The British Airways (BA) contact centre is overwhelmed with calls from thousands of concerned customers fearing for their Christmas and New Year flights following the announcement that BA staff are set to strike from next Tuesday.

However, it has been reported that the airline has refused to draft in additional seats to handle the calls.

BA cabin crew announced last night they would stage a walkout from December 22 to January 2 threatening as many as 650 flights a day from Heathrow and Gatwick.

Preceding this announcement customers found themselves waiting for up to an hour to get through to BA customer service staff.

A spokesman for the airline said all the information which agents are able to give out is on the website. He said: "A lot of the calls are about refunds and we cannot give information about refunds until we know whether there are any flights which will definitely be cancelled."

BA still plans to try to avoid the strike and has refused to say which flights are at threat of cancellation, leaving call centres in Manchester, Newcastle, Cyprus, South Africa, Delhi, Nigeria, the United States and elsewhere inundated - with no plans to increase existing teams.

Customers due to take flight during the period are being contacted by email or phone, and information on the website is advising that decisions on flight cancellations are yet to be made.