British Airways chief admits company ‘got it wrong’ over staff shortages

British Airways‘ (BA) chief executive Rod Eddington has admitted that the company "got
it wrong" after staff shortages led to three days of travel chaos for
passengers.

Thousands of people had flights
cancelled or delayed when check-in desks remained closed on Monday. Problems
continued into Wednesday, despite company assurances that its schedule was back
on track.

Eddington said: "Clearly we did get it wrong
because we didn’t have enough people in the terminal on Monday. We’ve got
200-plus people in the training system to address that, but yes, we let
ourselves down on Monday night, our customers and our own people."

Almost 90 flights have been
cancelled in the past three days, with BA warning that some services may be
"merged" in coming days to cope with the continuing staff shortages.

BA office staff have been asked to volunteer to work in the
terminals over the bank holiday
weekend, including Eddington
himself.

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The airline thought it had
avoided holiday weekend problems when it settled a pay deal with check-in staff
and baggage handlers, averting a planned strike.

By Mike Berry