BA and Virgin halt ticket sales to Heathrow on strike days

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have stopped selling new tickets for inbound flights to Heathrow on the days Border Force staff strike over Christmas, the BBC understands.

Border Force has asked airports who are expecting passenger numbers on strike days to be above 70-80% of 2019 levels to "supress demand".

The move is to better manage the flow of people through border control.

Workers will stage the first walkout on Friday 23 December.

A source at Heathrow told the BBC the airport had met with BA and Virgin, its two home-based airlines, to request a restriction on new ticket sales, which the airlines had agreed to.

Border Force staff will walk out on 23-26 and28-31 December.

British Airways has stopped selling inbound flights on all eight days that staff are expected to strike.

Virgin Atlantic is restricting ticket sales on 23, 28, 29 and 30 December, with the expectation that those will be the busiest passenger days at Heathrow, the UK's biggest airport.