why fly BA?

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    robsmith100
    Participant

    Inlight of recent posts in regards to BA faults either in service, price, hard product etc and make out that its probably the worst airline in the world ever. Their best days are clearly in the past with small glimors shinning through at times.

    Its beggers belief why those of you who make these negative comments still continue to fly with the airline.

    Please explain why you still choose to fly BA?


    RogEdwards
    Participant

    Because a lot of the things that people seem to moan about never seem to happen to me. I mainly travel Domestic with the odd long haul J class and I rarely have a poor experience.

    Yes I’d like to have food on Domestics other than breakfast, but the service is still pretty good.

    As for being the worst airline in the world. Please. That has to be Ryan Air.


    Tete_de_cuvee
    Participant

    Convenience – same reason my family uses Tesco a few miles away. They much prefer Waitrose/M&S but do not wish to do a 60 mile round trip more than once a month.


    RichHI1
    Participant

    I have read that BA can deliver well and deliver badly.Most of my flights with BA are mediocre with good points and bad points. I am an AA loyalist but not really BA, I like to think I have an open mind on most things. I feel some posters see only Black and White. SOme think BA can do no wrong others that it is the spawn of Satan.

    Thursday I finally got lucky. I took BA from LHR-LIS and apart from the usual Bus at T3 everything was perfect. Lounge was great, good service, everything available. Boarded on time, departed on time, excellent crew, best reheated fish I have had on any flight (God knows what the green slime in the appetizer is though) and the isial BA Euro “COffee”. SMooth FLight, seat worked, landed on time, had a gate and they were ready for us when we arrived. SO glad this post opened as I wanted to share my good fortune. My concern is what will today be like going to LHR? Have I used up my good fortune?


    eybusiness
    Participant

    As it is a great airline. And as the same like edi-traveller I never had problem with BA. I always think people make problems. Great product and service and it fly’s to many destination. Well done BA and it will get better in the future.


    Scandinavian
    Participant

    Despite businesstraveller.com being a global site comments on this forum see to overwhelmingly come from Brits and and/or people who travel to London a lot. Hence BA gets a lot of air time (positive and negative). This gives the impression that customers find BA’s service much worse than other airlines.

    Check out any continental European travel forums and you will see much the same discussions everywhere about the respective local flag carrier…


    Land-of-Miles
    Participant

    I tend to have more than my fair share of bad experiences with BA but from a UK base it isn’t always easy to find alternate carriers to take you where you want or need to go to with convenient departure schedules. The need to connect can make alternatives wholly unrealistic aside from the pain of connecting for shorthaul flights.

    I continue to fly BA because sometimes it is the only realistic option, or the only option which allows me to travel in F or to get a flat bed seat. I generally expect the worst and prepare myself by buying my own food in advance of longhaul flights.

    The lounges at LHR though (service issues aside) are world class, as is the CWLCY service which I love.

    All in I either need to (schedules, upgrades, flat beds, only carrier on route etc.) or want to (CWLCY) fly BA just enough that it makes me fly more beyond these parameters just to keep my Gold Card. Given how badly they can treat their Golds I wouldn’t like to imagine having to travel on them without it.


    DanDare1975
    Participant

    I think people moan about BA because they could be so much better if they just went the extra couple of percent with their service and the quality of the product. I know this frustrates me and other BA regulars I know.

    Some of their recent announcements do seem to indicate that BA is trying to focus substantial investment on improving it’s service and food on board and I am starting to see some evidence of that when I fly here and there so I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. Plus I have to say that when I have had problems with BA (and I’ve had my fair share over the years) they’ve been fairly good at making sure it was resolved amicably in the end, even if I may have been annoyed with them at the time.

    I also think people keep flying BA because a lot of the alternatives are of a much poorer standard or nowhere near as convenient. For BA to lose the custom would require the competition to be competitive and in a lot of cases they aren’t. My experiences with other airlines when I’ve had no choice but to use them certainly keep reflecting this. I fly regularly on Domestic with the occasional short and long haul trips in business class, and one or two holidays a year in World Traveller or World Traveller plus. On the main domestic route I fly the alternatives are Flybe or Easyjet, which for me means the airport is further away and more crowded, there is no lounge, less choice of flight times, less convenient flight times, no pre-allocated seating (on EZY) and often the same price or slightly more, very rarely any less. No thanks, I’ll use BA every time.

    For long haul business class I still haven’t found a business class product that I like as much as club world. I have tried many alternatives and have always seemed to end up wishing that I hadn’t.

    On the holiday trips I find myself mostly travelling long haul to the Caribbean or the Indian Ocean and for many destinations the only alternative would be a charter. No thanks.


    BABenji
    Participant

    Why fly?

    600+ sectors in the last 10 years and they’ve never missed a beat.

    Lounges in London are excellent.

    Service is generally above par (not to say I haven’t had average service); and I’ve never had a bad experience with any member of staff.

    They get me from A to B at a price I find fair, at times I want to fly at and with a service which is comfortable.

    Worst airline ever? Try Transaero. You’ll be dreaming of BA after 4 hours on one of their planes.


    DanDare1975
    Participant

    I do like BA’s lounges, I’ve not found many other airlines that match their standard. I only really fly just enough to keep my silver card so I sometimes do choose BA over cheaper alternatives just so I get the tier points.


    JFKLHRNRT
    Participant

    I have been flying JFK-LHR almost every month, and LHR-NRT every 3 months for the last 2 years but I have never encountered any problems talked about here. However, I do see some technical glitch from time to time on ba.com but isn`t it something we all expect from technology?

    I have encountered some unhappy crews in the past but again there are more very pleasant crews to overcompensate unpleasant ones. Giving the fact how often I fly with BA and not having had unpleasant experience, I still find BA as one of reliable and very pleasant airlines.


    Hippocampus
    Participant

    Why?

    Guaranteed fully flat beds in business class across the fleet. Not many European or American airlines can promise that

    Premium Economy product. Again, very few airlines have a true premium economy product.

    Excellent lounges at LHR and generally good lounges across the network

    Service at JFK Terminal 7 is excellent

    Punctuality and baggage handling has improved beyond recognition at Terminal 5.

    I find ba.com and the mobile apps well designed and easy to use.

    Staff are generally very good and yes I’ve had the odd frosty crew member but no one I could ever accuse of being unprofessional or inefficient.

    Could things improve? Of course they could but it’s easy to think the grass is greener on the other side and if you approach a trip with a negative mindset then you will find fault in everything.


    Bucksnet
    Participant

    I’ve only recently joined the BAEC, so I’m still on the basic Blue card. My BA flights have been from LHR to BOS, EDI, NCL and PRG and have been better than all other options on those routes. I’m not doing much flying lately, but I will probably use BA on most if not all flights in the near future, not only to build up tier points for Silver but because they are good.


    RichHI1
    Participant

    Scandanavian is right. Business Traveller is a very British and British ExPat (EMEA) focussed forum. If you go on US based forums you will see a similar focus on US carriers. SO you have two effects, those that praise BA simply because they cannot conceive of flying on a non British carrier and those that moan about everything because as another poster observes, thye could be so much better with an extra 2% effort.

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