tuesday morning. Around 4pm The Hon Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing DBE ruled the ballot WAS legal and valid.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

Sky News said that:

“The airline argued in court that there were flaws in the way Balpa had organised the ballot – including over the indication of when strikes were likely to start.

Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing ruled the union would be “more likely than not” to establish the ballots were properly issued at any full trial.”

In a statement, BALPA said:

The British Airline Pilots Association has said it is pleased it has successfully defended an application for a High Court injunction brought against it by British Airways in relation to its strike ballot of members.

Today the judge presiding over the case determined that the pilots union had issued its ballot correctly and therefore the ballot result could stand.

BALPA General Secretary, Brian Strutton, said:

“While we’re pleased with the judge’s decision, we’re frustrated that time has been wasted. BA could have spent this time coming back to the negotiating table instead of trying – and failing – to tie us up in legal knots.

“This delay will now continue with BA seeking to appeal against the Hight Court’s decision.

“As a result it’s now likely the talks scheduled with ACAS on Friday will have to be postponed.

“We ask that BA thinks hard about why 93% of our members feel so strongly about taking strike action.

“The company itself has admitted that even one day of strike action would cost most than what our pilots are asking for, so the ball really is in their court here, to look after their pilots and ensure the hardworking public get to continue their holidays as planned.

“Although legally clear to do so, we have still not set any strike dates to give BA one last chance to commit to negotiating on pilots pay and rewards with us at ACAS later this week.”

We are now faced with another delay as British Airways appeals the decision, which is likely to take place on Friday or Monday. Unless there are genuine grounds for this, it is likely to achieve nothing other than to cause further grievances to the pilots. It is worth noting, however, that when Thomas Cook took similar action against BALPA in 2017 it was not allowed to appeal, so the evidence is potentially stronger this time.

Any industrial action will still require 14 days notice. BALPA has stated that it will wait until the appeal is heard, so it seems likely to be mid August before we see anyone walking out.

PS. Don’t forget the industrial action by Heathrow Airport staff continues, regardless of the pilot strike. This will happen on Friday 26th / Saturday 27th July, Monday 5th / Tuesday 6th August and Friday 23rd / Saturday 24th August.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Matt B says:

24 Jul24 July 07:50

13th August at the earliest, guess who I’d flying with BA that day…. Tempted to risk a cheap 1 way whilst we still can….
- Nick says:
  
  24 Jul24 July 08:01
  
  Also bear in mind that IF there was a strike on the 13th, BA MAY have to cancel some flights beforehand for positioning reasons.
  - Matt B says:
    
    24 Jul24 July 08:44
    
    EasyJet 1 way from a closer airport with a better time only £43 each so all booked. Can add bags later if the strike does happen. Only booked with BA originally as it was a reward and we wanted the CE baggage allowance.
    - Matt B says:
      
      24 Jul24 July 09:07
      
      Google flights was wrong wife just said it was only £36 each, happy with that as backup
PeterK says:

24 Jul24 July 08:09

I sincerely hope the threatened industrial action doesn’t cause the cancellation of my planned holiday BA flight for the THIRD time!
Tracy McLaughlin says:

24 Jul24 July 08:26

AJA 2for1 to Malaga? Joking 🙃 right? We go to Madrid bank holiday weekend, no problem if it’s cancelled as there’s already the LHR strike which will be a pain, quite happy for full refund, compensation and to keep the miles.
- AJA says:
  
  24 Jul24 July 09:01
  
  No not joking. It’s in CE, going for a special birthday surprise party , staying with friends who live about 1.5 hours inland .
  
  Used 2-4-1 voucher for Europe destinations a couple of times before. Voucher was nearing expiry and would rather use it than lose it. I know it’s seen as a bit daft to burn on short haul but I think £100 fees + 30k avios for 2 in CE isn’t a bad deal. It’s not the best use but I’d rather use it than lose it. I don’t travel LH for biz so earning sufficient avios for LH redemptions is a struggle for me.
  - Anna says:
    
    24 Jul24 July 09:33
    
    +1, we used a 2 4 1 which would have otherwise expired for a break in Rome in the Easter holidays. Absolutely worth it, the CE cabin both ways had few pax and we were treated like royalty (for all their faults, BA do have some fantastic cabin crew).
    - Polly says:
      
      24 Jul24 July 18:08
      
      Agree. Have had some great CE flts esp from Dublin pre xmas. Just myself and a HKG lawyer in the cabin, Dec 23rd pm! Boy, did they hand out the champers and gave us all the remaining ones to take home. Last flt of the evening..best ever.
      Saying that we are using a 241 CE ow to ARN positioning flt end Oct. It was use it or lose it.
  - PaulC says:
    
    24 Jul24 July 10:34
    
    I’ve used a Lloyds upgrade voucher one way back from Amsterdam to Manchester via LHR in October, twice as long a journey with two flights and costing £70 in taxes for two, I didn’t want to waste the voucher plus we get to try out Eurostar going out as we can get to London for free using my Virgin Traveller card so its something different for us Northerners.
  - Tracy McLaughlin says:
    
    25 Jul25 July 09:06
    
    Excellent, hope you get there. I wonder how long they’d extend it for if flight is cancelled. Our 241s are like like gold dust, some serious collecting and planning involved, would love to have too many T🎈
Andrew says:

24 Jul24 July 09:43

So I had a bit of a panic yesterday morning and booked some ridiculously expensive flexible flights on Iberia to cover my BA flights. With it seeming unlikely that strikes would be announced by Friday (we fly on the 9th) I’ve then cancelled within the 24 hours so all is fine.

But is it correct that if I’d cancelled outside of that 24 hour window that I would have been charged a service fee? And is the £15 service fee per booking, per person, per journey or per leg? With 4 of us and a stopover each way if it were per leg that would have been a pretty expensive fee for clicking a few buttons.
- Polly says:
  
  24 Jul24 July 18:10
  
  Yes, sadly
Gringo says:

24 Jul24 July 09:45

There’s v rarely follow-up to comments from a few days ago – just wanted to say thanks to Robert, Russ, Charlieface & LadyLondon for their suggestions on booking LHR-TLV last minute, more points flights were released and managed to bag one 😊
- AJA says:
  
  24 Jul24 July 17:18
  
  Gringo, That’s great news. And well done for updating everyone on the outcome. Enjoy your trip!
David S says:

24 Jul24 July 10:01

If you have used a 2-4-1 voucher for a booking as it is near its expiry date, what happens when BA cancels your flight ? Do BA give you additional time to use it and what happens if only one leg of a trip is impacted ? Thx in advance for any advice
Shoestring says:

24 Jul24 July 13:18

yep no strike this weekend
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/heathrow-workers-strike-suspended-but-august-action-set-to-go-ahead-a4197311.html
Damien says:

24 Jul24 July 15:26

Sorry for unrelated comment. Trying to book a double avios flight for bank holiday on weekend of 23rd with BA. but they’re telling me I can’t because the 30 days in Advance doesn’t include the day of departure. This makes no sense to me. Anyone else heard of this?.
- Damien says:
  
  24 Jul24 July 15:50
  
  Nevermind. They ended up being able to book it. I think the booking system takes into account the exact time of departure, since it was later in the day than I was calling, then it wasn’t an issue. She probably has usually encountered the problem where people are phoning later in the day for flights that would technically not be a full 30 days in advance because you require a full 24hours for each day to be counted.
  All’s well that ends well.