[Defcon5]

Flew VS400 to Dubai last night in J. Full cabin and the older VS product which will be refreshed next year.

@TimFitzgeraldTC – I can only say my experience last night exuded British values and the service delivered by the team was excellent. They showed genuine care and interest in their passengers and really made people feel welcome on board, nothing was too much to ask.

I like flying VS, I really feel their staff care about the company and what it is about. Really excited to see what their A350 product will look like, I hear it is going to be something quite special!

[seasonedtraveller]

[quote quote=765770]Travelled yesterday on BA189 (787 service) in CW and I’m really sorry to say that the service and crew in the CW cabin were, to be very blunt, bloody awful.
‘To fly to serve’ my backside.

Crew not at all interested in passenger service but couldn’t wait to dash back to the galley to carry on their conversations in voices loud enough for all to hear. Lady seated in the middle section actually asked them to keep the noise down at one point.
The crew were completely absent following dinner and did not appear again until ‘afternoon tea’.

I was not the only one to notice.
In the line for immigration, the chap in front of me seated on the opposite side in row 7 turned to me and said “weren’t today’s crew awful & so miserable”?

Despite what’s going on at BA I think cabin crew should display a level of professionalism as was shown last week when it was an absolute pleasure to be served by crew who truly deserved a golden ticket (although if there is any value left in handing these things out any more is not known to me).

[/quote]

I can no longer edit but want to add….
Row 7 overheads (i.e. my overhead) full of crew bags.
My seat 7A dirty, small foot drawer still full of rubbish from previous occupant…..nice.

[canucklad]

A few people have recently mentioned the cleanliness on board BA recently…..Or rather lack of cleanliness

Perhaps it’s another enhancement and the savings will be passed on to provide us with cheaper fares : )

I actually find the numerous threads and the frequency of threads that have BA and it’s “issues” at the centre of the discussion as something positive.

I’m not so much a BA basher as someone who is just so disappointed with, and I say this with hushed voice (gentle typing) our national carrier.
As a business that has the privilege of flying the flag, , albeit a stylised flag, I find myself exasperated at how they have lost all aspiration to demonstrate being the best of British.
And work towards a Royal Seal of approval

And as they progress towards their LCC transformation, I wonder what their One World partners must think..

And actually, one wonders if they shouldn’t have the right to fly the flag whilst they cheapen it!!.

[seasonedtraveller]

Canucklad.

I feel the same way.
I’m no BA basher (I just fly with them a lot).
I really want to like BA…they are my National Carrier but unfortunately, they make it so difficult.

There are some excellent features, the GGL phone line is first rate (but it now takes 5000tps to get there) and the recent reduction in TP allocation makes that a serious challenge indeed (unless you were lucky & hit the deadline to make 3000tps 2-3 years consecutive).

This week, a return from MAN to BLL with a ticket cost of £425 earned me the grand sum of just 10tps!….the same as a £100 (approx) MAN to LHR return…how can this make any sense?

[WillieWelsh]

[quote quote=765947]As a business that has the privilege of flying the flag, , albeit a stylised flag, I find myself exasperated at how they have lost all aspiration to demonstrate being the best of British.
And work towards a Royal Seal of approval
[/quote]

I noticed while watching some of the coverage of the recent visit to Canada of Prince William and Kate that they were not flying the flag so maybe the seal of approval is long gone.

Equally there is now an aircraft in the RAF transport fleet fitted out for government business, an A330 I believe so even the UK government are no longer ‘flying the flag.’

A sorry state of affairs compared to what always used to happen in the past.

All I’ll say is having recently moved to the land of the flying crane the service is so much better. Oh, and I don’t care about shareholder value either, just getting from A to B with a decent level of service that I’ve paid a fair price for.

[MrMichael]

I knew I would get shot for what I said, things change some people don’t like it. I don’t mind getting shot, different views are what makes this forum interesting, but can also be anger making.

I take exception to the suggestion that I would be comfortable treating my staff with distain (Cathayloyalist @ 10.54 today) in fact yesterday on this thread at 18.32 & 19.00 I stated precisely how I treat my staff and how others should. So please quit the personal attacks until you have read my input in to this debate. FYI I have one of the smallest staff turnovers in my sector, and not because I pay more, but because I treat my staff with respect and recognise the need for family before work. I think an apology is in order.

It bothers me not one jot sticking out like a sore thumb on the matter of BA. In my view it is not a perfect airline, business, caterer, lounge operator, engineering business, logistics company, fleet manager etc etc by any means. But it ain’t bad either….in my view. People can disagree all they like with me, no problem, but please do so fairly and do not question my integrity unless you can darn well prove I am some sort of gang master or whatever your accusing me of.

MrAngry, SW London.

[icenspice]

Dear MrM

Ever since I read your post on baggage delivery at Madrid (I think) I have wondered who is this very funny man?

You have integrity, sincerity, a life full of experiences….

And the forum would be much poorer without you.

Will there be a category ‘Best mate I have never met’?

Ok, better get my skates on…seriously ?

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Glad you had a good flight Defcon5. I think British service has gone 2 ways – quite polar. You have the “I couldn’t give a t**s” delivery model – Ryanair good at this and leaders in the field and say and promise eff all and if things go wrong – it is the customers fault. They know you have a choice and you didn’t have to chose them.

Then you have the companies where service delivery is everything (more my side of things). Where people care about doping the right thing by customers before personal gain (I know in my field no one can ever surpass me on this front). But the same goes for many Businesses I work with whether they be in creative service to manufacturers. They go above and beyond without having to think about it or be asked. It just comes naturally. Once BA may have fallen into this category as a business (and some still at the sharp end do it). But they are making the transition to the former model. Nothing wrong with that. Just not my cup of tea and I don’t buy from those kinds of Businesses. I’ll happily pay more to a Business that operates in the right way and tries to do the right thing for customers & staff yet staying viable.

[SimonS1]

‘Sad’ is indeed a word that sums BA up well. On the few occasions I used them you find the occasional good, dedicated, hardworking staff and a lot of people going through the motions.

Similarly you will sometimes experience a good, clean, newer plane and a lot of grubby interiors where BA and their outsourced suppliers don’t give a toss.

Personally I would rather have a red hot poker stuck up my backside than fly BA but we all have a choice and occasionally there is no alternative.

[CathayLoyalist2]

Mr Michael your post started with “I’ll get shot down for this” and finished with “Now shoot” so be careful what you wish for. If you had looked at the sentence it was a question not a statement and was aimed at your comments which I interpreted accordingly. Indeed another poster said your comments are open to interpretation. You clearly have,as is your want, your own views as to how you run a business. The canny and smart businesses today are engaging in the fullest extent to give people real ownership on a whole range of issues and those leaders have adopted far less command and control and more emphasis on collaboration. The results better all round. I’ll leave it there

[Charles-P]

I appreciate of course that I am in a minority on this forum when it comes to BA but as someone who over the past few years has flown an awful lot of airlines I continue to maintain that although far from perfect (which airline is ?) BA represents a good product for a reasonable price. They are still my airline of choice for their Business Class trans-Atlantic service and I find the crew in most cases friendly and professional, not something that can always be said for example about Lufthansa (grumpy staff), Air France (grumpy and lackadaisical) or Turkish (rude and unprofessional).

[AlanOrton1]

To give BA some credit, I’ve just returned from a transatlantic trip with them.

The highlight in my opinion was their employees, from call centre, check in, lounge, to the cabin crew they were the epitome of professional service.
It is this side of BA which reminds me that for all their shortcomings, it can stand them apart positively. (At least on this trip, not always).

For example, I was due to fly back from PBI late on Thu 6. Waking up on Wed am, it was clear Thu was likely to be ‘problematic’ for flights. A quick call to the US 1.800 number, answered almost immediately by the UK call centre, and I was given several options for flights later that day out of a choice of South Florida airports. Having this dealt with calmly and efficiently is something that gives me confidence to keep business with BA.

The cabin crew on both sectors I interacted with were excellent, with nothing being too much trouble. (Ran out of fruit option for breakfast in CW, so without asking came back with what I suspect was the first class offering). Again, I find some polite engagement tends always to work well, the same of which can’t be said of some airlines where the staff are much more robotic.

It is perhaps this soft side of the BA offering that goes unnoticed when compared to their hard product limitations. (Legacy WT+ seats are quite shameful given how this product has evolved).

[Author]

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