[Anonymous]

[Shortie]

I flew from Newark to Heathrow on the 21.25 departure on a Saturday evening. Upon arrivals, the dopey taxi driver dropped me on level 3 despite me telling him to go to level 1. Thankfully ground staff helped me with my bags to the check-in counter. Check-in was fast and staff were very friendly.

There was a fast-track lane at security, but as only one lane was open the queue was long and the wait even longer. This looks set to continue in the future due to the US budget cuts impacting airports. The queue was made no longer by a young teenager who had already passed through security and while looking for the toilets had managed to walk back to the public departure hall. This caused a security incident and some angry officials and parents. I thought the teenager did very well in showing the holes in US Customs and Border Control, but I kept this to myself.

Once through security, I made my way to the lounge via the elevator. A note to those who don’t like elevators – these are slow and take a while to open, but do work. Upon arrival at the lounge, I was told that my flight was a sleeper flight so I was shown to the area where I could have dinner. The buffet was not as extensive as JFK, but it was very good and staff couldn’t do enough. After dinner, I headed to the gate and noted that the BA plane was beside the Virgin flight flying the same route. The Virgin flight was an hour late, but thankfully our flight was on time!

Boarding started early and premium passengers boarded after those with children or who need help wit boarding. The first thing I noticed was the bad mood of the cabin crew on my side of the business class cabin. Neither of this could raise a smile and were downright rude to the 2 American couples who were traveling to London for the first time. I was embarrassed and told them all Brits are not as moody as the crew and we had a good laugh.

I didn’t try the entertainment for two reasons – I wanted to sleep and the AVOD has not been upgraded so is painful to manage. This plane gets upgraded in May. I slept for just over 5 hours and had no breakfast as I prefer the arrivals lounge.

We landed ahead of time and bags were on the carousel when I arrived. All in all a good flight with great on the ground staff, but staff on the flight let BA down

[Henkel.Trocken]

Interesting review. Sadly it’s often the case that BA crews let the rest of the service down. Good that you had a laugh with the US visitors though – after a BA crew and UK immigration staff they might just have turned round and gone home!

[bacrew1]

Sorry to hear the bad crew experience Shortie….
Shame Henkel had to add his tuppence and generalise BA crew as overall disappointing!

[FormerlyDoS]

bacrew1

My past few BA flights

– GOT-LHR – good crew
– LHR-JED – very average crew
– GOT-LHR – exceptional crew
– BAH-LHR – poor crew
– LHR-LBA – very average crew
– MAN-GOT – excellent crew
– JFK-LHR – average-poor crew
– LHR-DFW – excellent crew

I would class 4/8 as ‘often’, if one takes the dictionary definition of ‘often’ as being frequently – 50% is not infrequent.

The other 4 were really good or better.

[Be_Nice]

I have to agree with HT that the cabin crew make or break a journey. Which is sad as they choose to be there as do customers.

[VintageKrug]

Good to know that proper Performance Management is now in place, though it was strongly resisted by the Union.

It’s astonishing this hasn’t always been the case.

[Edski777]

It takes a lot to build a good reputation, it takes a few to ruin it.

Let’s not try to blame it on the messenger, but let the responsible managers at airlines earn their wages. Too often a bad experience is due to the interaction between people going wrong. People in the service industry are required to be able to handle situations in a professional manner. Sometimes they are just not handed the tools to fullfil their duties as required. A little understanding and sympathy goes a long way and makes for a more pleasant experience.

And if you dont like what is happening to you? Fly another airline next time or find another job, depending which side of the equation you are on.

[Author]

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