Journalists and TV commentators were delighted as new statistics became available when British Airways and the Unite union released cabin crew numbers on the same day. BA announced that 50% were working at the same time as Unite revealed that 80% were on strike. ‘That makes 130%, so maybe there are too many of them’ said one television expert.
He explained that it had previously been impossible to find out exactly how many there were, as there had never been a simultaneous count of those on duty, on holiday, on sick leave, on disciplinary suspension, in the bar in Hong Kong or by the swimming pool in Barbados.