[FDOS_UK]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/16/british-airways-overbooked-flight-no-compensation

Without getting into the rights and wrongs of the particular incident, I was intrigued to read this comment by the Guardian

We have seen a noticeable increase in letters about BA in recent months. By the nature of the business, airlines are always going to have problems and therefore unhappy customers. It’s how it deals with such customers that is important. Too many readers say they are being ignored.

The Guardian is not my favourite paper because of its political orientation, but I do read it for balance and the quality of the journalism is usually good – AFAIK, they don’t have a long running grudge aganist BA, either.

So my question is, if the Guardian are starting to take note (and there are one or two other articles recently, in the Consumer Champions section), is BA nearing a tipping point where the profits have been maximised and the Law of Diminishing Returns could start to apply, if the management team don’t sort out some of the complaints?

[JohnHarper]

I’m not a Guardian reader either (don’t be too shocked at that AD!) however the point they make is very valid, things can go wrong but if people do not feel listened to is when business starts to be adversely affected and that tends to grow exponentially. BA is probably now sailing closer to the edge than I ever would and I’ve no doubt that given the current management culture they will keep going regardless.

ABBA

[MrMichael]

Some things on the forum haven’t changed! 😉

Seriously though, I have long said business should spend the minimum amount on service to make it an acceptable service for the market being sought. Spending more than necessary is folly and a waste. BA have been cutting costs to get to that sweet spot of acceptable service without waste. Have they reached it only time will tell. I tend to take such articles as posted by FDOS with a large pinch of salt. The Grauniad states it has many such letters complaining about bA…….really? So cut the crap journalism and quote more than one complaint. Seems to me to be lazy journalism or lazy journalism. Yes, I did it say it twice. Lazy as in cannot be bothered to do the whole story ( more examples) or lazy journalism as in making it up.

[FDOS_UK]

I only quoted one complaint, as the Guardian was making the point (not me), but there are two more currently on their site.

One from yesterday and one from Sunday

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/18/british-airways-booking-budget-airline-no-frills-code-sharing

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/17/british-airways-charged-twice-ticket-upgrade-no-refund

Personally, I wouldn’t accuse a serious paper of ‘making things up’, but hey ho, each to his own.

[MarcusGB]

I think the Forum is full of threads complaining about BA, and the recent changes, charges, and service withdrawals, standards. Even from the most avid BA travellers, so they appear to have cut too much. and i hear many former regular travellers, are now turning to other Airlines, and FFP’s.

[wowzimmer]

I was somewhat puzzled by a lot of the comments on the Guardian article… Are people genuinely convinced that every major airline out there doesn’t overbook their flights? This has been going on since I was born right? Of course, the issue at play here is BA’s method of soothing the upset passenger who has been forcibly bumped from a flight. I think anyone found in this situation would want to be treated with kid gloves. The ideal situation (if there were one) would be for volunteers to take advantage of hotel accommodation and monetary compensation. A very good friend of mine was only recently bumped from an EK flight and then rerouted via Dublin to eventually get to DXB. The fool was even convinced to sign a waiver and accept a free flight (with lots of conditions) instead of compensation.

[Gold-2K]

Im fine with BA having a policy of not wasting money, but as a long time flier with them, I think they have really pushed it to the absolute limit. For the first time in over 20 years of flying with them I am consciously flying with other (usually one world) airlines. I go to the US on American (their business class seat is miles better), I have flown Cathay to HKG and SYD (their first class cabin is in a different league) and I have recently flown JAL to Tokyo ….. and will do so again. Middle East its a no brainer to pick QR.

On my most recent flight with BA in First, no personal welcome, no one shown to my seat. The preflight drinks were served from the Club Galley (you could tell as they were smaller glasses and served off the blue plastic trays the crew used and the Champagne tasted like budget Cava. A hot towel that looked like some old rag found in a 1 star hotel bathroom, No Amuse Bouche (apparently that has gone permanently). I had to ask for wine as I wasn’t actually offered any with dinner. A roll of the eyes from Cabin Crew when I asked for my bed to be made up ….. etc etc ….. altogether an underwhelming experience.

They are making it increasingly hard to be loyal!

So I can believe the volume of complaints has risen, although I still have some sympathy for BA and other airlines who have to deal with unhappy customers who often seem to have unreasonable expectations when things go wrong. They spend £100 on a budget European flight and expect a free night in the Paris Ritz or a private lear jet home if something goes wrong!

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