British Airways will not back down on its controversial new policy of charging premium customers for seat reservations, the airline's chief executive has indicated.
BA now charges for seat reservations made up to 24 hours in advance of departure, with passengers paying £60 per sector in Club World, £20 in Club Europe and £25 in World Traveller Plus, although seat choice after this time remains free. The new policy has angered many business travel buyers, but BA chief executive Willie Walsh indicated at The Travel Convention in Malta that it would not be reversed.
"We have seen fantastic uptake," he said. "The number of customers using the facility has significantly exceeded the numbers I thought would be interested."
Walsh admitted rival carriers had an advantage over BA at the moment, but added: "It is something a number of other airlines are looking at introducing. If customers don't want to pay the charge, they don't have to. If it drives them to one of our competitors, that is what is going to happen, but we are not seeing traffic going elsewhere."
Walsh also claimed prospects of a Christmas strike by cabin crew, led by the Unite union, were unlikely.
"They would have to go through a lot of procedures before they strike," he said. "They have not gone through any of these as we sit here today and I believe it is not the intention of Unite to do that."
But Walsh told the conference he was determined to drive through changes in working practices. Past BA managers had backed down in the face of industrial action, he said, adding, "We are not going to do that. We should have focussed on these changes 10 years ago. Some of the issues we are dealing with are 20,30,40,50 years old."
Walsh said he was "100% confident" BA would fly a full long-haul service from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City during any future action.
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