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The most significant difficulty for travellers during the summer holidays is set to be another round of strikes at Heathrow. The Unite union has announced security workers at Terminal 3 and 5 will walk out for a total of 31 days between June 25 and August 27. Previous action was limited to Terminal 5 – where the majority of British Airways flights depart – but new strikes could also have an effect on airlines including Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Qatar, American, United and Delta.

The confirmed strike dates are:
June, 24-25 and 28-30
July 14-16, 21-24 and 28-31
August 4-7, 11-14, 18-20, 24-26 and 27

These dates span some of the busiest travel days of the year including start of the school summer holidays and the August bank holiday. The union has called the action a “significant escalation” and said it will “heavily affect” British Airways summer schedules.
Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King added: “Delays, disruption and cancellations will be inevitable as a result of the strike action. But this dispute is completely of Heathrow Airport’s own making.”
A spokesperson for Heathrow, meanwhile, has downplayed the potential impact of the strikes: “Passengers can rest assured that we will do everything we can to minimise strike disruption so they can enjoy their hard-earned summer holidays. Unite has already tried and failed to disrupt the airport with unnecessary strikes on some of our busiest days and we continue to build our plans to protect journeys during any future action.”