British Airways to fly all customers to destinations during strike

LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways said that all its passengers would be flown to their destinations during a 72-hour pay strike by some cabin crew which began on Thursday. BA, owned by International Airlines Group , said a small number of its short-haul flights from Heathrow would be merged resulting in one percent of its total schedule being cancelled over the three day period. "Our flight programme is running as planned and we are going to fly all customers to their destinations," BA said in a statement. All BA's long-haul services to and from Heathrow, Britain and Europe's busiest airport, plus its flights to and from London's Gatwick airport and London City will all operate as normal, the airline said. The walk-out is being staged by BA's "mixed fleet" cabin crew, who make up around 15 percent of the airline's total cabin staff. Those involved, represented by the Unite Union, have poorer terms and conditions than some longer-serving staff and rejected a pay offer shortly before Christmas. They have already staged a 48-hour strike earlier this month. (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Keith Weir)