BA Travel Shop staff slam ‘unfair’ rewards

BRITISH Airways is back in the firing line – and staff at one of its BA Travel Shops are holding the guns.

An angry BATS agent wrote to Travel Weekly this week to say retailers were "miffed” the airline has rewarded Heathrow ground staff with a pair of tickets to fly anywhere on the network, but has not extended the offer to about 300 staff at the 19 Travel Shops across the UK.

The outburst follows an agent backlash last month over free tickets issued to some 17,000 BA staff at a cost of about £4 million (Travel Weekly September 3).

The reward was in recognition of staff efforts during the chaotic last week of August, during which BA cancelled more than 130 flights due to a shortage of check-in staff and technical problems.

The BATS agent, who did not wish to be named, said her colleagues felt "really quite angry” to learn they were not eligible for the tickets.

She said it added to their "insult” over BA’s recent Premium Cabin promotion, which rewarded agents with a chocolate bar and can of cola for selling a premium seat worth thousands of pounds.

"BA wanted us to help when it was all falling apart but now we are forgotten because we work for a subsidiary,” she said.

"Every second or third customer was asking us to deal with a lost bag, cancellation or delay and some of the encounters were aggressive. Heathrow check-in staff were the ones bringing the company to its knees, so why are they being rewarded?” she said.

A BA spokeswoman said the airline was "hugely grateful” for the work BATS staff performed. "There are arguments for a range of staff to receive the tickets but we need to draw the line somewhere,” she said.