[Anonymous]

[Carajillo2Sugar]

This may please a few of you!

Dear Trade Partner,

We wanted to let you know about some changes we are making as part of our ongoing commitment to improving your customers’ experience when they travel with us. A particular area of focus is to do everything we can to make sure they get to their destination on time and to make their journey as comfortable as possible, so they can relax and enjoy their flight.

The following is a summary of what is changing:

Boarding the aircraft

We are changing the way your customers board their flight. They will now be invited to board in order based on the cabin they are travelling and in order of Executive Club status. All of our other customers will be asked to board by seat row number. If they are travelling with an infant or they require extra assistance, they will continue to be invited to board before everyone else.

Changes to hand baggage

In recent months we have seen an increase in customers travelling with hand baggage that exceeds their allowance. We always try to accommodate our customers where we can, but to make sure the aircraft is ready to depart on time we are making the following changes:

• Travellers can continue to carry two pieces of hand baggage. One bag should be a handbag/laptop sized bag which should now be no larger than 40x30x15cm.

• The size of their additional cabin bag remains unchanged and should be no larger than 56x45x25cm and can weigh up to 23kgs.

• Customers travelling in all cabins, except First and Club World will receive a yellow tag for handbag/laptop sized bags which are within the new dimensions. We guarantee that they can take this bag on board with them. Please ask your customers to have the tag visible for boarding and place the bag under the seat in front of them.

• We encourage them to carry any valuables or items such as medication in their handbag/laptop sized bag to ensure they have everything they need in the cabin.

• Customers who travel with hand baggage which is outside of their allowance will be asked to check this into the hold.

• On very busy flights we may have to ask some of our customers to check bags without yellow tags into the hold if the overhead lockers are full.

Warm regards,
British Airways Customer Service.

[MrMichael]

Seems fair to me provided it is enforced consistently. It states however that pax with luggage outside the parameters allowed will be “asked” to check in to the hold…….and if they say “no thanks”?

[Carajillo2Sugar]

That’ll be down to the ‘person’-management skills of the crew!

I took some flights recently with Iberia to Spain & Portugal and they did something similar whereby, on boarding, some passengers’ hand-luggage was placed in the hold with an orange tag and they collected it from the hold on arrival. Mind you, that was boarding by steps, so how BA will work it from an airbridge is going to be interesting!

[GrahamSmith]

Very interesting, thanks Carajillo2Sugar. I’ve put a call in to BA to see when this comes into force.

Nothing has been changed here yet:

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/baggage-essentials/hand-baggage-allowances

[Carajillo2Sugar]

No implementation date mentioned on the info sheet received but it did come with warm regards from BA Customer Service, which is nice!

I should have thought that 23kg in a 56x45x25cm bag will be quite a feat for most of us but, on reflection, the better half will almost certainly rise to the challenge…..

[pheighdough]

At last!!

Maybe those that carry oversized luggage, that insist on forcing it into the overhead locker, even though its too large and move other items already in there will finally realise that these lockers are not a Tardis.

I look forward to watching the rants of those unwilling to give up their luggage for the hold, even though it’s too large…

[MartynSinclair]

Seems very sensible solution to me. All cases with a yellow tags need to go under the seat – so if the overhead lockers are tight for space, I hope cabin crew will be strong enough in terms of telling passengers, they need to go under the seat.

One other point, where there are no forward lockers for the cabin crew to store their bags, will they still take the space over the first row of club or will that space remain for passengers bags.??

[SimonS1]

Indeed it seems sensible but BAs record on enforcing the existing hand baggage and priority boarding rules isn’t exactly stellar.

[Flyboy18]

Starts 18 August for Domestic and European flights and 1 September for Long Haul. And this should be an issue for ground staff, the luggage shouldn’t be an issue for the cabin crew if it’s dealt with at the boarding gate. Fingers crossed.

[goldaviator]

I am particularly happy that BA is changing the boarding process to board by cabins. I travel to South Africa often and its a scrum to board, irrespective of what cabin you travel in. There never seems to be any management of the queues so fast track is full those not eligible to board making it a fight for first, club passengers to board first.

Of course, you can change the policy but it is pointless unless they actual enforce it. I recently travelled back from PHL in First and they boarded First before anyone, a real pleasure.

[esselle]

More BA twaddle.

Outside the UK, most BA boarding is handled by sub-contractors who specialise in making it up as they go along.

This will not be consistently applied in the UK, and will simply not exist outside of it.

[KarlMarx]

Old Japanese proverb…

Four birds sat in a tree and said they would fly away.

How many were there 5 minutes later?

Four, because saying and doing are different.

esselle – 28/07/2015 19:44 BST calls it right.

[AnthonyDunn]

The sceptic in me agrees with Esselle. The optimist in me hopes that this issue will finally be addressed. After having been begged (as BAEC Gold and Silver members) by furious BA cabin (and flight deck) crews we have encountered to take up the issue with BA management through BAEC, we have indeed done just that. The boarding process has become a Flyanscare-style scrum/farce on occasions. Except that FR seriously police carry-ons because it’s central to their business model so woe betides anyone who thinks they’re going to get the better of Michael O’Leary.

This is going to require some steely determination on the part of ground handling agents to yank bags off offenders – and charge those on HBO fares for putting them in the hold. I anticipate a spate of wailing and gnashing of teeth as the offenders realise that the fare rules apply to them as well as everyone else. And just wait for the hissy-fit headlines in the DailyGetsMuchWorse… The latter will endeavour to have a field day at BA’s expense should this come to pass.

[Travellator]

Most offenders are those who check in online and arrive at the gate without the need to go to a check in desk so where will their second bag get the yellow tag ? Is all policing done at the gate ?

[Author]

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