[canucklad]

Sadly MrMichael you don’t need to pick up the phone to interact with the global market…… If you want to experience Nairobi in the UK,pop in your car this afternoon and head down to your local ……… Sports Direct

OMG……I just realized, how many hard working, friendly and dedicated people I’ve just insulted………..
Please accept my apologies to all those citizens of Nairobi who I’ve offended… : )
.

[MrMichael]

Me Canucklad….in a sports shop…….have they started selling discount fags?

[canucklad]

More than likely in their east end Glasgow branch,or any of their Middlesbrough stores.

And I’m being a bit unfair singling out Mike Ashley and his sweat shop crew. In my travels around the UK it breaks my heart when I recognize the uniformity of our high street, whether it be Manchester,Newcastle,Leeds, Cardiff,Edinburgh and even London,with its streets lined with gold.

Charity shops, bookies, poundland bazaars and of possible note to yourself MrMichael if you fancy giving up on the tags, umpteen shops selling flavoured vapours….

Where have all the independent toy shops, green grocers, travel agents, butchers and in the week we buried an Edinburgh legend, shops like this….

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ

Yard arm almost here,so I think it’s time to head down to my local to drown my nostalgic sorrows…..And lose on the nags

[TheRealBabushka]

MrMichael,

I find BA has invested a fair amount of resources in their Indian call centre to raise standards. They are certainly a lot better than the Indian call centre SQ uses.

[MrMichael]

As an IAG investor TheRealBabushka I am pleased to hear it. Must confess that my phone dealings with BA/IB have always been ok, the one that springs to mind that was pretty dire was Jetstar Australia. I think the heat had got to them.

[seasonedtraveller]

I am neither a BA basher or a BA loyal supporter – I do fly with them rather a lot though, most of it long haul. The fact that I re-qualify for Guest List status each year would confirm this.
BA are most certainly not a 3rd world airline (I hold that title for TK with whom I will no longer fly)

I also fly a considerable amount with;
LH
SAS
American
United
Air Canada

and I find BA to be no better, no worse than any of the above.

In my humble opinion, BA do tend to miss out on the smaller, soft touch things which can niggle.
I will stress that these points are not a big deal but nonetheless, they are there.

For example – it’s more than a year since I was welcomed on board (at my seat) as a Guest List member by BA but AA, LH & most recently, SAS have given a quiet, personal welcome once on board. As I’ve said, maybe not a big deal but, the overall effect has made me feel more valued by SAS than by BA.

Despite being GGL & earning more than 5000 TP’s per year, BA now want me to pay £9.00 to book a seat on a short hop from LBA to LHR because I don’t have any luggage so;
Fare plus taxes etc £45
Credit card surchage £4.50 (i.e 10% of the fare cost)
Book a seat? – £9.00
Surely, if I have no luggage, not even hand luggage, I should get a discount not a surcharge?

On the plus side, the new aircraft are excellent (despite the long haul CW sardine can seating arrangement), the crew are generally cheerful, the transatlantic CW prices are very competitive & the GGL customer service line is excellent.

I think BA are the same as any other 1st world airline, no better, no worse, just average.

[MartynSinclair]

Where I think BA are indeed a third world carrier, are the third world style pricing.

Two Asia longhauls in CW coming up, one below £1,200 and the other slightly above £1,200…. THIS IS TREMENDOUS VALUE… (plus another load of free European flights).

Third World pricing with a 4 star product..

Sure it could be better, but most certainly it could be a lot lot worse…

[FDOS_UK]

seasonedtraveller – 23/04/2016 14:59 BST

You make come good points, in some ways BA is its own worst enemy as it seems to go out of its way to poke sharp sticks in customers like you, when it should be looking after you – the net result is a transparently transactional relationship, when some other airlines at least pretend there’s more to it 😉

But 3rd world airline – only a Walt could believe that.

[FDOS_UK]

MartynSinclair – 23/04/2016 19:31 BST

Knowing how you carefully plan to maximise value (within the terms and spirit of the relationship), BA is a very good deal for you.

You have just booked CW flights of nearly double the distance of a WTP return ticket that cost slightly over half ot yours 🙂 If your main need is a comfortable place to sleep on a long journey, then you got a major bargain. Then there are the bucketloads of avios that arise and will fund RFS flights for you. That’s a real sweetener.

[Flightlevel]

They do make a good profit though,when many others don’t & regularly modernise their aircraft – even the older ones!

[FDOS_UK]

Flightlevel – 24/04/2016 06:17 BST

BA is a ‘yo-yo’ company, good profits currently, but also huge losses in the past and good profits – not a stable company over the longer term.

One of (but not the only) driver of profits was the ‘sweating of assets’ including fleet, meaning that BA got itself into a bit of a fix with one of the oldest fleets in Europe, which is now being corrected.

The European gold standard for consistent profit and new fleet is Ryanair.

[TominScotland]

seasonedtraveller, I think that is a relatively balanced and pragmatic assessment. Martyn, as always, your reasoning is clear and well articulated.

I have been interested, over a number of threads recently, in the way we all rationalise our own airline choices, including by dismissing information that runs counter to our preferences or practical needs.

So, recent discussion of pilot safety issues with respect to certain ME airlines was dismissed out of hand by one poster, a regular user of that carrier. Likewise, criticisms of TK are rebutted robustly by another poster who relies heavily on them to meet his particular needs (and probably will not be to pleased by seasonedtraveller’s comments above). We also have our passionate defences of KLM and BA, which sometimes go beyond logic and evidence.

So, we all rationalise our own behaviour and are reluctant to see it challenged. In my own case, I certainly THINK I have rational reasons for my airline choice. I value FF status because of the practical benefits I get – lounge access, especially in the event of delays, excellent value redemption flights in Europe (as Martyn) with both BA and KLM (and the odd one longhaul too – Dublin – JFK via LCY in Club World for taxes of only 140 Euros plus Avios of which I have plenty) and, because my travel is predominantly Economy, the automatic right to use Economy Comfort seating on KLM (short- and long-haul) which gives acceptable seating with even the lowest of fares. I am also OK with transiting in both AMS and LHR.

This year, my long haul travel commitments are greater than normal and have been/ will be

BA – Economy, Premium Economy, Club World
KLM – Economy (Economy Comfort), WBC
Qatar – Economy, Business (upgraded)
Qantas – Economy

A limited range of carriers and none which would be described as obviously ‘third world’.

Pragmatically, this BAEC year I focused on oneworld until I achieved my Gold renewal and, since then, my flights have been predominantly KLM, booked in economy and seated in EC. This is because I am KLM Platinum for life and do not need to worry about requalifying. After July, I will switch back to oneworld whenever I can justify that in price and schedule terms. I am not sure I will make Gold again but that is fine – KLM is not a bad back-up.

For me, this is all entirely rational – but, there again, others may not see it in the same light!!

[canucklad]

I’ve been wondering ,and would question if we’re not all being a bit snobbish about this……

If I was flying to Nairobi ,my first choice would probably be KQ !

Also,not sure if Indonesia can be classified as 3rd world,but Garuda is excellent.

What is it about a 3rd world airline do we perceive as a negative. Is it simply that a ex colonial worker of such an airline might carelessly forget to lock cowl doors : )

[FDOS_UK]

canucklad – 24/04/2016 09:15 BST

The phrase ‘3rd world’ is obsolete by over 25 years, but I’d take to mean Africa and Asia (who the power blocs were trying to align in their ’empires.’)

What I perceive about negative about **some** third world airlines is poor maintenance and safety.

There are some shining examples of excellence in Africa and Asia and some poor practices in the west. Your point about cowl doors is well made.

This EU list of banned airlines is what I’m talking on and needless to say, BA isn’t on it.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/safety/air-ban/doc/list_en.pdf

[MrMichael]

I think nowadays 3rd world is described as “developing”. A few months ago I was chatting with a chap from the FO on a flight. He had the notion that any country that gets development aid must be considered a developing nation. Therefore India falls squarely in the 3rd world list, and yet some of its Airlines could teach the European flag carriers a thing or two. I refer specifically to the now regrettably defunct Kingfisher and Jet Airways.

[Author]

Posts