[Anonymous]

[batraveller2]

Why does everyone continue to slate BA! I appreciate I am uncertain with BA mixed fleet but no other airline looks after you if there are delays or volcanic ash etc. BA are the first to look after stranded passengers and that is worth a lot as you know you do not need to worry. BA are the first to accomodate people in trouble – no one ever needs worry about missed connections as BA will be there for you. I appreciate there are can be certain things which can go wrong in flight but newclubworld is still excellent. I have never paid first but been upgraded and always had excellent service – I think a lot is about how you treat the crew as in club and first I have seen people treat crew like scum which is a disgrace. Sorry for comment – am just fed up with continued criticisim of BA (domestically the prices are generally far cheaper than BMI and BMI doest have the same quality of lounges or T5). I think people need look at bigger picture.

[robsmith100]

Well said!!

Regards,

Rob.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Absolutely disagree with your thread title, as BA are on a par with several major airlines I fly with.

I don’t see any slating of BA here, rather just valid criticism that the product is somewhat tired in first and club europe and that there are some issues with service delivery, in that the product delivered does not always conform to specification.

New Club World is a very good product, in my opinion, but Club Europe is absolutely poor and not worth the price.

If that is slating, then I think your personal values (which are your privilege to hold) are somewhat different to mine.

Any full service airline (in Europe) will look after you following a missed connection and the locos don’t do connections, so one cannot crticise them for declining to assist self made connections.

Flying on a lot of airlines each year, I would rate BA as mid-table, which is a shame as 5-10 years ago the rating was rather higher. Cost cutting has caused the drop.

As to indifferent service, which I have not encountered in Club World, but have in Club Europe, a member of BA CC posted on here that morale is not particularly good at the moment, with the industrial dispute and mixed fleet coming on board.

So whilst I don’t condone rudeness, thre are two sides to this story.

2011-2012 will be crunch years for BA, with much emphasis on integrating their services with IB and to some extent AA – the $64,000 question is will that improve or degrade the product and services.

[FlyingChinaman]

DisgustedofSwieqi

Just read your post after retuning from Bangkok and I fully support your view and WELL SAID!

BA was able to provide a very high standard in their premium cabins before and have built up a big BA Fan Club especially from the UK based travellers but sadly it has gone down hill recently.

BA must polish their act or risk a gradual defection of their premium passengers to other carriers which can delivery a better product and services often at a much lower ticket prices.

[robsmith100]

DisgustedofSwieqi – BA’s faults are well documented on this forum and this topic is not trying to take yours or anyone else’s opinion, views, experiences away. I think what Exbatraveller is saying, is that we are the first to criticise BA on the slightest hiccup than that of other airlines and there is less of an emphasis on the positives of the firm.

Any suggestions for a better title?

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

British travel journal forum commentators focus more on British Airways?

By the way, for the avoidance of doubt, my experiences on BA are very good.

I use the product that offers good value for money (Club World, connecting from Europe) and avoid those that do not. Just returned CW last week and it was excellent.

[Bucksnet]

exbatraveller, I think you should change your name as you appear to have started using BA again.

[batraveller2]

Bucksnet – I agree as never stopped as was going to at one stage for various reasons but the alternatives (BMI for UK domestic) were worse.

[NTarrant]

I tried BMI when there was the problems with T5 when it opened and also needed to travel LHR-LBA (which you can’t do anymore). Can’t say they were a patch on BA, even with a cup of tea and a packet of bird seed!

[Potakas]

In my opinion the only one that has been slated here is WW (Because of BASSA) and not BA’s service in general, i think that everyone here has wrote negative comments based on experiences.

For example i had many times problems with connections or cancelled flights but i don’t complain about those things because those things can happen, many times i was lucky with good fares or even with better service that the one i paid for (travel with CW configuration inside Europe).

But sometimes i cannot accept some bad incidents like dirty cabin, most of the times i have paid 20-30% more to travel with BA instead of Lufthansa, i do that because of T5, my status with BAEC and mainly because my experience says that BA is fair, it seems very bad or disrespectful to me when i step inside an aircraft that is in extremely bad condition, dirty, no entertainment and the only think that you can get is the most of times excellent Cabin Crew.

I can refer quickly some points that are true and no one could disagree that i am telling lies or i over-react .

For example, priority boarding is a joke, priority baggage tags also, dirty aircraft, the entertainment many times doesn’t work, food selection based on availability ( I had never travelled on First class but how is possible to hear that you spend 5000 pounds and they don’t carry enough food from what the catalogue says )

Those points i think are enough and also a good start for BA to do something obvious. I like to be able to confirm to my self that i am making good decisions but sometimes BA is letting me down. Also T5 is a nice experience but the main product that you get should be the inflight.

According to your title i completely agree, when i had a problem such as last December BA’s service was excellent, i missed my connection and after 30 minutes i received a phone call (all of as know the load that reservation offices had) from my local BA reservation office telling me that they rebooked me on the same flight on the next day (before calling them). This is enough to forget everything that annoys me.

Although, we cannot wait until everything is a mess to feel proud because we choose to fly with BA.

Regards

[Binman62]

I think the real issue is consistency. My own experiences range from the sublime handling of the volcano disruption to the ridiculous handling of a cancellation in Verona last July and the woeful handling of my flights to and from Germany in December. Some can point to great service whilst others have awful experiences. This is what is simply not acceptable when paying the premium that you do for the privilege of flying BA in the first instance and the huge premium you pay do so originating from the UK.

The items highlighted by P Sepsas are a prime example of inconsistent service and a clear indication that there is very limited management oversight or control of what happens in the terminal on a day to day basis. let alone what happens in the air.

It is all very well for BA to be looking at the big picture and focusing on the glamorous issues such as integration with IB and AA but the reality for the hard pressed passenger is that they are not getting what the expect and have paid for.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Binman62

I believe your last post is fair and balanced; BA needed to get their P&L back into shape and recent results are better.

The challenge is now justifying the premium, that you quite rightly point is paid.

I can retain Gold status for 800 points every year, as a European resident as well as get better offers (and less airport tax.)

There is a danger of killing the golden goose (UK residents), who pay more and need to earn more to retain the same status.

Would I fly BA if I had to pay more? Probably not, there are plenty of good alternatives out there, as much as I like Club World.

[FlyingChinaman]

I have been saying all along about the lack of conistancy on BA. It was once a very good airline but it does not put it’s act together fast, it will risk driving even their most ardent supporters to other carriers with better products and services often at a lower ticket price. A very good lounge area in T5 is just not enough.

As I am in the hospitality business, I know this fact better most other travellers!

[x2000traveller]

I think BA do a pretty good job. It has its up and downs of course, but the level of service when things go wrong has always kept my loyalty. That said, Club Europe pricing is now so way out of line with Euro Traveller something’s going to have to give. I can’t justify the difference to the FD. I’d have thought that a lower price/higher volume Club Europe is the way to generate revenue — by tempting economy pax to upgrade.

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