Why do people fly on British Airways?

Back to Forum
Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 41 total)
  • Hello judynagy

    I’m sure we have all been in similar situations and yes it is very frustrating.

    My local airport is a BA outstation, and when on one occasion the aircraft went tech, it did its utmost to resolve the problem ASAP. At Heathrow a replacement aircraft would have been found very quickly.

    Why do I continue to fly BA? Well, it’s the only airline that flies from here to LHR and its Executive Club is in my opinion the best out there.


    tarisingh
    Participant

    came back from FRA last night on BA – excellent flight, crew in club couldn’t have been nicer, addressed everyone by their name – service with a genuine smile all the way – what more could you want??!


    HongKongLady
    Participant

    Hi Judy when things go wrong it puts you under stress and stress makes us act rashly sometimes. Having been in this type of situation a number of times, my advice would be to stay airside and either wait for information at the gate or seek out the tickets and transfer desk airside, where information and rebooking can be arranged with minimal running around, They can also normally transfer you baggage to another flight unless you need to stay overnight in which case I am sure you would want your things to accompany you to the hotel.
    Glad to hear you eventually got to your destination in time for a dip in the pool.
    I fly BA generally because of the connections and general good standards with the odd glitches, I do use a number of other airlines too.
    Happy flying


    Tinp0tTaipan
    Participant

    I fly BA because I’ve always had good experiences.

    Plus the exec club is great. I am now based in HK so have switched to Marco Polo (only way to get full miles for my many short-haul economy flights) and it is nowhere near as good as BAEC.


    ViajeroUK
    Participant

    Frustrating as the Op’s experience was, I’m sure that it would have been similar for most airlines at a relatively small outstation when any staff are from a local service company, not the airline.

    To answer the question posed, I don’t fly BA very often nowadays, not due to any issues with flights, but because several years ago they scrapped all services from my local airport, Birmingham, which for many years had a ‘Eurohub’ terminal dedicated to BA, with services to major European cities, as well as JFK. Sadly this terminal now handles Ryanair and Flybe flights.

    The drag down to Heathrow is now so much hassle that I prefer to travel via AMS or CDG. Time from home to final destination is actually no more than transitting LHR, and in many cases the overall journey is quicker.


    jetplane
    Participant

    As mentioned on a another thread: I flew Bologna – LHR in Exec Club a few weeks ago. Its is an outsourced station. The lounge is before security. No English language newspapers or magazine, when asked I was told ‘ we had one this morning’, this was accompanied by a shrug of shoulders. Lounge offers one red or whie wine, no spirits or Champagne. Food… well, no food. Suggest one uses the facilities near the gate before immigration & after bag security check. Rubbish offering on the ground from BA.


    HOLIDAY2016
    Participant

    Agree with comment below to over the top to read BA is an excellent carrier Tickets are often cheaper thn the lowcost airlines when you add in all the extras As you seem to live in USA The worst airlines I have flown have been from there. American Airlines is just like a bus service even on the Intercontinental routes


    ImissConcorde
    Participant

    judynagy – BA operates 17 flights a week from Bologna to Heathrow. With that kind of operation what level of ground handling (check-in, lounge etc) would you like bearing in mind just how much you are prepared to pay for your ticket. I may be wrong but I think, all airport handling is done by agency staff in Italy.
    “I stand in an open doorway so it cannot close” You were lucky not to be arrested for interfering with access to a secure area like that.
    In the future if things go wrong – get in the correct line, stay there, you will be dealt with, If you can, amend your booking online or by phone. Easy to validate the tickets with e-ticketing. If you are forced to stay overnight but don’t want to wait for hotel vouchers then book the class of hotel you would if you were paying yourself. The airline will reimburse you.
    The most important thing you can do in a disruption situation is to remember that you are not the only one travelling. There are others!!


    VintageKrug
    Participant

    It’s good to see some rational posts, like those of ImissConcorde, in relation to what is reasonable to expect in the context of what was paid for the tickets and what can be expected from an outstation served a couple of times per day.

    Hyperbolic adjectives like “hellish” betray a lack of proportionality, and is an insult to those very many people much less fortunate than we are who face genuinely “hellish” existences every day as they struggle to survive in the face of trauma, war, hunger or poverty.

    We all need to be a little more self-reliant when we travel; many of the moans I read on here are somewhat childlike abdications of personal responsibility with the expectation that someone else will come along and sort out your problem.

    Regular business travellers learn strategies to mitigate issues such as the one expressed in this thread without having a personal meltdown and resorting to legal avenues to compensate for the “mental anguish” (…think of the children…!) suffered.


    Swindoneric
    Participant

    @ Jetplane above…
    Isn’t what you describe often the case in an outsourced station? Anyone flying Emirates from Glasgow would testify that the lounge fare consists of (or at least used to consist of) crisps and biscuits. Anyone flying Air France from Edinburgh would receive the same kind of treatment – no French newspapers in the Servisair lounge. I’m sure the same could be said of any airline operating out of a small outsourced station.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    Must be a different type of EK lounge to the one at Gatwick then. Perhaps that’s the difference between 2 and 3 flights a day.

    Still I’m sure it surpasses the Ryanair lounge…


    Pierre
    Participant

    I fly BA because as LH and AFKL, they offer a good service, definitely not as ‘bad’ as often written here.
    My BA flight today was on time, the service friendly AND professional, the cabin was looking a bit worn, but globally as with other main european carriers, I have no complain about.


    Swindoneric
    Participant

    @SimonS1 – I made my point badly. The lounge which Emirates use at Glasgow is an outsourced lounge and is about as far away from the usual world class experience you get in one of their “own” lounges which must rank amongst the best anywhere. Haven’t been through Glasgow in ages but presumably there is a BMI lounge lying empty so maybe this will change. Please don’t knock Ryanair. I was on an Edinburgh to Dublin hop this week and noted an important enhancement to their service. They now offer ice cubes, albeit served from what appeared to be a sick bag…


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Whilst undestanding most of the comments above, I cannot help but feel some sympathy for Judy. She had a connecting flight the next morning and had she had to stay in Bologna they would have missed that flight.

    I always wonder whether it’s better to die in a crowd, die individually or perhaps survive while everyone else dies. In Judy’s case she left the comfort of the crowd, no doubt consoling each other and moaning about her behaviour, and went off to work out how to get back to LHR. I wonder how many of the crowd got left behind and had to overnight, and perhaps she would have been one of them if not for her actions.

    A difficult one but here I can sympathise with her.


    BigDog.
    Participant

    LP +1

    You are right Judy. Too often BA et al engage mushroom management mode when problems occur… keep everyone in the dark,…. etc.

    Yes they would prefer passengers to behave like lemmings and wait for instruction at their convenience and behest.

    Judy did the right thing. To fly to serve – I guess only applies when in the air. BA should be educating their ground staff in how to handle service failures – top of the list should be communication quickly followed by volunteering compensation and not have to wait for passengers to get tetchy and having to quote regulations to get what is rightfully theirs.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 41 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls