[DisgustedofSwieqi]

BA Benji

What I mean is that I doubt that BA gives a flying **** about that Martyn Sinclair (or any small shareholder) thinks.

The large shareholders will see this for what it is, a cost of being in business; if you really wish to get into the issue, look at BA pilot’s salaries compared to certain others (e.g. some senior EI captains) and also how many hours they put in.

Giving 60B ain’t a bad deal, IMHO.

[MartynSinclair]

An advisor, giving advice to BA. Being given the row 1 – 5 treatment (First Class) and then describing a multi million pound+ financial leakage as “little peculiarities”.

This is not about what I think as a shareholder, or the cost of doing business. BA captains are already the highest paid captains in Europe and interestingly enough 60B does not form part of their salary.

60B was negotiated as a crew rest seat, it is not being used as a crew rest seat, so it is not a perk or cost of doing business.

I think your need of the pills is greater than mine Disgusted!

You should join VK sipping champagne – you could indeed both be TOP men!

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Martyn

Some of us think against a big horizon.

And I never said I was a management consultant, just that I gave advice.

[MartynSinclair]

OK Disgusted, think against the big horizon. What do you calculate the cost of the 60B issue to be over say a year. Thats 60B + 10J. Thats all the 3 man crew sectors and being generous, lets say the seat remains unsold for 25% of the time.

Once you get over £1 million, then stop !

[CallMeIshmael]

It is a tad bemusing that Krug and his supporters club get a touch of OCD wrt Cabin Crew T&C yet take a somewhat contrary position when revenue opportunities are missed.

Surely saving costs and increasing revenues are different sides of the same coin.

I believe Martyn suggested in an earlier post that if the increased revenue from improved utilization were spent on F & J services that would be an excellent initiative.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

CallMeIshmael

If you think I am a supporter of Vintage Krug, you are quite wrong.

But £1m in the context of BA is less than petty cash.

Why does the leadership team earn big bonuses and big perks?

why did Bob Diamond of Barclays get a £9m bonus?

Another way of looking at it is to consider what the £1m saving would mean to J class pax.

I f we assume that BA operates about 600 flights per day (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/376931-how-many-ba-flights-per-day-week.html) for 350 days per year, then that £1m means you will have a whopping £4.76 to distribute amongst the premium pax on each flights.

if only 50% are long haul and you focus on them, then that is nearly a tenner to make life better for 50-70 pax = 14-20p per pax!

Wow, I won’t hold my breath to see if I get an extra slice of lemon in my G&T 😉

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

“This is not about what I think as a shareholder, or the cost of doing business. BA captains are already the highest paid captains in Europe”

Please provde a reference for this assertion.

[MartynSinclair]

Using your figures Disgusted of 600 flights per day.

Assume

100 flights per day needing 3 man crew

calculate seat cost of £1500 per sector

100 flights x £1500 = £150,000 per day

£150,000 per day x 350 days utilisation = £52 million.

So lets reduce further, say 50 flights per day needing 3 man crews we are still talking about £25 million plus.

Take the sector cost down by 50% – £12.5 million

reduce the numbers again by 50% you are still talking £6million+

Still a “little peculiarity?? You go and tell that to the Unions , you wouldnt reach the exit sign and quite rightly so.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Okay, so £1.20 per J class pax. What improvement is that going to deliver?

You think small, Martyn, any particular reason why?

BA’s turnover in 2009 was £8bn.

or £8,000,000,000.

That is a very big number.

£6,000,000 is a lot smaller number.

And please answer my question.

[BABenji]

Turnover might have been £8bn, but they posted a loss of several hundred million that year also. I would assume that under those circumstances and given the “fight for survival” which ensued, every penny counts?

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Then why did the company still provide perks to many employees?

[BABenji]

I believe that’s what we’re trying to get to the bottom of here!

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

No, one person is fixated on a particular perk., which is arguably not a perk.

If the company had a ‘no perks’ policy, then fair enough.

But it doesn’t.

[MartynSinclair]

Reality check Disgusted.

This question was posed by me more out of curiosity than anything else. You justify the situation by describing it as the cost of doing business or a perk of the job or its a peculiarity.

You also state that these numbers are small fry in terms of BA’s overall turnover (NOT net profit) of £8billion. Here we agree.

However, where I totally miss your argument is the fact that revenue is being taken from the bottom line net profit by the manner that 60B and 10J are being gifted for purposes other than intended, especially when passengers would be quite willing to pay via airmiles or money. Forgetting the revenue for one minute, these seats are being wasted – the airline prefering to allow pilots to gift to friends and staff (not forgetting TOP celebs as well).

Whilst you have enjoyed your free travel on BA in rows 1 – 5, there are many people who would consider £600,000, never mind £6 million as a big number. Because BA turn over £8 billion, this does not mean that savings of a mere £ 6, 12, or 25 million should be overlooked.

You continue up there with the TOP boys Disgusted, but IMHO, consultant, advisor or whatever else you claim to be, you are being extremely irrepsonsible in waving away savings of this magnitude, in the belief that it is simply the cost of doing business. Its a pity that BA do not consider whether their advisors are shareholders or not, becasue maybe you would look at the numbers differently, if you had a degree of ownership.

[VintageKrug]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoy4_h7Pb3M

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