British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia have received the regulatory green light to operate a joint business on transatlantic flights. Following European Union approval on July 14, the airlines have now been granted anti-trust immunity from the US Department of Transportation.

British Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, said: “This final approval is fantastic news for all three airlines and the oneworld alliance. We’ve waited 14 years to bring the benefits of the transatlantic joint business to our customers and level the playing field with the other two global alliances.  As we have argued all along, the EU-US market is highly competitive and Heathrow’s liberalisation in 2008 opened it up even further. We are delighted that the US and EU authorities have recognised this.

No flights have been cancelled to or from Cape Town

The following flights from JNB to LHR have been cancelled.
BA034/ 30 May
BA034/ 02 June
BA034/ 03 June

The follwing flighs from LHR to JNB have been cancelled
BA033/ 30 May
BA055/ 30 May
BA033/ 01 June
BA033/ 03June

Conditions
•    All changes must be made prior to the departure of the original flight
•    All Long-haul and short-haul flights to/from London Heathrow (LHR) are governed by the following guidelines

1) Advice for Customers whose flight is OPERATING over the strike period 24 May to 09 June Inclusive

a)   Rebook onto an available flight to the same destination within a 355 day period after or before the scheduled departure time of the original flight. If the same booking class is not available, the lowest class available in the same cabin may be booked. This will be at no additional cost to the customer, and if required, the validity of the ticket may be extended.

OR

b)  Refund – Only if fare rules allow

2) Advice for Customers whose flight is CANCELLED over the strike period 18 May to 09 June Inclusive

a)   Rebook onto an available BA flight to the same destination within a 355 day period before/after the scheduled departure time of the original flight.  If the same booking class is not available, the lowest class available in the same cabin may be booked. This will be at no additional cost to the customer, and if required, the validity of the ticket may be extended.

OR

b)         Rebook to the nearest alternative gateway within a 14 day period before/after the scheduled departure time of the original flight in the same country or a gateway close by in a neighboring country, i.e. Lyon and Geneva. If the same booking class is not available, the lowest available class in the same cabin may be used
Please advise the customer that onward travel from the alternative destination will be at the customer’s own expense, before you agree to rebook this option

OR

c)   Rebook only via British Airways call centre 011 4418600 onto an agreed alternative carrier.

d)  Refund the ticket purchased to the original form of payment.
•    If a BA flight has not been cancelled in the system the agent can refund the ticket and will get the refund according to that fare rule originally purchased on the ticket.
•    If a BA flight has been cancelled in the system they can refund the ticket and will get a full refund with no penalties.
•    Please be advised that travel agents will now be able to process their own refunds via their GDS, for any passengers affected by the disruptions due to cancellations.  This is on condition that the refund is permissible according to the BA commercial policy at the time..  Agents should only contact BA refunds in the case of complicated refunds that you are unable to manage yourself..

•    BA will still be auditing all the tickets as usual and ADMs will be raised for any tkts. that do not meet the criteria in the commercial policy during the disruption period.
•    Refunds for tickets not affected by the cabin crew disruption should be processed in the usual format through your GDS system according to the particular fare rules and penalties”

Claims for Customer Relations to re-imburse passengers due to Volcanic disruptions:

If you have enquiries from passengers regarding the process to follow to claim for out of pocket expenses incurred due the volcanic disruptions.  Please advise them of the following procedure.
Scan all receipts, provide, banking details and a description of flights that should have been taken and then fax this to:  Attention Customer Relations 011 441 8475.

The volcano disruptions were certainly an act of God and really do not believe that the airlines should be held accountabile for delays. That aside thumbs up to BA for taking it on the chin and putting out this info.

Volcanic eruption in Iceland: Disruption to flights 15 April 2010 ( Update 09.45 )

A volcanic eruption in Iceland has created an ash cloud that is currently travelling in an easterly direction.  As a result, restrictions by UK National Air Traffic (NATS) are in place.

• All departrues from LHR, LGW and LCY will be cancelled for the rest of the day from 1130 UK time (all UK domestic flights have already been cancelled for today)
• This applies to all airlines
• Some flights from the USA (BA292/296/68) have been night stopped and others already airborne may be diverted (BA228/192/264/188).
• Further disruption is likely as a second eruption has occurred in closer to Finland and Russia.

The most reliable and up to date information regarding disrupted flights can be found on the arrivals and departures information on ba.com as the situation is likely to change through out the day.

A commercial policy is in place which will allow customers to rebook or refund.  The details are outlined below:

Advice for customers/agents
If a customers flight is cancelled then the following options are available to them

Up to the minute information on all flights for yesterday, today and up to 8 days in advance.

During the strike period this information is the most up to date available on the status of your flight. Please search by flight number or if you search by route or airport, click the estimated button in the status column once your results are displayed.

Click here to view

You will be aware that the British Airways Cabin Crew voted in favour of a strike. Here is the latest update. I would be grateful if you would pass this information to all of your managers and consultants.

The link below will be updated, to the minute, on any further developments:-

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/strike-ballot/public/en_za?refevent=home_urgent_centre

Please be advised that British Airways will increase fares ex South Africa to UK / I  and UK domestic points on Monday 22nd February 2010 by the following.

World Traveller:         ZAR 200.00
World Traveller Plus:  ZAR 500.00
Club World and First:: ZAR 1 000.00

Paid For Seating Update – Preferred Exit Row Seat Booking Available Online

From 19^th January, customers wishing to request and pay for Preferred Exit Row seating will be able to do so online at ba.com without contacting the call centres. (This date is subject to any last minute disruption, should this date change you will be advised in a further Update.) Customers will be offered this option in their confirmation email and the functionality will be available in either “Manage My Booking”, for direct-booked customers, or MMB cul-de-sac for Trade customers (to ensure that we do not drive direct sales through this initiative).  We will be encouraging customers either directly or through the Trade to follow this process and not to contact the call centres.
Customers should only phone the call centre to amend or upgrade an existing Paid Seating booking, all other Paid Seating bookings and queries can now be made online.

MADRID/LONDON (Reuters) – British Airways and Spain’s Iberia announced on Thursday a preliminary agreement for a $7 billion (4 billion pound) merger to create the world’s third-largest airline by revenue.

The deal, which the companies hope to close by the end of 2010, ends the British flag carrier’s long pursuit of Iberia to create an enlarged group, able to cope with the industry’s largest downturn in decades.

BA shareholders will have 55 percent of the new firm, with 419 aircraft flying to 205 destinations, while Iberia will hold 45 percent.

In a joint statement, BA and Iberia said the merger would provide “enhanced scale to compete with other major airlines and participate in future industry consolidation.”

The new company will combine British Airways’ strong position in Europe-to-North America traffic with Iberia’s Latin American business, and will potentially be reinforced by a planned alliance with AMR Corp’s American Airlines.

Iberia’s chairman Antonio Vazquez will be chairman of the new company, while BA’s Chief Executive Willie Walsh will be CEO. Each airline will have seven members on the new 14-member board.

Source