[Anonymous]

[HedgeFundFlyer]

My work’s travel policy is J for flights under 8 hours and F for those over, so I frequently find myself in J with the delights of F still fresh in my mind.

Although a huge fan of BA F, I am pretty non-plussed with Club World. It is OK but it COULD be very, very good with only a few adjustments at the margins.

First – the positives: great aircraft, experienced flight crew, good time-keeping, responsive reservation assurance, generally decent lounges at most major airports (DXB excepted!) and a very good seat / flat bed offering.

Now – the negatives: the J crew can be very unpredictable: sometimes charm personfied, other times they talk to me in a way that borders on offensive. The food is cr@p; sometimes inedible. The wine is very mediocre. The “flow” of drinks is very poor: if I am paying £3k for a ticket I should not have to ask for a second glass of average Ozzie Shiraz and then be made to feel like a cheapskate for so doing. I seldom use in the IFE but when I do, I expect to be able to look at a screen that is sharp and properly functioning and which carries a decent selection of films.

You see where I am going with this: BA has got all the fundamentals (and the really costly things) right. It is compromising on other things, which massively undermine the experience but which save it very little money. It would clean up against the competition in J if it really put its mind to it.

Thoughts appreciated.

[Bucksnet]

BA can’t make Club World too good otherwise there would be less demand for first. However, first itself needs to be improved.

[VintageKrug]

Well, the food and wine is already being improved (with the changes beginning to roll out from last month).

There is already a Premium Crew Training putsch being launched, though that will take a while to deliver. Not too sure of the details of that, and whether or not it includes legacy crew…?

It’s clear that when crew are on top form, they’re among the best in the industry, but too often this is not the case. I also think that it’s incumbent on passengers to be clear what their expectations are and not to sit in silence if they are not receiving the service they expect; push the call button or potter into the galley and ask nicely for whatever you need, and if it doesn’t get sorted to your satisfaction, then escalate via the Cabin Services Director or Cabin Manager; that’s what they are there for and writing in after the fact won’t improve your experience there and then.

Too many people are overly timid about asking for things, and all too happy to rant anonymously online about deficiencies which could heave been dealt with in seconds at the time they occurred.

[HedgeFundFlyer]

Well I am neither timid, nor do I believe that I am ranting. If I want a drink, I have no problem asking for one. I think my point is that even in Club I expect a little hospitality, and that involves being offered a top up to my empty wine glass.

Take my red eye back from JFK last week: I was on the upper deck. Most had pre-dined and gone straight to sleep. I was one of maybe two or three awake, trying to catch up on some work. It would have cost the pair of cabin crew very little to break off from their chatter to walk up and down and make sure those not asleep had everything they needed.

But, as you say, VK, it comes dowen to the crew. I am glad BA have cottoned on to that and are deploying some suitable training.

My understanding is that F crews have always had special training but that J crews are drawn from the same pool as WT and WT+ crews with little in the way of additional preparation. It shows.

[Danwolf]

HedgeFundFlyer – I understand where you’re coming from. One thing to note on the upper deck, generally speaking, the people who book the upper deck are there to sleep. The cabin crew don’t walk up and down the aisle to minimise people’s sleep disruption (I’ve experienced this on an CW aisle seat on the lower deck in a recent trip, not nice having to go to work the next morning).

The food over the past few months has generally improved in CW.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

“push the call button or potter into the galley and ask nicely for whatever you need, and if it doesn’t get sorted to your satisfaction, then escalate via the Cabin Services Director or Cabin Manager”

…hoping that the crew don’t have any spare eye drops on them 😉

[HappytobeSilver]

I agree with VK’s comments. I have just returned from SFO on the upper deck on both the outward and return journeys. On both flights thew cabin crew addressewd me by name and on the outbound flight the CSD came round all CW passengers, identifying them by name and asking if there was anything else they needed. CW food has certainly improved- especially the second meal service. Drinks offerings were plentiful and to be honest my only small gripe was that there were inadequate food choices on both flights with most passengers seemingly unable to get their first choice of meal.

[Hippocampus]

Regarding premium crew training, some time ago (about five years) BA sought to introduce a dedicated set of premium crew to work in the premium cabins. However, BASSA was opposed to this because it interfered with the concept of seniority which absolutely rules on the Worldwide fleet as crew get to choose their working position on the aircraft on the basis of seniority. This often can lead to problems with junior crew working premium cabins because senior crew have all gone for the easy option of handing out trays in World Traveller and crew becoming unfamiliar with premium cabin service routines because they usually manage to work in World Traveller.

As for variability of crew, until there is a step change in performance management of crew at all levels (unlikely to ever happen on Worldwide) with under-performing crew being in no doubt they need to improve (thus leading to higher attrition), this will not change.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

“…hoping that the crew don’t have any spare eye drops on them ;-)”

so you’re aware of that old cabin crew trick too, Disgusted!

I’ve always thought it was hilarious and I’m pretty sure it is only the true “pigs in space” who have that trick played on them!

(Interesting to see how many others know what we are talking about!)

[HedgeFundFlyer]

I have no idea!

Someone please spill the beans…..

[Hippocampus]

I understand a Senior First Officer once had eye drops put in his food by a cabin crew member.

[HedgeFundFlyer]

Very clever. Nothing like poisoning the flight crew to make for an memorable journey.

[dutchyankee]

@HedgeFundFlyer, Certain types of eyedrops (not saline) can cause diarrhea. Tetrahydrozoline is the chemical that makes this happen. It’s a school yard prank that some crew have used to ‘teach’ unruly or demanding passengers a lesson.

[Tim2soza]

Flew BA LHR – LAX on 1 Dec in front section of CW in a Hi-J 744. Could not fault the service / product / food end to end. V similar to AlanM11’s experience.

The food is improved massively since my last trip in Feb; wine too.

Loved Galleries South.

[Author]

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