[FDOS]

And this week’s winners were the gate team at LHR T5B gate 45.

What a great idea to display a message inviting all passengers to come forward for boarding and then shout abruptly at those who did, telling them to sit down, because they weren’t ready. How to make your customers feel really stupid!

After that, the quickest LHR MAN flight I’ve ever been on (and I’ve done a few over the years) – 30 minutes from wheels off to wheels on and then a long drive to take my wife’s car from our former hours in Lancaster, to the new one in Chippenham.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Polly

[SwissExPat]

@ fdos

I have also noticed a trend (happened me twice in DUB and also in LHR recently) is that boarding commences and Group 1 goes through and down the airbridge only to find that the aircraft is not ready and PAX are prevented from boarding the aircraft. This resulted in PAX being held on the airbridge for up to 10 minutes in often a hot/cold environment. On one occasion in DUB, the wait was outside.

I can see this being great for the gate staff as they can get the PAX processed and into the system but not good for PAX’s comfort.

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Polly, FDOS

[Nick Pike]

My (fortunately few) Ryanair flights have been such that it makes me think that SwissExPat’s experiences are part of their standard operating practice but last week in Bucharest British Airways did it to me too…

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Polly, FDOS

[FDOS]

@SwissExPat

Unfortunately, to minimise turnaround times, what you describe is inevitable.

The problem that arises is selling the promise of a premium experience and then delivering a loco reality.

Where BA (in particular) then c@cks up, is failing to handle cabin baggage in a similarly ruthless manner, meaning that the savings from getting the passenger stream onto the jetty are blown away by the b@ggering about trying to fit large amounts of hand baggage in the cabin.

They’ve been trying to manage this for years and apparently have still not learned any lessons.

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AllOverTheGaff, kevin46, maxgeorge, Polly

[FDOS]

@Nick – I have a bit of time for Ryanair (not their handling of their employees) in that they deliver consistently what they promise.

Nearly every time I fly with them, I reckon they meet their service standards. One may not like those standards and there are alternatives, but there is a bit of integrity in the way they operate.

Personally, I’d usually choose easyJet, but if Ryanair is all there is, I’ll use them.

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kevin46, Polly

[RoyJones]

I suspect some of this is due to the airlines using contractors at low frequency airports where the contractor has an ontime criteria to fulfill. The contractor’s staff have no allegiance to the airline but want to achieve their targets.

4 users thanked author for this post.

kevin46, red_robbo, Polly, FDOS

[FDOS]

@Roy, the SLAs/penalty framework probably drives the contractors to focus on KPIs, rather than customer service.

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red_robbo, Polly

[CathayLoyalist2]

..and all this makes me ask the question “just how effective is outsourcing” in the travel and hospitality industry?

4 users thanked author for this post.

kevin46, Polly, cwoodward, FDOS

[FDOS]

@CathayLoyalist2, I tend to agree with you, when the outsourcing agreements are written in a way that is purely financial in nature. Targets will generate the behaviours required to meet them 🙁

3 users thanked author for this post.

Polly, cwoodward, Johnnyg

[lostantipod]

To be fair, boarding has been a shambles at T5 for years.
They want us to board in groups, and stay seated until called , fine – why not have the gate signs tell us when it’s time to board my group number? Instead we get muffled announcements, and people cluttering up the gate area so you can’t even see the right queue to be in, and the sign saying “please be seated” long after boarding has commenced (or vice versa), and staff shouting which group should come forward for boarding (which only encourages people to clutter up the area to hear the shouted announcements).
Got a pram/ family eligible for pre-boarding? Good luck with hearing the announcement and getting through the scrum to the gate.
I’ve literally presented my BP for the gate agent and pointed at the sign above his head saying the wrong thing …all you get is a shrug in reply.
If ever there was proof that BA find it hard to look at things from their customers point of view, this long-standing mess in their own home base is it.

5 users thanked author for this post.

cwoodward, Jacob, CathayLoyalist2, DerekVH, FDOS

[Author]

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