But BA pilots ease up on strike threat -- for now

British Airways’ big move at London Heathrow into the brand-new Terminal 5 – set for the end of March – can’t come soon enough, assuming its baggage system works. The airline – and others at LHR’s Terminal 4 -- had another big Heathrow headache last week when a software glitch put the terminal’s automatic baggage-sorting system out of commission. This gave thousands of departing passengers, mostly on BA long-haul flights, a tough decision, since economy class flyers were told that they couldn’t check any luggage – they had to go with carry-ons only, or change their flight plans. According to the U.K. newspaper The Telegraph, it was the tenth time in a year that Heathrow suffered serious baggage-handling problems. But there was some good news for BA last week, too, when its pilots agreed to call of for the time being a threatened strike (which we reported on a week ago). Eighty-six percent of the pilots union’s members voted in favor of a strike, but union leaders said they would enter mediation discussions over their grievance, which involves BA’s plan to hire pilots from outside the company – and at lower wages – for its new OpenSkies subsidiary, which will operate 757 service between the U.S. and Continental Europe without going through London.