[canucklad]

Would love to see the so called legacy carriers remembering that they are indeed in the customer service industry. If I want my wallet dipped every time I seek something that used to be free I’d have opted to choose an airline that is a LCC.

Mostly, I’d love to travel next to people who are respectful and pleasant to each other and especially all the staff that get us (hopefully) safely to our destination.

[capetonianm]

Martyn :

“hand baggage rules enforced unilaterally”

I suspect you mean uniformly! And I agree.

[FaroFlyer]

[quote quote=844529]FaroFlyer, it’s heartening to see you supporting and making excuses for the company of which I am a part owner. A very small part, probably something like a nacelle cover on a 320 (oh … that fell off on a flight to OSL), or a business class seat (that would be 56K, the one that was broken last time I flew from CPT on G-BNLK in business class, or 60A on G-CIVL, broken and with no IFE the time before).
It’s easy to make profits by cutting costs – not sustainable. It’s easy to increase pax loads by reducing fares to get bums on seats and cramming in more seats – not sustainable.
If BA would identify their market (high revenue or LCC) and go for that, they might start to recover, but trying to be all things to all people doesn’t work, and ultimately it’s the high yield pax in the front cabins who make a legacy airline pay its way – or not. They are also the most vocal, or the ones who are most likely to be listened to. When the longhaul premium cabin pax are largely comprised of rebated/redemption or other low yield (e.g. AMS originating) then it’s not going to return good yields.
You seem to be a lone voice in the wilderness in your defence of BA, there are a lot of people who will only fly BA premium when it’s cheap, then their expectations are low, and BA are good at meeting low expectations in the hard product. I will admit though that their ground handling at T5 is generally excellent, at least I have always found it so, I know others would disagree.
My question about selling my shares was rhetorical.
[/quote]

Capetonianm, I think that you may be missing the point. I posted a comment in reply to a comment that Walsh and Cruz had reduced a once great company to a shell of its former self. I pointed out that IAG, which is a combination of BA and IB, plus a few others, is increasingly profitable. That is beyond any reasonable doubt.

Like you, I am a small shareholder. We probably both bought the minimum quantity to get the 10% shareholder discount. My investment repaid in discount, and I still have my shares which are worth a couple of long haul Club flights ex EU. Not bad.

You mention ex EU fares, and in particular AMS. Yes, BA do indeed offer low prices ex AMS and CDG, as well as OSL and other departure points. However, this is exactly the same as AF, KL, AZ, AY and LH do ex UK to the East. To the West there are low fares from DUB offered by BA, VS, AA, US and others, as well as KL, AF from AMS, CDG. Friends have just booked to fly VS Upper to MIA, they booked from DUB for £1,000 each! Last year I went to MIA and IB was cheaper from LIS than TP. It is essentially marginal pricing and is nothing new.

Is BA the long haul airline it once was? No, but it serves a purpose. You suggest that BA / IB need to decide if they are premium or LOCO. I am not sure that it is as simple as that. CX tend to the high yield premium market on long haul, but they are in a mess financially, and needed a lifeline from QR. Likewise, VS have tried to stay as premium but they also cannot go it alone. As I mentioned above, selling MIA in Upper for £1,000 seems to talk of desperation.

In the short haul market BA is also not the airline it once was, but it serves a purpose. I really do not like BoB on BA, but ironically I don’t mind paying on EZ or FR. Not logic, but unrealistic expectations of BA. In the last 3 months of 2017 3 airlines that tried to be more like BA than BA is went bust: Monarch, Air Berlin and Niki. They all offered too much with benefits for frequent flyers such as empty seat next to you, or extra leg room, Fast track security and Priority boarding. Nice for the passengers, but not sustainable.

I believe that IAG does have sustainable profits and is in a far better position to weather a financial storm than many other airlines.

[JonathanCohen09]

Gentlemen, can we please come back on point for this thread.

I am not sure how the title of the thread has led to another pro BA anti BA spat as this was meant as a bit of fun.

Most people seem to have got that but alas some others have not so can we please get back to your wishes for 2018 and if you want to go back and forward on BA DO IT ON ANOTHER THREAD, PLEASE!

[capetonianm]

Yes, fair enough. Knuckles rapped.

If FaroFlyer would like to continue the discussion (it’s not a ‘spat’, just an exchange of differing views) I have some interesting statistics I’d like to post, but not here!

[FaroFlyer]

[quote quote=844625]Gentlemen, can we please come back on point for this thread.
I am not sure how the title of the thread has led to another pro BA anti BA spat as this was meant as a bit of fun.
Most people seem to have got that but alas some others have not so can we please get back to your wishes for 2018 and if you want to go back and forward on BA DO IT ON ANOTHER THREAD, PLEASE!
[/quote]

Jonathan, I completely agree with you. Your post, like so many others, get hijacked to be used as soap boxes. Look at the Niki Bankruptcy topic where you will see it is used to criticise Willie Walsh salary and BA service levels. If I could have 1 wish granted it would be for BT Forum to have a moderator who intervened quickly to keep posts on topic. You may remember that some years ago we had an outburst of a few contributors barking ABBA on every post. Only after it was pointed out that this stood for Always Bashing British Airways did this stop.

My 1 Travel Wish would be for an online booking site that could cater for complex routings. I use ITA Matrix to identify fares, and booking class, but am often unable to find a way to book online. CX is a prime example of an airline that has competitive fares that are almost impossible to book online, including on their own website.

In an ideal World I would be able to choose language and currency, and enter the itinerary step by step, selecting booking class myself. I would happily pay a fee or commission to a website that offered this.

Suggestions please.

[Johnnyg]

Direct flights to Freetown Sierra Leone, would be great for me, preferably from LGW

[capetonianm]

………..an online booking site that could cater for complex routings. I use ITA Matrix to identify fares, and booking class, but am often unable to find a way to book online. CX is a prime example of an airline that has competitive fares that are almost impossible to book online, including on their own website.
In an ideal World I would be able to choose language and currency, and enter the itinerary step by step, selecting booking class myself. I would happily pay a fee or commission to a website that offered this.
Suggestions please.

This is an area I worked in once as part of my ‘day job’. Due to the complexity and multiplicity of fare rules and subclasses, and the rules regarding combinability of different fare types and different carriers, this is almost impossible. For a start, the fare rules are written in such a way that it can be very hard to understand and interpret them consistently, even for an intelligent person who understands the subject. Imagine what a hash a computer would make of it!

They are also frequently contradictory. Had a perfect example when trying to help someone to book a flight to the FE on Alitalia’s own website. At one place on the website, it stated that changes to reservations were ‘not allowed’, but the rules for that fare showed changes permitted for €120. It was also unclear to the layman if the fee was per segment, per transaction, or per fare component. When I rang Alitalia the person who tried to help me agreed that even she did not know which was correct and which contradictory ‘rule’ took precedence over the other. I am waiting for them to call me back with a clarification ……. not holding my breath.

This is precisely why there will always, despite the ubiquity of OLTAs, be a place for professional and knowledgeable travel agents. I cannot emphasise strongly enough the importance of those two words!

[TiredOldHack2]

To fly on Concorde. Sigh.

[Markyah]

Take your pick

To stop being forced to meander through crummy retail outlets at the majority of UK airports (LHR T2 and T5 excepted). Having negotiated queues in security etc I just want to get to the gate easily without such nonsense.

Please note WH Smith, I do not wish to be asked for my boarding pass when I purchase just a newspaper (nor do I want to be asked if I wish to buy any chocolate).

That Stansted is closed down until it becomes a proper airport with clean and acceptable services.

[capetonianm]

One of my pet hates is having to walk the gamut of people trying to sell me over-priced perfumes and other unguents, chocolate, face masks, alcohol, lipstick. In the process one is held up behind dithering indecisive people with large cabin bags who block one’s path.

It has become almost a global phenomenon. I have written to the management of the various airports I use regularly asking if they would consider a ‘bypass’ for people who are in a hurry or just don’t want to be harassed and delayed.

The only major airport where this annoyance doesn’t exist is – typically – ZRH. There is a very small bit that you have to walk through, but your path is not impeded, and once through that, there are no more obstructions.

[PeterCoultas]

The ability to book a flight with a flat bed on a longhaul overnight and combine with a basic handbag only day flight in the other direction – don’t need all the bells & whistles n both directions…

[Flightlevel]

[quote quote=844882]The ability to book a flight with a flat bed on a longhaul overnight and combine with a basic handbag only day flight in the other direction – don’t need all the bells & whistles n both directions…
[/quote]

Amazing in 21st century one can’t book two classes on the same PNR or change return flight to another class once you arrive without new PNRs and costs.
Friend wanted to go T+ daytime longhaul and return J class overnight – two seperate tickets and PNRs!
Also wanted wife to go J class both ways and therefore more tickets and PNRs. When will IT systems get into the real world? Annoying to him ‘though he was a programmer once!

[donkeyasia]

Martyn Sinclair, I agree entirely
Inflight baggage allowances – MNL-HKG, on two of the airlines (not CX), a survey in 2013 identified the average weight of carry-on luggage by Filipinos as 18.5 kgs. average number of items, 2.4.
For check-in pieces for the same passengers it is average weight – 32kgs and 2.1 pieces. I appreciate that most of these passengers are domestic workers/family (many female and working in Hong Kong as domestic helpers (my son’s Amah in HKG is fantastic). Why not create a new criteria for these important travellers with a higher check-in allowance (possibly based on number of pieces). Then there would be room in the bin for my cane and small briefcase.

[K1ngston]

For me it would have to be a “uniformity” when it comes to security. I know we have to endure it time and time again, but I am sick and tired of having to take out, not take out, iPads yes, iPads no, shoes on, shoes off, now watches on, watches off… FFS we are in the 21st century there should be something out there that makes all of the above redundant and make is easier and of course safer to fly….

Just dont get me started on the flotsam that mans the security………

[Author]

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