British Airways ground staff prepared for a strike on Friday, threatening to throw summer travel at Britain's airports into chaos unless Europe's second-biggest airline agrees to better wages.
A ballot of about 2,600 baggage handlers, check-in staff and other workers voted in favour of a strike, with voting by another 8,000 staff expected to go the same way next week.
British Airways (BA) fears a repeat of last summer's wildcat strike by staff at London's Heathrow airport which forced it to scrap 500 flights and disrupted travel for more than 100,000 people.