[Anonymous]

[Swissdiver]

This topic was raised already a few times on this forum over the past years. But to be honest, I never bothered. Until recently…

Went back and forth to Nairobi and on both flights had a strange feeling not to have the “normal service” I am used to. It was just terribly impersonal. OK, BA crews are not the most empathic in the world. Still, there is something that makes you feel welcome, especially if you are a gold member. But on these flights, nothing… No hello or goodbye, hardly a smile, …

Back at LHR, waiting for the door to be opened, I chatted with the person I believed to be the CSD (but he was actually very proud to be a CSM – Manager and not Director, i.e. mixed fleet). He told me that there were the future. Looking at both my experiences, honestly, I hope not!

Interestingly, looking now at the list rfergusson published in November 2013, this was probably not the first mixed fleet flight I took.

Here is the full list::
L/H: Nairobi, Abuja, Lagos, Rio, Haneda, Seoul, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi/Muscat, Singapore/Sydney.
S/H: Pisa, Kiev, Manchester, Hamburg, Vienna, Paris, Lyon, Baku, Basel, Cairo, Luxembourg, Warsaw.

May-be I was lucky on the previous flights, or may-be I escaped the mixed fleet thing. But I don’t look forward at my next 4 flights, all being on that damned list above…

[AnthonyDunn]

@ Swissdiver – 17/10/2014 11:03 GMT

Dare I ask: did you say anything to the CSM about your perception of a very impersonal and cold standard of service? If they’re not told, they’re not going to learn that this needs improving.

[Swissdiver]

@Anthony: you’re right. But then the door opened and it was time to disembark… Looks like a lousy excuse. The thing is it was the first contact I had as he didn’t event bother to come and say hello as it is usually done on BA…

[AnthonyDunn]

@ Swissdiver – 17/10/2014 11:36 GMT

And your experience stands in stark contrast to my Summer foray with CX where it is a standard part of the service for everyone in J to be personally welcomed aboard. The cabin crews (on all sectors) were attentive to a fault and it made for a very agreeable experience. None of this was OTT but just personable and very pleasant. It doesn’t take that much effort to offer a smile…

[TominScotland]

Interesting post, Swissdriver

I have flown Sydney and Muscat in recent months (from the list) and would agree with everything you say. It is difficult to put a finger exactly on what is not right but it is the slightly impersonal feel, lack of interest in you as an individual, maybe. It gets to the point where you are reluctant to ask for things because it might be too much trouble?? It is a feeling I sometimes have got on EK although this is by no means always the case.

[VKsNemesis]

I flew J Class on BA from BOM-LHR in June and I must say the Bombay-based crew member AND the British Asian crew member were warmer and more helpful and engaging than their English counterparts.
Maybe the English just don’t have it in their DNA to be warm and engaging.

[Flyboy18]

VKsNemesis…..really I can’t believe you just put that? As a British crew member for British Airways I find that totally insulting. I have come across many passengers and crew be it English, Indian, and any other race or nationality you can mention that do not have it in their DNA to be warm or engaging.

[VKsNemesis]

Your response is hardly “warm or engaging”. :o)

[Flyboy18]

Well when someone is not warm and engaging towards me it’s hard to be warm and engaging back. A touch racist I think.

[VKsNemesis]

No more “racist” than anyone proclaiming “I have come across many passengers and crew be it English, Indian, and any other race or nationality you can mention that do not have it in their DNA to be warm or engaging”.
You’re being racist to a larger group of ethnicities. :o)

[Flyboy18]

If you read it again I said….any other race you can mention….i.e.. everyone.

[VKsNemesis]

My point exactly, you’re being racist towards …”everyone”! No wonder BA’s cabin crew are notorious for being haughty and arrogant!

[openfly]

@scott72 I don’t have to be “warm and engaging”, I am the passenger, paying your salary. You are being paid to be warm and engaging.

I have flown 8 long haul sectors with mixed fleet crews recently…every flight was grim in all respects. Looking forward to my JNB next week with legacy crew….just like old times, with crew members who know what they are doing.

Sorry to be harsh…but it needs saying.

[MrMichael]

I have some sympathy for the mixed fleet crew. No offence meant to Scott72, I know not if you are legacy or mixed fleet, but I do know we get what we pay for. BA introduced mixed fleet for a number of reasons, one of which was lower salarys for the mixed fleet crew. If a business offers poorer working conditions to one group of workers doing the same job as the others, they will be demotivated.

Demotivated staff will in a lot (or just some perhaps) of cases do the bare minimum to get by and stay just out of trouble. So the two tier system has demotivated a lot of the BA staff, and it is is the pax that end up with a service and attitude inferior to that we became accustomed.

Most BA crew are better than IB crew, my view….

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