[DavidPeace]

What an entertaining story.

All but spoilt children and prententious adults expect something for nothing to which they sare not entitled

[ReggaeMan]

My family, staff and i have boycotted BA for 2 yrs due to this arrogant condescending attitude. Guess when they have cronies like Vintagekrug or Willie Walsh, they can do no wrong?
I say fly with VS or any other airline till they learn a lesson or go out of biz. Wonder why the lost money and Virgin made a profit? VS service is better.

[Account_Deleted]

Account deleted

[flier74]

Having just read through this thread I find the choice of language and words very insulting and abnoxious. Referring to crew as “Bimbo’s” and wishing them to the dole queue or unemployed is beyond belief in this current climate. I have been on many flights myself and I am appauled by the behaviour of such passengers as some of you seem to be. The way you treat Airport and Airline Staff, Staff in Hotels and Restaurants makes me speechless at times.

Who do you think you are? Just because you or your Company chooses to pay a higher fare to sit in Club or WTP you think you can do whatever you want and treat people as such. Behaviour breeds behaviour and I am not surprised that many of you have not been upgraded. Airport Staff choose Gold Card holders before Silver Card holders or the paid fare in the appropriate class, behaviour and dress is also taken into consideration most times.

Suggesting that BA does not upgrade people other than a white race is just laughable and simply a stupid thing to say. On all flights I have done I have noticed that the Crew make sure that card holders are acknowledged and are given priority when it comes to meal choices etc. Yes you will find the odd off-ish Crew member on BA, but so will you on any other Airline in the world, so wha,t they are human beings you know. From experience I find far more arrogant and down right rude Passengers than Crew members, lets face it .

[dutchyankee]

I agree somewhat with what Flier74 wrote. I have often been on flights where passengers in Club and First behave holier than thou, snobby, and downright rude. While I fully agree we deserve the service we pay for, and I pay my own flights and always in J or F (not my company), this does not however give me or anyone on the plane the right to abuse or mistreat crew. The unfortunate reality is that there will always be people in soceity that treat service oriented employees poorly or beneath them. I also find that when things go wrong or someone doesn’t get the attention/service they feel they should the Race/Ethnic/Religious/Sexuality/Dress (choose the one that applies) card is pulled, when the real explanation is probably much more innocent. Having been an almost life long BA loyalist, I can honestly say I have never seen or heard an act of racism from them. Does it happen? Probably, but rarely, and I doubt anymore than at any other airline, and I would venture to say, considering the vast ethnic mix employed by BA, the liklihood at BA is probably greatly less than at other carriers.

[joejet1]

We have had a few upgrades over the years but the best 1 ever was off a one way AA D class ticket brought from expedia from mia to lhr
2 adults + 2 kids (age 4 + 7) upgraded into First. never had upgrade with the kids (well once from economy to premium economy ba jfk to lhr but not business or first)

I was told later by a friend that the AA d class ticket is not normally sold and is normally part of around the world ticket.
no idea how it really happened but some of the other passengers were not to happy with my noisy 4 year old playing with the seats.

[VintageKrug]

Which class of travel did you say you were travelling, again? 😉

I once met Molly Sugden, you know.

[Airpocket]

HBH, you shouldn’t pay attention to Vintage Krug.Some of us think he’s a bit of a twat anyway.Your comments about BA’s racism have obviously struck a chord with some of us and we condemn BA (by not flying them) for their racism and prejudice.I trust you will continue to cocntribute to this site and not let one-trick ponies like VK put you off.

[NTarrant]

I suspect you are reading this HBHLondon! Molly Sugden was a fine actress and VK was lucky to meet her.

You don’t really help your case HBH, you say and I quote “Whether you like it or not, a lot of BA flight attendants are rude an unprofessional. Of course, most are very good.” So are you saying that a minority of BA attendants are unproffessional and rude or the opposite. You then go on and say that we have all had our good and bad experiences.

One of the attendants on my flight LHR-EDI yesterday had a sullen face and didn’t smile but was still proffessional in carrying out her duties or do you see that as unproffessional or rude. You also say that you will continue to fly BA as they are the best, but let down by the FA’s. Surely part of being the best is a reflection on the staff?

And along comes Airpocket with an uncouth comment and a lot to say about an airline he never uses?!?

[Airpocket]

Actually, I did tend to use BA but only if I had no other choice.Ever since their standards dropped and their attitude problems (read the occasional outbreak of racism) increased I took my business elsewhere.

[dutchyankee]

HBH, I never ‘accused’ you of pulling the race card, and if what you say is the case, and I have no reason to doubt what you say as I don’t know you personally, then I think it is a shame and inexcusable. That said, I still believe it is the exception versus the rule and the entire airline should not be painted with the same brush. You no doubt will agree that many people will ‘pull’ the excuse card (various ones) most likely to raise issues when they don’t get what they want, or when they think someone else is getting preferential treatment over others. It is the easy way to explain something off as opposed to ever considering there may be a more logical, innocent, fair reason. And believe me, there are plenty of worse case airlines out there than BA. At the end, no offence was intended so apologies if taken as such.

[wenkaechia]

I totally agree with this.

If you want something then just pay for it. Don’t be a baby if your don’t get your upgrade. A status does not mean that you have the right to be upgraded it is a status that give your priority to BE upgraded.

Personally I don’t think BA cabin crew are arrogant. Most of the time it depends on the passenger it self as well. I’ve also have worked in the service industry before an I can tell you how annoying it is to “serve” a rude “business man”. What happened with the basics from mom:

– “Thank your” is a reply that you give if someone is giving you something. (and yes even if you get served)

– “Look in peoples eyes when you are talking to someone” (and with a smile is a plus point) yes, also when you get served.

-“Wait” don’t think your the only one. wait until it is your turn. If he or she for gets you. Don’t be upset. Just asked nicely again. (When was the last time you forgot something)

Some tips that will make your life easier. Not only on flights but also in supermarkets and shops 😉

[flier74]

Well this is well going out of hand and somewhat personal really. Don’t know whats wrong with some of the posters here but not being able to take a nice comment/joke or calling someone a tw*t is not even just childish but it is just down right rude and arrogant. How old are you guys, have I found myelf back on a children’s playground???

As I said before I am not surprised that some of you never or rarely get upgraded… I for one am happy for the person I see being upgraded for whatever reason. Ano once again for the race reason, can I just add that Passengers are not upgraded by a Groundstaff member on a check in desk, but this is all done in a back office which is called “Flight Management Unit” in BA, so the persons actioning the upgrade can’t actually see the person or can’t see by the booking whether they are white, black,asian, gay, lesbian or whatever…. so really that takes the argument away. And for that alleged cooment by the “anglo-asian” Groundstaff friend of one of you, how unprofessional is this and he clearly doesn’t know what he/she is talking about, but hey ho we all like arumour spinning from time to time…
Oh dear oh dear oh dear , all this upset over someone not been happy that his seat neighbour was upgraded….what has this world come to?

[Airpocket]

Various issues are being confused here when,really,they ought to be seen as distinct from each other.Perhaps this list could help:

1) Upgrades-nothing wrong with them as long as all creeds and colours are treated equally. I myself and my family have been upgraded on EK and we thought this was very nice of the airline.We were upgraded by the check-in agent which leads me to believe that she/he wields a disproportionate amount of power.
However, when someone is denied an upgrade because of their race, this is totally unacceptable and the airline guilty of such behaviour is fully worthy of invective.

2) BA’s generally racist attitude-totally unacceptable!Need I remind you non-believers of how a Nigerian passenger was offloaded from a Lagos bound BA flight?

By the way, if you’ve recently been anywhere near a children’s playground you’ll know that “tw*t” isn’t a preferred term of abuse; it is usually a word begining with c, often a colloquialism used to describe a lady’s intimate parts.

[metheman]

Really Airpocket…It appears that you have an enormous chip on your shoulder..I have flown many times with BA on many routes, and am sick and tired of hearing people use the ” race/creed/colour/sexual gender” cards whenever they don’t get their way..BA staff treat everyone the same as I am sure other airlines do..Unfortunatelly a small minority of passengers do not treat BA ,and I am sure, other airline staff the same way . They have to take verbal abuse and rudeness as a matter of course without having the opportunity to retaliate…They have to keep their mouths shut,unlike passengers who can say whatever they like..In fact on several flights to the Indian continent,with several carriers some of the worse offenders are the crew to other crew ( mainly due to the caste system )..As a side…With regards to the Nigerian offloaded..Were you on that flight and do you know what happened because I certainly don’t..

[Author]

Posts