Strike-hit British Airways is reinstating a number of cancelled flights as the airline fights a war of words with union leaders over the walkout's success. BA claimed 1,157 cabin crew ignored the first day of the three-day stoppage on Saturday and reported for duty - equivalent to 97% of Gatwick crew and 52.5% of Heathrow crew. But Unite insisted 80% of its 12,000 members supported the action, dozens of planes were grounded and the carrier's contingency plans were failing. The political heat on Gordon Brown was also stepped up, with the Conservatives releasing a new advert depicting the Prime Minister as a pilot, wearing a Unite cap and bearing the message: "Gordon's Doing Sweet BA." BA described Unite'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. The carrier said Saturday 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. BA said it was confident of handling as many as 49,000 passengers on Sunday, which compares with a figure of around 75,000 for a normal weekend day in March. And in a video message on BA's website, chief executive Willie Walsh said his contingency plans had worked "very well". He added: "We are doing better than we have expected. We have been able to operate every flight we planned, and indeed have been able to operate a couple of extra flights." But Unite claimed a number of planes were stacked up at airports as a result of the strike, including 85 parked planes at Heathrow, 20 at Cardiff and 20 in Shannon. A Unite spokesman added: "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." | 
