British Airways has clashed with union leaders over the effect of a strike which hit flights and caused disruption for passengers.
The first walkout by the airline's cabin crew for 13 years sparked a war of words between the two sides, while the political heat on Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also stepped up.
The Conservatives released a new advert depicting the Prime Minister as a pilot, wearing a Unite cap, and bearing the message: "Gordon's Doing Sweet BA".
BA claimed that around 50% of cabin crew staff had turned up for work at Heathrow, but the union insisted that 80% of its 12,000 members had supported the first day of a three-day walkout.
The union said BA's Terminal 5 at Heathrow was like a "ghost town", adding that the airline contingency plans were failing.
BA described the union's claims as "rubbish", and said it had reinstated some long-haul flights this weekend because more staff had worked, including services to Miami, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, JFK in New York and Cape Town.
Union officials claimed that, during a two-hour period in the middle of the day, just 10 flights left Heathrow instead of the normal 50.
BA said the day got off to a "good start" with its contingency plans, adding later that, because 50% of cabin crew had turned up at Heathrow, it was moving to reinstate some short and long-haul flights.
A BA spokeswoman said: "Cabin crew are continuing to report as normal at Gatwick and the numbers reporting at Heathrow are above the levels we needed to operate our published schedule. At Heathrow, around 50% of cabin crew have reported as normal and we are therefore increasing the number of long-haul and short-haul flights in our schedule in the days ahead."
However a Unite spokesman said: "The support we are getting shows how strongly people feel about this and is in spite of the bullying by management. Willie Walsh's appeal for people to cross our picket lines has obviously not worked." ( source: Press Association)
