[justloveflying]

My Word.

I love detailed flight reviews but here we have a passenger who recently flew BA to Cincinnati and has documented their not so amazing experience.

I must admit, from reading the 4 reviews which include domestic transfers, BA truly have fallen on bad times.

It is so disheartening to read of such poor service on such a brand new route.

Where has the prestige of flying British Airways gone ? And why do the bosses fail to see this ? Is £7 million really going to fix the Airline ?

Do BA management ever read things here and does BT have any links directly with British Airways ?

In the same way the reviewer details all of the flaws, perhaps these could be picked up and improved on.

The reviews are at these links ;

MANLHR

https://flight-report.com/en/report/65247/british-airways-ba1389-manchester-man-london-lhr/

LHRCVG

https://flight-report.com/en/report/65252/british-airways-ba121-london-lhr-cincinnati-cvg/

CVGLHR

https://flight-report.com/en/report/65253/british-airways-ba120-cincinnati-cvg-london-lhr/

LHRMAN

https://flight-report.com/en/report/65255/british-airways-ba1394-london-lhr-manchester-man/

[Mark]

The punters keep booking the TKTS.
BA….. is happy!

[FDOS]

Self inflicted injury, IMO.

[Johnnyg]

Hells bells, that was a bit of a read !!!!!

[AlanOrton1]

Deary me, what a whingefest.
Somewhat over entitled. Appears little more than a grubby ploy to garner some free tickets.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Flyboy18, Montysaurus, cwoodward

[justloveflying]

Taking into account that BA is a country mile from being spotless or flawless and “BA bashers” are in multiple digits.

For the last decade or so, BA is known to not value passengers and it is proven in these reviews and countless others.

I did not personally take away that the reviewer wanted free tickets after the trip ended. It was more at the start of the trip. Things then got worse.

For me, no gesture would ever make up for poor service, a damaged suit jacket and being insulted by a “senior” crew member.

As a fan of detail, I thought the reviews were very well presented and raw which is what BA need to see to really improve.

I fail to comprehend why a more detailed review would be seen as whinging.

But each to their own.

[AlanOrton1]

Interesting that you joined the forum right around the time the flights in this post were flown / reviewed.

And you (in a previous post) and the reviewer both reference British Midland, an ex airline that rarely gets mentioned.

And you’ve leapt to the reviewers defence almost immediately, oddly taking all that he’s said as gospel.

And you’ve made several digs at BA on the forum in the short time since you joined. Almost as if you have an axe to grind. (Not that anyone on here claims that BA are close to perfect).

Could almost make one think that you and the ‘reviewer’ are one and the same…

[justloveflying]

Hi AlanOrton1.

Firstly, it is great that you have the time to study my alleged online movements. I note you have never commented on any post of mine until today. Funny that.

And just to put your mind at ease, I am not that reviewer. Nor did I imply their gender. But I note that you say “he”. So maybe you are the reviewer ? That is funny too.

I have not been abroad for many years as I can’t afford it. I love reading other people’s travel stories however. Not that I need to explain this.

Do let me know what else you find about “me” outside of this forum.

I look forward to seeing more of your style of commentary as it provides a reluctant giggle and eye rolling.

I think that BT should have a LinkedIn style feature for the forum with names and profile photos. At least let the keyboard warriors show their faces.

That’s me told by Orton Solicitors to never mention BD or BA again !

[onajetplane]

@justloveflying – “Having used various Business Class lounges in the last year or so, I am directed to scan a QR code to read BT.

Are print editions of BT a thing of the past ?!” (your direct quote on another forum post).

Presumably all domestic business lounges then if you haven’t been able to afford to go abroad in a few years?

[Montysaurus]

These reviews read as if they were written by someone actively seeking disappointment.

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Flyboy18, esselle, FDOS

[Rferguson2]

I think the ‘BA situation’ is so complex and multi faceted.

1) The competitive environment. BA’s main longhaul market is North America. So, what is the competition like? Having achieved ‘Gold For Life’ with BA I have decided to spread my wings a little (pardon the pun) and try the competition instead of remaining loyal. And on that front, I have been disappointed. I have primarily been using the Lufthansa group and have found them absolutely mediocre, if I was grading them overall on a school report I would give them a C-. I have mainly been using them in the premium cabins and from a hard product side the whole LH group is lacking, LH in particular. I would prefer flying one of BA’s old club aircraft (which are now a minority of the longhaul fleet) than a LH long haul aircraft. Swiss and Austrian are slightly better but still woefully outdated. A particular disappointment for me was LH First Class. If people call BA First ‘the worlds best business class’ Lufthansa’s First would be the winner. On the short haul front, most aircraft I have flown to not even have USB power outlets.

Onto the soft product comparison – meh. On shorthaul in Business BA wins 100000%. On Lufthansa they serve a small cold meal (with no options) and that’s it. On the longhaul front I find LH and BA same-same.

Operational reliability – Lufthansa is no better than BA. Delays delays delays. Cancellations. Their modus operandi is the same as BA, flying passengers from all over europe to their long haul hub to feed their long haul ops. The delays lead to chaotic scenes at FRA. Long queues at any service desk and a general ‘shrug of the shoulder’ attitude from their staff.

2) BA profitability. As others have said, BA is one of the most successful airlines when it comes to making money. The recipe they are cooking is working well and has done consistently for years.

5 users thanked author for this post.

GBAIR72, DavidArnold, Montysaurus, ASK1945, JonathanCohen09

[ESKY777]

British Airways has a plethora of problems, probably main due to a particular style of management at IAG which trumps BA’s own management, given how IAG is curiously set up to be different from LH and AF-KL ensuring that the dominant carrier and larger home economy do not control the group. BA is also hostage to bad decisions made by the previous CEO and ultimately by IAG in terms of IT, fleet and staff. Also, the spotty management of American Airlines, which has not been as sharp as that of Delta or even United in terms of focusing on the traffic across North and South Atlantic, the main source of high net revenue for all IAG’s legacy carriers, has a large impact ion BA.

Yet notwithstanding BA’s many recent shortcomings, and with no disrespect to the author, the review is more like an unyielding angry personal opinion than simply relaying observed facts.

While the author was disappointed, there is not much BA can do if another airline has cancelled their own Bangkok flight, that there is a war in the Middle East or that the Plaza Premium Lounge, wholly unrelated to BA, is of low quality. There are also some assumptions which may not be accurate. Cincinnati flights do not necessarily depart from satellite B; they can depart from A10 or from satellite C. Doha is not a premium route as in JFK and the denser layout of BA’s aircraft cannot be compared to that of a state owned carrier which is subsidised, and the list continues.

Indirectly casting doubt on safety is also unjustified; that the 777 aircraft may be old is not necessarily controlling but that they have lower cycles than short haul aircraft and that are maintained in a stellar manner by BA engineering are of note. Also, the 777 aircraft have been refurbished with an excellent Club hard product while the 787-8 and 787-9 have an outdated product in Club (and in First in the 787-9.)

I think the best may be to take DL to CVG next time!

1 user thanked author for this post.

justloveflying

[Rferguson2]

Having actually read the first two reviews (I had to stop at two of four as it was written by someone with delusional expectations)I found the complaints laughable.

All I saw were many staff going out of their way to make this an enjoyable experience for the person and their mother. The fact that the incorrect sandwich was loaded on the MAN-LHR flight was recovered very well with the provision of a Club meal.

The wheelchair debacle at LHR. Contracted services are provided by HAL not the individual airlines.

Onboard the flight to the US. Sounds that they were looked after well by the crew who gave them some nice bits from Business (see if that would happen on Singapore Airlines or Qatar).

I completely zoned out when the author favourably compared the configuration of a PIA 777 to BA’s (maybe that’s why PIA is effectively bankrupt?) and complained about the lack of paper cups in the toilet.

7 users thanked author for this post.

esselle, GBAIR72, Flyboy18, FDOS, DavidArnold, ASK1945, Montysaurus

[justloveflying]

Really good and polite response ! I wish more were liek you and didn’t shoot the messenger !

[Rferguson2]

@ justloveflying I guess travelling is very personal and individuals will all value certain things over others and this will vary person to person.

I guess to get a good idea of how bad BA is (or isn’t) on a transatlantic flight someone could only compare BA with another european or US airline and to be honest they would likely have a very similar experience. The airlines that fly between the US and europe operate in a completely different economic environment between those that are based in the middle east or asia where airlines tend to have a lot more government support. Which is exactly why many european airlines have such large schedules flying west and so few flying east.

Travelling with a person requiring assistance is always always going to make the journey far more stressful as most airports utilise contracted agents to provide this service. The contracted agents (who are essentially given a monopoly on providing the service) are obviously in the business for making money and so get off with offering the minimal amount of staff on the minimal amount of pay as possible. I can remember working for BA it was frankly embarrassing waiting up to an hour for assistance to arrive at the aircraft during inbound arrivals. This didn’t just apply to those in economy either. And it was unfortunate, because a customer could have had a wonderful flight which was then soured right at the end when they’re left waiting an hour to be collected by someone and they often attribute this failure to the airline.

The situation is exasperated due to the sheer number of people requesting special assistance these days. Many people concerned for elderly relatives travelling alone who often do not speak english are (understandably) worried that they will struggle with a transit at a large airport and so it has become the norm to request these passengers special assistance despite them being fully physically able. Airlines like BA used to provide ‘Meet and Assist’ services as an alternative to the wheelchair service which was well used but unfortunately also a cost to the airline.

I do share some of the reviewers quirks though! I am always miffed when an airline does not have a lot of branding on items! It seems that plain plain plain is just fashionable these days. Or, cheaper. Or both.

1 user thanked author for this post.

esselle

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