[FaroFlyer]

Have just arrived in HKG having flown on RJ (Royal Jordanian, a OneWorld member) in J class. Why did I fly RJ instead of BA? Price, and also because I needed status points to keep gold.It was also marginally more convenient than AY which was ~ similar price, and points.
Would I have preferred BA? Yes, without doubt. I flew BA in J on LHR>HKG in April and there was no comparison, except for the food. Actually RJ was better. Ex HKG on the return, in BA, there was:chicken curry and rice, beef whatever and rice or the veggie option of risotto. Anyone notice the theme?

Staff on RJ were exceptional, and went out of their way to try to please. Seats were called lie flat, but didn’t really. AVOD worked with a good choice. Wines were distinctly average.

I had chosen RJ, against AY who I had flown the “same” route with twice last year, hoping that they would be better than AY. They were not, although much, much more friendly staff. I have also flow EK on similar route and RJ probably have the edge, apart from the awful lounge at AMM. Give them a few years, and an improved network, and the staff at RJ might make it work.
Next time I do this route I shall pay up to 20% extra and fly BA, with AY coming second.
That, Gentlemen, is why we fly BA. The hardware is better, and the staff could be, once again.

[Capetonian]

I travel BA when there is no realistic choice. After suffering appalling treatment verging on abuse from them a few years ago, I swore to avoid them whenever possible and have been quite succesful in doing so. On my last trip home, at short notice, BA was £1200. Apart from Iberia and Emirates, both airlines I will not travel on, for different reasons, which were much cheaper, the next available price band was £3000+ for the dates I needed to travel. BA got my money. T5 was a delight, the service on the ground and on board was acceptable, food and IFE rather poor but as I don’t fly for the food or the IFE it didn’t matter. They got me there and back safely and on time.

My opinion of their attitude to customers remains poor, but they are professional and reliable, that’s why I fly on them if there is no reasonable alternative.

[MartynSinclair]

DanDare1975 – good illustration of faith being restored. If only we read about this more often!!

[OldRover]

I have been and continue to be a loyal BA customer, Silver or Gold over the past 15 years. Am also a shareholder so keen to fly the Flag. We have a Household BAEC account and with Amex 2-4-1 able to enjoy CW or even F on our annual ski holiday in North America plus other long haul destinations so for this alone will continue to remain loyal to them or their One World partners .
Over the past 15 months I have made eight return trips to Kuala Lumpur which is not served directly by BA. My client is prepared to pay for Premium Economy but baulks at BA CW or MH J prices (even at sale times upwards of £3000). So for my first few visits I flew BA WT+ to either BKK or Sin and then used MH economy for the final leg.
I then discovered Royal Jordanian (RJ), same cost for J as BA WT+ (approx. £2000), 60% of the BA miles but more TP (480 v 150) so good for Status. As noted by FaroFlyer the staff on RJ are exceptional and really go out of their way to please, the food is good, you are able to make the choice from the trolley at your seat, wine choice is limited (but then it often is on CW) but ok. The J seat on the new Airbus 330 is the ski-slope type but I have always managed to sleep ok on it. Not lie flat but no different to the seats on IB or AY.
AMM is not the most glitzy of airports, the lounge is not up to T5 standards, but not that bad. Boarding can be a bit chaotic at times but that seems to be a cultural thing with ME airlines.
So comparing with BA, yes the seat is not up to CW standards but offers a flat bed at WT+ prices, the food is better than you often receive on CW and immeasurably better than WT+ and the service is a lot better than that often received on BA.

[RichHI1]

DanDare glad you got a good outcome. I feel you echo my points though. The support lines and the complaints process can work really well on good airlines (which I include BA, AA, Qantas etc in One World not LAN). However they all suffer severe shortcomings in the staff training and quality oif station managers on the ground. They appear to have no room for intiative, no desire to own customer issues and rival USain Bolt in their speed to disappear once the word delayed appears on the departures board.

[STORMIN']

Martyn – the airport concerned was Sao Paulo and the date was 18 June 2011.

And, yes, I have had some good experiences with BA over the past 20 years or so but, is that not what I am paying for? The problem is that I also have had many good experiences with other airlines without the negatives of BA.

I average something like 125 flights per year and BA was also the preferred airline. However, in my humble view, they have fallen so far behind other carriers in terms of quality of service, not to mention their generally arrogant attitude, that I will not now use them unless there is no reasonable alternative

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if like in many other aspects of business, you paid after you received the product. Air travel must be one of the few things you have to pay for in advance and then put up with what is offered.

Perhaps if you could pay afterwards and dispute whether things were provided up to the advertised standard airlines might start delivering what they claim they do! What a product is is becoming a bit more transparent but there is still the risk of getting something else completely and being told you pay the same price for it

[rodders]

its good to see so much commentary here on BA, on both sides of the argument, but having used them for the past 20+ years, issues have always been dealt with well, though the days when there was a team of people in Waterside called the Executive Assistants Office who would move mountains to resolve things has sadly gone.
But having just done 4 long haul sectors in 10 days I found them very good, friendly, and the NCW seat win hands down, and as an ex-pat do really view BA as a corner of a foreign field that is forever England. I use the other Gulf carriers regularly and while they may have better IFE, thicker towels, they are all a bit “monotone”, i do like the BA style, there is something very welcoming about being on that Speedbird. In fact on one of my last flights the CSD was the same one who took me to the Gulf 2 months ago, what a friendly welcome…..so thats why its BA for me……

[MartynSinclair]

BA 10 last night from BKK-LHR is the reason I fly BA.

Lights on for boarding – lights off for take off – lights then came on for breakfast.

Well done to the upstairs cabin crew who on their own initiative, decided to keep the lights turned off after take off as they knew most people wanted to sleep.

The crew still managed to complete a dinner service for those that wanted. I know this has been spoken about many times before, but it is probably the first time I have experienced the lights remianing off after take off. 7 hours sleep.

Every passenger at check in were offered an upgrade. So posters who claim never to be offered, go to BKK.

THB 12,000 economy to WTP

THB 35,000 from WTO to NCW or NCW to F

Excellent revenue generator and means nobody can say they havent been offered an upgrade.

Long may it continue.

Even asked the CSD to demo the touch screen (not an iPAD) to see what they had on me, which she gladly did.

Noticed that everyone on the upper deck, bar 2 passengers (yep one was the 60B)…………………..were gold card holders.

Superb flight.

All in all, last nights flight is the reason I fly BA.

[Binman62]

Martyn…sounds like a great flight……is this the journey you began in the EU…?

Was the flight good enough to justify paying the UK fare level rather than the EU fare level?

[MartynSinclair]

Binman62,

The BKK-LHR sector was probabaly one of best sectors I have flown with BA longhaul in recent years. It was down 100% to that flights crew led by the CSD

Had the ex Eu fare not been available, I do not think I could have justified the extra fare going ex London.

[David]

Sounds like a good flight, Martyn.

I will be on the BKK flight myself (61A) in just over a week’s time (en route to SYD) and hope it too will be just as pleasureable.

Re the on-going EU/UK pricing debate (I’m based outside of the UK);

I had planned to purchase yesterday an ex-EU to BKK flight on BA for the end of November (yes, Nov is a busy travel time!) but found BA quite expensive vs. the competition (even though I had some limited flexibility with dates). I ended up buying a J ticket on Finnair for exactly 2/3rds the price and am on the newer equipment too (ie. true lay flat beds). I think the reason for the big difference in price is that BA charges a premium for returns of less than 1 week (where Finnair does not) and I’m out and back in less than 4 days.

I would have preferred to fly BA, but just couldn’t justify the 50% premium.

[NTarrant]

The rule is to stay a Saturday night to get the cheaper fare. You can go out on Saturday and return Sunday, which will be cheaper than say going out on Sunday and return Monday

[Binman62]

valet parking to lounge with 2 bags, 2 kids and a car seat, via no queue at bag drop and very charming chatty agent in 12 mins flat. Longest delay…….as always at security, but even this was a breeze this afternoon.
Nice lunch in galleries north for the 3 of us and for once the kids zone is fully operational. As I am on redemption booking superb value for the soon to be defunct airmiles,which I am burning to avoid the charges from nov 16th. So far,great experience though not on board yet!

[VintageKrug]

I am standing by for tales of malfunctioning jetties, late departures, broken seats, poisonous rubber chicken, inebriated cabin crew, a Captain becoming overfriendly with Mrs Binman and a volcanic eruption (“…entirely of BA’s making….”) necessitating a diversion to Gander and enduring days of squalour sustaining the family on little more than rather decent ice cream they sell in the terminal.

This one could go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights!

I am only pleased I am not on that flight!

PS get thyself to Galleries South; I’ve only been in twice, but it’s much nicer than Galleries North!

[Author]

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