[HappytobeSilver]

I have flights in CE booked to ATH, JMK, GIB and MLA this summer and am happy to pay for the extra space and upgraded food and drinks on these services. Whenever I fly to CDG for example though I think CE isn’t worth the money.

[IanFromHKG]

Except you are now getting less space than before 😉

[openfly]

Had an idea! Hey Virgin Little Red, listen up.
With BA reducing its seat pitch to a very uncomfortable 30″ through the cabin with the enhanced product (!), why don’t you increase your pitch to 35″ to show the world that it can be done…even on domestics! The Little Red loads would indicate that you could offer a better product at the same price as BA.

Good luck.

[canucklad]

Ditto your suggestion openfly. I really don’t understand why VS hasn’t tried to find or create a USP between them and their fierce competitor.

Their lack of effort substantiates the rumour that they’re slot filling at LHR

And oddly ill add that I was looking at booking flying guts on AC back to YVR. The EDI to LHR flight was operated by BA.

[Gold-2K]

With Little Reds load factors they could double the seat width and pitch throughout the plane and still be able to accommodate all their passengers. Unfortunately for us passengers, I guess the economics for BA, Lufty etc are somewhat different. C’est la vie!

[openfly]

I hope that Little Red….and BA…read this thread!

[MickBettesworth]

Thought that you might be interested in BA’s reply to my letter :

Thank you for your patience whilst I looked into the concerns you have
raised with Keith regarding our exciting new shorthaul product.

To stay competitive and keep offering our customers choice, great fares and
excellent service, we are giving our cabins a radical makeover.

It is correct that Club Europe seat-pitch will change from 34” to 30”.
However, we have new lighter, slimmer seats, which are cleverly designed to
maximise comfort. For example, the magazine compartment has been
repositioned to the top of the seat to free up knee space. We are
confident that customers who travel in this new seat will not feel that
they have lost 4 inches of knee space due to the clever ergonomic design

We’ll be maintaining the 2:2 configuration in Club Europe and the ‘central
console’ separating the two seats has been redesigned to be a more useful
and functional space, with areas for drinks, snacks, devices etc. in
addition to the seat-back table.

Our Club Europe customers tell us that what they value most is the
additional privacy resulting from the middle seat being empty. That will
not change and we are improving how that space can be used.

Club Europe customers will also continue to benefit from use of our
lounges, priority boarding and disembarkation, more personalised service
and full catering on board.

I hope that we will welcome you onboard soon to experience these changes
for yourself and as a valued Gold Executive Club member; we do appreciate
your business and feedback.

Kind regards
Kerry-Anne

Kerry-Anne Meehan
Chairman’s Office Executive
Waterside, HBB3

………in other words we think that you won’t notice we are taking away nearly 12% of the space!!!!

[Bath_VIP]

Mick,

Thank you for posting that letter. I agree it is a fob off but if you feel like replying perhaps you could ask them for the details of exactly how much knee space there used to be and how much there is now. After all, 30″ is 30″ unless you are travelling at relativistic speeds!

[openfly]

Thank you for posting the reply.

They seem to think they are doing us all a favour by changing the seat to 30″ pitch in Club Europe. Came back from Ibiza in CE on Sun in 30″ pitch…you need the middle seat area empty to accommodate your legs!

Love the reminder in the last paragraph but one….yeah right! Those are benefits that we pay highly for, when they work! She doesn’t seem to understand that that is what we pay for anyway.

Urrrggghhhh……..

[IanFromHKG]

Bath_VIP – there can be a big difference between different seats of the same pitch, because that is just a measurement from one point on the same seat to the same point on the seat in front, and therefore includes the seat itself and anything that intrudes on legroom.

So, if the seat has a pitch of 34 inches, but is four inches thick and there is another inch taken up with in-flight magazines, safety card etc, then the usable pitch is 29 inches. If the pitch is 30 inches but the seat is just one inch thick and there is no seat-back pocket at knee level, the usable pitch is… 29 inches.

Which still doesn’t sound enough 🙂

[Bath_VIP]

Ian,

that is exactly the point I was trying to make, ask BA what is the usable pitch before and after.

[Charles-P]

I too have written to BA and received a curious response. To me they claim that they are the same as Lufthansa making them competitive with their principle competitor for leg room !

[canucklad]

Ian’s point is spot on…..
For those of us who have luxuriated in a Ryanair seat, I’d challenge any of you not to have been surprised by the amount of legroom you were expecting and what you actually get.

Because Ryanair have totally removed the magazine compartment the hollow certainly gives you more “knee” space, so the perceived legroom increases.

I love Charles_P’s comment above. In classic 1984 double speak BA admit the loss of space as a good thing to remain completive with their main competitor by becoming just as bad as them… Priceless

[Travellator]

Full catering – 3 tiny sandwiches and a scone – luxury !

[MartynSinclair]

Travelled back in Club from Milan and I must say the Tandoori Cod dish served on the evening Milan departure was probably the nicest main course meal I have ever eaten on BA.

I wonder if I will ever get food like that again. It really does show the inconsistency in the BA service as it has taken around 30 short haul flights for me to write this email.

Please BA, keep this dish…. and don’t just serve on evening flights…. it really was D E L I C I O U S !!

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