BA Club Europe squeeeeze!

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 27 total)

  • openfly
    Participant

    Flew to MLA on MIDT A320 a few days ago in CE. I’ve never had such an uncomfortable journey in CE. The pitch must be under 28”. The guy in front, quite reasonably, reclined his seat. Unbelievably little space. So I reclined my seat. The guy behind went ballistic and rocked my seat for the next 90 mins…d.ckhe.d!
    This is the state of expensive seats in CE. Not looking fwd to the return.
    I will stick to Y em exit in future….


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Whilst one might reasonably expect a ‘full service’ carrier to offer reclining seats, particularly in the premium cabin, BA are clearly on their way down to LCC levels.

    Sensibly perhaps, the LCCs have nonreclining seats which prevents the type of situation you have mentioned and which is all too common.

    2 users thanked author for this post.

    Henryp1
    Participant

    It’s a shame that the overall BA product is consistently so poor. I’ve just travelled Melbourne to Sydney return with Qantas on a 737, the flight was a little over 75 minutes.

    But Qantas is such a contrast to BA, the business cabin is limited to 12 seats, with proper business seats for such a short flight 2-2, pitch greater than economy, but no idea what it was. Seat back monitors with films and TV programmes etc and very good catering of hot or cold meals. I was very impressed with the friendly and consistent service. Not being a heavy Qantas user, it does make me think if I should increase my use on international flights as I am so impressed with the domestic product.


    PatJordan
    Participant

    According to the BA website Club Europe is described as “our feature packed UK and European Business Class,a perfect combination of efficiency, convenience and comfort”.

    Amongst the list of “features” is: More personal space on board to work or relax.

    How does this equate to the minimal seat pitch in the CE cabin???


    openfly
    Participant

    @PatJordan. I’ve also read, in great detail, the benefits of flying Club Europe…there are very few true benefits, most of them are the same as economy. The “extra personal space” is the empty space between the seats. They don’t mention the disgraceful business class seat pitch!
    There is no point in writing to complain because the Gold Card Customer Relations has basically closed down. You never get the courtesy of a reply these days.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    My view on club Europe, there is very little benefit unless:

    1. you are in row 1

    2. if it happens to be part of your ticket

    3. you are lucky with the new catering

    4. if you want to drink as much alcohol as you can in the short space of time available

    5. priority boarding to get use the overhead above your seat, before someone shoves their case in before going to a seat further back

    6. There is use of the priority bus when disembarking on a remote stand – very inconsistent


    canucklad
    Participant

    Sounds to me from what you’re saying openfly ,is that BA is doing a Tardis in reverse…..

    On the outside of the aircraft , the BA livery and its association screams premium and space , alas when you enter a BA short haul aircraft you’re immediately faced with a LCC configuration and worse, because they don’t manage their space as well as FR et al , your personal space is actually less than a LC operator.

    For BA to advertise as premium , is akin to Aldi hawking themselves as a Waitrose !!

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    EU_Flyer
    Participant

    To Fly To Sqeeze.


    Jetcruiser
    Participant

    Absolutely disgraceful! I flew them recently in their new “Club Europe” and it was a most uncomfortable flight…the seat pitch in CE is a joke! BA = Bloody Awful! Ended up cancelling my British Airways Chase Visa card as a result as I have NO interest in flying them for long haul or short haul flights. Definitely avoiding BA and booking with other airlines that know how to treat their paying business customers with some decency!

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    capetonianm
    Participant

    I wonder for how long BA can maintain this plunge into the abyss before the share price starts to suffer.


    kershcliff
    Participant

    I used to complain about the fact that BA did not fly anywhere from MAN, other than to LHR.
    The more I read on BT about the shoddy service, the happier I am, that BA’s presence is minimal here.
    And that so many National Airlines of other Countries are happy to serve us in MAN.
    I have had some excellent flights and service in Business Class on AF and Swiss in recent years plus Economy on LH SAS and low cost Jet2 and Easyjet.
    BA – Stay Away


    openfly
    Participant

    Update….my return flight yesterday was on an A319. The CE legroom was better than the outbound flight. Maybe the outbound a/c had the extra two rows, as threatened, fitted and this was the result.

    Mind you the “service” was sadly lacking. It was a “cant be bothered” crew. Can’t be bothered with the menus, can’t be bothered with offering a coffee after the meal, can’t be bothered to offer in-flight sales, can’t be bothered to hand out immigration cards, can’t be bothered to wander through the cabin, can’t be bothered to stop the Y pax from trudging through CE. They served the burnt curry, sad because the new catering is actually quite good. But the crew could be bothered to talk incessantly in the front galley for ages….within earshot of the CE pax! Interesting….passengers are such a nuisance.


    paulkaz
    Participant

    Henryp1 try and pick City Flyer times (week day peak hours am and pm) and you could get the long haul A330s with the business suite seats. Pretty flash.QF mel and bne J lounges pretty good too.syd tired.
    I wondered why BA doesnt charge more and do a full service J class. Contribtors here told me we pay much higher J fares and BA needs the same seat as Y moving curtain config.The variation in J use on their huge range of CE routes doesnt allow fixed J class seating.Pity.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Passenger sues BA for being ‘squashed next to obese man’
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/16/man-sues-british-airways-ba-for-sitting-him-next-to-fat-passenger

    Perhaps if more people took this approach, there would be a change. I wrote to BA last year on behalf of a friend, who is tiny, who was squeezed into a window seat on a CPT-LHR next to a grossly oversized passenger. She had a miserable journey, couldn’t eat anything (that might have been a blessing), the CC said they couldn’t do anything to help.

    In my letter, I said that the very least that BA could was refund the £40 that she had paid for a window seat which wasn’t fit for purpose.

    Any guesses as to what the reply was?
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    (Intentionally left blank!)


    openfly
    Participant

    Oh Capetonian put us out of our misery….please tell us what the nice person at BA said!!

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 27 total)
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