[seasonedtraveller]

Last nights JFK to LCY service – Not even a hello…..

[CathayLoyalist2]

Well this just goes to show it is down to the crew. BA 12 SIN-LHR Sun 18th Nov 58K Upper deck A380. 2 hours into the flight CSD Mike Carpenter comes by and apologises for the delay in coming to say hello. I’m Diamond with CX and therefore Emerald OW. Had a 20 minute conversation and we touched on this thread. The CSD welcome varies because some CD’s on some flights are required to work a cabin whereas on the A380 his role is management and passenger contact. That flight he had 68 Golds so a fair point. One of the crew Cor , short for Cornelius was outstanding in terms of attitude, service standards. He would have graced a 6 star hotel. One of the best BA experiences I have had for a while and hats off to Mike Carpenter

[seasonedtraveller]

CathayLoyalist2 – 23/10/2015 21:40 BST

in complete contrast to my flights where there were only 26 pax and a single Gold Guest List (ie, me)

You are correct CL, it’s a difference made by crew attitude towards their customers.

Interestingly (or not depending on your view), BA just sent me a Nunroyd survey which was heavily biased towards this very subject…. Who knows, maybe they do read this forum???

[CathayLoyalist2]

I think it is JD Power a USA company who regularly carry out Mystery Shopper visits on hotels the aim of which amongst others is looking for consistent delivery of the brand promise. I wonder if BA or any airline for that matter does the same thing. I know giving up a revenue seat is a lot more costly than a hotel room for 2/3 days but if BA improves their consistency I’m sure the cost would be far outweighed by the retained customer revenue. I wonder how long Keith Williams has to be wait before he gets a greeting!!

[seasonedtraveller]

With regard to the post above about mystery shoppers. I was chatting to a chap in a bar in Phoenix last week who was employed by Marriott in some kind of marketing/advisory/customer satisfaction role (which wasn’t too clear since he’d already consumed several beers)…..

Anyway, I asked him to explain to me, Marriott’s loyalty scheme where Gold level is 50 nights and Platinum is 75 nights (so an additional 25 nights at around £135 per night…. £3,375 additional spend) and for what?

As far as I can see, & I am platinum, there are no additional benefits awarded to Platinum level members other than a few additional points……
Golds get breakfast, upgrades, free wifi as do platinum?

In 2 years of top tier Marriott, I’ve only ever had a single room upgrade…..

He was at a loss to answer and promised to raise it with his employers…. we shall see…

[goldaviator]

Lhr to Atl in Club last Thursday, great crew but no gold welcome. Will see on return tomorrow.

[handbag]

On my last flight there were over 30 Golds inc. 10 Guest list. Not sure how many One Worlds as well. The flight was totally full. It was a 747 , which means the CSD is part of the service (unlike the A380). Would it be possible for her to do the service and speak to all these whilst they were awake. I don’t think so. Since the CSD has been made part of the service, on a very busy flight with lots of Golds, it is not always possible. Sometimes the CSDs delegate the welcome to a CSL , but on a full flight, by the time I have gone to speak to them, they are sometimes asleep.

It does seem that we are getting more and more Golds on our flights whether this is my perception or the reality, I don’t know, but it is not unusual to have 30+ on a flight now.

[HedgeFundFlyer]

@handbag

Thanks. Very interesting. Do,you mind me asking which sector you were on? I’m guessing it must be JFK but would be good to know.

Thanks.

[handbag]

It was a Bejing, but, this is not unusual, could be anywhere out of LHR. When I hear people say I was the only Gold etc. Or I was the only Guest list, this is generally,very different from the picture I am seeing. Unless they take the CSD out of the service on a 747(that will never happen) I can’t see there ever being a consistent service , as the workload makes this almost impossible. On the 747 there are also the issue of an ageing plane and sometimes IFE problems. Do you go and welcome all the Golds or fix the IFE. Personally I think that everyone deserves IFE. Golds are a nice to do and I wish there were enough Crew to always be consistent. I do on behalf of the CSD (I am a CSL) in WT , when I can, but again, sometime get 10 + in WT and + and I am sorting out split up families, getting the galley ready and then they are asleep or watching a film as I go past.

Really don’t want it to sounds as if I don’t do welcomes, I do when I can. Recently we were not particularly busy and spent a long time on the ground. We had a couple of completely free rows in WT. Had about 5 Golds, and I made a point of asking each one if they would like to move to the free row, before someone else moved into it, so as they could have a more comfortable flight. I had a couple of very happy Golds. A couple had bulk head seats and didn’t want to move.

There are several factors involved – different airlines have different crew ratios, sometimes the CSD is part of the service, is the flight busy, are there any issue that you may not be aware of, how many Golds there may be on board. As well as this, the CSD now gets a list of people they must speak to or tick on the iPad , why they haven’t. These are not necessarily Golds. Could be 1st flight in a particular Cabin, not flown with us for a while and welcome back etc. We would love the time to say Welcome to everyone, but we now have less Crew than we ever had, I think more Golds and invariably a full flight. If you don’t get a Welcome, there may be a good reason.

[Cheeryguy]

@handbag

Your post made me think.
As the CSL, you will of course know the volume of GGL GCH on your flight. How though do indivdual GGL GCH know how many there are…..unless of course they are actively enquiring…….if so why is it something they want to know. Bizarre.

[handbag]

Sorry, Cheeryguy. Not one I can answer. I know someone above said they were , so they will be able to tell you.

[AndrewinHK]

CX are very consistent, never fail to welcome and give you a bottle of water, diamonds are slightly spoiled and often act it onboard CX. BA are hit and miss but fairly good also.

[handbag]

amc1234

Do you know how many Crew there are on a 747 with CX and also if the CSD is part of the service. Over the last few years, we have lost 2 Crew and I am sure this makes a difference we used to have 15 / 16 flight dependant. We now have 14.This may be a factor, I am not sure.

[AndrewinHK]

@handbag

CX have hardly any 747 left but 16 crew operate. The CX Union is very strong so I’m sure they would like to operate with less crew but the union cannot be broken unlike BA’s.

[handbag]

amc1234

I thought that might be the case. Hopefully this goes towards explaining why some flights / aircraft / airlines manage it more consistently than others.

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