British Airways is starting to suffer the medium to long-term effects of its ongoing dispute with cabin crew, not least in the amount of traffic its website receives from metasearch engines.
TravelSupermarket claims the industrial dispute at British Airways was already being felt long before today's strike ballot result.
Unite, the trade union representing cabin crew in their long running fight against managers over working conditions and pay, today revealed strong support by members to organise industrial action mostly in the form of strikes.
TravelSupermarket says following the announcement of the latest ballet in mid-January 2010, clicks from the metasearch site to flights on BA.com have slumped by 19%.
The union says it will continue to attempt to reach a settlement with BA bosses and has yet to announce dates for a strike, although the threat of industrial action is clearly making travellers nervous.
An original strike set for Christmas 2009 was deemed unlawful at the time in the High Court as ineligible members were balloted.
Bob Atkinson from TravelSupermarket says:
"Today's result isn't just a kick in the teeth for loyal BA passengers, it’s a disaster for both British Airways and BA's staff, as all stand to lose out unless the airline re-engineers itself to compete in the cut-throat airline market."