British Airways has vowed to keep 60% of its customers flying during the looming strikes.
The airline said it aimed to fly about 45,000 passengers a day during the first three-day stoppage due to begin on Saturday, with thousands more people offered alternative BA flights or seats on other airlines.
Yesterday's announcement came as the bitter war of words between the carrier and union Unite increased.
Cabin crew are due to walk out for a second time between March 27 and March 30, causing chaos for thousands of people heading off for the Easter holidays.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday put himself at odds with Unite after unexpectedly speaking out about the strike, describing it as 'deplorable' and 'unjustified'.
'It is not in the company's interest, it is not in the workers' interest and it is certainly not in the national interest. "I hope that this strike will be called off,' he added.
Unite called the industrial action last week following the breakdown of talks between the union and BA over planned cost-cutting measures. A new deal from BA to end the dispute was going to be tabled, but was withdrawn following the announcement of the strike dates.
Yesterday, BA said its chief executive, Willie Walsh, had waited at the offices of the conciliation services Acas over the weekend for talks but the union failed to turn up. Unite vehemently denied this as 'total nonsense' and said it had not been asked to attend talks.
BA said that during the first three-day strike it will operate all long-haul flights to and from Gatwick and more than half of short-haul flights at the airport.
All flights to and from London City airport will also be unaffected by the strike and the airline said it will operate a full schedule of long-haul services at London Gatwick, to The Maldives, Tampa, Orlando, Egypt and Caribbean destinations during the strike period. It will also operate more than half of its short-haul network at Gatwick.
BA said it had also agreed with 40 other carriers that customers can be rebooked free of charge during the actual strike period on to their flights if they had been due to travel on a BA flight which has been cancelled.
'We remain absolutely determined to search for a sensible settlement and our door remains open to Unite, day or night,' CEO Willie Walsh said. 'It is not too late for Unite to call off this action and we will do all we can to reinstate some of the cancelled flights,' he added.
BA has opened up an extra call centre manned by staff volunteers to help customers with rebooking and refunding queries. Customers were advised to check ba.com on a regular basis to see if their flight was still operating before departing for the airport.
