Chaos at T5…now

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Viewing 15 posts - 121 through 135 (of 159 total)

  • CallMeIshmael
    Participant

    Pity the communications were so poor during the chaos. Krug – still relentlessly cruising the Egyptian river!


    FlyingChinaman
    Participant

    CallMeIshmael: Perhaps there could have been more announcements but there were not many positive things to tell the flying public due to uncertainties at the time.

    At least this current one is more assuring.


    CallMeIshmael
    Participant

    FlyingChinaman – that is the problem, wishing to communicate just the positive.
    Keeping the public informed, even when the message is not positive, is preferrable to being kept in the dark.


    FlyingChinaman
    Participant

    This may be true and perhaps the public would like to see a JOINT announcement from the bosses of BAA/BA together to brief them of the situation. It may be a great PR idea but at the end of the day the public still want tangible results!


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    Honestly, anyone would think this had no effect whatsoever on the 60% of flights from Heathrow not operated by BA.

    This was an LHR-wide event, not localised to British Airways and the closure of the airport had nothing whatsoever to do with British Airways.

    BAA deservedly stands alone in this as the responsible party.


    FlyingChinaman
    Participant

    To summed it up a total diaster!


    CallMeIshmael
    Participant

    Krug, consider during your copious air travel to tear yourself away from the high life and champers to read something more high brow, the works of Viktor Frankl or Alex Pattakos who précised his works.
    A major point is, very bad things happen, things way beyond our control. No matter how desperate they may appear or actually be, you always have the ultimate freedom to choose your attitude to react.

    So what was BA’s attitude? Head in the snow is worse than having a host of yellow jacketed, clipboard agents/managers circulating T5 manned with two bits of information “We are doing everything we can” or “best join that queue”…. but not much.

    As Walsh noted about O’Leary, he tells you to expect nothing as you’ll get nothing. JuliaSimpson, BA’s head of communication, didn’t even give that courtesy.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    I like the way Willie handled it:

    https://www.britishairways.com/travel/weather-disruption/public/en_gb

    and I am pleased to see my flight tomorrow is….operating entirely normally. Back to the High Life for me…! 😉


    Hippocampus
    Participant

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/8218140/UK-snow-British-Airways-judged-best-at-keeping-passengers-informed.html

    When any airline/airport is faced which a near complete suspension of its flying programme, not least at the busiest time of year, it is never going to be pretty. Airports are not designed to contain the seizure of the flow of passengers and no airline can afford to have hundreds of staff standing by in call centres and in airports just in case of severe disruption.

    I would wager that BA has done a better job of handling this disruption than disruptions of previous years. Although ba.com did come under pressure, its functionality did allow affected passengers to cancel/rebook online (don’t think that could be done on Virgin’s site). Plus there are the mobile apps, and the valiant efforts of BA’s Twitter team in fielding queries. I have also heard many complimentary comments about BA staff on the ground and in call centres.

    BA also added call centre capacity using volunteers, volunteer cabin crew are being used to support the operation, there is now a dedicated facility at LHR for repatriating mishandled baggage. The situation in Terminal 5 did not seem to be as bad as in other terminals.

    No doubt lessons can be learned and more can be done (particularly around maximising the use of smartphone/mobile technology) to assist passengers affected by disruption, but BA seems to be getting better at mobilising the whole organisation, rather than different departments seeming to operate in silos.

    Compare to previous years where in the winder of 2008 the company allowed BASSA to deny the activation of the disruption agreement when aircraft were diverted away from LHR , or the Christmas fog of four years ago with marquees outside Terminal 4 and luggage being sent to Milan to be returned to their owners etc.


    CallMeIshmael
    Participant

    Facts on the ground – somewhat at odds to the BA spin.
    Ignore the title and get past the ad. As broadcast Wednesday 22nd evening.

    http://www.itv.com/london/no-baa-boss-bonus92558

    Even their passengers feel threatened by BA as to not wish to be identified!

    Repeating your attachments/posts Krug still doesn’t make them anymore believable or true – thought we had covered that off previously.


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    I think lessons will need to be learned, but that – as ever – it is BAA which has let the airlines down. In fact it has let this country down.

    While any interruption to such a complex operation is highly disruptive, and this is especially emotive at a time of year when more inexperienced travellers take to the skies to see loved ones, it does seem to me that BA’s people, technology and terminals coped reasonably well in the circumstances, and that things are fast returning to normal now BAA has re-opened the airport.

    Is there more snow on the way?


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I think some posters will still think the sun shines out of Willie’s back passage whatever the situation.

    If Willies communications was so fantastic, he would have managed to inform the masses that were swarming over, under and all around T5 on Sunday and Monday far more effectively.

    The letter I have just received makes no acknowledgement of the financial costs incurred due to the BA’s inability to fulfill their contractural obligations of getting me from A to B. Whilst I am sure BA will be taking ‘action’ against BAA, I wonder whether a class passenger action against BA would get off the ground. Mind you, I guess that BA will have a star witness in the form of one of our posters who quite naturally did not suffer.

    I have an enourmous amount of praise for the hard working and dedicated BA staff were able to assist but as for the BA leadership………………

    Happy Christmas everyone, may the dreams come true….!


    FCTraveller
    Participant

    So Colin Matthews has relinquished his bonus, big deal, they’re only going to pay him a bit more next year to compensate. It’s all PR, he should relinquish his job, or be relieved of it.

    This country has to ask itself some serious questions about how they want to have their essential public services run. We cannot continue allowing these companies to put their shareholders first at the expense of the travelling public. If they want to run our airports, our rail system, etc, there must be standards to be met over and above the length of queues and the cleanliness of toilets. This was not a rare event, it was an accident waiting to happen. And it’s not about a “culture of blame”, it’s about holding those responsible to account. Passengers should be compensated, not by BA, but by BAA.

    I’m sure that Willie Walsh would be the first to admit that he could perhaps have handled the situation a bit better, the website could have been a bit more robust, but at the end of the day, whatever he did or did not do, it wouldn’t have gotten more planes in the sky and more people home.

    I for one would be quite happy to forgive Willie his minor transgressions if only he could make sure that a 777 with New First is rostered onto my route tomorrow.

    PS. I wonder if Rebekah ever made it to Switzerland, she’s gone awfully quiet.


    FCTraveller
    Participant

    And there better not be anyone sleeping on the floor of the Concorde Room.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Talking about the Concorde Room, I wonder if a poster will receive the ultimate accolade and have the wifi code for the BA lounges named after a ‘mature champagne’.

Viewing 15 posts - 121 through 135 (of 159 total)
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