British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association


The British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association is a branch of the British trade union Unite. It was originally formed exclusively for British Airways cabin crew, but other branches exist representing air cabin crew at other airlines.
Originally part of the Transport and General Workers' Union, set-up after the Cabin Crew 89 breakaway, BASSA is now part of Unite the Union. With an office at Heathrow Airport, it provides year-round 24 hour support, with a secure website service for members and an emergency number for operational issues. Membership has fallen from a high point of over 11,000 in 2009 to 8,000 due to staff leaving British Airways employment as a result of redundancy.
BASSA retains its position as one of the largest branches of any union within the UK. Unite directly represents British Airways' fast-growing new entrant Mixed Fleet employees, limiting the scope for increasing BASSA membership in future, because its constituent Worldwide and Eurofleets have not been able to recruit new crew since 2008.
The current chair is Sean Beatty, a BA Cabin Services Director, who is also chair of a number of other local and international trade union related committees.