Heathrow Airport strikes- aviation workers best tips to beat the Christmas chaos
Passengers flying from Heathrow airport, the UK’s busiest airport during the Christmas period have been warned of major delays as both the UK Border Force and Menzies ground handler employees announced they will be going on strike in a pay dispute.
The Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union has declared Civil Service industrial action that will impact Border Force services. This will affect Heathrow Airport’s Terminals 2,3,4 and 5 from the 23rd December till the 31st with the exception of the 27th.
British Airways customer agent, Sunita Boaretto, 22, explained: “Border Force are striking as they are rejecting the 2% pay rise they were offered.”
Twitter account, @pcs_union is supporting the strike, one supporter tweeted, “I’m travelling by air today, I support the @pcs_union border force strike. The role they play in the detection of modern slavery and child trafficking is greater than the 2% offered by the government, I don’t mind queuing a bit in support of that.”
American Airlines customer agent, Emilio Boaretto, 55, who helps passengers make their flight in flight connections, urges passengers who are travelling during the Christmas period ‘not to panic’ and use the eGates to minimize queuing, if eligible.
He added: “We are ensuring that from our side there will be enough staff who is trained to check passports. If worst comes to worst, the army will take over and view passenger’s passports.”
To minimise delays, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have also stopped selling new tickets for inbound flights to Heathrow over the Christmas strikes. British Airways even allows their passengers with flights arriving in the UK on strike days to change their tickets free of charge.
The Home Office issued a statement saying it was “extremely disappointed” with the PCS union’s decision to strike, explaining it would cause a “significant inconvenience” to travellers on what is already meant to be a busy period for airports.
Menzies Aviation have also announced that their Ground Handler employees will take a three day strike action on Friday 16th December, affecting Terminals 2, 3 and 4.
Sunita Boaretto, gives insight into the day-to-day responsibilities of a Ground Handler.
She states: “They do airside logistic activities to ensure a safe and timely arrival of the aircraft at the arrival destination and are in charge of unloading and loading the baggage and cargo for the airlines. They are behind a lot of important scenes.”
Menzies Aviation granted a pay award offer to their Cargo workers after the industry significantly grew during COVID19 but did not offer the same of to Ground Handling employees at Heathrow.
HGV cargo driver at Heathrow, Robert Zemanski, 47, works in co-operation with Menzies, the company that is striking by ‘delivering and picking up cargo’ from the aeroplanes that Menzis operates.
He states: “Ground Handlers do a lot of hard physical work and lay the foundation for the overall functioning of the airport so should be offered the same, if not better offer for their contributions.”
He urges passengers to ‘check for any flight delays’ with the airline directly and ‘respect the people working’ as they are likely to be doing everything within their power to help and ease passengers throughout their journey.
A separate bus strike by drivers employed by company Abellio will also affect any passengers planning on travelling to Heathrow by bus. Abellio Services in South and West London will be affected on strike days, with no daytime buses to Terminals 4 and 5.
Unite London and Eastern tweeted, “With workers struggling to cope with rampant inflation, Abellio’s failure to even enter into meaningful pay talks is coldhearted and callous.”
Sunita Boaretto, who gets the bus to work daily is ‘worried’ about the bus strikes during the Christmas period.
She states: “I read online that my 382 bus route from Terminal 5 to Southall will be affected. working at the airport means I start and finish work at crazy hours and will have no other choice but to get an Uber home which will cost me a lot of money. The last time i had to get an Uber it cost me £30.”
Sunita Boaretto shares her last-minute tips for surviving the Christmas chaos
She states: “Give yourself a good time window between you arriving at the airport and your flight, have all your documentation ready and ideally check in online so you can head straight through security. If you are travelling by British Airways I might even check you in.”
With all the strikes happening during the festive period, the airport is expecting the majority of passengers to be unaffected by the strike action, and it has not asked for flights to be cancelled or removed from the schedule. If you are planning to travel before or after Christmas visit your airlines website directly for more information about your flight.