[christopheL]

Tom, the question is not “is it the brand standard ?” but “should it be the brand standard ?”
IMO the answer is no. I find it quite ridiculous when someone I have never me before welcomes me saying “welcome back Mr ChristopheL”. This is nothing but a fake welcome and it even become very unpolite when the person who is seated next to me is ignored by the cabin crew because he is not gold.
A gold card gives us many benefits (more avios, lounge access, dedicated team…) which we can use irrespective of our class of travel. When in the plane, all passengers travelling in the same cabî should be treated the same way by cabin crews.

[NTarrant]

Why is it fake ChristopeL? Just because it is part of the job does not mean that the greeting is fake. It does depend on the delivery of the greeting.

I wouldn’t expect an at seat greeting on a short haul flight or in economy, but in J or F where it has been the norm, it should be consistent. As I said before I can’t remember when I last had it on BA in Club long haul. But four flights on CX within two weeks 100% in J

[christopheL]

It is fake because it is only based on the holding of a gold card.
Can you imagine yourself welcoming someone by his name and ignoring the person who is in the same position (seated in the plane you are working in) but who is not holding a gold card ? I can not.
As MrMichael said some cabin crew members want to please their passengers. I would say that some others are less willing to do it … unless a brand standard requires it.

[IanFromHKG]

NTarrant, one of the things I particularly like on CX is the fact that they don’t just do the greeting, they remember your name. And this isn’t looking things up on iPads – if I walk to the galley to get some snacks, I am invariably greeted by the crew there by name. They don’t look it up, they have gone to the trouble of memorising everyone’s face and name (this is in J, I must add, not economy!). Now again, that may just be part of their own service standard – but in terms of personalising the service it is incredibly powerful.

Mind you, they don’t have anywhere near as many J seats in their largest planes as BA have with their sardine-can approach, particularly on the A380!! I will be flying that on 30 June to LHR (and on the way back, as it happens – I changed my return date so am now coming back on an A380 as well). I am interested now to see how they interact with me as a oneworld emerald! My hopes and expectations (as usual on BA, sadly) are set very low…

[CathayLoyalist2]

ChristopheL- the word we are looking for here is ‘appropriate’ not fake. If it is not delivered in a sincere way yes that is fake. If you hire a car or book into a hotel and you are a frequent guest then there are certain add ons/value adds you get and/or expect to get. i.e. priority queue, express check in etc. if I fly with an airline I rarely if ever use I do not expect anything extra. As I said above walking into a hotel I am using for the first time and the doorman says ‘Welcome Back’ that is fake. As to the consistency which is the issue you are looking at hiring for attitude first and skills afterwards which clearly demonstrated on MrMichael’s flight to LHR from MAD.

[SimonS1]

A quick ‘welcome back’ as you come in the door of the aircraft is fine, easily achieved by a glance at the BP.

The ‘at seat’ visit is totally cringeworthy – welcome back Mr…er…[as CSM glances at ipad/roll of paper etc etc]. In my view better not to bother.

[stevescoots]

I did Finnair on Wednesday. Booked on my BA Gold. No greetings or even introduction by the staff on either LHR to HEL or HEL to HKG. Didnt see any other passengers in J getting one either and as most were Finns I would have guessed there were possibly Finnair top tier too on board as well

Surprisingly I had a welcome back at the CX lounge in LHR and directed to the first lounge.

Also what has happened to Finnair? I flew them a few times 2 or 3 years ago and the service was excellent, food good etc. The HEL to HKG flight was much lower standard. Previously the crew were all European but now it seemed they were all Chinese, certainly from my smattering of mandarin they seemed mainland Chinese and whilst very polite had the same disorganised service standards as you would expect from the likes of China Eastern or Shenzhen airways etc. I can only surmise that as Finnair have gone east they are using mainland based crews to cut costs. Food was economy class standard. Socks, eyeshades, blankets, all on request only. Also their understanding of English terrible. She who must be obeyed ordered food. “ one veal for me and one salmon for him” I said to her you know you will end up with 2 meals, sure enough 10 minutes later the stewardess came back. Sorry only one meal per passenger, oh how I chuckled. And exactly the same happened at breakfast (which was inedible) cabin seemed old, or maybe new but styled by a former Soviet design student. The IFE was probably the worst I have seen since BA, whilst I was being a boser poser she was using theirs, or trying to as it took 3 attempts to get a working pair. 2 of them clearly with broken wires so I am going to guess the attention to servicing is not high (or maybe cleaning them after use)
That said as this was an overnight flight where most is spent sleeping and it was only £1650 on sale in J I cannot complain. But it’s amazing how they have dropped from a flag carrier level to one below that of China southern flights out of LHR or AMS. Certainly at their usual prices of £2500 it’s not worth it

[CathayLoyalist2]

If you look at all the posts in this thread and the numerous others on many other threads, there is a very clear pattern across a lot of airlines, not all, that those in charge have never worked on the front line and/or in a customer service environment. For those of you who watch “Undercover CEO” it shows clearly how out of touch the ‘Boardroom” and senior management in general is with reality even allowing for the editing that goes into these types of programmes. There has been a mountain of research over the past 10+years that links great customer service with increased profits and happier staff. Equally I have yet to see or hear of a company that has saved its way to prosperity.

[K1ngston]

+1 Ian_from _HKG CX will always remember your name and always come and visit when travelling in any cabin. I use them extensively here in Asia going from SIN to BKK as it keeps my OW Emerald status up!

As for BA I am also flying the A380 on the 30th sadly not your route as I am sure we would have kept them on their toes but LHR-SIN after my 3 day dash back to the UK. Have not flown BA for a while and certainly not on the 380.

We shall see KUL-LHR in First and LHR-SIN J can’t wait to find out what all the fuss is about 🙂

[NTarrant]

+1 Ian_from_HKG, I liked particularly when travelling HKG-RUH this week, I go to use the toilet and as I pull the curtain back I’m greeted with hello Mr T. On coming out I was asked by name if I wanted anything to drink.

To be fair, I have had that on BA on occasions, just depends on the crew. When I used to travel regularly between LGW and JER there was a cabin manager/purser, whatever, that used to greet me by name before I had handed my boarding card, nice touch and there were one or two others received similar treatment.

[JordanD]

Does the “welcome” happen on shorthaul? I can’t say I remember the last time I got the “nice to have you back” line as a Gold on shorthaul (and I’m currently flying every week) … that said, I do do a lot of Zurich flights, where I understand that Gold/Silver status passengers tend to outweigh the rest of the onboard passengers!

[BRin1406]

Travelling in First from Boston to LHR last week and the CSD greeted everyone in the cabin personally engaging all in conversation.

[PerthWA]

What an interestingly silly and somewhat pathetic thread… Does one really need to be “welcomed” in whatever capacity?

I find it tedious to have someone disturb my box set, quasi ‘sleep’ just to say let me know if I can do anything and then not deliver my one request of a first class seat! Leave me alone!

The only thing that matters is if when stuck at the back and one doesn’t need a drink, hand cream or a set of headphones as I have my own thank you, is an express immigration pass which generally means nothing as everyone has one anyway and the “economy” queue is quicker!

So… Emerald, platinum, gold that’s me… I don’t care but have to say cathay, Qantas, american and occasionally emirates all do the niceties whichever class I’m in.

Exception that rabid hideous CSM who I’ve encountered more than once PER/DXB who thinks he would be throwing all of emirates profits to Etihad by breaching all of his training manual by giving me one solitary Olive for my vodka in economy as “it’s against company policy”. God help us.

Allow me to fly cathay forever and no I don’t work for them!!!

[Marlow1971]

Reading all the replies it seems the following is true:

1. Most of us don’t really mind that much if we fly in steerage whether the BA CSD takes the trouble to see us or not;
2. However, it is symbolic of BA’s inability to provide consistent customer service. The best is world class but the worst is just awful in attitude even if they technically tick many of the boxes.
3. This debate has opened up a more interesting debate and I believe a good CSD ought to make him or herself known to customers in First and introduce themselves. Some do and it raises the bar so those who don’t make you feel less valued. Plus, as I said in a previous note the First crews will up their game if they know the CSD has his or her eye on First!

[TominScotland]

I have just come off an almost empty BA073 to Abu Dhabi. Sitting in a front row emergency exit seat in Economy (22C), I had nobody next to me and so, on a day flight, was able to spread my things out and get some solid work done.

The crew were young mixed fleet and were delightful. I know the flight was quiet but throughout they could not do enough, engaged, enjoying their work. The senior team member came and talked to me and brought me a couple of little extras – appreciated for the thought as much as anything. I remembered that I had one of these Gold star cards (or whatever they are called) on me and gave one to her on behalf of the whole team. She was thrilled and the CSD was back with me in less than 10 minutes, thanking me, giving me their names and asking me to post my thoughts on ba.com/thankyou, which i have done.

Compared to my legacy crew experience to both legs of my Dubai trip last week, this was chalk and cheese. The (much older) Dubai crews were frumpish, disinterested and mechanical…..

[Author]

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