LONDON, England -- The two sides in the British Airways dispute agreed to talk Wednesday, days before cabin crew are set to go on a 12-day strike that will cause chaos for the airline during the busy holiday travel period.

The Unite union said it had accepted an offer from BA to meet for talks at 3 p.m. (10 a.m. ET).

"We are pleased the company has seen sense and will meet with us to seek an opportunity to get the talks back on track," union spokeswoman Pauline Doyle told CNN.

The talks do not affect British Airways' plans to go to the High Court in London in the afternoon to seek an injunction to stop the strike. Doyle said Unite representatives planned to attend the hearing, scheduled for 2 p.m. (9 a.m. ET), to "vigorously defend" their position.

More than 12,500 BA employees voted in November to walk out because of planned changes to cabin crew conditions. Deputy General Secretary Len McCluskey announced the result of the ballot Monday, showing more than 92 percent of BA cabin crew approved of a strike.

The strike vote came after the airline introduced cost-cutting measures including a two-year pay freeze and reducing the numbers of cabin crew members on long-haul flights.

BA says the changes, introduced in the wake of a record pre-tax loss of more than $485 million for the six months from April to September, will save the airline $665 million.

Separately, the International Air Transport Association, an umbrella group for the air travel industry, predicted Tuesday that the world's airlines will lose $5.6 billion in 2010. That's more than the group's previous prediction of a $3.8 billion loss in 2010, but still only half as much as it expects the industry to lose this year.

CNN Video: BA ruined holidays
CNN Video: British Airways strike
CNN Video: BA prepares for strike

"The world's airlines will lose $11 billion in 2009," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO, in a statement. The year coming to an end was "an Annus Horribilis that brings to a close the 10 challenging years of an aviation Decennis Horribilis. Between 2000 and 2009, airlines lost $49.1 billion, which is an average of $5 billion per year,"

Unite's assistant general secretary, Len McCluskey, warned the strike would inflict "catastrophic damage" to the airline if it went ahead. He said union members had been pushed into a corner by BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh.

Around 1 million passengers could potentially be affected by the strike, finding themselves unable to take their flights or stranded at their destinations, unable to return home, said travel expert Simon Calder of The Independent newspaper.

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British Airways has said passengers holding tickets for the strike period may rebook for any date in the next 12 months with no penalty, but ticketholders still hoping to fly over the holidays are faced with a dilemma.

The airline has said it will only refund a passenger's ticket if their flight is canceled, and so far BA has not canceled any flights because of the strike.

What's the advice for travellers affected by the strike?

Passengers not willing to wait to see whether their flight will be canceled can try to rebook on another airline, but BA has said it will not reimburse them for the cost of that ticket if their original flight goes ahead as planned.

There is little availability on other airlines, and any tickets are likely to be expensive, Calder said.

McCluskey said angry passengers should blame the airline, which had forced union members into a corner with its plans.

Walsh, however, called the strike "completely unjustified."

CNN's Alysen Miller contributed to this report.