BA shoots itself in the foot – again

I effectively gave up on BA some years ago after about 20 years of First and Club World travel as quality standards consistently dropped. Circumstances forced me back last week (May 19) when bad weather made me miss my AA MIA-LHR connection. Would the airline take the chance and impress with a return to old standards? I think you have probably guessed the answer – and it did not take long to find out.
Boarding at MIA was a zoo with BA staff apparently making little to no effort to ensure priority passengers were treated as such. Sharp elbows and a brass neck were allowed to speak louder than a premium fare-paid ticket. Once aboard, and after I had felt my heart sink at my reintroduction to BA’s non-customer-friendly Club World seating configuration, the sense of disorder continued.
The cabin crew, who appeared to be under-manned through the night, seemed behind in setting up the cabin and were running round like scalded cats trying to catch up. Then we sat on the ground for a while without explanation from the cockpit before heading down the runway with all window shutters down (against FAA regulations for safety reasons, I thought).
Dinner service was a fiasco. The first course arrived in decent time but the wait for the main course was such that we were in the air two and a half hours before it arrived. Then in my case it was inedible. The purser had already explained there was a delay because of an oven problem and she identified the same cause when I pointed out I could not eat my grossly-overcooked, tough-as-boots meat. At that point I tried to turn in almost three hours into a seven-hour red eye but had no hope of sleep with the cabin was as bright as day with lights on full power and noisy as flight attendants loudly queried whether people wanted dessert, port or brandy, tea or coffee and finally duty free.
I had a three hour drive once out of LHR and I needed to sleep. I maybe got an hour after the lights went out before a flight attendant appeared to let slip a tray of glasses/china in the galley and I woke with a jolt. My plans to sleep through the following breakfast service were thwarted as the flight attendants appeared to be trying to make as much noise as possible. Then we landed at LHR with most of the shutters again down.
Every so often BA sends me an email, accompanied by a survey, asking why I no longer use them. This flight gave all the answers. What makes it worse is that they had been quoting a fare around $2,000 more than AA for the same journey. It adds insult to injury, and is a recipe for their disaster unless, of course, they actually want to phase out the two premium classes.
Stuart Garner
Freeport
Grand Bahama

Hate to say it but, sounds like standard BA to me.
I will be outbound to JFK on Friday with BA but, thankfully upstairs on the 747 which, despite the coffin seating, is normally better then the downstairs cabin and does at least have a decent storage area.

I’ve never known BA be too worried about window blinds but many other airlines are very strict on it.

Martyn – I too leave the window blinds open when at the window, it really annoys me when people close them for no reason. I was asked to close mine on a CX flight with the stewardess saying that the person behind had asked, when I said i didn’t want to close them she ask why, I said I had chosen a window seat with the purpose of looking out the window, she was a bit shocked and said “oh ok fair enough”

I had the same problem boarding at CPT Stuartga. There was a separate line but then we all had to push and shove as we all had to go down the same finger dock to the aircraft.

I’m fortunate in that I can sleep anywhere, anytime, light or no light. No need for earplugs or eyeshades, but like all of you keep the window blind up. Mind you when I do awaken it’s usually been closed by flight attendant, something I’ve never understood on a night flight. It’s not as if there’s a disco happening on the wings!

@Goldaviator

Totally agree with you. Boarding in LHR T3, CPT and JNB are all a total shambles….. CPT, in particular, worries me. They start the boarding early to achieve an on-time departure for their records. In the meantime they make the passengers wait within the air bridge for quite some time before being allowed to enter the aircraft. By my reckoning there are upwards of 200 pax on the air bridge. The rule of thumb is 100 pax to 10 tons, so in this case a load of 20tons. I asked the duty manager what was the safe, agreed total weight limit as certified for these jetties. Shock horror he hadn’t a clue….But would enquire!
I remember many years ago the same situation with the jetty onto a ferry at Dover, that collapsed due to the excess weight of too many passengers waiting to board…several fatalities.
The ontime departure has a higher priority than passenger safety!

I remember AA using the “to keep the heat out” excuse for wanting me to keep the blinds down – what a load of old cobblers!

And 2 days later on the A321T LAX-JFK an across the aisle passenger asked me to shut the blind. They were quite clearly told that I’d chosen a window seat to enjoy the view of their beautiful country & it remained open for the duration.

Politely explain the reason why eye shades are handed out…

On BA, a cabin crew member has never refused my request to unlock my window blind…..or stop closing it when I am asleep…..