The second day of a strike is expected to hit British airports on Saturday, threatening delays to people arriving in the UK during one of the busiest travel times of the year.
Air travellers were told there could be months of disruption unless the UK government improves a pay offer, the union leader for the striking staff said.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, said there would be a “huge escalation” in industrial action in January across the civil service unless ministers enter into negotiations.
The strike among Border Force staff who work at passport control desks, will take place every day for the rest of the year except December 27, with an estimated 1.8 million people arrive at UK airports.
On Friday, airports were largely able to deal with the first day of the strike with help from the military.
About 1,000 PCS staff employed by the Home Office have walked out at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester airports, as well as the Port of Newhaven in East Sussex.
Travellers were told to expect delays and managers feared queues could lead to people being held on planes, disrupting subsequent departures.
But airports got through day one without major problems.
“Operations continue to run smoothly and the airport is operating as normal,” a Heathrow representative said.
“The immigration halls are free flowing with Border Force and the military contingency providing a good level of service for arriving passengers.”
“Everything is going OK at the moment. There’s plenty of staff. The e-gates are all operating. It’s going well,” a spokesman for Gatwick said.
Mr Serwotka said some travellers were simply being “waved through” airports.
“The word we have from these airports is people were being waved through, passports were not being checked properly, because the work our members do is highly skilled and that cannot be replicated by an army personnel,” he said.
He added: “Our strike mandate lasts right up until May. We will be supporting this action up to May and we would re-ballot again if we have to.
“I think in January what you will see is a huge escalation of this action in the civil service and across the rest of our economy unless the government get around the negotiating table.”
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Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
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The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
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Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
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Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
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