Its official!  It looks like major misery for travellers to the UK in the New Year.  The Times reports that airport workers at seven airports in England and Scotland voted to strike three times in January in a dispute over pensions.  Unite, the trade union representing firefighters and security staff at the BAA-owned airports, said that its membership was angered by the Spanish-owned airport group's decision to close its salary pension schedule to new entrants.

Unite's National Aviation Secretary Brendan Gold said the strike could close all seven airports. "There will be huge disruption," he told a news conference. Union member will stage three strikes: two 24-hour walkouts starting at 0100 EST on January 7 and January 14 and a further 48-hour strike from 0600 GMT on January 17.

The union's members include fire crews, maintenance workers, clerical staff and security staff.  The strike will affect Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports. BAA, owned by Spain's Ferrovial, said it regretted the action and would do all it could to minimize disruption to passengers.

Giving an indication of the possible scale of disruption the Independant reports as follows;

By far the busiest and biggest of the airports is Heathrow in west London where British Airways alone would operate about 550 arriving and departing flights a day in January.

All told, Heathrow handles around 1,350 flights a day, with enticing long-haul destinations such as the Caribbean, Australasia and South Africa particularly popular for holidaymakers wanting to escape the dark and cold of January in the UK.

The second-biggest UK airport for BAA is Gatwick in West Sussex. Gatwick is scheduled to handle 87,000 passengers on 682 flights on January 7 which is the first of the planned strike days.

On the second strike day of January 14 Gatwick would handle 82,000 passengers on 646 flights, with 80,000 passengers due to pass through the airport on January 17 when 628 flights are planned, and 650 flights and 78,000 passengers due on January 18..

The third of the BAA London airports is Stansted in Essex which on a typical January day will handle around 50,000 to 60,000 passengers. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports in Scotland are likely to handle around 20,000 passengers on the strike days.

Around 5,000 a day are likely to travel to and from Aberdeen airport which would typically handle around 220 flights a day in January, including trips to off-shore installations.

The results of a ballot of  5000 workers employed by BAA will be announced tomorrow Friday. The union, Unite, could launch strike action just seven days later.  Meanwhile,Virgin Atlantic cabin crew are to stage two 48-hour strikes in the New Year the airline has announced. 

Unite said its members will walk out at 6am on January 9 and again at 6am on January 16 after voting for industrial action.
Unite said thousands of its members will walk out at 6am on January 9 and again at 6am on January 16

The workers voted by 1,497 to 605 to back strikes, a majority of around 70 per cent. The union balloted 3,100 workers, with around two- thirds taking part in the voting.

Unite said it was the first time in the airline's history that cabin crew voted to strike, which showed the strength of feeling over pay.

Virgin said it will do everything it can to get passengers to their destinations.

Unite national officer Brian Boyd said: "Virgin Atlantic's cabin crew have voted for strike action for the first time in the airline's history.  "They've not taken this decision lightly. They are a world-class crew who've been undervalued for too long. They are seeking a long-term solution to pay which recognises their loyalty and professionalism.   "Unite is calling on Virgin Atlantic to get back around the negotiating table to get through this impasse and avoid disruption in the New Year."

Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said: "We would like to reassure passengers that our flying programme is operating as normal at this time, and will continue to do so over the Christmas and New Year period.

"We are disappointed that some of our cabin crew have voted this way but we will do everything we can to get our passengers to their destinations during the threatened industrial action. "It is surprising that Unite has taken this step of calling action when they had previously helped to put together the deal and strongly recommended that its members accept it.  "Virgin Atlantic cabin crew put their heart and soul into their work and can be truly proud of what they've achieved.  "However, there comes a time when good management has to draw a line in the sand in the interests of all employees. There will be no 11th hour change to our pay offer."

Meanwhile Unite seems confident of BAA groundstaff voting in favour of action.   Voting closes today and the result is expected to be announced on Friday.

Welcome to Hell.  The perfect storm for travellers is brewing this holiday period.

-Meteoroligist's  are predicting a white Christmas.
-Possible strike action by security, admin and fire-fighter staff at seven of Britain's main airports run by operator BAA - Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen - from as early as December 2.  
-Plus a strike threat by 3,200 Virgin Atlanic cabin crew from as early as December 27 are the festive ingredients for misery.

So take these possiblities, then add on these following facts and you will probably decide to rip up your airline tickets and stay at home.  Heathrow will handle 3.3 million passengers over the Christmas and New year period. This is 100,000 more than last year.
Last year Heathrow suffered massive disruption last year because of fog.
Even without the strike threat there is the prospect of immigration delays because of the extra time needed to use the new scanners for passports. This has led to the Home Office bringing former border officials out of retirement to ease the workload.

Of course non of this may happen, no snow and ice, no strikes, no immigration delays, no overcrowding.  But whatever, happens don't forget..Peace and Goodwill to all Men (and Women).

In the run up to the BAA ground staff and Virgin aircrew strike ballots, it would seem that a war of words and lobbying has broken out on the web. The post below is typical of the anti-strike, anti union, sentiment being propageted.  This came from the airlines.nets aviation forum which is designed a discussion place for professionals and enthusiasts.

In yet another example of Neanderthal UK union action, BAA workers are threatening strike action over the Christmas & New Year travel periods because they lack the intelligence to face up to the realities of the modern world where “final salary pensions” are no longer sustainable. The disruption could close Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted in particular as the fire-fighters (who all have two or three jobs anyway) are fully subscribed union members.

If they don’t like their jobs with BAA, they should quite simply bugger off and work somewhere else instead of threatening the public time and time again. Maybe they should try working for themselves like millions of us out here and find out how difficult the world really is. Muppets.

On the other side of the fence the Union representing both BAA and Virgin state 

 "Our member's do a professional and responsible job for one of the country's highest regarded airline and their pay should reflect this.  At the moment Virgin Atlantic's cabin crew earnings are far less than their comparators on the main business routes at British Airways and clearly this is no longer acceptable to our members.  Unite has done everything we can to avoid this situation but we have been left with no alternative but to ballot for strike action in an effort to get the company's to recognise our member's contribution to the company's continued success."

And the reponse by Virgin...

Virgin Atlantic says it is disappointed the ballot is taking place, and that its two-year offer is the best in the airline industry in 2007.  Virgin proposes to raise salaries by 4.8% in the first year, and retail price inflation in the second year.
"We would hope that the cabin crew who are union members would not do anything to affect our leading reputation for customer service," a Virgin Atlantic spokesman said.

Sounds like a veiled threat to me.  

Anyway, the fact of the matter (for those worried by potential events) is that Unite is to run its two ballots - at BAA and Virgin - in parallel, with the closing date for both being 20 December. Any result in favour of strike action would require legally require seven days notice before action began.  That would mean the earliest dispruntion potentially being 27th December. This I think is unlikely given the season and that time to organise involved. Perhaps more like new year.