[Anonymous]

[robsmith100]

I am currently reviewing my travel plans for the year both business and pleasure and have a dilemma as to weather i should fly on BA or not?

Frequent commentators on this forum are very quick to pick up on the negatives flying with BA, however still continue to fly with the airline.

Pros
Seat (generally fine on long haul)
Flight timetable (for the journeys I require)
Lounge
Frequent Flyer program

Cons
Over priced
Food
Customer service
Union Strikes
No WOW factor

I must admit I have not flow with this carrier for some years however i am still having trouble making a decision even when the cons out weigh the pros. However to due to my sense of patriotism to the brand, feel I should fly with BA. Unlike most of you who fly in the premium cabins I will only be flying economy (unless I have a windfall or get a free upgrade on the day of travel).

Are BA really that bad an airline and best avoided?

Regards,

Rob.

[VintageKrug]

1. STRIKES

There is very limited likelihood of any strikes actually happening, though the union will claim “overwhelming support” from the diminishing membership of BASSA. Duncan Holley himself has stated that he does not believe this vote will result in the withdrawal of labour, and is simply seeking to harm forward bookings by creating uncertainty in the minds of passengers such as us.

Even if strikes do happen, the only impact will be on a small proportion of shorthaul destinations, with most destinations being served at least once per day.

So the strike concern is not really relevant.

2. FOOD

Personally, I don’t think it’s half as bad as people make out on here, especially in First. Certainly several other carriers do better, and BA needs to up its game on this issue but there is a certain amount of unhelpful hyperbole in describing what is served on board; I’ve never been served a truly bad meal.

By all accounts there are significant changes coming in May, and I read here this morning there is to be a £10m investment in this area to improve quality.

So I think everyone’s concerns on this front are being addressed.

3. OVERPRICED

If you can take advantage of the many sale fares (there’s one on at the moment), are a shareholder in IAG and can benefit from 10% off, or can justify departing exEU and avoid the several hundred pounds of APD, BA can be much more cost-effective considering the hard product and route network provided. It’s especially good value if you can book and upgrade (and although this can be a challenge, there is most certainly availability if you can plan ahead or book last minute).

4. CUSTOMER SERVICE

I do notice an element of grumpiness about the place; hopefully once the IA issues are dealt with this will dissipate. It will still need focus as it is something which is often less apparent on other carriers; hopefully having found savings BA will now be able to invest in customer service, unencumbered by the BASSAmentalists and supported by a new Union leadership who will champion such activities, rather than frustrate them. When I do have a problem, I get excellent recovery, including (usually) a phone call to address my concerns and compensation.

5. WOW Factor

I think the T5 Lounges certainly have wow factor. I think the new http://www.ba.com/first certainly has the wow factor. There is a new economy product out there which I have sat in and while it isn’t “wow” it is pretty good. I think the often fun yet professional attitude of many crew has the wow factor. So does the CWLCY service, the new 777-300ERs.

It’s not bling. BA doesn’t do bling, and that isn’t a problem for me.

The fact BAEC revised its mileage earning policy in Economy should also appeal and gaining status on BA is not as difficult as might first it might seem to be; membership certainly has its priviliges..!

[NTarrant]

Rob

I would say first and foremost, get booked on BA. It is not as bad as it is made out. Sure its not perfect and there are occasions when standards slip, but then that applies in any retail environment as well.

Food is fine, there have been cut backs which I feel are penny pinching but the overall product is still good. There is a lot of subjectivity in some of the postings. Some people do expect too much within the constraints of an airline.

On price they are not overpriced. I recently looked at a trip to DXB for December and found that BA was cheaper in Club World than Emirates for business. Even cheaper if I start from Europe.

VK is right in all his comments above. No bling for me either.

[craigwatson]

considering that you said you are flying economy, it would be best if you said which destination you are looking at.

Some of the pro’s wont be applicable, such as the great T5 lounges, and most of what vintage was mentioning would also be irrelevant as he was mentioning first and business in most of it.

To be fair there is not much difference between any of the carriers in cattle class. the food on most airlines in economy will be medicore to average, the biggest difference will be in IFE, in which im afraid BA does lag behind quite a bit from SOME of there competitors.

[VintageKrug]

That’s fair craigwatson.

But even if you fly economy with some frequency, earning status is now possible, which accords access to the lounges (especially the Arrivals Lounges if a Gold Card holder travelling economy) is a pretty good experience, even outside T5’s hallowed portals. The outstation lounges are particularly strong, relative to those of other carriers.

I think the IFE delivery system might fairly be criticised (though the new Thales system is being rolled out across most of the fleet, and the current AVOD system is competent when it actually works), but the content I find excellent; lots of decent beeb quality docos, the movies are pretty good and recent and there always a few quality “classics” to keep me entertained, and the albums and audio provision is also very good. It might not have the breadth of content seen elsewhere, but I would rather three decent art house movies than wall to wall US comedies.

Alongside a good book, and assuming you are reasonable in your demands, I think BA has a good to excellent IFE selection, and its even better when delivered via Thales.

[Binman62]

Robsmith100. The short answer is yes if YOU feel YOU are getting value for money.

Service however is very erratic across the board but particularly so in economy.

The strikes are an irritant and if departing from LHR not an issue but could be if departing regionally or from the EU as these services more likely to be disrupted.

Food is erratic and non existent short haul economy.

I too have never had a bad meal in First but for the fare I expect far more and it is simply not value for money, especially originating in the UK

Interestingly BA did not appear in the cellar awards which were reviewed in this months BT magazine in any class.

Lounges are not important to an economy customer as it is unlikely that you will have access either via status and certainly not due fare. As a result, this reason can surely be discounted as a reason for flying BA.

Getting status at BA by flying cheapest M class to say, JFK would require 10 round trip and costs around £5000 so it is possible. If based in Europe (eg Milan) then it would require just £2415 of expenditure and just 5 round trips.

There is no wow factor whatever in M class on an old BA747. Just hope the IFE works.

Overpriced, absolutely it is especially ex LHR but not on M class fares especially.

The APD argument is a diversion from the very high fuel surcharges which BA impose on all tickets types and given they have now been in place for many years, they are no longer surcharges, they are the fare and it is iniquitous that they are allowed to continue to do this. They are also typically twice the rate of any APD. On a Milan JFK route the fares are almost identical from Milan or LHR so APD is not an argument for avoiding BA ex LHR

Shareholder discounts are almost pointless as the only apply when solely on BA metal and not on the surcharges so any saving in economy on a point to point flight is minimal. Indeed it is often cheaper to buy the through fare in any event.

On Europe flights when the fare is £14.80 and the taxes fees and charges £63 it is hardly worth the hassle factor of logging in.

If however you are in Club then the picture changes a little. If flying from the UK the fares are frankly laughable for the service provided but begin in Europe and they become just about reasonable and fairly competitive. Shareholder discounts become significant when the fare component is £1500 but again caution must be exercised.

Good Luck

[MartynSinclair]

“On price they are not overpriced. I recently looked at a trip to DXB for December and found that BA was cheaper in Club World than Emirates for business. Even cheaper if I start from Europe”.

What Nigel says is very true, BA First is not overpriced and I think that is partly where the problem lies.

I have on occasion flown LH First, mainly on milegae upgrade. Their First class lounge/terminal in Frankfurt really is First Class and their hard product is superb. However, try as hard as I can, I can’t seem to find any discounted LH First tickets and the service certainly reflects the price.

Move over to BA. whilst I am a BIG fan of NCW, in that the seats are for me, perfect and the crew in the main are excellent and avoiding all comments I may have made on other threads about various seats, the fact remains, especially in NCW that a high percentage of its occupants are either free loaders (and that certainly the fact upstairs on the 747-400) or people like myself on discounted ex-europe tickets or travellers who have access to other forms of discounted tickets. The same is generally applicable in First.

If you need me to justify any of these statements, just look next time you fly in the bubble, how many BA staff are occupying seats and yes they do stand out a mile.

If BA were to price themselves in the market instead of offering such a complex range of price structure that encourages me to fy extra sectors (which gains me even more future discounts) perhaps the airline will start to see more profit. Premium classes are exactly that and by enabling forms of discounted premium travel, only brings discounted levels of service.

BA also need a stricter policy on staff travel, especially on prime routes. It is as if BA staff feel it is their right to travel in the premium classes on full flights, at the expense of fare paying passengers.

BA need to pull the reigns in, I agree with much Lord Krug states, except for the fact that other airlines do have the wow factor thoughout their entire offering and throught all classes of travel.

[Hippocampus]

As far as economy is concerned, I think the convenience of the route network and schedule, as well as price are the most important factors. You can’t expect much more on any airline in economy, regardless of any marketing hype.

Terminal 5 is also probably the best terminal experience for economy travellers without status at LHR.

You can always buy yourself a picnic at Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food to compensate for the food.

[CallMeIshmael]

Rob – A small word of caution, not all posters on BT forum are equal.

Some are ex-BA management employees now involved with commentating on the travel industry. They retain a comprehensive network of contacts who provide inside information and service. It is likely that there is a bias with these relationships being leveraged and achieving better outcomes for themselves. A touch of quid pro quo.

Views from a priveleged, inner circle position are not necessarily representative of the offering and service that the typical traveller experiences in reality.

[jasonr01]

A yes for flying with BA from me.
I also do not have the privilage of flying business or first but use WTP (premium economy).
I fly with BA for a number of reasons. Firstly because i can fly to virtually anywhere in the world without having to join too many frequent flyer programs. At one stage I was gold with Emirates, Silver with BA and silver with LH miles and more and it gets crazy so I opted to go with BA. Only downside for me is that i live in nottingham so it means either a trip to LHR or drive to Manchester and then catch flight to LHR which is a waste of time in my opinion . I wish they would fly direct from other airports as this would make my life easier and would probably give BA more business as not everyone wants to go to LHR.Personally the food is not brilliant but it is not bad either.
I do agree that whilst you seem to get a reasonable welcome when boarding the aircraft thats where on a lot of cases it ends. But to a certain degree I understand why some of them are not happy giving the stirring from the unions (rigthly or wrongly). However in saying that I can not say I have had a really bad time.( Yet!)
Personally i do think that some of their prices are expensive but live with it.
I wouldnt say that the longes have the Wow factor either but they are clean, have a reasonable selection of food and is somewhere comfortable to wait. But again I dont have the option as yet of getting into first lounge yet. Only two more WTP long haul till i get that chance!!!!

I tried Virgin once from Manchester to orlando and vowed never to use virgin again.
Stick with BA, at least it is British and its about time we supported british companies providing they offer a good competitve service.

IFE is not to bad either although last flight from Atlanta didnt seem to have that much to offer but for me that is one flight in the last 18 months plus it was overnight flight so just tried to go to sleep

[Potakas]

Agree with VK, Nigel and Martyn,

I have never been in First so I cannot comment but for the customer relations I can and the only thing I can say is the best. As you can read on my past posts I had some problems with luggage and missing connections. During the Christmas snow disruption I lost my flight and I had broken luggage twice, I was traveling without insurance so I didn’t have many options, my only one was BA’s customer relations.

Verdict:
–Both bags replaced but because they couldn’t send me a replacement luggage fast I had to buy a new one which BA paid for. So two new luggage and one paid from BA .
–All the expenses paid from BA, over 1000E. That included: Hotels , food, to/from airport transfers and one new BA ticket I had paid for (because the MMB wasn’t working), also all the flights that I didn’t catch refunded full.

I usually travel with BA because of the Customer Service they have and because I feel safe flying with them (in terms that they will take care of me, as I don’t have travel insurance).

Really ,is there any other airline that offered so much during the snow disruption? Also I was blue by December so not an Elite member that they had to take care more than the others.

Finally you should keep in mind that BA is more expensive for two reasons.

1) Taxes
2) Direct flights, would be the same if you was living in Amsterdam, KLM would be the expensive product and BA the cheap one.

Regards

[Bill_Hants]

I’m worried about the bling factor – the late lamented hot towels and chocolate off the tray … pennypinching as described …

[joeadvisory]

It is clear to most people that something has gone wrong at BA in rgd to premium travel. the new 1st class cabin is mutton dresssed up as lamb for many different reasons. if u compare it to Qantas 380 1st then the difference is such that actually you wonder why anyone would even consider flying BA to Oz or Sing. The same applies if u compare it to SIA or CP or any od the ME airlines. i continue to use BA on short haul only because i want to keep my exec status so can use lounges to shower when needed etc. there was a time when there was a real good atmosphere in the premium cabins on BA but these days the employees really have a very bad atitude – this is very apparant. my advice to you is that if you want to have a comfortable journey, give BA a miss.

[BusinessClass]

I’m with NTarrant and VK……………..no bling for me either!

You are right again VK, the T5 lounges DO have the wow factor.

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