Good Morning Britain's Simon Calder has sent a message to holidaymakers planning to travel with British Airways.
The travel expert appeared on today's edition of the ITV news programme after staff at Heathrow Airport voted emphatically in favour of strike action. The proposed walk out is over a pay dispute and could throw summer holidays plans into chaos if it goes ahead.
Simon said he has a number of bookings with the airline operator this summer, but said there isn't currently any action travellers can take to protect their holiday. He said: "Nothing is known at the moment and if you have a British Airways booking there's nothing you can do.
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"You won't be able to get a refund, your travel agent won't be able to help at this stage and British Airways will say your strike is going to go ahead as normal as far as we know."
Simon also said he hopes a settlement could be reached and said the earliest date the strike action could go ahead is July 8. He added: "It seems a more likely date is July 22, that's when the main school holidays start for England and Wales. If they were to strike, then there are various options. Fridays are going to be popular targets for strikers as that's the busiest day at Heathrow.
British Airways check in staff and ground crew at Heathrow voted to go on strike yesterday in a dispute over pay.
The workers are backed by Unite and GMB unions, who called on British Airways to reinstate workers pay back to pre-pandemic levels. Nadine Houghton, GMB national officer, said: "With grim predictability, holidaymakers face massive disruption thanks to the pig-headedness of British Airways. BA have tried to offer our members crumbs from the table in the form of a 10% one-off bonus payment, but this doesn't cut the mustard.
"Our members need to be reinstated the 10% they had stolen from them last year with full back pay and the 10% bonus which other colleagues have been paid. GMB members at Heathrow have suffered untold abuse as they deal with the travel chaos caused by staff shortages and IT failures.
"At the same time, they've had their pay slashed during BA's callous fire and rehire policy. What did BA think was going to happen? It's not too late to save the summer holidays - other BA workers have had their pay cuts reversed. Do the same for ground and check-in staff and this industrial action can be nipped in the bud."
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV and the ITV Hub
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