FURTHER talks were being held today aimed at averting travel chaos for thousands of British Airways passengers over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Union leaders were meeting BA managers to try to resolve a pay dispute and head-off a 24-hour walkout on Friday, August 27.

Thousands of baggage handlers and check-in staff will strike from 4.30am if the deadlock is not broken, threatening huge disruption to airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The Transport and General Workers' Union set the strike date after its members voted overwhelmingly in favour of action and in protest at a three-year pay deal worth 8.5%.

Union officials have also turned down an offer of an extra £1,000 per employee provided sickness absence at the airline is halved.

Chief negotiator Brendan Gold said the company should not link pay to absence rates and has called for BA's chief executive Rod Eddington to intervene.

BA has urged the unions to re-ballot workers on the improved offer and said it would be "absurd" for a strike to be held on the basis of an old offer.

The GMB union is expected to announce that its members at BA will also strike on August 27 if today's talks break down.

The union's chief negotiator Ed Blisset said he hoped the company would "repackage" the proposed pay deal.

"I am seeking to find a resolution to this dispute."

Meanwhile United Airlines was also facing industrial action after members of the TGWU voted by a large majority to strike in a separate row over pay.

The union represents hundreds of baggage handlers and check-in staff employed by United at Heathrow Airport.

The Rail Maritime and Transport Union is expected to announce that its members at Eurostar will stage a strike over the August Bank Holiday in another row over pay.