Fly to let customers using British Airways (BA) to get to overseas holiday homes they have rented out are facing another strike threat by cabin crew following a recent Unite union ballot.

Cabin crew, who were members of the union Unite first threatened strike action at the tail end of last year after BA, in an attempt to reduce its debts, announced several cost cutting measures.

These measures included reducing the amount of cabin crew needed during flights. Unite claimed this contravened existing contracts. A court ruled that this strike was illegal due to the way it had been called and it failed to go ahead.

Unite and BA then recently faced each other in the High Court but again the ruling went in favour of the Airline.

After the hearing BA released a statement which said: “We are extremely pleased with the High Court ruling that the modest changes we made to onboard crew numbers on flights from Heathrow were reasonable, did not breach crew contracts and can remain in place.

“Unite’s central demand over the last three months has been that we reverse these changes, despite the severe financial impact this would have on the company at a time when we are facing a second year of record annual losses.

“Unite’s arguments as to why the changes should be reversed have been considered in great detail by the Court – and rejected.

Unite brought this case to Court. We believe it should reflect on the Court’s decision rather than impose an unnecessary strike on the travelling public. Talks continue under the auspices of the TUC.”

However, on Monday Unite announced that British Airways cabin crew have backed a ballot for industrial action but had not fixed any strike dates as negotiations with the airline are still ongoing.

The union is legally bound to give a week's notice of any action and Unite has stated that there will not be stoppages during Easter.

Following the ballot decision a BA spokesperson said: “The outcome of Unite’s ballot is very disappointing and brings a renewed threat of industrial action, which is completely unjustified.

“The vast majority of crew who voted in this ballot will have done so before the High Court decision. We hope Unite will bear this fact in mind as it considers its next steps.

“We believe some progress has been made in recent talks under the auspices of the TUC and we reiterate our wish to resolve the issues between us in the interests of our customers and all our staff.

“However, we will not allow Unite to ruin this company. Should a strike take place, we will do everything we can to protect our customers’ travel plans as far as possible. In the meantime, we continue to run our business and our flights are operating as normal.”

Reports have been circulating that BA chairman Willie Walsh expects there will be strikes sometime in the future and that pilots will be undergoing training to act as cabin crew.

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