British Airways cabin crew have begun strike action that will cause severe disruption to flights for the next three days.

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 says that 65% of passengers will 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 will 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.

The strike action threatened by cabin staff over pay and conditions has prompted top-level political interventions.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament on 17 March that he had talked to 'both sides' and hoped that an agreement could be reached by the end of this week based on BA proposals.