[VintageKrug]

You make it sound Third World!

My experiences today:

Emailed and texted cancellation update. Checked on the excellent ba.com (OK that wasn’t so brilliant as check in was down between 0500 and 0700 this morning, but that’s the first time I have experienced that in over 18 months).

Called callcentre – through in 42 seconds to a person. Excellent English, UK based.

Booked onto next flight – no charge.

Arrived at airport; checked in at a desk, two bags on a CE ticket costing less than £100 for this sector.

Used Fast Track security, Fast Track scanner, through in 30 seconds flat.

Accessed First lounge, Vintage Champagne, lunch soup and salad served tableside while I checked emails for free and used the conference room for a voiceconference.

Could have enjoyed a shower had I wanted to.

Boarded plane; welcomed on board by name, jacket collected, plenty of space in the 2-2 configuration.

Bad point; it was a venerable aircraft, but everything worked on board and it wasn’t tatty in any way.

Champers on board, scones and sarnies for Tea and apart from a Chatty Nigel driving, a very pleasant flight, captain popped out to say goodbye.

Really not all that bad for the price paid, and all that from the supposedly impoverished Gatwick based crew.

[openfly]

GEO BA cabin crew are not special people, as they think they are. There are people all over the country losing their jobs. BA is in a bad way, but surviving at the moment…just! They need to get real. What they have is better than no job at all. Unite is and always has been a load of mouthy individuals who are only concerned about their own futures. They are using the BA cabin crew for their own gains, and the crews cant see that. They will not beat WW.

[openfly]

VK…LGW crews dont operate out of LHR!
There is no conference room at LGW!
It isnt vintage champagne in the Firstlounge at LHR or LGW,only in the Concorde Room at T5.

[VintageKrug]

Incorrect, there is Vintage Champers in the LGW F lounge (though you obviously haven’t been there lately, it is Lanson Cuvee Noble 1999 at the mo – a tad young, but still very drinkable).

There is also Vintage champers in the First Lounge at T5.

I never stated I was flying exLHR, so not really sure what you are on about with that comment.

I made my calls in the small space behind the ladies on the desk, which to be fair isn’t a conference room per se, so perhaps I am over egging it, but is the business centre space and segregated from the rest of the lounge.

[VintageKrug]

Errrr…I think you’ll find only about 5,500 voted not to accept the latest offer; far short of your quoted figure.

I would be very surprised if all 5,500 actually “despise” (an awful word best avoided) anyone, let alone Willie Walsh.

I am supporting all BA crew by continuing to fly and book with BA in the coming weeks.

Four sectors done in the past five days (one cancelled by ash), and another five sectors in the coming week.

We fight on, we fight to win!

[NTarrant]

Oh Geohoveuk, please no more of this emotional tosh, I’ve just had my tea.

[VintageKrug]

“tea” – oh dear NTarrant, and I had such high hopes for you, as well 😉

Hopefully you are currently in a time-appropriate Bermuda, having just enjoyed some scones, and will shortly be dressing for Dinner or at least a light supper on your yacht.

[openfly]

GEO ….. must be related to the Unite idiots. Wake up and smell the champers!

[NTarrant]

Oh I do apologise VK for allowing the standards to slip, I should have said that I had just eaten my Dinner or Evening Meal. I was thinking that Geo might have thought I had just eaten “lunch” if I said Dinner.

Sadly still in blighty.

[JonathanCohen09]

Hello everyone,

Nigel, I had fish and chips for my ‘TEA’ this evening, VK I do not know if you had high hopes for me or not but I just felt the need to be honest about the terminology that I use :-))

On to more important and exciting news, BA booked me on to ELAL for my trip to TLV ash cloud permitting but I have manged to move some things around and will now be coming back on BA, hopefully a 777 not a 767 and please forgive my sounding childish but I really am quite excited about it.

Rest asured I will report back on how it goes. My only dissappointment is that I will not get to use the T5 lounges this time.

Safe travels everyone,

Jonathan

PS Geo-it is not my beloved BA, but I want to give them a chance and support the crews that continued or would have continued to work during the strike if it had gone ahead. By the way, in this current market I consider myself very lucky to still be in a job!

[VintageKrug]

I don’t think the word “twats” is really necessary? At least we see the political, rather than economic nature of your position now.

I would remind you that Unite already lost two very similar court cases under the Labour Government in the past six months, so this is a legal failing on their part and not in any way politically motivated.

The issue is binary; you either operate a legal ballot or you do not. This was not legal and it is shameful that an organisation which had ALREADY had a similar issue on the legal ballot front with the recent attempted train strike should STILL not get it right.

Actually, and this may surprise you, I rather wish the strike had gone ahead. It would have been cathartic for those crew who wished to take part, and as the economic damage has largely been done, there is only marginal benefit to BA as schedules and bookings will take a while to recover.

The real question here is whether BA Management should have challenged the ballot result at all; there may be other, wider issues at stake (such as setting a precedent, or as a longer game to sue the union for the cost and loss of earnings for all the strikes to date) but it doesn’t seem to me that much has been gained in the short term by blocking this action, and nor can I see any real gain in pursuing the latter two strategies as neither will actually resolve these issues, unless the plan is simply to impose the changes after June 12.

It does however mean the the hundreds of thousands affected can travel on BA with confidence after next weekend when the schedules have fully recovered back to normal.

Unions have privileges which allow them to cause mayhem to the travelling public without any censure or costs to be borne on their part; the only process with which they must comply is a formal ballot process. That is their responsibility and has been in existence since the early 90s; ignorance is not a defence.

Roll on June 12 after which protection will be lost, and strikes should be less appealing.

[NTarrant]

Clearly Geohoveuk is a “lefty” with no regard for the crews, mates or otherwise, just wants jam today and forget the future. One of these that when the wheels fall off would turn around and say “ooh not me gov”.

Unite are pathetic and I pitty WW and his team for having to sit around a table and discuss with these prehistoric buffoons. Have just heard on the radio that they are going to have another ballot, well they might be able to get this one right, third time lucky?

These people are a disgrace to the trade union movement, not interested in resolving the dispute but just want to have the last word and make a silly point of principle, irrelevant to the issues.

[openfly]

VK…..many apologies. You are correct. I am in the First Lounge at LGW and it is def vintage champagne. Too early to try it!!

NTarrent…..totally agree.

I gather, from an internal source, that after we hear the dreadful results next Friday, there will be announcements of massive route pruning and heavy redundancies…..including cabin crew. So the ones that wanted to strike may have lots of time on their hands to regret their recent actions….well done Unite!

[VintageKrug]

Indeed.

This Unite action will have consequences for everyone in the airline, management, non-unionised cabin crew and even those who have mobilised to support operations during the strike will also suffer as a consequence of the economic realities of the situation.

It is quite clear that Unite is not in alignment with BASSA and could potentially have exposed itself to ten of millions in compensation through its association with its BASSA affiliate.

Tony Woodley is quite clearly looking for a settlement, and gets on well with WW; it is the BASSA Trots who persist in this militant and poorly organised protect; what outcome they actually seek is unclear to me.

Nobody wins, but those will sadly suffer most are those on lower incomes and least able to plan and manage such a situation – the very people Unite alleges it wants to protect.

Good piece in today’s Times by Willie:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article7129146.ece

[VintageKrug]

1. They won’t need to re-employ if they simply cut routes. Further damaging the profitability of the airline.

2. They still have volunteer crews and excellent contingency plans for running on reduced drew numbers.

3. It is, and I repeat this for your benefit, the Union which has chosen to withdraw its labour and interrupt people’s travel plans; go on any site and you will see the public have the Unions very firmly in their sights as the responsible party.

4. BA often competes well with – or is less expensive – than many of its competitors, and especially so if you have a corporate deal or can use the 10% off shareholder discount.

5. There is no Vintage Krug in the BA Cellar. I drank one of the last bottles on a flight to MIA in 2004.

Hearing on BASSA’s Leave to Appeal at 2pm, should be heard shortly thereafter if it is admitted. I think it will be thrown out.

[Author]

Posts