Search: BA cabin crew strike
British Airways cabin crew are staging their first strike in 13 years, causing disruption for thousands of passengers, with further action planned in the coming weeks.
Unite said early indications were that its 12,000 members were solidly supporting the three-day walkout, called in a bitter dispute over cost cutting.
Picket lines were mounted at airports including Heathrow, which will be the worst affected by the strike.
Unite said that no buses which normally transport crew to work had crossed picket lines. The union also claimed that two of the planes chartered by BA as part of the airline's contingency plans were delayed by technical problems and that more than 100 complaints had been made by passengers about catering. BA made no immediate comment on the claims.
Just under two-thirds of Heathrow's long-haul services are expected to fly this weekend and less than a third of short-haul flights.
BA is planning to operate all long-haul flights to and from Gatwick plus around half of short-haul flights, while all flights to and from London City Airport are expected to fly as scheduled.
BA said it was confident of handling as many as 49,000 passengers on Saturday and the same number on Sunday, which compares with a figure of around 75,000 for a normal weekend day in March.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
The strike went ahead following the collapse of talks, which ended with Unite and BA blaming each other.
Unite's joint leader Tony Woodley accused BA of wanting a "war" with the union and complained that BA chief executive Willie Walsh had tabled a worse offer than one withdrawn last week.
Mr Woodley said that he had been set "mission impossible" because of the new offer, which included a four-year pay deal the union maintained would at best freeze wages until 2014.
