LONDON — Retiree Richard Moore arrived at Heathrow with a suitcase of summer clothes for a Miami cruise only to be sent to Denver. Susan Danby wondered whether plans for a joint 50th birthday celebration in Las Vegas would be a losing bet.
The start of a three-day strike by cabin crew at British Airways spurred chaos and passenger angst yesterday as union members promised more airline and rail walkouts in the coming weeks while Britain prepares for a hotly contested general election.
“This is our dream trip, we booked it last August and we’ve been planning it for years,’’ said Danby, who was still hoping to get to Las Vegas with her friends.
British Airways’ cabin crew are disputing a pay freeze and changes to working conditions. Their Unite union also says British Airways didn’t inform it of cost-cutting plans.
British Airways said it would handle as many as 49,000 passengers on both yesterday and today.
That compares with the average 75,000 for a normal weekend day in March.
At its Heathrow base, more than 60 percent of long-haul flights were operating, but only 30 percent of short-haul flights were taking off.
At Gatwick, all long-haul flights and more than half short-haul flights were running as normal, as were flights from London City airport.