[Anonymous]

[JohnSaunders]

Have had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine who works for BA on long haul flights re recent events at BA and potential strike by crew (AND groundstaff apparently)

As of this week BA have decided to –

Take away pretzels from economy class
Take away nuts from club europe
Take away hot towels from Club
Take away wash bags from Club (on request only or something)
Take away the chocolate box from First

Utterly pathetic. This smacks of penny pinching at its worst. I fly regularly in J Class and once or twice a year in F. Pre-takeoff Champagne in Club was AYALAH last week – bottle looked like it came from Lidl, why not just serve babycham? The management of BA, you would think, would be trying to keep hold of customers – not putting them off through their incessant and ever-more noticeable cost-cutting.

Regular travellers are not stupid and will remain loyal only to a point. 4k for a BA club flight with an average on-board product or half that with any other airline and the same average on-board product……..hmmm………..

I’ve had good flights and some terrible flights on most one-world airlines plus EK SQ TG BR etc. BA on a good day (and it generally is a good day) is still head and shoulders above the rest. Yes crew sometimes aren’t that young or glamorous but so what? The service is usually friendly and efficient without all the fussy subservience of the asian carriers. Sometimes the crews are truly great fun and the best in the business.

So on to why BA seem to want to screw 40% out of crews average salary and force them to work in the terminals once they’ve done too many flying hours (BA then save money by not employing dedicated ground crews). The pilots got around a 5% pay cut! BA ground and cabin crews are doing a good job in keeping the airline going in spite of the idiot they have running the show – his track record has not exactly been great has it?

My friend says her attitude now is that if all BA proposes becomes reality it won’t be worth doing the job and if a strike brings the airline down then so be it! (she’s a bit militant I admit but she says the general feeling is very anti-Walsh at present)

He’s not taking any questions at the shareholders meeting either apparently ? ! ? ! ? !

Such a shame this is happening to BA.

[cityprofessional]

Penny-pinching on premium fare paying passengers is clearly bad, but let’s be fair to BA management – BA flight and cabin crews are paid a significant premium to other airlines in the UK (see link), never mind any of those Asian or Middle Eastern airlines you mention

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6466748.ece

They may be robots, but I would take the consistency of service (and regularly cleaned toilets) offered by SQ any day over the “what mood is the CSD going to be in” service lottery of BA. For cabin crew paid twice as much as Virgin, you’d think they’d be grateful…

[MarcusUK]

Having a friend also who was an Executive Level Director for BA, we had great discussions about the directions BA were going in, a year ago. Over many weeks, looking at the financial arena ahead, competition with other airlines, the leadership & forward Strategies, we analysed his 12 yr stint with his comfort of remaining with a Company where the senior leader was in his & many staff views, being ruined not by the climate, but Executive Strategy.

He had great loyalty to BA, & had been an innovator in his field for BA over 12 yrs. What he derided, was the policies of Walsh, that were literally destroying the very essence of what had been built up through team achievements over periods of years.
Yes these are tough times, & the worst has not hit the Airline Industry as yet, with the H1N1 flu creeping up to high levels, & this will inevitably affect travel. Not only may restrictions be placed by individual countries, but policies of not placing Business staff in the circumstance where they may contract it, during work time. it has great legal complications.

Moral has been bashed by Walsh & his Policies for several years now. Any sensible & ethical business would have concentrated on preserving an earned reputation, consolidated, & kept the experienced teams to reflect the status of the Company.
He appears patronising & arrogant, loyalty has gone out of the window, & the customer base is doing the same.
For the recent catastrophies affecting BA in recent years, from gate Gourmet, to withdrawing flights in Europe for 8 days after the terrorist incidents, when other European Airlines kept going every day, the disaster of &T5, the previous strikes, he himself should accept some responsibility & leave. He is hypocritical & damaging in his role.

I am pleased that clearly looking at the direction of BA, that my friend left it behind, & he is content it was the best decision, now an Executive with a leading Financial Co. in the city.
He is ashamed that his teams & colleagues have been treated & BA has gone in the direction it has.

These are tough times, but leadership & not dictatorship are what defines decent ethical Business leaders.

[austline]

I am a Platinum[Emerald] card holder with QF and fly a lot with the one world group. I find BA these days is tired I have had to endure poor service in J. On a recent flight from LHR/YVR the toilets were grubby, no hot towels and general chilly CC. Qantas is leaps ahead in customer service and running rings around most premium airlines,maybe they have woken up to the fact that passengers do have choice. Stepping on board the new QF A380 seated in F class from LAX/MEL recently it lifted flying to new heights. Come on BA start cleaning the toilets,improving the catering [doggy style dishes in J is not good enough],reinstate hot towels and more importantly deal with the Cabin Crew they are at times down right rude..

[Author]

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