First Round of BA Strikes End Today

The strike against British Airways (BA) by Unite cabin crew members entered its third and, temporarily, final day Monday, with no clear ground gained on either side of the debate. The next round of walk-offs are scheduled to start again this coming weekend.

The Guardian is reporting that both sides appear deeply entrenched in a dispute over staffing cuts. A BA spokesman said the airline was "always available" for talks. Meanwhile, BA and Unite have again traded claim and counter-claim about the effectiveness of the walkout, with Unite claiming only 6,000 people flew through Heathrow yesterday. BA said its schedule could cope with 49,000 customers across the entire airline.

BA said about 50,000 customers traveled to their destinations yesterday, while about 25,000 were unable to fly.

As of Sunday, flights to the U.S. out of Heathrow on other airlines were overbooked, presumably with the overflow from canceled British Airways flights.

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