The latest BA strike has thrown travel plans for thousands of UK passengers into disarray. Last-ditch efforts which were made to try to avert the strike action included an 11th-hour offer from Britain's biggest union to call off the strike in exchange for the reinstatement of travel perks to cabin crews.

The sticking point remains the heavily discounted flights available to off-duty cabin crews. The perks were taken from staff when they first went on strike. BA has said it will hand back travel concessions, but only if crews go back to work.

No discussions had been held between the two sides in the dispute since they broke down on Saturday. The airline plans to operate 60 per cent of long-haul flights and 50 per cent of short-haul flights from Heathrow Airport, allowing 70 per cent of passengers to reach their destinations.