BA Euro Traveller review KGS-LHR

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    KGS is Kos, in the Dodecanese Islands.

    Check in

    Online check in is not available in Kos, even though BA kept sending me messages via the app, exhorting me to check in online.

    The check in experience was chaotic and disorganised, even though I go to the airport at -2 hours and had priority check-in, I was one of the last people to drop off my bag, due to the lack of queue management, non-priority pax pushing in and the priority queue sharing a desk with a non-priority queue; this didn’t bother me, as I knew there was little to do airside and I had a pre-assigned seat.

    Lounge

    There isn’t one, at Kos, so just a case of finding a seat and catching up on my reading.

    Boarding

    New policy ignored, all pax called at once.

    In Flight Service

    Poor – it was mixed fleet and they did one drinks run, before the food run. There was no tea and coffee run or second drinks run on a 3 hour 50 min flight, nor any mention (in the pre departure announcement) that pax should use the call bell to ask for further drinks.

    When my wife went to ask for a soft drink (about 2 hours 15 mins into the flight), she was informed that they had run out and her only options were red wine or lager.

    Eventually, the CSM did manage to bring us a couple of cups of coffee from CE, but he looked a little put out.

    Now BA has dropped hot meals on these band 4 flights, there is no more ‘beef or chicken’ mantra, this time the FA (who didn’t look as if she wanted to be there) went down the aisle simply saying ‘snackbox, snackbox, snackbox’ in what could best be described as a passive aggressive tone of voice, with matching facials.

    After the very nice crew on the outbound sector, this lot were pretty disengaged.

    F&B

    Snackbox provided with a bacon and chicken sandwich, plus some other stuff.

    Ran out of soft drinks and white wine, not good for a supposedly full service airline.

    Arrival

    On to stand in T5, all eGates working, through pretty quickly and one bag out within 15 mins of arriving at the carousel, the second one after 20 and the third after 30.

    Conclusion

    This will probably be my last BA flight for a while and I won’t miss the airline.


    AndrewinHK
    Participant

    This is no excuse but this flight is probably a pretty tough one for the crew, it is two sectors of medium haul so they are probably exhausted, as you say doing 2 drinks runs on an outbound flight and having to do the same (or supposed to) on the return leg. All in all ends up being a 12hr day for the crew, including report time, briefing, boarding, all on a fairly cramped airbus 320. Again no excuse, but i can empathise with the staff.


    JohnHarper
    Participant

    I think we can all empathise with the crew however the BA brand creates expectations which they are clearly not meeting. On UK-Greece sectors A3 serve a hot meal in both classes and offer drinks more often than twice.

    From the comparisons we saw a few weeks back they are also usually significantly cheaper. There’s clearly now only one full service carrier operating UK-Greece services.

    ABBA.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    I can empathise with the crew, BTW I did ask the outbound crew about the duty day duration on the outbound and they said it was ~11 hours. One was doing a Moscow later the same week and said that is a much harder day.

    On the other hand, they are representing a company that positions itself at the mid-upper end of the market and the image should be that – there are other routes much tougher than this one, e.g. Canary Islands or Larnaca, there and back

    I would also think that chronic fatigue may be more of a factor than one off tiredness.

    From my observations, one crew was well lead and engaged/motivated and the other wasn’t, no more to it than that. I’m sure the first crew arrived home very tired and with flat feet – but still smiling.

    The factors that are unforgivable, in my opinion are

    1 – a company being unable to follow policy at home base

    2 – a company not controlling its handling company at an outstation, to the extent that the checkin and boarding was a shambles, more in line with a charter airline than a ‘full service’ carrier

    3 – running out of soft drinks on both legs (partially on the outbound and completely on the return) – I cannot think of a damning enough word to describe this incompetence


    ViajeroUK
    Participant

    Initially I was surprised when I read that BA are using LHR slots for flights to what many consider a “bucket & spade” destination, would I be correct in thinking it is a seasonal route?

    Still, no excuse for the shoddy service and lack of catering supplies on board. It doesn´t seem that long ago that to many the sight of a BA tail fin at some far flung airport would be a comforting sign, with the knowledge that cabin service would be something to look forward to.

    FDOS_UK, ” 2 – a company not controlling its handling company at an outstation, to the extent that the checkin and boarding was a shambles, more in line with a charter airline than a ‘full service’ carrier” that maybe sums up BA´s attitude to this routing, not happy to compete just with Ryanair, they also want to emulate the likes of TUI!


    PeterCoultas
    Participant

    Flew ARN-LHR last week (avios) at the pointed end.

    Lounge basic but acceptable and very short walk to gate.

    Boarding for a full flight totally totally chaotic with almost unintelligible announcements

    Flight on time, crew friendly and attentive, meal three finger sandwiches plus a cream scone but the seat as in economy and much less comfortable than the Swedish Bus4You that brought me to the airport. Wines better than in economy (just) and a choice, with seconds offered. No problems getting either fizz or still water.

    No way could I complain of the cabin crew or captains announcements they were all totally professional and also friendly.

    Though to pay for a “business” seat rather than an economy one for its very marginal food & wine enhancements and an unoccupied middle seat would be just plain stupidity..

    The lounge I get anyway and I travel short haul with small hand luggage.

    The extra avios charge did mean I got the flight I needed and so was definitely worth it.


    AndrewinHK
    Participant

    I agree that BA need to manage the brand image better and lower expectations. The crew also it seems need to manage the onboard provisions so they are equally distributed from the outbound to the inbound.

    That is easier said than done though, i know from experience that CX flights that operate to India often completely run out of alcohol on the outbound flights because a fixed amount of supply is added to all flights and due to the passenger profile on those routes you have a lot of empty bottles on arrival in India, and CX does not permit alcohol uplift in India.

    A side bar, a funny and true story, a passenger on an India bound CX flight I was on saw a female passenger being handed a femanine pad and again due to the ‘I want what everyone else gets’ mentality of said passengers, a male passenger wanted the same thing x 2, as the flight progressed, I walked down the aisle and saw the male passenger using the pads as an eye mask.


    rferguson
    Participant

    As crew it’s amazing how much better you feel in your job when you are given the tools to enable you to do it to the expected level.

    I don’t work on the short haul routes/narrow body aircraft but I read that they are a nightmare to operate on these medium haul sectors. BA has done away completely with any catering uplift downroute so everything is return catered from London. This includes not just the kind of thing where an alternative can be offered when one runs out (say a particular drink) but also necessities such as ice, lemon, milk. I read crew constantly posting that they are working the return flight with very limited tools – would you appreciate taking off from a balmy island 33c looking forward to a G&T once airborne to be told there is no ice and no lemon? Sometimes I can imagine why the crew on these flights just want to stay in the galley and hide.

    **Personal opinions only**


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    rferguson – 30/06/2016 11:50 BST

    You make good points, as always. On the topic of supplies onboard, it is irritating to be told you can’t have a G&T through lack of tonic water (as happened on the outbound), but it is completely unacceptable to be told there are no soft drinks 1/3 of the way through a flight nearly 4 hours long – I had to drive on arrival and red wine or lager was not an option – some people cannot drink alcohol for medical reasons. Alcohol is optional, hydration is not.

    Responsibility for this lies mainly with management.

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