British Airways¹ is expected to announce which of its flights may be cancelled because of a strike planned by cabin crew for next weekend.

因为航班空服人员计划下周末举行罢工，英国航空公司可能将要宣布一些因此被取消的航班。

The Unite union has announced two sets of strikes

The dispute is over reduced staffing levels and pay at the airline, with the first strike due to start on 20 March.

Meanwhile, a Downing St source refused to confirm whether Gordon Brown has spoken to the Unite union.

The Guardian² reports the PM called Unite's general secretary to discuss potential solutions to the dispute.

The strike is due to last for three days, with a second four-day walkout（罢工） due to begin on 27 March.

Alternative arrangements

The announcement, expected on Monday afternoon, will allow hundreds of thousands of passengers to make informed choices about what alternative arrangements to make.

But BA is emphasising that it intends to operate the majority of its flights, about 70% overall. Most cancellations are likely to be domestic（国内的，家庭的） and short haul（短途，短时间） flights.

BA will also be operating at least 23 aircraft with replacement³ crews made up of other staff.

The Guardian reported Gordon Brown intervened（干涉，调停） personally in the dispute making a weekend phone call to the joint⁴（联合的，共同的） general secretary of the Unite union, Tony Woodley.

However a Downing Street source told the BBC it could not confirm or deny the claim, saying it did not want to give a "running commentary（当场连续评述） " on the dispute.

The Guardian also claimed the Unite union was keen to speak to Mr Brown to complain about the remarks of the Transport Minister Lord Adonis.

On Sunday he became the first government minister to be critical of the union, calling the action "totally unjustified" and calling on Unite to engage constructively⁵ with BA.

Settlement offer

A spokesman for Unite said it wanted to avoid strike action, and that it was always ready to negotiate.

The union has also called on Lord Adonis to publicly pressure BA to "put back on the table" the settlement offer it made last week.

This offer was withdrawn⁶ by BA on Friday after the airline said it was conditional⁷ on strike action being averted⁸（转开，避免） .

The offer included commitments on working hours and annual pay rises in exchange for the cabin crew workers agreeing to the BA's planned £62.5m of cost cuts.

BA said the cabin crew changes it imposed last November were vital cost-cutting measures to secure the airline's future and return it to profitability（利益率，收益性） .

Unite and its members say the changes are disproportionate（不成比例的） . They also say they hit passenger services, as well as the earnings⁹ and career prospects¹⁰ of cabin crew.

The union says it acknowledges the "need for change", and has proposed its own cost-cutting package, which it says is worth £63m. BA has rejected this, disputing this figure.

Unite has confirmed it will not strike over Easter, but warned there could be further action after 14 April if a resolution with BA is not agreed.