ga1lf

So the next spanner in my journey to move to Canada, is BA. As if I wasn't stressed enough at the moment, I am due to depart in the middle of the strike. Any one else booked to travel with them during the proposed strike period?

el_richo

Hopefully the route you take will not be affected

Crazy striking bastards

ga1lf

Are not all routes due to be affected then? Very high agreement % to strike but at this time of year and in this economic climate I doubt this will go down well with most.

el_richo

Not all routes. They're still deciding who's travels to ruin at the moment i think.

Still, a pain in the bum for all travellers using them though.

I do find the strike to be quite ironic

lmartin999

If you have to travel I would grab a refundable ticket on AC and see what happens. Flights are filling up very quickly on other airlines.

lucieg

I'm travelling with BA over the holiday period, I'm flying into Heathrow from Toronto on the 16th (that flight will be ok), LHR to Glasgow on the 20th (who knows as apparently flights could be affected 48 hours before the strike is due to start on the 22nd) and then back to Toronto from Glasgow connecting through LHR on the 28th (pretty sure this one is buggered).

Really really shortsighted of the BA Cabin Crew to do this, I've been reading through the articles and it the majority of people do not have sympathy for them. I certainly don't!

ga1lf

I am due to fly out on 27th from Heathrow to Vancouver, I guess at the moment I just have to wait and see but knowing my luck it will be cancelled. If something can go wrong, then at the moment it is! At present I have no sympathy for the cabin crew, its this time of year that most people spend hard earned savings and take valuable holiday time off to visit friends and family. If the news is correct then they are one of the highest paid, so to ask for more money in this climate seems wrong but then I don't work for BA.

MarkG

When I booked my Christmas AC flight a few weeks ago I literally got the last seat on the plane... so they may be full already!

lmartin999

You will certainly struggle to find anything cheap. These are the flights from YYZ to LHR on 22.12. Essentially the seats are cheaper from left to right and there are an awful lot of zeros here. Pretty much only full economy or exec first left. I suspect most days look much the same and will only get worse.

AC868 J8 C5 D5 Z5 Y6 B6 M2 U0 H2 Q0 V0 W0 S0 L0 K0 N0 G0 P0 T0 R2 A0

AC 856 J7 C4 D4 Z4 Y9 B9 M0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 L0 K0 N0 G0 P0 T0 R2 A0

AC 848 J7 C5 D0 Z0 Y6 B6 M0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 L0 K0 N0 G0 P0 T0 R0 A0

AC 858 J9 C6 D6 Z6 Y5 B5 M0 U0 H0 Q0 V0 W0 S0 L0 K0 N0 G0 P0 T0 R0 A0

Souvy

I understand what "J" is. What on earth do the rest of those codes mean?

Aviator

Fare classes and availability (not much by the looks of it).

ga1lf

Well I have been to the BA website to update my contact details, as if they have to cancel a flight it states that they will use this to contact people. If they cancel the flight, the fact there are not many seats available is hurdle one, then second will be forking out for another flight and the third will be the hassel of trying to claim my money back from somewhere, if possible.

I hope the cancel domestic flights only, not sure how much more can go wrong for me at the minute.

Souvy

I'd never realised it was that complex.

pip_is_fab

I feel dreadful for all of you travelling over this strike period. Quite frankly extremely selfish on the crew part in my opinion.
And to think i was going to book BA for my january flights, no chance now.
Airlines arent having much luck right now eh, either going bust on strike!!
Good luck to all those with tickets though, i hope you make it there and back at the correct times!!

lmartin999

I could explain it all but probably not worth it in this thread.

J,C,D,Z are all executive first (ranging from fully flexible to more restrictive discounted). Of course the front cabin is often just referred to as J even though there are a range of available fares you can buy to sit there.

Y, B, M, U, H, Q, V, W, S, L, K, N, G, P, T, A are all economy - again generally getting cheaper and more restrictive as you move from Y downwards.

R (on AC) is for upgrade seats for Aeroplan members with status.

Of course within each letter you can then have a lot of different actual fares for different days, periods etc etc.

Each fare is a subset of the higher one, so you can't simply add up all the numbers to see how many seats are left for sale. (Basically if you have 300 seats in economy you decide how many you are willing say at $x or higher and so on).

The interesting bit is that you will never (on most airlines) see more than 9 in availability (some don't even show 9). 9 indicates there is a minimum of 9 left.

Finding cheap flights is a combination of finding the cheap fare and availability in that fare class on the flight you want.