[iflypremium]

I won’t even start on how I disagree with the Ryanairing of BA on domestic and Shorthaul Eurotraveller routes.

But personally I wouldn’t mind,if it meant UK domestic and shorthaul fares were cheaper. The fares are higher than ever yet buy on board seems here to stay. Anyone actually bought anything from BOB on BA ?

[capetonianm]

Yes, I did once against my better instinct, partly to see what it was like, and partly because I was hungry as I forgot to get something as I normally do at Pret.

The BA/M & S sandwich I had was soggy and tasteless, and overall their offering is not as good as easyJet, and theirs isn’t wonderful.

I think a yucky sandwich of which I left half and a G&T set me back about £12. I would have been very happy to pay that if it had been good, but it wasn’t.

The best BoB offerings that I’ve experienced recently are on Austrian and Aer Lingus.

[AnthonyDunn]

I really wouldn’t bother. Assuming that I have allowed plenty of time, I would pick up something decent from one of the very many airside food outlets and carry it onboard. That way there is no waiting and I have what I want.

[AlanOrton1]

Yes, never had an issue. Their coffee onboard works for me.

[alainboy56]

Will never buy anything on board – its against my principle and like @SkyHigh said, I am completely against the ruination of what was once a ‘Leader’, an ‘Innovator’, a ‘Pioneer’, an airline looked upon all over the world with respect and in some cases envy. Now it is a poor rival of FR and EZY, what a disaster!
Well done Mr Cruz, award yourself a payrise! And yes I am a shareholder, but I would prefer BA to still be the trendsetter it once was!

[iflypremium]

[quote quote=887970]Will never buy anything on board – its against my principle and like @skyhigh said, I am completely against the ruination of what was once a ‘Leader’, an ‘Innovator’, a ‘Pioneer’, an airline looked upon all over the world with respect and in some cases envy. Now it is a poor rival of FR and EZY, what a disaster!

Well done Mr Cruz, award yourself a payrise! And yes I am a shareholder, but I would prefer BA to still be the trendsetter it once was![/quote]

alainboy56 I fully agree. BA is associated with Prestige. Not costcutting mumbo jumbo. As for the cattle class boarding, what a mess ! It does work on other airlines but why is it such a big deal on BA ? Anyway,hopefully the cruzifier will be gone one day and we can have BA back.

[alainboy56]

@SkyHigh – The SCUD as I call him, as he is a rather low tech version of a CRUISE (Missile), is not going anywhere unfortunately, and also if he were to go ‘OUR BA’ has long since gone. To be fair the SCUD didn’t start the rot, that honour falls I believe, to Marshall, who woke up one morning and stupidly decided to paint all the aircraft tails in different colours. Airline identity gone in one swift movement. the most idiotic thing to do IMHO!
However returning to todays BA Board or IAG or whatever the hell they call themselves. The directors are Willie Walsh, not much British about him is there. The aforementioned Mr Scud – Spanish (cut his teeth at no frills Vueling) and from my Shares Dividend prospectus, I can see the following names …….
Antonio Vasquez Romero, Enrique Dupuy de Lome, Maria Mejia Campuzano, Emilio Rodrigues De Torres, Alberto Terol Esteban and Dame Marjorie Scardino. Whilst I have no right or knowledge of their Directorial abilities, I assume they are excellent company directors but they are not British, the first names are probably Spanish and I do believe Ms Scardino is American. So the point I am making is none of them know or feel what BA and indeed its forefathers BOAC/BEA. mean to or meant to British people. They have no insight or feeling of how proud we (Brits) were to have designed, built and flown Concorde for more than 25 years very successfully, and would be still flying it today if we hadn’t been screwed by AIRBUS who withdrew technical support (by that read French Government influence as AF were losing money with it). An airline that had slogans such as ‘Try a little VC-Tenderness’ or ‘British Airways takes good care of you’ and even British Airways – The World’s favourite airline.
They have no concept of the pride British people had in BA, and are just running a company for profit,and in my view they are doing it wrong and will never beat FR and EZY at their own game. They should have gone the opposite way and yes, charge higher fares but with a cabin service and pax treatment that FR personnel could only ever dream about.
Just recently I read an article on how CX lost money in 2016 for the 1st time in more than a decade. The incoming CEO made a strategic decision to turn around CX in 3 years based on 4 key business moves:-
A) Acquiring better aircraft
B) Flying to more places
C) Providing an enhanced on-board experience
D) Ensuring its staff bought into the programme

Do you see any of these policies with BA? Take the latter item, they are always fighting with their staff especially mixed fleet crews!
An enhanced on-board experience? Hardly, and by removing even a free cup of coffee is not going to entice anyone to fly BA. WiFi is still a dream on most BA aircraft (On CX it’s under 2 quid for the whole flight).
Flying to more places, I don’t think so, they are probably steady between new routes and those that are quietly withdrawn.
Acquiring better aircraft? Technically perhaps, new A320 and A321neos, but shoving an extra 2 rows of people into those sardine cans is also not a vote winner either.
So there we have BA run by Spanish directors generally and doing the complete opposite to an airline which is consistently voted one of the top 5 airlines in the world and BA which has slipped in the 20’s and 30’s ………………… and is now no more than an average 4* airline.

6 users thanked author for this post.

tomwjsimpson, Frederic, canucklad, openfly, Johnnyg, capetonianm

[capetonianm]

alainboy56 : You are spot on, summing up everything that is wrong with ‘British’ Airways.

Just a small point :
“To be fair the SCUD didn’t start the rot, that honour falls I believe, to Marshall, who woke up one morning and stupidly decided to paint all the aircraft tails in different colours. Airline identity gone in one swift movement. the most idiotic thing to do IMHO!”
It was actually Robert Ayling. I think history will show that Cruz is even more unpopular and disliked than Ayling, who I believe was at least personable. I won’t say more about Cruz as it might be considered as ‘personal abuse’.

[alainboy56]

@capetonianm – sorry for my error – thanks for the correction – should have Googled it to ensure my statement……. but you know laziness……

[tomwjsimpson]

I choose not to fly BA, instead I fly KL via AMS or AF via CDG for most of my travel. If I wanted to fly FR or EZY I would – I wouldn’t fly with their lessor competition (BA!).

1 user thanked author for this post.

alainboy56

[openfly]

The only time I bought a coffee….in a babies beaker and horrible….was the day that BA gave me 10,000 Avios for broken IFE, broken seat, rubbish flight. So I gave them 300 of their Avios back!!

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PhilipHart, alainboy56

[alainboy56]

Does anybody believe that WW or the SCUD have any of their minions read these comments?
Any of it have any effect on their thick numbskulls?
How many businessman have BA lost I wonder since BOB?
I don’t mean the corporate big boys – Club Class all the way, but the small entrepreneur, the self employed guy, the small business employer/employee, who must look very carefully at overheads and costs.
If they are flying to AMS for example would they not take KLM in place of BA, as you get a glass of wine or a coffee even in such a short flight?
I would imagine so, and that is why KLM is profitable without BOB.
Also EZY is not so cheap on their more popular routes, i.e. AMS, they are all quite comparable these days, so it comes down to service/on-board pax experience.

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Jacob, tomwjsimpson

[TominScotland]

Folks have been scathing about BA’s BOB on short-haul flights but nobody has mentioned savings with regard to food waste. For a variety of reasons, I have flown 10 European legs with KLM over the past few weeks in Economy where sandwiches are served. My guestimate is that only about 50-60% of pax actually take what they are offered, much less on the 06.05 out of Glasgow. That will lead to massive waste or do KLM have a sensible way of re-using stale sandwiches? Maybe BOB is not such a bad thing from an environmental point of view?

2 users thanked author for this post.

PhilipHart, capetonianm

[capetonianm]

Good point Tom, but surely the unsold BoB is used on the next flight, and the ‘free’ sandwiches people don’t take are also used on the next flight. Obviously if a passenger has taken it and then hands it back, it shouldn’t be re-used.

[canucklad]

Firstly, alainboys response to Skyhigh was about as spot on a commentary on our flag carrier than any I’ve read

To your point about waste Tom, IMO any food that ends up in the bin is a SIN
Our resources are finite , and not evenly distributed so chucking perfectly good edible food in the bin is a disgrace.

If airlines adopted a pay a bit more at cost level for snacks with extra shelve life , we’d still get a tasty snack with your G&T and substantially cut down on waste , but this takes thought, and a wee bit extra work by the cabin crew

Sadly, sandwiches are incredibly cheap to make and so any wastage is negligible at a per flight level, but I’d agree take it over a month or a year and then the cost becomes mouth , sorry, eye watering !!

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alainboy56

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