BA complaints double in a year

More trouble was heaped on British Airways today as a league table showed passenger complaints about the airline had doubled in a year.

While BA chiefs digested the unpalatable figures, leaders of the three unions involved in the "swipe card" dispute which has delayed tens of thousands of passengers were being hauled before the TUC.

They were being told in no uncertain terms by general secretary Brendan Barber to stop squabbling and find a solution to the dispute.

Today's table, published by the Air Transport Users Council, shows complaints against BA in the 12 months ending last March totalled 257, compared with 117 in the previous year. This puts BA top of the complaints league even though the figures were compiled well before the present industrial unrest.

Today's meeting of union leaders at the TUC follows a spilt between the Transport and General Workers and the GMB unions over what to do next in the dispute which has already cost BA £50 million in lost revenue.

A TUC insider said: "It is a case of banging heads together. Our dispute should be with BA - not each other."

The unions, which also include Amicus, will decide at the meeting whether to resume talks at the conciliation service Acas later today. An Acas spokeswoman said it "stood ready" to host new talks following the 13-hour session which broke up at 6am last Friday in deadlock.

Both BA and the unions say they are "hopeful" that a deal is in now sight. This follows leaders of the three unions meeting individually yesterday with BA chief executive Rod Eddington. After each session Mr Eddington made a point of highlighting the " positive and constructive" nature of the talks.

He said he felt there was a "good chance" that settlement could be agreed before the end of the week. But he admitted that BA had underestimated the strength of feeling by check-in and ground staff against the introduction of the electronic swipe cards to clock on and off. This caused the dispute which led to the wildcat strike action which grounded 500 flights.

For the first time, Mr Eddington admitted that BA had made a mistake over the way it had introduced swipe cards for check-in staff.

He said: "We felt that when we introduced a new swipe in, swipe out system, because it was used in other parts of the business that ultimately it would be accepted.

"Clearly, when we reflect on that now, given the concerns that have been expressed to use we recognise that we need to do more to assuage those concerns."

So had BA made a mistake? "I think with the gift of hindsight the sensible answer to that is 'yes'," he replied.

Leaders of all three unions backed the upbeat mood of the meetings. Kevin Curran of the GMB, who spent 35 minutes with the BA chief, said" We are hopeful that we can make progress as swiftly as possible."