[CathayLoyalist2]

BA744Fan, I think your comments were summed perfectly by two long serving CSD’s with whom I engaged, about this blog amongst other things, when they said gone are the days when BA was a pathfinder, the innovators, the standard everyone else looked up to. One actually used the same phrase “race to the bottom”. It is sad but if the shareholders are kept happy not a lot will change unless enough premium travelers vote with their feet and then…………..

[FDOS_UK]

There’s far too much BA bashing on here, these days.

[BA744fan]

FDOS_UK – because we WANT BA to be great again. It’s just that at the moment it is giving the impression of an airline that has simply thrown in the towel. There is no appetite to challenge the leading players any more.

[Carajillo2Sugar]

I rather think FDOS was being ironic…… 😉

[AllOverTheGaff]

FDOS_UK – 16/05/2016 16:45 BST
There’s far too much BA bashing on here, these days.

🙂

Cheeky.
Rgds,
AOTG.

[Londonian]

I would be interested to see how prices for airline tickets compare today to a decade ago or two decades ago. Anecdotally, I would say that prices for air travel on BA are very much cheaper today. I am not sure about the contention of “Get less, pay more”. I think we pay a lot less and get less. It is not surprising to me that a full meal on a tray cannot be served on a Y class fare of say £59 one way or for that matter any food. I do not think that many people fall into the category of : I would rather pay an extra £10 for the snack. This is why the low cost model is so successful. Although I think this is a shame, I am very happy that if I need to go to Amsterdam for a midweek trip and can book with some notice, I can afford to do so. In 1995, this would not have been possible. I would have had to stay a Saturday night to get an affordable fare. Yes, I would have had a little meal on a tray in Y class. Club Europe fares to get that little meal on a tray are today as affordable in my mind as a Y fare from 20 years ago without a Saturday night stay. Maybe this is my rose tinted glasses…

[FDOS_UK]

Londonian – 16/05/2016 17:44 BST

Of course, you are right.

On the other hand, BA blew more than one opportunity to create a strong loco to complete at that end of the market and stop the newer companies building such strong competitive positions, which they are now apparently clueless in competing against, other than price matching.

[BigDog.]

With the advent of BoB the DT asks ..”Are fares now the only difference between BA and Ryanair?..”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/british-airways-to-charge-for-meals-budget-airline/

Interesting graphic half way down ….”The Race to the Bottom. How BA wooed budget travellers”…

[GivingupBA]

Londonian said “I would be interested to see how prices for airline tickets compare today to a decade ago or two decades ago.”

Here’s an article with graphs about the topic:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/how-airline-ticket-prices-fell-50-in-30-years-and-why-nobody-noticed/273506/

[Londonian]

Thanks for the feedback. I would also say that I am sure that no passengers are putting in their feedback forms that they don’t want the free sandwich and G&T. However I am sure that they are saying so by taking their business to the lowest cost ticket, which as the Telegraph article shows is generally not BA and comes without any food. So in that sense this is very much market lead. Although I understand this is an unpleasant race to the bottom, I am not really aware that other carriers in the western hemisphere (where low cost airlines have been around the longest) have proven that a high quality service with the price to match is something the market wants. I agree that BA is following the market and not leading the market. Once it was an innovative airline. On a personal note, I do a lot of European travel and over the last 24 months, have purchased nearly all my European sectors in Club Europe with Avios points. Availability has nearly always been there and often at very short notice. Now that is a bargain.

[alainboy56]

Well said Dutchyankee. I had my say earlier in this forum and still say that if the glass of wine and the wrap cost 3 quid then leave it! I also have stopped using my BA FF membership and will use up my avios as and when (and thats increasingly difficult) I can. I am when flying BA using my QR Gold FF card number (a OneWorld member) now there is service, they even give a sandwich, a cake and a fruit juice between Abu Dhabi and Doha a flight of 35 mins and in Biz (they call it First) you get shrimps and a glass of wine! Oh if only BA would copy QR and NOT FR! Yes as I have said before, I am a shareholder, but I am also a businessman and I do NOT want to see MY business harmed! There, that is an opinion for the bean counters — I am a customer and a shareholder — DO NOT FOLLOW THE LCC MODEL!!!

[alainboy56]

PS – have any of you flown FINNAIR (AY) in Europe? Now that is a horrible service, they are so ‘tight’ they even charge Euros3 for a newspaper, well they are not really newspapers, just gossip rags! Its awful and you feel very unwelcome (like on FR). And Helsinki to LHR is almost a 3 hour flight so not a pleasant trip at all. If BA want to take that route (SAS is the same), then it really is bye bye BA!

[openfly]

Just spoken to a nice lady on the Gold Exec Club line. She hadn’t heard about this so went to her supervisor. She came back and said it is total speculation by the press…….

[BA744fan]

Openfly – there’s an awful lot of smoke for it not to be a fire. This story has been doing the rounds from a number of different sources for a week or 2 now.

[openfly]

@BA744fan……very true!

[Author]

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