Taking action by a UNION for a strike or a series of strikes is not a decision taken lightly, it affects the airline, its bank balance, its crews, it also puts pressure on crew relations and crew/flight crew relations. However, people are under the impression that we are overpaid and underworked, this is not the case, some crew working at Gatwick earn so little they are on tax credits, the basic salary average at Heathrow is the same a Virgin. If you compare us with KLM, Lufthansa, Air France you will see the comparisons are similar, compare us with low cost carriers like Ryanair and easyjet there will be an obvious difference as they are low cost and we are a full service airline with an excellent reputation. I for one did not want a strike it does no one any favours and creates a dreadful "unease" but i for one could not agree to the offer that was tabled by our generous CEO, it meant longer days, shorter time off, less time away, less pay, no overtime, no long range payments, I was happy to show up on the picket line and do my thing in support of my union, my loyal colleagues in the fight to keep our terms and conditions by negotiation NOT imposition.
If BA get their way the job will not be worth doing anymore so it is all or nothing so worth the strike to at least get something in return and some improvement!
Lines of jets were not hard to miss at Heathrow as many other airlines were brought in to operate our flights.
Lines of jets were not hard to miss at Heathrow as many other airlines were brought in to operate our flights. 
