[DavidSmith2]

I was chatting to some of the crew on the way back to Accra yesterday. They said that the new uniforms will be coming in before the end of September. All the female crew were complaining about the cut of the garments. They also said that many of the items already delivered bore little relationship to the stated sizes and/or with badly cut shoulders/sleeves. The men I spoke to were not so concerned on those issues, but they all pointed out that, so far, no guidance has been issued on styles and combinations in terms of what is mandatory/optional/banned.

So there could be a few disgruntled air crew on board in a week or so.

[FDOS]

When have BA crew ever been consistently gruntled?

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DerekVH, maxgeorge

[esselle]

Maybe Doyle could model some of it for us all here?

Better than Hi-Viz, surely?

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cwoodward

[cwoodward]

It seems that any time a major airline changes their uniform design some vocal individuals don’t like aspects of it.
As to be expected I suppose.

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red_robbo, Nicholas Bacon

[CathayLoyalist2]

Were the cabin crew consulted as part of the design stage which would seem an obvious thing to do?

[DavidSmith2]

“Were the cabin crew consulted as part of the design stage which would seem an obvious thing to do?”

Yes, they definitely were. I think they are happy with the range of uniform elements etc (although they pointed out that the new jumpsuits may not be very practical). The problem, they say, is that the designer is more well-known for male rather than female garments so the final product is lacking for the female crew. And then the production is also lacking in terms of quality (e.g. cardigans with sleeves which are 6 inches too long etc.).

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CathayLoyalist2

[Travelcruiser]

Spoke to a BA cabin crew friend last week who told me the items that have been delivered are vastly different from the original items they were shown and in addition buttons and zippers are missing and some are mistakenly getting turbans. Apparently it’s all gone wrong in the manufacturing and allocation process.

[CathayLoyalist2]

Another example of going for the cheapest maybe?

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Jacob, cwoodward

[James]

I was on a flight to Malta last Thursday and they announced to the cabin that it was the first day of crew wearing the new uniform. All of those I asked said they liked it and it was comfortable – less restrictive than the last uniform. However, I thought it was a very dreary ‘improvement’.

[AndrewinHK]

Completely subjective of course, but I think the new uniforms are hideous, who on earth decides these things, if you had one focus group I think they would have swiftly told you that the uniform is generic, not premium-looking in any way, and inferior to the previous one.

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toptraveller

[esselle]

I must say that the photos I have seen make it look very unremarkable.

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toptraveller, sparkyflier

[cwoodward]

I agree ‘esselle’ but is that not its point.
It is very much a ‘uniform’ for today and tomorrow I feel.
The days of an overriding glamor focus for the selection and uniforms of female cabin crew are past and and one cannot argue with that. (although it was perhaps rather nice for us chaps at the time !)

The uniform set contains a total, I read of 83 items, has been in the making since 2018 and designed by a seeming famous designer. Personally I rather like the comfortable yet elegantly purposeful business look given that it is after all a hard working uniform. Seemingly by intention.
Apparently 1500 crew were consulted via contact focus groups along the way and there were seemingly also many customer consultation groups also.

It looks to me as though care was taken during the process and what has emerged is fit for purpose if (as some say) unremarkable.

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red_robbo, Nicholas Bacon

[PlaneSpeaking]

As with James above, we got the same new uniform announcement on our flight to Cyprus last Thursday (not saying which airport in case the crew could be identified). I asked the in-flight manager if she liked it and got an immediate and very firm no, followed by a similar response from her colleague. I have to say I don’t like it either, to look at that is – I didn’t try it on! Apart from it being a shockingly bad fit for these two lovely ladies, the branding is very weak and nowhere near as ‘BA’ as the previous version.

[CathayLoyalist2]

Last week it was reported in the media that a poll taken amongst cabin crew revealed that a large majority were critical. Specifically what they were shown and thus expected didn´t materialise. Something went adrift during the manufacturing stage. Rather like the old adage fron the front line “Send reinforcements we are going to advance” by the time that message got back to HQ the message was “Send three and fourpence we are going to a dance”

[Rferguson2]

I was passing through Houston immigration the other day and there was a BA crew in the Flight Crew lane. They were mixed in with crew from United, American and Air France and in all honestly I could have completely missed them among the typical ‘airline blue with a splash of red’.

It is just ‘meh’ in my opinion. Nothing remarkable or distinctive about it whatsoever. Which, for a uniform that had so much hype over its grand reveal for literally years is disappointing. I don’t find it offensive in any way, just completely underwhelming.

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Catalina, toptraveller, Ekond222, DerekVH, theflyingnurse, Jacob, AndrewinHK, esselle, MartynSinclair, James

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