British Airways will meet Britain's main pilots' union later today to discuss the use of armed air marshals on its planes, a spokesman for the British Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA) said.
Two recent BA flights to Washington were cancelled and others delayed as passengers were subjected to lengthy questioning by US authorities who recently began demanding that foreign airlines place armed marshals on some flights.
BA's smaller UK rival Virgin Atlantic Airways, which has already agreed with BALPA on rules for using marshals, has had no such incidents, a Virgin spokeswoman said.
"We're talking to BA this afternoon about trying to get a similar agreement with them," a BALPA spokesman said.
A BA spokesman confirmed a meeting was scheduled and said unresolved topics for the industry included the question of who should pay for the marshals.
BALPA's General Secretary, Mr Jim McAuslan, said today that the pilots union suspected the air marshals issue could be behind the BA cancellations, which were made on government security advice.
"We are concerned it was a political decision to get BA to accept air marshals," McAuslan told the Timesnewspaper.
The US Department of Homeland Security last month raised its state of alert to Code Orange, indicating it perceived a higher risk of attack, and began demanding foreign airlines place armed marshals on selected flights to the United States.
More than 100 US airports today will begin fingerprinting and photographing visitors.