Heathrow SAS Cabin Crew Strike, What to Do Dec 22 to 26

SAS faces a holiday disruption risk at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) after Unite said Heathrow based SAS cabin crew plan four strike days on December 22, 23, 24, 2025, and December 26, 2025. For travelers, the practical problem is not just a delayed departure, it is the compounding knock on effects when a small set of Heathrow rotations are canceled or merged during peak demand. If your itinerary uses SAS out of Heathrow to connect onward into Scandinavia, or to reach time sensitive Lapland trips, the fixed dates are the signal to adjust now rather than waiting for day of disruption.

Unite has confirmed two late December strike blocks involving DHL Supply Chain staff supporting baggage handling and staffed check in at London Luton Airport (LTN). Travelers flying easyJet from Luton, and anyone planning to check a bag or rely on counter service, are the most exposed. The practical move is to switch to carry on only when possible, shift departures away from the walkout windows if your fare allows, and add buffer time for both the airport process, and onward rail or coach connections.

The London Luton baggage strike is set to pressure baggage flows and aircraft turnarounds during December 19 to 22, 2025, and December 26 to 29, 2025, which raises the odds of delayed bags, longer queues, and flight disruption during peak holiday demand.

Based on published schedules in UK reporting, the first strike block runs from 300 a.m. local time on Friday, December 19, 2025, to 300 a.m. on Monday, December 22, 2025. The second block runs from 300 a.m. on Friday, December 26, 2025, to 300 a.m. on Monday, December 29, 2025. Because these are continuous multi day walkouts, disruption can carry from one bank of departures into the next, especially if baggage backlogs build or aircraft start rotating late.

easyJet has said it expects to operate its full flying program on the affected dates, and that contingency plans are in place with the airport, and DHL. That is useful framing for travelers, because it suggests many flights may still operate, but with degraded ground processing, which is exactly the scenario where checked bags, tight schedules, and self made connections become fragile.

Who Is Affected

Travelers departing from London Luton are most affected when their itinerary depends on services that sit directly in the baggage chain, staffed check in, bag drop acceptance, baggage sorting, loading, unloading, and delivery to reclaim. If you are traveling as a family, with sports gear, with winter clothing that pushes you into checked baggage, or with gifts that complicate repacking, your odds of getting stuck in the slow lane are higher than someone traveling with one cabin bag.

easyJet passengers are the primary risk group because Luton is one of the carrier's major UK bases, and the reported strike action centers on roles that support easyJet's ground operation there. Even if you are not flying easyJet, congestion at shared terminal pinch points can still matter, curbside drop offs can take longer, security queues can swell if check in lines spill, and flight delays can propagate across stands and gates when aircraft cannot turn on time.

Travelers with same day onward plans are the second major risk group. If you are landing at Luton and then trying to catch a fixed time rail service, a coach to another city, a pre booked car pickup, or a timed event check in, a baggage delay can be enough to break the plan. The risk is highest on separate tickets, and on last connections of the day, because your recovery options shrink fast once trains and coaches thin out in the evening.

What Travelers Should Do

Start by reducing your dependence on baggage systems. If you can travel carry on only, do it, even if it means paying for an upgraded cabin bag allowance, repacking into lighter layers, and moving bulky items like toiletries to your destination purchase plan. If you must check a bag, keep medication, chargers, a change of clothes, and any item you cannot replace in your cabin bag, and take photos of your bag and bag tag so you have what you need if you must file a delayed bag report.

Use decision thresholds to choose whether to wait, reroute, or move dates. If your itinerary includes a same day rail or coach connection, or anything that fails if you arrive more than about 60 to 90 minutes late, treat a strike day departure from Luton as a candidate for proactive change, either to an earlier flight, or to a routing from another London area airport if priced reasonably. If you are on one ticket with airline protected connections, you can often accept a same day reroute, but if you are on separate tickets, a next day reaccommodation, or a refund and self rebook can be the safer play once delays start stacking and options thin.

Over the next 24 to 72 hours, monitor three signals, airline app notifications for waivers or schedule changes, airport operations updates for queue and baggage messaging, and day of departure flight status trends for your specific flight number. If you see repeated rolling delays on early departures, that is a sign the operation is running behind and may not recover by evening, which is when you should shift to earlier flights, or move the trip to a non strike date if your plans are time sensitive.

How It Works

A baggage and check in dispute can look narrow, but it hits the travel system at a chokepoint. When staffed counters slow down, passengers arrive earlier and queues lengthen, which increases security peak loads and pushes more people into the terminal at the same time. When baggage sorting and ramp loading slow down, the aircraft can miss its planned departure slot, which then affects the next leg that aircraft is meant to operate. That creates second order ripples across crew schedules, gate availability, and downstream network punctuality, even for flights not originally expected to be disrupted.

Those ripples then spill beyond aviation. Late arrivals into London, England can trigger missed rail connections and coach departures, and that can force unplanned overnight stays, which tighten last minute hotel inventory near the airport, and in central London. Tours, event tickets, and timed attraction entries can fail when travelers arrive late, which is why the best mitigation is not just watching your flight, it is building slack into the whole ground plan, including buffers for baggage reclaim, and transfers.

For travelers mapping alternate plans, two related disruption primers may help. Europe December Strikes Hit Holiday Flights And Trains tracks how overlapping December walkouts can compound across modes. Spain Airport Handling Strike Days Through December 31 shows how ground handling slowdowns translate into queues and late bags even when flights continue to operate. If you end up switching airports or building an overnight buffer, London Travel Guide: The Ultimate 7-10 Day Itinerary for First-Time Visitors includes practical transfer context across London's airport network.

Sources

• EasyJet expects to operate full schedule despite strike plan at Luton
• EasyJet staff at Luton Airport to strike over Christmas
• Christmas travel chaos looms at London Luton Airport as DHL staff serving easyJet announce six-day strike
• Pack safe to fly safe: Regulator issues Christmas travel advice as record numbers take to the skies
• Aviation on track for busiest Christmas in history following record-breaking summer

The most exposed SAS markets out of Heathrow are the carrier's core hub links, London to Copenhagen via Copenhagen Airport (CPH), London to Oslo via Oslo Airport (OSL), and London to Stockholm via Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN). Those hub flights are also the feeder spine for many Nordic and Lapland itineraries, so even travelers whose final destination is not Denmark, Norway, or Sweden can still get hit when the first leg fails.

For broader strike playbooks, travelers can reference Europe Airport Strikes: Compensation and Re-Routing Guide, and for overlapping holiday disruption risk on UK arrivals during this same week, see UK Border Force Strikes Snarl Christmas Airport Arrivals.

Who Is Affected

Travelers booked on SAS flights departing London Heathrow Airport (LHR) on December 22, 23, 24, 2025, or December 26, 2025, are the front line group because cabin crew availability directly determines whether a flight can legally operate. If SAS cancels or consolidates Heathrow departures, the impact spreads immediately to travelers connecting through Copenhagen Airport (CPH), Oslo Airport (OSL), or Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), especially those on separate tickets who built their own same day links.

Lapland and Northern Lights trips are disproportionately exposed because they tend to be rigidly timed, premium priced, and tied to hotels, tours, and family schedules that do not flex well by one day. Media coverage around the dispute specifically flags concerns about festive travel, including Lapland demand, because SAS serves Lapland airports and relies on its Scandinavian hubs to move travelers north in winter.

This is also a higher stress disruption for travelers with checked bags, ski gear, or bulky winter kit. When flights cancel late, bags can be separated from passengers during rebookings, and the first available alternate routings often involve tight minimum connection times that are unfriendly to baggage transfers.

What Travelers Should Do

Act now while inventory still exists. If your trip is time sensitive, look for options to depart before Monday, December 22, 2025, or to move your Heathrow departure to a non strike day, even if it means adding a hotel night at your first Nordic hub. If you must travel on a strike date, reduce fragility by avoiding separate ticket connections, traveling carry on only when possible, and choosing routings with longer connection buffers.

Decide using a simple threshold. If missing the first night would break your trip, such as a Lapland package, a one night glass igloo stay, or a prepaid excursion that cannot be moved, treat a next day reaccommodation as a de facto trip failure and push for a same day reroute on any carrier, even if the path is indirect. If your plans can slide by 24 hours without losing the core value, a next day reaccommodation can be reasonable, but only if you have written confirmation of the new itinerary and clarity on hotel coverage while you wait.

Monitor three things over the next 24 to 72 hours. First, watch SAS operational messages for whether flights are pre canceled and whether self service rebooking opens, since that is usually the fastest path to lock seats. Second, track whether your specific Heathrow rotation is being consolidated into another departure, which can quietly change your departure time without a formal cancellation. Third, keep an eye on London Heathrow Airport (LHR) wide disruption on December 23 to 26, 2025, because overlapping UK arrivals bottlenecks can amplify misconnect risk even when your SAS flight runs.

How It Works

A cabin crew strike is different from many airport staffing disruptions because the constraint is aircraft legality, not just throughput. If a flight does not have the required crew complement, it cannot depart, and even small shortfalls can force cancellations that cascade through the day because the same aircraft and crew normally operate multiple rotations. At Heathrow, that cascade matters because a canceled morning departure can remove the very aircraft position needed to operate the afternoon return, which is why travelers often see a wave of consolidations rather than one isolated cancellation.

The second order ripple shows up in the hubs. When Heathrow to Copenhagen Airport (CPH), Oslo Airport (OSL), or Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) is disrupted, inbound passengers miss the connection banks that feed regional Nordics, and the rebooking queues then compete for the same limited seats that local travelers are also trying to buy in peak season. That congestion can spill into hotels and tours because the most available alternate itineraries often require an unplanned overnight in a hub city, or a late arrival that forces same day excursions to be forfeited.

On rights, UK rules apply to flights departing from an airport in the UK on any airline, and the UK Civil Aviation Authority explains that if your flight is cancelled you should be offered a choice of a refund or alternative travel arrangements at the earliest opportunity, plus duty of care such as meals and accommodation when you are forced to wait. Compensation is more nuanced and depends on notice and cause, but the CAA notes that extraordinary circumstances like airport or air traffic control staff strikes generally do not qualify for compensation, which is why it is important to document that this disruption is tied to airline cabin crew action when you file claims.

Sources

• SAS faces Heathrow Christmas strike by cabin crew
• Christmas chaos looms as airline strike threatens to ground flights
• Delays, UK Civil Aviation Authority
• Cancellations, UK Civil Aviation Authority
• Flights from London to Copenhagen, SAS
• Flights from London to Oslo, SAS
• Flights from London to Stockholm, SAS