Pilots represented by the Balpa union are due to walk out on 9, 10 and 27 September but customers with tickets booked for other days were wrongly told over the weekend their flights were cancelled.

Some customers received two conflicting emails on Saturday (24 August). The first of which stated their flights had been cancelled and they should rebook or seek refunds.

UPDATE: CAA seeks answers from BA over pilots strike fiasco

The second said their original flights would go ahead as planned.

BA apologised for any concern caused and said the email was an “error”, BBC News reports.

“We are getting in touch with all those customers this afternoon to clarify that their flight will go ahead as planned,” a spokesperson said. “We are sorry for any confusion and inconvenience this has caused.”

The carrier claimed it was dealing with a backlog of 40,000 customer calls that came in following the news of the industrial action, scheduled to take place next month.

Adam French, consumer rights expert at Which?, said BA’s actions had “caused a lot of confusion and anxiety“ for passengers.

“It is vital the airline ensures that any customer who was initially informed that their flight was cancelled and has booked an alternative flight is not left out of pocket.

“British Airways must now put all resources necessary into sorting out this mess as soon as possible.”