[FormerlyDoS]

Handbag

I thought you were restrained in your comments and you were quite right to respond to someone who does not work for your firm, has no connection with it, but still passes pompous judgment on internal matter.s

[handbag]

FormerlyDoS – 16/03/2013 19:38 GMT

Thank you.

[BeckyBoop]

Canuklad the big question is now.. will you ever fly BA again? 🙂

[canucklad]

Well Becky finally onto…..Hole 18 (The whole Shebang)

Firstly….Yep Binman, it was “THE BAG”……One of the small legs snapped off making it “legless” !!….My mum would have been the first to laugh and appreciate the irony as she loved to partake in a Brandy or indeed a Scotch…Rye or Malt were both acceptable…..Anyway a unsteady home coming for my mum—welcome home after 60 years mum 🙂

To BA’s credit, my replacement bag was with me less than 48 hours later…no fuss, no interrogation, the Servisair guy @ EDI arrivals was really good!!

To summarise head to head then….

IFE……
I loved the “dusk” ambiance that my broken screen gave me on my O/B flight, so well spotted Binman, I was rather under whelmed with the choices (especially the TV shows) , and I wasn’t going to choose a new release as I wouldn’t know whether I was watching a daytime scene or a night time scene……

BA CW v AC EXEC
No contest here ….Seating layout preference aside, AC is miles ahead…Unfortunately BA’s cabin looked and felt dated…The ambiance suggested a 90’s London pub trying to be trendy..….. And a flat bed alone just doesn’t cut it!….As for the “Porridge” screen !!
Really do feel for the CC, and how they manage to engage with people despite of…rather than!!……Oh BAcrew1..Any more ideas about my GLOOPING ? LOL

WTP v AC “Y”
I have a definite opinion on 4 class travel, if I remember correctly KLM where the first to introduce a class of travel for business passengers who didn’t indulge in their “Royal” service……They called it Triple FFF….standing for Full Fare Flexibility….in other words they separated passengers who paid the full Y fare from those who took advantage of APEX blah blah blah….that then evolved into their business class….To me any airline that has a business cabin & then introduces a “Y+” cabin is basically stating that their “Y” service isn’t worth s***e as they say here in Scotland!!…So shame on you AC for introducing it soon!!
As it stands…Good extra legroom, a bigger seat are indeed plus points, but here’s the rub…would I pay extra not to fly BA “Y” ….well the gorilla in the room question ,I have to ask myself is, just how bad is World Traveller?….More pertinent ,would I pay extra to fly WTP over AC “Y” …err no…My money doesn’t grow on tree and IMHO what I experienced of WTP was about comparable to AC’s Y , so Binman thanks for the heads up but I would rather fritter the $700 away next month at Punchestown!!

FOOD & DRINK
Yumm Yumm for the Steak ….The rest of it was memorably bland in taste and presentation and I’m afraid Becky’s CW Kitchen is done much better by AF’s attempt in their Aft galley!!

LOUNGES
What can I say, an absolute triumph for BA at LHR….. If Ian & you guy’s are telling me that CX’s is better I’m going to buy an extra lottery ticket till I win and fly CX in premium! Still a big Booo for the Canucks debacle at YVR though !

CABIN CREW
Reflecting back, this was by far my biggest surprise, and honestly were I thought BA would “ drop shots” all over the place….Well I was wrong, very wrong…..My low expectations and the handicap I gave at the start was based on (with 1 exception) surly, rude, inattentive….process driven robots , not one crew but 3 different crews on a trip to OZ….their absolute indifference to people who pay their wages was arrogance akin to Mr Duck House during the expenses scandal!!….magnified even more by the fact we flew QF between SYD & BGK and had CC that were genuinely happy to have you on board!!…So alexpo1 you were right ..

So, I don’t give a flying BASSA who serves me….FormelyDOS summed it up earlier….One BA flight should be no different from any other…..I as a WAGE/SALARY paying passenger shouldn’t need to worry about terminology such as “legacy”—“mixed”—“European” —“worldwide” or whatever…….My on going expectation on future BA flights ( hope this answers your question Becky) will now be the “ Katy & OB lass “ standard ……. And may I suggest to any BA management reading this that you should consider doing away with “Mixed Fleet” and allow them to integrate… I’m sure their enthusiasm would rub off on some of your lower performing “legacy” colleagues and just as importantly they can learn from experienced mentors!! ….. To differentiate them is just so 70’s management style!!

OVERALL
Value for money and points, Avios really is a rip-off compared to the old DC….would have cost me slightly more in APD & would have got AC Exec rather than WT+ …. Although easier to book !
If paying for it ,out my hard earned salary then I would still opt for AC on this route, However I would now consider flying BA long haul if the price was right on other routes…i.e HKG or dare I say it OZ!!……..and it was all down to 2 young lassies who chose the correct attitude and “Flew to Serve”

To Papillion & AD ……off to Punchestown next month, sp you’re wish off another FR review might be realised…..although not yet taken advantage of my matched EI card yet!!

[BeckyBoop]

Oi what do you mean my CW kitchen??

[canucklad]

Apologies Becky …. It was your Gestapo Gusto response earlier on, when it was implied that a mere WTP soul could sneak behind the magic blue curtain and pillage and raid the treasures of chosen ones larder! LOL

[Papillion53]

Thanks Canucklad – great review although a few of the birdie and eagles flew way over my head! 😉 :-). I hadn’t realised your journey was such a poignant one in bringing Mum home. I’m sure if she was anything like my Mum she’d have been laughing at her homecoming! Ah Mums, there really is no one like them …… 🙂

I can hardly contain myself waiting for the next Fryanscair review!

[IanFromHKG]

“What can I say, an absolute triumph for BA at LHR….. If Ian & you guy’s are telling me that CX’s is better”

Erm… I don’t think I have ever said that!! The CX lounges in HKG beat the pants off the BA/QF lounges, but at Heathrow… Well, let’s just say that in T3 (where I can use any of the oneworld lounges) I invariably go for the BA option! That is a personal preference, though, and I know others who prefer the CX lounges – horses for courses, I suppose, but I would never say that the CX lounge at Heathrow is “better” than BA’s because that particular judgment is too subjective. I think you may be confusing my comments about the on-board experience on CX (J) which is, IMHO, streets ahead of BA both in terms of hard and soft product and, as regards the latter, its utterly predictable consistency

So, don’t choose CX because of the lounge experience (that is pointless anyway*), choose it because of the in-flight experience

* I have mentioned this before but it still seems to escape most people – if you are a oneworld elite with lounge access, OR are flying on a premium ticket, you can use ANY oneworld lounge (of the appropriate class, of course) at your point of departure. So, regardless of status, if you have a BA J ticket you can use a CX lounge and vice versa, and similarly if lounge access derives from your oneworld elite status (although you may be permitted more guests with your home carrier),

[FormerlyDoS]

Canucklad

I have really enjoyed this thread and admire your ability as a raconteur, as well as the balanced and fair comparison.

Thanks for your efforts.

[AnthonyDunn]

@ canucklad – 19/03/2013 14:27 GMT

Glad that you made it there and back in one piece. I had not realised the purpose of your trip and was simply aghast when you said that BA had managed to damage the precious fragile…. Will look forward to future hilarity (courtesy of the Glasgae gals oot on tooor…) ATB

[Papillion53]

Morning all – well I’m still waiting for the 19th Hole story …….. LOL!

[canucklad]

happy easter and apolologies to all excepting Papillion LOL for re-surrecting this topic for one last update!!!

Hole 19…..The seduction

As Terry Thomas would probably have advised…….

“To complete your journey to heaven, you must prepare, after all a hunter knows and loves his prey before he pounces”….

So my Banff Ice Vodka was dispatched to the freezer, my young lass is after all quite sophistacted !! Can’t just turn up with a bottle of Asda value own brand…..

The kids are dispatched to their grand mother……peace and quiet and an ambience of “Hellloooo” is guaranteed !

Choosing a couple of fine wines and ordering a delicious aphrodisiac take away from my local chinese……mission on……….

Well your answer is this Papillion……

lots of laughter, wine and dancing,more music wine and chatting and onto the vodkan dancing and laughing , I’m no Michael flatley , and all this with too much vodka and wine and chinese food and …welll ….the one thing i forgot to bring to Hole 19 was my……….

PUTTER …LOL …still a good night though,and the morning was fine too 🙂

[Papillion53]

Canucklad – oh happy days, oh happy days!!! LOL! LOL!!!

[MartynSinclair]

I had in interesting flight back yesterday on BA 911 from FRA-LHR.

After a long day, I was offered a cheap upgrade to Club and for some reason I took it.

1D was available, happy days.

Once on board, 1D was taken by a gentleman who explained he had moved from the row behind so he could sit with his wife and TWO children, once occupying the middle seat. I said Yes I do mind, which was when it kicked off!

The long and short, I very begrudgingly sat in row 2. During the flight the seat was reclined, and water was thrown (by accident) by one of the children backward!

I spoke to the CSD at length who was shocked and said I should have searched for her – I actually thought they had The family were not executive card holders.

I explained that I had purchased the upgrade on the basis of 1D, otherwise, from row 2, there is little difference. She agreed and confirmed service recovery would happen. I was very open and said I would take 25,000 avios and NOT a refund of the upgrade amount.

When we landed, I was very happy just to leave the aircraft without talking to the passengers in row 1…. BUT

“Thank you sir for agreeing to move to row 2, you are indeed very kind”

“Sir, it is not me who should be thanked, but you for being so selfish by taking someone elses seat… What you may not know, I paid specifically for that seat”

“I needed to be next to my family”

That’s when it really kicked off with a totally unrelated passenger in row 5, using extreme profanity’s, “F” and “P” words directed at me to shut up and F off the aircraft.

Just checked my avios account, 25K in there, 5 free European sectors all of which will be used in the next month or so.

Not a pleasant experience, but handled very well by the CSD who confirmed to me that both passengers would be included in her report..

[KarlMarx]

Sounds like the behaviour some people expect to observe on Ryanair.

[Author]

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