[esselle]

Dear Mr Cruz

I thought I would address an open letter to you via this forum, and sending you an email appears not to do much good.

I thought you might like to hear about my most recent round trip in your F cabin.

The Concorde Room at T5 is the same as it has always been, by which I mean it does not appear to have changed at all since in opened in 2008. The menu in the dining area has been enhanced to such an extent that there is virtually no choice left. Your charming staff appear to have received their basic training in a Little Chef.

On board your 772, you seem to have stopped offering the little grey rags you used to call hot towels, and your crew have ceased to use call passengers by their names. The “new releases” in the films section of your IFE system have perhaps been misnamed, as there was nothing new on offer.

Returning on your 789, pre flight champagne was served in a wine glass, and when I asked if there was any white burgundy on board ( one hour post departure we still had no menus nor had drink orders been taken ), the reply was “we have some merolest”. This was not a wine I recognised, so I asked again and the reply was the same, merolest. I ventured that perhaps it may be a Mersault, at which point the crew member went to the galley, and came back to confirm I was right, it was Mersault.

My wife had informed the CSD that it was my birthday; she came over to congratulate me and assured me her two colleagues would ensure I had a memorable flight. Neither of them mentioned it during the entire flight.

Again, the grey rags were nowhere to be seen, and, adding to the consistency we had experienced on our outbound flight, there was no use of names.

I had a cognac before going to sleep, and again this was served in a wine glass.

Mr Cruz, have you or any of your colleagues ever taken a flight in the First cabin of any of your competitor airlines? If you haven’t I strongly suggest you do, as you will be shocked at how much money they waste ensuring their passengers have a great experience.

Achieving such levels of mediocrity as you clearly now do in your F cabin can only be achieved as a result of significant planning and effort, and I congratulate you on your endeavour.

[rferguson]

Sounds like an issue with crew more than the product loaded Esselle. Hot towels should be given out after take off and before landing. Did you mention the shortcomings to the CSD?

[esselle]

I haven’t had a hot towel in F for as long as I can remember, and there were none on outbound or inbound, so not,sure it was a crew problem.

[Mazin26]

Wow for a customer paying so much for a ticket, where is ‘feel good’ experience that should be expected?

[pdwtrip]

I must agree with the comments here – as per my posting on another Thread BA First Class : https://www.businesstraveller.com/forums/topic/where-ba-first-class-has-gone/page/3/

Since the BA trip we have now completed 2 trips with EK in first and it is still a ‘wow’ experience. The LHR Lounge food/drink choice & quality is 2 levels above T3 and Concord lounge. Serving yourself is fine – since in T3 I had to do that to get a drink anyway. Also EK do not ‘run out’ of quality champagne after serving 1 bottle on a trip. On board suites are really comfortable when made up as beds; food choice and service were excellent. A pleasure to change into the PJ’s without bruising elbows (I am 6’3″ so appreciate the space). Entertainment choice and video quality – again excellent.
Great Spa massage in DXB lounge – authentic deep tissue for 20 mins.
So we are looking at a trip to NZ in the future – it will be with EK.
As I said in previous post above – BA are only useful for trips to the US and F is the same as the J experience used to be – with a larger seat.
A shame – but I guess they have a plan that works for them.

[FinnKZ229]

A very poor offering for First Class.

Probably academic but I would interested to know on which route this occurred as it sounds as if there was no competition that they had to worry about.

[esselle]

It was LHR- DXB!!

[openfly]

BA are successfully striving to fail….

[esselle]

And I forgot to mention that the finger sandwiches still had the crusts on! Memories of a Lyons Corner House.

[SimonS1]

Don’t hold your breath, you will get the same old excuses that BA trots out in such circumstances.

The best solution is to vote with your feet.

[nevereconomy]

After years of F travel with BA to PHL, Esselle’s comments are what I have going through my head on every trip. I have started to vote with my feet by using the US service direct from MAN.
A 1-2-1 cabin, fairly motivated crew, simple but well presented food options and decent wines.
No LHR mess, always have a drink faster than in BA F and since this is a popular route for crews, I see the same FAs quite frequently. Also waiting to try LH in F, as I can reach my destination through Charlotte. I have been very slow to admit there will be no improvement in the BA downward spiral, but am there now.

[JohnHarper]

nevereconomy when are you due to fly in F with LH? It’s almost time for the Christmas goose to make its annual appearances in F on flights leaving Germany, it’s a real treat and while I’ve never had a poor meal on LH the goose is exceptional.

[Gold-2K]

I had a similar experience in the last 10 days flying LHR-LAX. Very impersonal, no one addressed me by name, CSD didn’t come round and introduce herself. Its been a few months since I flew on a BA A380 so hadn’t realised that in addition to the no more amuse bouche ‘enhancement’ there is also now no tasting menu. There was however the usual fish course of Sea Bass which has been the case for the last 5 month.

With 50 minutes before landing I had to call someone to get something so eat as no-one had offered me anything from the second meal service even though I was awake for at least one hour prior to that.

Just renewed gold for nineteenth consecutive year, hit over 7,000 TPs in the last year. So much for loyalty.

[LuganoPirate]

Nevereconomy, I’m sure you will love LH First. The First Lounge leaves the Concorde Room standing in its dust, there is simply no comparison. The food, supplied by Do and Co is excellent and I can recommend the Wienerschnitzel. Try and allow two hours between flights. When ready for boarding they will take you by car and you board just before the plane’s door in the finger dock, avoiding any queue.

Once on board you will experience a true First Class from boarding to arriving.

[pdwtrip]

Which reminds me that another part of the ‘wow’ factor in F with Emirates is the S class transfers to and from airport included.
It’s these touches that make me direct our 20 – 30 K annual spend away from BA.
They must have a plan – they are just not looking to attract us as customers.

[Author]

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