BA v Unite: Who is winning the PR war?

Loads and loads of press coverage as the BA flight attendants' strike kicks off. 3,269 articles so far, according to Google News.

And plenty of absurd claims by both sides. BA says 97% of Gatwick crews turned up for work, which sounds implausible to me. Meanwhile, the Unite union accuses BA of flying empty planes to the US to fudge the numbers, which sounds equally outlandish.

So with all this spin flying around, who is winning the PR war?

Fight

In my view, there's been no clear knock-out. But after round one, I have to give it to BA on points. Willy Walsh looks composed and rational, yet determined in this video which was picked up and ran on the BBC News website, amongst others. All-in-all, both Unite and BA have scored points by accusing each other of bad things. But BA is doing well by playing off the staff-saving-their-great-jobs angle. A perfect example is this heartfelt radio interview with a BA flight attendant who plans to cross the line to save her job, her home and her family's livelihood.

Am I right? Is BA winning? Will they continue to win the PR war? If you were running Unite  or BA, what would your strategy be?

Add your thoughts and ideas to comments, please.

Mark


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3 comments for “BA v Unite: Who is winning the PR war?”

  1. Gravatar of ChrisChris
    Posted 23 March 2010 at 11:28:24

    Think there's only one winner here to be honest - Virgin Atlantic...

  2. Gravatar of MarkMark
    Posted 24 March 2010 at 08:42:08

    Good point. Truth is, Virgin Atlantic is, like most of the Branson empire, a masterpiece of PR. They have a grand total of 37 aircraft. Which is nothing. BA have 224, Ryanair have 227. Yet despite being such a tiny player, Virgin Atlantic is percieved and referred to as a major competitor.

  3. Gravatar of MarkMark
    Posted 24 March 2010 at 12:03:26

    Now good old Michael O'Leary of Ryanair has waded into the fray.

    Never one to miss an opportunity for some free publicicty, he's now publicly supporting BA and actually leasing them some planes.

    Of course, being O'Leary he couldn't resist a sarky comment, telling the Daily Telegraph that the planes leased to BA "were all on time too, which I must say gave the BA passengers a bit of a shock".

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