Sides dispute strike's impact

LONDON --- British Airways cabin crews walked off the job for a second day Sunday, but the airline insisted the strike was having less impact than expected and said it was able to restore flights that had previously been canceled.

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The airline -- locked in a bitter dispute over a pay freeze and changing working conditions -- was forced to cancel or delay hundreds of flights over the weekend as cabin crew launched a three-day strike after negotiations collapsed Friday.

Many travelers en route to the U.S. who were supposed to have brief stopovers at Heathrow, the airline's London hub, were stranded at the airport and faced long waits to connect with flights home.

However, BA said it was coping well because of its extensive contingency plans and the fact that many crew members ignored the strike call.

"Our contingency plans are continuing to work well on Sunday morning around the world," it said in a statement.

BA said almost all the cabin crews at Gatwick airport and about half of those at Heathrow reported for duty Saturday, allowing the airline to reinstate more than a dozen previously canceled flights.

The airline said all long-haul aircraft from overseas airports arrived in London as planned Sunday morning and that there was no evidence of strikes at any overseas airports. In preparation for the strike, BA had retrained some staffers to serve as cabin crew and leased planes and crew from rival carriers to take up some of the shortfall.

Still, about 1,100 out of the airline's 1,950 flights scheduled to operate during the three-day walkout were expected to be canceled.

Union leaders disagreed with BA's claims of success, saying nearly 10,000 members did not go to work Saturday and as a result many passengers complained about in-flight food and services.

Unite, the union representing BA cabin crews, said scores of planes were grounded, clogging up parking space, and only one of the five regular flights to New York's JFK airport took off Saturday.

Unite was planning a second, four-day walkout due to begin March 27, and it had said more strikes will be scheduled after April 14 if the dispute is not resolved. The union has pledged not to walk out over the busy Easter period.