[JonathanCohen09]

Hello everyone,

VK, you are right, i am quite looking forward to flying the flag again and to find out what I have been missing.

First flight should be to TLV in J class, i believe that the service has been upgraded from a 767 to a 777 so I am looking forward to sampling the flat bed on a night flight. Only 4h 45mins but I have to start somewhere. If all goes well it will be an SFO in 3 weeks and a HKG at the end of May. you can be sure that I will post my experience good or bad for all to read.

I must admit i quite like the sound of you cooking in your F pj’s. What is your speciality in the gourmet food line?

Safe travels everyone,

Jonathan

[NTarrant]

Hi Jonathan

Good to hear you are trying BA again. Look forward to your views on J and T5.

F pj’s are great for dossing around the house and using as normal pj’s. Have only ventured to cooking toast for breakfast in them so not sure about gormet food (or is that Gate Gormet food!!)

Have a good trip

Nigel

[VintageKrug]

An offer has been put to BASSA by British Airways.

Should be some more news on this tomorrow.

I really think the closure of airspace puts BASSA in a tight spot; crews will be eager to get back to work to earn some dosh having been grounded for several days, the British public will not tolerate another strike in the next fortnight after so many plans have already been disrupted, and the election in just 16 days time means there really isn’t much potential to strike in the coming days….

[MartynSinclair]

Are Nigel and VK one of the same (perhaps twins)??

[RedFlyer]

MartynSinclair –

“All flights in Northern Europe have been grounded, not by some mad politician, lunatic terrorist, left wing socialist or right wing tory, but by mother nature itself.”

If only that were true! I’m afraid all this chaos has been brought about by completely over zealous Bureaucrat’s within the barmy EU. Volcanos are active all the time throughout the globe and airlines operate in ‘Volcanic Ash’ conditions on a par with the coverage over Europe over the past week on a regular basis.

Oh and the mad politicians did get involved and exacerbated the situation. I half expected one of WW jumbos to be diverted to Madrid to land on the Ark Royal so it could sail up the Thames to a smiling and waving Gordon Brown self praising his efforts in rescuing our stranded citizens!!!

[Travellator]

New Strike Ballot next week – surely not !

[AsiaPacific]

Getting very tired of reading un-informed DRIVEL by those who appear to know naff all.
This time about planes ‘flying through volcanic ash everyday’ – what absolute tosh.
If you knew anything at all abt it , you would know airlines and pilots know very well that planes and ash do not mix. To the point where it is avoided like the plague. The fact that airlines were so desperate to get back in the air they would try anything.
One has to question the viability of any business – regardless of the industry that is so deperate after losing only abt 6 days revenue out of 365 or abt 1.6% … and then talking abt govt handouts.
If these businesses are running that close to the wind .. they should not be in business as it would appear that any minor upset can put them under.

[RedFlyer]

AsiaPacific – Is that really Lord Adonis?

Of course pilots will avoid flying near or through the immediate vinicity of an erupting volcano but 600 miles away the diltution is such that it offers very little danger to aircraft. A generic summation such as “Ash and planes don’t mix” is pretty much in line with your statement “losing only abt 6 days revenue”.

Why do you think there was such a major turnaround in such a short time about safely operating even though there was increased activity from the volcano just before the ban was lifted? There was major backtracking going on believe me.

Little more needs to be said other than you clearly can’t be in business if you think suffering a total loss of revenue for 6 days plus having to pay out compensation is not majorly damaging to a company.

And yes the airline industry does sail close to the wind but ask anyone on this site what they think about a world wthout the industry operating!

[CharlieBrown]

British Airways, Virgin, bmi, easyjet etc are shareholders of NATS via the holding company known as ‘The Airline Group’. I would guess that this may have influenced some decisions. Whilst 49% of NATS is government owned, The Airline Group hold 42%. BAA hold a further 5% and would be similarly interested in getting planes off the ground (ferrying passengers through their shops beforehand of course!).

[MartynSinclair]

Red Flyer – I may have let my mother in law fly into volcanic ash, but as a pilot, I choose the safer option of waiting until the facts are known.

Please let me know if you intend flying if another volcano blows, then you could possibly be the test bed, preferably in a hot air balloon.

Now stop being so silly and behave yourself…………….

[RogerVictor]

I am not sure of the exact chain of events in this but I think you will find that the decision to close and re-open airspace was taken by the department of transport under guidance from the CAA. NATS as an air traffic service provider would supply opinions and expertise but the decision to open or close airspace would be taken by the relevant government department.

I for one am glad that we erred on the side of caution. A ‘stand for safety’ was taken and ,probably under fairly intense pressure from a lot of agencies, after information and expertise was sought, a solution was found. Could it have been done quicker – arguably yes but when you are the one making that decision it can’t be easy . Considering the ramifications of getting it wrong – I think a fairly good job was done.

Just a thought

[Account_Deleted]

Account deleted

[Potakas]

BA faces new strike threat,

British Airways is facing the threat of a fresh cabin crew walkout after the Unite trade union leadership rejected the airline’s latest peace offer.

New strikes could be called for next month following a consultative ballot of 12,000 members of The British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association.

But it is understood the parent union, Unite, will not announce strike dates ahead of the General Election in an attempt to avoid embarrassing Gordon Brown over its role as a key financier of the Labour party.

But negotiations have collapsed over the withdrawal of flight concessions from strikers and disciplinary action taken against more than 50 cabin crew.

BA offered to reinstate strikers’ free staff travel from October 1.
But the airline said those who participated in the walkout would be treated as if they had just joined the airline, losing the rights they had earned during their years of service.

Its stance was condemned by Tony Woodley, Unite’s joint general secretary.

“Despite important progress made in a number of respects, management has refused to budge on victimising cabin crew who had their travel concessions withdrawn as a result of the strike. It is also taking vindictive and disproportionate disciplinary action against union members in defiance of the words in the agreement they are asking us to endorse,” he said.

“It is disappointing that talks with the company have concluded without producing an agreement we can recommend to cabin crew. However, the blame for this rests exclusively with an intransigent management which is determined to attack trade unionism and persecute its employees who supported the lawful strike action taken last month.”

However a question mark remains over whether the union could call a fresh strike so long after the original ballot which granted the mandate for the initial walkouts.

Meanwhile a BA spokesman condemned the union.

“It is extremely disappointing that Unite is urging its members to reject our latest offer and apparently preparing for a further strike shortly after the General Election campaign ends.

Unite is showing callous disregard for our customers and our business only a few days after we have begun our recovery from the longest and costliest airspace shutdown in history.”

http://aggbot.com/docs/link.php?id=9256697&t=ba

[Account_Deleted]

Account deleted

[NTarrant]

As always Geohoveuk a very emotional post, talking as though the world is going to end for crews. You have some very flawed ideas too. You say BA have created a very mediocre 3 to 4* airline. Maybe in your eyes, but not mine or indeed many others. They will do things which we don’t agree with but overall the product and the staff provide a good service. The very staff you put on a pedastal you then tell them they are mediocre!! So what is it? Knock the airline you knock the staff.

BA don’t feature in the top 10 of prefered airlines between the UK and Australia, really, which survey are you looking at.

This must be the classic of statements coming from someone who is allegedly a business man “Crew are victimised for patterns of sickness” too right they should. If they have genuine illness then fine but those that always fail to report on a Monday and go sick because they were on the p*** over the weekend deserve to placed through the disciplinary procedure. Sickness costs companies thousand of pounds in lost production and service every year and BA is no exception. There are not many companies that have not clamped down to weedle out those that just take the mickey out the system.

Agreed conditions of employment are not cast in stone. The agreements you go on about were not the original agreements, they are new agreements. Agreements have to change to reflect the business, get over it and move on.

[Author]

Posts