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Talks between the airline and the Unite union, which represents the crew, collapsed on Friday.

A further four days of action are set to begin on 27 March, although BA has said this weekend's action could disrupt flights into next week as well.

Cabin crew are striking over pay and working conditions.

BA said that 65% of passengers would still be able to reach their destination during the first three-day strike, even though a total of 1,100 BA flights out of the 1,950 scheduled to operate would be cancelled.

At Gatwick, all long-haul flights and more than half of short-haul flights are expected to operate as normal.

At Heathrow, more than 60% of long-haul flights will operate, though only 30% of short-haul flights are expected to do so, with the help of aircraft leased from rival airlines.

Uncertainty still exists about just how many BA crew will go on strike after BA said that any staff who took part in strike action would lose perks, including heavily-discounted travel fares.

BA said it was confident that it could handle 49,000 passengers on each of Saturday and Sunday, compared with around 75,000 on a normal weekend day in March.

Unite said the strike was having an effect, saying that more than 80 BA planes were grounded at Heathrow on Saturday morning.

Revised offer

In a video message on the BA website, chief executive Willie Walsh apologised to passengers for what he said was a "terrible day" for the airline.

However, he said he was confident that a "good service" would be provided.

Mr Walsh and Unite union joint general secretary Tony Woodley failed to reach an agreement to avert action on Friday in the increasingly bitter dispute.

After the talks failed, Mr Woodley said Mr Walsh wanted to "go to war" with the union. Mr Walsh dismissed the claim as "absolute nonsense".

Mr Woodley had called on BA to put an earlier deal to end the strikes "back on the table", which he said would have allowed him to call off the strike while union members considered it.

Instead, Mr Walsh offered a less attractive deal to compensate the company for the costs already incurred in making alternative arrangements for some passengers to fly during the strikes.

Mr Woodley called the revised offer a "disgrace and an insult", and refused to present it to union members.

'Fairly quiet'

BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam, who is at Heathrow, said the situation at Terminal 5 was relatively quiet early on Saturday morning.

He said: "I spoke to a few passengers, they had been expecting delays, but for the most part they had made contingency plans, just as much as British Airways had made contingency plans.

"Those contingency plans seem to be paying dividends because so far it's moving smoothly."

Former BA cabin crew manager Jamie Bowden said most of the check-in staff at Terminal 5 were working without any disruptions.

He told BBC News: "The leased aircraft that British Airways have chartered in, they are part of the normal computer system now, and so far things are going pretty smoothly.

"Of course, British Airways' long-haul flights from Terminal 5 won't start until later on this morning so predominantly the first three or four hours are going to be short-haul, but so far it seems to be fairly quiet over there."

Cost cutting

However, Unite national official Steve Turner said: "I have seen the 80-plus aircraft that are grounded right now.

"British Airways have cancelled an enormous amount of flights and many passengers have realised that given the turmoil they are likely to face today, they are not going to travel and have sought and achieved a refund."

Among the passengers inconvenienced is James Alexander, from Newcastle, who is due to emigrate to Australia with his partner on Monday, the last day of the strike.

He said: "I've told them today on the phone I'll never fly BA again. Never. Just purely as a matter of principle now. This is chaos."

BA has been in negotiations with Unite for many months.

Workers are particularly angry that last November BA reduced the number of crew on long-haul flights and is introducing a two-year pay freeze from 2010.

The airline also proposed new contracts with lower pay for fresh recruits.

Unite says it accepts the need for BA to cut costs, but that it was not consulted on the changes.

BA suffered a loss before tax of £342m for the nine months to the end of December 2009 and says it needs to cut costs in order to survive.

Source : BBC