AIR travellers could face chaos after thousands of British Airways cabin crew voted overwhelmingly in favour of strikes.

The strike vote - in a row over sickness absence, pay and staffing - threatens serious disruption to services.

Members of the Transport and General Workers Union backed industrial action by 96% - one of the biggest majorities ever in such a dispute.

The union announced at the start of a meeting at Heathrow today, attended by 1000 BA cabin crew, that 8132 had voted for strike action, with only 330 against.

There was a turnout of 80% in the postal ballot, one of the highest figures in recent union disputes.

The meeting was told the union had decided to call a series of three-day strikes if the dispute was not resolved.

Crucial talks will now be held tomorrow in a bid to avert strikes.

The union said cabin crew workers were angered at the way sickness absence was dealt with by the airline and claims that staff were under pressure to turn up for work even if they were unwell.

Workers also claimed pay and terms and conditions had been eroded by a new management regime.

The airline also faces a separate dispute over planned changes to its pension scheme.

A BA spokesman said: "We are very disappointed by the T&G's threat of what would be completely unnecessary industrial action."