As British Airways celebrated its 100th birthday at the weekend, passengers were venting their fury at the airline’s handling of a planned walkout by pilots next month. Customers Sunday were still struggling to contact the airline as they sought to rebook their cancelled flights. Some other passengers, meanwhile, received an email in error telling them that their flights scheduled for non-strike days had been cancelled. Balpa, which represents a majority of BA’s pilots, confirmed Friday that it plans to walk out Sept 9, 10, and 27 after pay talks between the union and the carrier broke down. BA also apologised after it admitted that some passengers were mistakenly told by email that their flights scheduled on non-strike days had been cancelled. The airline has not confirmed how many customers were wrongly sent the email. <br/>
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Cathay Pacific Airways said it will show zero tolerance to employees who support or take part in illegal protests ahead of “planned activities” by trade union members around its operational hub Cathay City in Hong Kong Aug 26. “Any activities that impact our ability to operate safely not only significantly disrupt the travelling public, but also jeopardise the safety of our customers and our employees,” the airline said Saturday. The carrier has come under pressure from mainland authorities after its employees earlier joined protests that originated from calls to resist a bill to allow extradition to the Chinese mainland. The Airport Authority Hong Kong obtained an High Court order this week to extend an interim injunction granted Aug 13 banning protesters from the local airport. That injunction also covers Cathay City. <br/>
Vueling has canceled 112 flights scheduled for Saturday and Sunday because of a strike by ground staff at Barcelona's El Prat airport. Earlier this month, the ground crew for Iberia called strikes Aug 24-25 and then Aug 30-31. Iberia canceled 5 flights for this coming Saturday to or from Barcelona and another 6 for Sunday, an airline spokesperson said. Combining both Vueling and Iberia, 124 flights have been canceled in Barcelona for this coming weekend. Vueling, which usually has around 600 to 700 weekend flights from Spain's second-largest airport, said it had been re-booking travellers on other flights. It warned that other airlines' flights would also be affected. Spanish trade union UGT has called on Iberia ground staff in Madrid to also strike Aug 30 and 31. <br/>