[Anonymous]

[NewBAexec]

I think the BA brand has completely disappeared and I am sure many of you would agree with me.
The Club World seats are good as well as the new First.
However the service offered in those cabins are just appalling and cheap!
There is nothing special with the Club World main lunch/dinner service, the napkins and tray covers are cheap and nasty and the tray itself contains the bare minimum.
The afternoon tea/breakfast service is just shocking!
There is no difference in the products offered in WTP and WT apart from a glass tumbler for your wine and a newspaper. WT customers do not even get a small snack with their drinks.
Customers keep complaining and BA is doing nothing about it. I spoke to some cabin crew recently and they said they feel embarrassed to offer such a service to customers who have paid so much money.
Cut backs have gone too far, this airline is turning into a joke. And it is absolutely ridiculous that they even try to compare themselves to SQ, EK, CX, etc.
This airline is supposedly back in profit again so it is time to wake up fast.

[DoorsToManual]

As a Gold Card Exec member it pains me to agree with you Speedbird001. On my past 2 trips this year to the Middle East, travelling in FIRST 3 of the 4 sectors have been made in the oldest version of the product, my iTouch has a bigger screen than the one built into the seat. On one flight I downgraded myself to a seat in Club World to watch a film. “We do have DVD players but the batteries are running out”, I was told.
For those who have yet to travel in the new FIRST don’t get too excited, once the novelty of the colour changing cabin wears off, it’s the same overcooked steaks and mustard from a Heinz sachet (a sachet in first class…BA you have NO idea, did having a small jar of Coleman’s mustard really cost the airline that much? 79p from Sainsbury’s, I checked) You pay £10,000 for a flight and get the same mustard that you find on a Hot Dog stand in Brixton and juice that clearly says it is MADE FROM CONCENTRATE (same juice is now used in all classes…that’s the premium that I’m paying for is it?) One last thing, the crew member doing the announcements should really have English as a first language? If I can’t understand what they’re saying, they’ll be as much use in an emergency as a sachet of ketchup…of which you also have plenty!

[alexlondon]

Sadly, I agree. I have been BA EC Gold for 6-7 years, but have almost stopped using the airline in entirety. I fly mainly to Middle and Far East, and (whilst the BA seat is a winner) the service simply does not compete. I usually fly in First for long haul and Club short haul. Even in Europe, local airlines are USUALLY better – such as Aegean for Athens, Aeroflot for Moscow etc.. Where is the luxury in the premium cabins? And BA does charge a premium for its service. It is so fortunate to have such a loyal bunch of followers but I fear the loyalty is disappearing. T5 lounges are excellent but that, alone, is simply not enough!

[MartynSinclair]

Hi

I thik if I had paid £10,000 for a first class ticket, i too would be pretty *****ed off it I was served mustard in a plastic sachet – but like “most” people, I tend to buy dioscounted First and Club world tickets that come no where near the full amount.

Perhaps the cause of the “drop” in service levels is caused in part by the discounted ticket prices, free upgrades and free airmiles or reward tickets in circulation.

Personally, I generally find 1 in 4 or 5 flights you get the “Hinge and Bracket” style cabin crew who clearly show they would prefered not to have turned up for work. But in the main, I get excellent service from the majority of crews.

If the discounted ticket prices, free upgrades and number of airmiles in circulation reduced and the number of genuine high rollers paying full fares resumed, perhaps BA would have higher profit margins from the premium seats to allow for silver service, as oppose to plastic service.

I agree that the image has gone down, you only need to experience the number of BA staff travelling on the upper deck of CW to understand why the the airline can not afford to invest into these areas.

Remember travellers, an airline needs to make money before it can pump money back into the product.

[thebigseats]

I agree with most of the above posts, sadly. BA just does not have the prestige it once had, although many of the old school management & crew (especially some of the longhaul crew, who really should pack-up & go home) seem to think it does. They are living off old glories and this cannot continue. The product suffers (First, CW, WT+) from under-investment during it’s life-cycle – all bells & whistles when launched & then cut-cut-cut! After this they “enhance” by adding soft improvements but only when it’s too late! I was BAEC Gold but have moved 95% of my business to other carriers where the balance of product & cost is more evenly distributed in my favour. You would think that BA have never seen/experienced or heard about what SQ/LX/EK etc etc are delivering to premium pax!

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

I use CW for the seat, agree that the service/food etc is not great, but to some degree that is less important.

Club Europe is a sick joke.

It strikes me that BA is a microcosm of the UK, looking with external eyes, I see things across there suffering, but those in authority are in denial and still raking it in.

[NTarrant]

Most of my BA usage is Club Europe out of LGW and I would agree with Martyn about the 1 in 4 or 5 flights being of the Hinge & Bracket style.

What spoils it for me is the removal of the simple touches like the hot towel and more recently the chocolate off the tray. I complained about the removal of the chocolate what I got in reply was a load of clap trap that insults ones intelligence. Bland statements that say “our customers tell us” and BA is “committed to providing a good service”.

During the hard times they should have looked for savings in other areas rather than taking it from the passenger. But there are staff out there that do still go the extra mile, its not all bad!

[theworldtraveller]

I have heard that BA is upgrading all the Club (and some WT) food in May/June spending $10m+ on this, so hopefully this will sort out the problem.

I don’t really talk to many of the cabin crew now as many of them have an ‘agenda’ from the strikes and are (wrongly) very negative about the company – i think they forget they have a great job and probably vastly overpaid for the skills they need at work. The sooner BA sorts these problems the better as it should be a really good airline and gives me lots of points for my family holidays!

For me, Club Europe is all about the T5 lounge for me and having a flex ticket (its the same usually as a flex economy ticket) – oh, and getting of the plane first ! I find the service on shorthaul much better than longhaul as well. In the age of cutbacks, what else do you guys really expect from a short flight ?

[stevescoots]

All the reasons why I avoid them uness I have to,

[BusinessClass]

Well said theworldtraveller I agree with your post, and yes I have also heard that BA are looking at the CW food situation with a view to improving it soon.
So, all our complaining does work!!!

[thebigseats]

Well, if BA still insist on using Gate Gourmet & thier numpty of a Head Executive Chef (see Heston’s Mission Impossible!) then CW food has no chance!

[SilverShadow]

When I saw this post, I was compelled to contribute.

I can only imagine the despair that some people feel about the BA brand. Even I, one of BA’s biggest fans am slowly seeing my loyalty to the brand eroded.

My loyalty only remains as I don’t think there is an alternative carrier to BA to switch to. I need a UK based airline that flies to a number of different continents and that isn’t Virgin as I hate their seats and the herringbone layout.

I love the CW seat but find the food offering an absolute joke, I don’t think that standard of food should even be served in economy. On a recent JFK to LHR, a brie and cranberry sandwich was a stale sub roll with no butter, slices of brie and DRIED cranberries scattered over it, not cranberry jelly! Was someone having a laugh?!

Last week I flew between LHR and AUH in First and on both sectors had the oldest possible seats, complete with cassette players and no AVOD. That you can pay so much and receive such an old seat that doesn’t even rival some carriers business offering is a joke. I also see the menu being scaled back each time I fly – I used to enjoy the fillet of beef or steak in the air, now there’s just chicken and sometimes fish.

Having said all this, the service I received on the way back from AUH was absolutely impeccable, probably the best I have ever received. In part I think it was because the crew felt they had to make up for incredibly dated cabin, but it was good to see that when it wants to be, BA can still deliver incredible service.

Whether you get that service or a cabin in a decent state seems to be a lottery and not one that customers will be prepared to pay for too much longer.

[BusinessClass]

The NF cabin refit should have been completed by now, but unfortunately (some of you don’t seem to realise) that we have been in a recession for the last few years. Be patient………..with a fleet the size of BA’s everything takes time!

I doubt if there is any airline in the world that offers the same hard product in F or J across their entire longhaul fleet!

At least BA guarantee a flat bed in J on all longhaul aircraft.

[SilverShadow]

Thanks for the economics lesson, BusinessClass.

I understand we are in a recession, but that doesn’t mean an airline can charge full price for what is a sub-standard product.

I’m sure even an airline like SIA don’t have the same product throughout their fleet, however I bet if I shell out £8k for a First ticket, while I may not get a suite, I will get a premium experience that reflects the price tag, something that you all too often don’t get with BA right now.

[Author]

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