BA at its finest

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)

  • FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Took a flight from Jeddah to London, the series of cock-ups was rather funny

    1 – At check in – ‘I’m very pleased to inform you that you have been chosen for an upgrade and you are now in seat 7a – enjoy your trip in Club World’ (hint, I’d booked Club World and checked in online to 7a)

    2 – Nearing London – ‘Would you like some afternoon tea?’ – ‘yes please’ – ‘unfortunately we cannot offer you any tea’. Afternoon tea, without tea, only on BA 🙂

    3 – Next, a very full explanation, over the PA, as to why they ran out of water, because water in Jeddah is unsafe for people to drink and they cannot upload any there – when your aircraft is half full of Saudis, this is really a very uninformed thing to say, as they do not like to lose face, so telling them their water is third world quality – even though I wouldn’t drink it myself – is crass and not the way to win friends, much better to quote ‘a technical problem with the water supply’

    The crew in my area were nice and did a very decent job – plus a gold star for a clean aircraft, but the memorable things were the three above.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Often the case with BA that the staff, when you can actually talk to them and they haven’t been replaced by Cruz’s automated machines, are usually charming, which must be hard considering the low morale that Cruz has inflicted on the company.

    Last time I was on a BA CPT flight, I asked for rooibos tea (horrid stuff but I wasn’t feeling well) and was told they don’t carry it, which is daft on ZA flights. A few minutes later another FA came and said she had some of her own in her bag and she would make me a cup. A very kind and appreciated gesture but that type of thing shouldn’t be necessary if management thought about customer satisfaction rather than cost cutting.

    My wife likes BA as much as I don’t, and we rarely travel on the same flights as I refuse to travel BA unless there is no realistic option.


    esselle
    Participant

    Recently flew LGW AGP in CE paid for with Avios. I wasn’t expecting much, but I have to say I don’t think there was anything which disappointed. Whilst we know the hard product isn’t up to much, the crew, food, wines, service levels and attention to detail were very good indeed. They even sent people who popped through the curtain to use the loo back with good grace.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=860810]Recently flew LGW AGP in CE paid for with Avios. I wasn’t expecting much, but I have to say I don’t think there was anything which disappointed. Whilst we know the hard product isn’t up to much, the crew, food, wines, service levels and attention to detail were very good indeed. They even sent people who popped through the curtain to use the loo back with good grace.[/quote]

    So they didn’t inform you that you had been upgraded or offer afternoon tea, without tea? 😉

    It’s the poor attention to detail that stood out on my flight.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    FDOS’s comment reminds me of when I was on a delayed Eurostar service and missed a connection at Lille. The lady changed my ticket and said
    “I’ve upgraded you to Business Premier”
    I said : “You haven’t ………”
    “I have,” she said.
    I pointed out on my original ticket where it showed Business Premier. She saw the funny side of it and knew I was teasing her.
    As an aside, I find the class names on Eurostar a bit confusing, Business Premier, Standard Premier, and Standard.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    [quote quote=860805]I asked for rooibos tea (horrid stuff but I wasn’t feeling well)[/quote]

    Sorry Capetonian, found something we cannot agree on. I love Rooibos tea. Drinking a cup now as I type. Best drink ever and very good for you 😉

    FDOS, it always amuses me when these things happen. though sometimes annoying they provide much merriment as retold later on.

    Afternoon tea at the Georges V in Paris, received a pot of boiling water and two cups. Where’s the tea I asked? Sorry sir, we’ve run out of tea!!! In the days of my youth, around 11am found a nice cafe in the Lake District and thought it would be perfect for lunch. Went back at 1230 to see it was “closed for lunch”.

    Went to a country pub with some overseas guests who wanted a British pint. “Sorry sir, we’ve run out of beer and the delivery has not yet arrived, but we do have plenty of wine”. What made it more amusing was Rolf Harris’s “Pub with no Beer” was playing in the background.

    We should start a book or maybe collect some more anecdotes here or on a new thread perhaps?


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    FDOS, it always amuses me when these things happen. though sometimes annoying they provide much merriment as retold later on.

    Actually, I found it farcical/amusing, rather than annoying, since none of the errors affected me (I was happy to be in J, don’t drink tea and am not a Saudi).

    We should start a book or maybe collect some more anecdotes here or on a new thread perhaps?

    Great idea.


    CathayLoyalist2
    Participant

    My wife has just returned from a trip to see our daughter in Singapore. She flew BA Business ex-Europe to LHR and then onto SIN and back. Why BA? Well one of those ” you just couldn´t ignore” bus fares (GBP 1787) the topic on another thread. She said the staff were friendly, helpful and delightul – a throw back to the 50´s, The seat was fine helped on both long haul sectors she had window seats with aisle access without having to climb over anyone. She preferred the A380 over the B777. Only let down ,one of her two bags didn´t make the connection at LHR.


    canucklad
    Participant

    Went to a country pub with some overseas guests who wanted a British pint. “Sorry sir, we’ve run out of beer and the delivery has not yet arrived, but we do have plenty of wine”. What made it more amusing was Rolf Harris’s “Pub with no Beer” was playing in the background

    LP, your story reminded me of the time a rather refined English gent walked into my local , perused the beer taps and then asked the Barman, in a rather condescending manner if there were any English beers he could avail off?

    Quick as a flash, he retorted in a posh(ish) manner ….” Oh yes indeed, let me take care of that for you right now Sir ”

    He then proceeded to pour ½ a pint of Tennents (Scotland’s Premier Lager) into a pint glass. At the halfway point he handed our dandy from down South the half empty glass with a bit of froth foaming at the top !!

    Aghast, our guest looked at the ½ full tumbler and confusingly bemoaned what he was supposed to do with it !!

    Our happy to help barman then pondered for a few seconds, pointed towards the gents and uttered the following instructions…..

    “You said you wanted an English lager , so I’ve poured you a half of a great pint and I’ll let you finish the job yourself !! ….when you come back, you’ll have full tasting English pint“


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Only let down ,one of her two bags didn´t make the connection at LHR

    Getting baggage to destination, with the passenger, is pretty much ‘table stakes’ in my book.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I remember in Galway, about 30 years ago, travelling with my late Father – on arrival at the hotel, the porter said to us.. in a true Irish style…

    “follow me, I’ll be right behind you”….


    esselle
    Participant

    So I flew back AGP LGW in CE this afternoon. Both crew had 20+ years service.

    Loved their jobs, their passengers, and only cared about making sure everybody was happy and had what they wanted.

    BA at their best, and how things were in about 1999 in my view.

    Neither of them, in “off the record” moments, had anything good to say about the current management regime.

    Maybe I’m getting old, but it felt like the BA I loved before our relationship went sour.


    AspirationalFlyer2
    Participant

    My expectations are now seriously managed when I fly BA (in any cabin), although I did have an excellent flight last month on the 787-900 in First from London to Muscat. Not the most polished or experienced crew, but very pleasant all the same. Shame about the food though. It was ropey.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Some amusing stories here.

    Canucklad, your story reminds me of a business trip to Dunbar in the 70’s. My colleague and I went to the local and seeing the bar full of big burly Scotsmen thought that ordering my then usual tipple of a Red Martini with lemonade, might not go down very well with the locals. So being in Scotland I ordered a “Scotch on the Rocks”. The barman replied at the top of his voice, silencing the whole pub, “we dinna serve scotch here laddie and the only rocks we have are the ones you’ll be breaking if you fall foul of the constabulary”.

    I looked at the row behind him of Macallans etc and said “well what are those”. “He bellowed, those are Whiskeys and I’ll happily serve you one of those, and if you must I’ll let you add some Scottish water to it”. So that’s what we drank and had a great time chatting to the locals until last orders – I think it was 1030 in Scotland then. At which point the door was locked and we all carried on drinking. About 30 minutes later there was a heavy knock on the door and through the window I could see a police car and in came a policeman. Oh oh I thought, we’ll be breaking rocks in the morning, but no, he went to the bar was warmly greeted by all and proceeded to drink with us. Amazing and I’ve loved the Scots and Scotland ever since.


    SwissExPat
    Participant

    @ LP
    Reminds me of that great old Irish Tale of a suspected “Lock in”

    A new novice police man calls back to HQ seeing what he suspect is a “Lock in” in Kelly’s Pub.

    Novice : “Sergeant, I think there is a lock in happening at Kellys… it is way past closing time”
    Sergeant : “OK, want to ensure there is criminal activity taking place, Can you listen out for sounds of people having a good time , chatting etc?”

    Novice : “Yes Sergeant, exactly that”

    Sergeant : “Okay, check if you can hear clinking of glasses, want to make sure there is drink being consumed?”

    Novice returns a minute later and says: “Yes Sergeant, I can hear this clearly.. lots of people inside….shall I raid the place?”

    Sergeant : “Not yet, sounds like you might need back up… but one last thing to check…. Listen carefully though… can you hear the sound of a cash register opening and closing?”

    Five minutes later the novice police man calls back in, slightly dismayed : “Sergeant, afraid to say I cannot hear the sound of money changing hands or a cash register or the like at all”

    Sergeant : “No worries Son, you can stand down, it is only a few of our own having a few pints after the night shift !! …. “

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)
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