British Airways cabin crew have once again voted to go on strike in a move that will spell travel chaos for hundreds of thousands of air passengers across the UK.

The Unite union return a vote in favour of industrial action after re-balloting its 12,000 BA cabin crew members in an ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions.

The flag carrier’s cabin crew had already passed a vote in favour of walkouts in December, but that BA strike threat was defused by an eleventh-hour High Court ruling.

No such reprieve is expected following this latest strike vote, with Unite reportedly taking extra measures to ensure that its balloting procedure met legal standards.

The specifics of the strike action are not expected to be announced until later this week, but a recent online poll involving 3,600 members of BASSA – an offshoot of the Unite union – showed that a two-thirds majority of BA cabin crew want the industrial action to last at least ten days.

However, the strategy thought to be favoured by union leaders would see cabin crew stage a series of 48-hour strikes, which would cripple flights for weeks due to knock-on delays.

Announcing the vote in favour of a strike, Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite, said that 81 per cent of the BA cabin crew represented by the union had returned their ballot papers. Of those, 79 per cent reportedly cast their vote in favour of industrial action.

That marks a reduction on the nine out of ten who backed strikes during the Christmas period, suggesting that the public backlash which followed that bid has dented staff’s resolve.

British Airways has also taken measures to deter cabin crew from backing a strike, including threatening to permanently revoke their generous travel perks – which give staff 90 per cent discounts on flights – and enlisting up to 3,500 volunteer cabin crew from other departments.

Willie Walsh, CEO of the loss-making flag carrier, has consistently warned that BA faces bankruptcy if it does not press ahead with its swingeing cost-cutting programme.

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