[HonestCrew]

Lugano – I may like to quote you there and suggest it is printed on the back of each and every boarding card. 🙂
Cheers to you.

..but particularly with the price of first class these days, a customer should never have to be told “sorry we are out of XXX”. Sadly, catering is cut to the bone these days.

[continentalclub]

When judging relative fares, it’s perhaps worth bearing in mind that, in 1979, the price of a Super APEX (the then cheapest) return in Economy to Sydney from London was just about £1000.

According to the TIM calculator at:

http://bit.ly/qxINpy

– that’s just over £4,500 in today’s money.

According to the BA Low Fare Finder at:

http://bit.ly/yCbACf

– the cheapest Club World Fare today is just over £3,000 return and First a little under £6,500.

So, although there’s certainly a discussion to be had about whether the incremental cost of over-catering (whatever that is) could be stood by fare-paying passengers, it’s fairly clear to see that the cost pressure in delivering the product over the last 30 years has been immense.

For a glimpse of the ‘halcyon’ days, do see if you can lay your hands on a copy of George Banks’s book, Gourmet & Glamour in the sky.

http://amzn.to/yN7knf

To read it is to be reminded just how extravagant some catering could be, and to read between the lines is to realise just how wasteful it could be too. It arguably also shows how tastes and expectations have changed – were some of the theatrical SOPs now followed in the age of ultra longhaul and fully flat beds, I suspect that the majority of passengers would go spare at the noise, nuisance and disruption to their work and rest…..

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

“So business men and women, what would you like to see Club on BA evolve into?”

NCW bed, Etihad food, Swiss service delivery.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Continental Club

What you say about fares is is a good point, but in 1979 much of the equipment was far less efficient than the fleets of today, so that is a significant factor that should also be considered, as is the cost of fuel (to be clear, I am not saying this has reduced cost, just that it needs to be considered in the overall equation.)

[RichHI1]

As should the effects of open skies which have magnified over the last 30 years. The protectionist state flag carriers effectively managed a price cartel in those days with government sanction.

[IanFromHKG]

What would I like to see Club evolve into? Let me start with what I peronally perceive to be some of the drawbacks – you can take the evolution requirements as being fixes for these!
* Bed length: I am 6’3″. How nice it would be to lie full-length
* Privacy vs companionship: I think BA have a reasonable balance here with the forward/back/back/forward combination seating. I personally dislike the dividers, though, for two reasons – they are noisy and make the seat shake, and if you are on the aisle side you are constantly being disturbed by it being moved so things can be passed – through your personal space as well as the divider – to your neighbour
* IFE: Just not up to par, I am afraid. Screen too small, low resolution, and the choice of viewing just isn’t good enough (maybe this shows how much I have been spoilt elsewhere!). Connectivity to personal devices is really becoming essential for an up to date offering
* Reading light – just not good enough
* Service: Whatever people say, and I know there are bouquets and brickbats aplenty, as I see it there is just too much inconsistency. Which is another way of saying there are too many crew who are not providing adequate service who fail to offset the many who do
* Aisle access: Just not good enough if you aren’t sitting on the aisle. Perhaps herringbone is the way to go

It would also be nice to see something really innovative – difficult, in this day and age, I know as there is so much competition. However, it can be done. How about a bigger touchpad for seat controls which might include some special service buttons which could save crew time (a button to request “Drink refill”, “Water”, “Blanket”, “Duty free sale” or (more cynically) to report “IFE problem”. It could also be used to express personal preferences (Do not disturb, or Wake Me For Meals). One thing I would love to see is padded flooring and all crew members wearing soft-soled shoes so we aren’t constantly woken by the bouncing, flexing floor as FAs (and passengers) pound their way, elephant-footed, through the cabin every few minutes. How about offering all passengers an additional amenity from a menu, which they can select pre-flight (one-way car transfer or train ticket, pyjamas on board, duty-free spending discount, guest in the lounge etc)?

They certainly need to do more to differentiate themselves in a positive way…

[MartynSinclair]

Ian – I agree with you totally regarding the lack of padding in the cabin and heavy footed passengers (who wouldn’t necessarily know) and cabin crew, who certainly should know.

My recent flights from London City, this was the only negative critique about sitting in row 1 on the return from NYC. I couldn’t sleep until the dinner service was over, back and forth, back and forth, the crew pounded down the aisle and what’s more, when I spoke to the crew about it, they knew but explained that the 318 needed to have extra unnecessary pounds of weight removed. If that is the case, perhaps crew should be weighed or passenger luggage reduced.

Airbus apparently suffers worse than Boeing in terms lack of cabin padding. But I agree, this is something that certainly needs addressing.

I flew over to BKK on QF. This was interesting as I was quite sceptical about going back to a wedgie seat – BUT – there were different benefits and enhancements over my usual high quality 60J experience.

1. Upstairs certainly felt far more open and less claustrophobic. BA seat style is not conducive to a feeling of space

2. The cabin crew were very professional and worked together as team. Nothing, including my obsessive food requirements was too much trouble.

3. I had total control over the window blind……………..yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee that was exciting!!

4. Unfortunately, I had a couple of noisy neighbours, who could only communicate by shouting at each other. I resolved this by playing with a half empty plastic water bottle until they realised I could be just as annoying

5. The seat – OK, it was a wedgie, it was not as comfortable as BA lie flat, but I still managed 4 hours sleep.

6. The carpet padding (already spoken about)

7. The Qantas airport at Heathrow has the additional benefit of a wonderful Qantas team based in the BA T3 lounge, who make it their business to be visible and ensure that they meet as many of their passengers as possible. The only time I saw a BA rep in the passenger area of the lounge was when one lady wanted some ‘privacy’ to make what was quite clearly a personal call, in the middle of the lounge, obviously away from her colleagues.

All in all, I enjoyed the Qantas flight, a lot more than I was expecting to, showing that some of the older Premium cabins can still give BA a run for their money. Well done and thanks to Qantas.

Back in a week or so on BA.

[LuganoPirate]

Thanks Honest, I waive my copyrights for you.

Just made my first trip of the year from JNB to ZRH with Swiss. It was a bit bumpy now and then and that got me thinking. It would be nice f the Captain could let us know how long the “bumps” might last, just to put my mind at rest!!!

I also remember the days when the Captain woud come round the First Class cabin and have a quick chat with the passengers. Sadly those days now seem over.

The Swiss First Cabin Crew were as always excellent and they each had time for a few words to help while the time away.

[IanFromHKG]

I just flew back from London on (what the captain said was) a brand new BA 777 – one of my peeves has been fixed, as the seats had new, hi-res screens at last, and a significantly improved (although still far from class-leading) selection of things to watch. It was only let down (slightly) by very jerky menu animation – a shame, it meant it would have been better if the menus weren’t animated. Overall, though, a massive improvement.

What a shame the same could not be said of the crew, whose service and attitude ranged from perfunctory (at best) to positively surly. They stopped short (just barely) of being outright rude enough for me to say something, but it certainly meant the trip was a lot less enjoyable than it could have been. Why is this sort of behaviour tolerated by management? And management will know about it – the crew were careless enough to give Mrs I a survey form…

[HonestCrew]

Oh dear.
Ian’s experience goes to show the massive difference the crew on the day, or the individual crew member serving you, makes to the enjoyment of the flight.
As crew, we know the frequent grumbles of customers concern the many outdated aircraft, unreliable IFE, poor food, etc and I feel it is up to the crew to put extra effort into the service to compensate for this.

In this case, Ian was on a new aircraft, the food has improved over the last few months from many stations but dissatisfaction with the service has led to a negative experience.

Unfortunately, without a big push by management to observe poor performers those crew will continue to fly. The survey forms Mrs Ian completed are read but I have never heard of any individual crew member ever been pulled up with regards to service issues.

Mystery customers are the way forward, but because BA must still pay the shockingly high departure tax on every staff member travelling on duty and/or mystery customers, the cost would be massive.

[Binman62]

Ian…For the sake of all of us complain please via Customer Relations or ask Mrs I to do so.

The problem with inflight surveys is that some are read by the crew and never make it back to BA……

[dutchyankee]

@Binman62, I agree with you that some of the surveys handed out are probably read by the crew, and any bad ones surprisingly mislaid or coffee spilt on them, etc. I have recently received one by email, however, after a weekend trip back and forth from BRU to LHR. I would hope these forms really do get read and if needed, points actioned.

[sparkyflier]

Hi HonestCrew

Let me start by saying I always enjoy your postings and believe they really add to this forum. One query I have though with your last posting is that your said customer comment forms are “read”.

I really do wonder about this.2 /3 years ago I flew on BA Club Europe from Barcelona to London. The inflight service was great and this was reflected on the form which was given to me, however, the check in was poor and I had a security concern about the procedure. I commented on this on the form, saying “Security concern about BCN check in, please contact for details on”, giving my phone number and email address.

Never heard anything from BA whatsoever. This was hugely disappointing and worries me.

I suspect these forms are just sent to some “data farm” for inputting into speadsheets, or maybe nothing, but are just handed out to make it seem as if BA care.

I am a fan of BA, and use them where possible, but it would be interesting to know what really did happen to these forms, especially when a security concern is being shared.

[HonestCrew]

Hi Sparky.
Thanks for your compliment. With regards to the survey forms and Binman’s and Dutch Yankee’s query on if they are read by the crew and what happens to the data…
The surveys are sent off to the data input dept and statistics fed back to us each month with regards to customer satisfaction on various aspects of their experience based on the boxes ticked in the surveys.

The area for customers to give their ‘best and worst’ comments will not necessarily be passed to the customer relations department for an individual reply, this only happens if the customer uses a personal comments card or contacts customer relations directly. Pretty much there will always be something the customer is not 100% happy with so I suppose the theory is if the customer feels that strongly about it they will contact the airline and complain, although your comment requesting to be contacted could have been handled better, that is for sure.

When the crew receive the surveys back, they are mostly sealed by the customer. The surveys were made with seals last year and this allows the customer to be honest if they wish to complain about something without feeling awkward as the crew can’t read them and we are not permitted to force them open.
If they are not sealed then yes, we do have a look as we like to know if the customer was happy with our individual service and maybe action what we call ‘service recovery’ if there is something we can fix there and then for them.

Without wishing to sound big headed, the overwhelming majority of comments for ‘best aspect of your journey’ are “friendliness of the crew” or “inflight service” or something positive about us, which shows (most of us) are making the effort. It is now at a point if the customer doesn’t write “crew” as being the best thing we start to wonder why?
This feedback is encouraging but we all know there are colleagues who let the side down and it is this that must be addressed.

On the ‘worst aspect’, (for premium cabins) it is usually “outdated IFE” , “scruffy toilets” and “food”.

The surveys come to us in an envelope telling us which seat numbers to hand them to, this helps to ensure a spread of opinion from different sections of the aircraft. If the seat is empty or the customer does not speak English or simply doesn’t want to complete one we try to give it to the next nearest person.

If you have an issue with the crew it can feel awkward to complain there and then as you don’t want to ‘bite the hand that feeds you’ so to say, but you have paid good money and should be satisfied with the service you receive. Comments cards are available from the crew which can be sealed and handed back or filled in after your flight and posted to BA. This and email are the best ways to make your feelings known, much more personal than the survey forms.

Hope this is answers your question.
Cheers.

[MartynSinclair]

I returned from Asia on BA10 and for the first time travelled backwards which was kind of novel. I was also in 60A, perfectly positioned for a discussion with whomever was occupying 60B – especially as the flight was 100% full.

Usual good experiences in BKK, the lounge was perfect, apart from an extremely large snoring passenger, who I prayed would not be sitting next to or near to me. As usual, my prayers were not answered as I had to climb over his feet to get in and out of my seat area.

Many pax have commented how much more they enjoy the window seats upstairs because of the storage space and privacy. My first comment is that I tend to agree, it does feel far more private.

In addition, once again, I had control of 4 widow shades and up they went as I got into my seat.

The food service, not that I was too hungry on a midnight departure, was quick, tasty and very sufficient.

Bed eventually went back. I did notice that the comments a previous poster made, I think it was RIch, who said the seat length was a bit of a problem, window side, I am 5’7” and noticed that my feet were pressed into the shell in front. Despite that, I did get a good 6 hours sleep which was good enough to enable me to do a day’s work back in London.

As for travelling the wrong way, I can’t say I was fully comfortable all the way, it did feel strange when taxying out, continuously felt we were still being pushed back. On landing and take-off, it also felt strange but considering the feeling of privacy, it is a trade-off.

The crew were magnificent. We landed 30 minutes or so early, but were still held at the gate as BAA was obviously not ready to greet us. The BKK flight is apparently 1 of 6 flights that beats the morning curfew, so holding was not going to be an issue.

Finally, the occupant of 60B – well, without be unfair and giving too much away, the occupant was a BA employee but not Aircrew. The person worked within an area of LHR that I frequently use and despite explaining that I often post on BT forum, we had an extremely interesting conversation about BA, LHR as well as CW and staff travel. I can quite honestly say that my seat companion falls into the category of chance encounters, new friends, If only all people I share a seat pod with, were as nice. It puts 60B into a new context!

[Author]

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