British Airways - not impressed
Discussion
surveyor said:
rich1231 said:
pushthebutton said:
Is it too late to cancel and rebook?
GT03ROB said:
rich1231 said:
And nervously now got a flight to Phoenix on BA from London at end of month in First and am now dreading it.
I've got fly Kuwait London in economy with BA in a few weeks ..... the panic attacks are already starting......These comments rationalise and gloss over pessimistic thoughts and allow a sense of security to pervade as the dreaded day approaches.
WD39 said:
GT03ROB said:
rich1231 said:
And nervously now got a flight to Phoenix on BA from London at end of month in First and am now dreading it.
I've got fly Kuwait London in economy with BA in a few weeks ..... the panic attacks are already starting......These comments rationalise and gloss over pessimistic thoughts and allow a sense of security to pervade as the dreaded day approaches.
All airlines simply do not hold the passenger/customer/SLF as their main priority. And that shows. I average 60 flights a year over a mixture of short/long economy/business Virgin/BA/Lufthansa and none of it makes a difference. Although, one comment, at least when Lufthansa are early they don't go all self-congratulory like dear old BA.
djc206 said:
GT03ROB said:
I've got fly Kuwait London in economy with BA in a few weeks ..... the panic attacks are already starting......
Oh, good luckIncidently cancelled a QR flight to take the BA option which will shed light on how BA can still compete with the ME3. To get home with any of the ME3 I'd have to transit via DXB, DOH or AUH. This would mean spending anything from 4-6hrs in one of these airports at stupid o'clock. I'd get home either an hour earlier or few hours later than flying BA having lost a nights sleep. Returning pretty much the same except I wouldn't get in the office until late morning. With BA I get a full nights sleep in a bed & home for lunch. Returning I get a full day at home & in the office here by 8am. BA price same as QR.
GT03ROB said:
I tend to find a couple of hours in the lounge with a few bevvies allows the sense of security to pervade..... trouble is thats not possible in the Kuwaiti lounges!!
I flew BA Business class back from Kuwait and I was quite amused that they rush round with the glasses of bubbly as soon as they're in the air rather than giving you one on the ground as they did on the way out from Heathrow 
They've gone up again in my estimation, they're sending me a new suitcase with no quibbles after breaking the handle off mine on Sunday.
RizzoTheRat said:
2.5 hours late coming back from Madeira last night (apparently the loaded the plane at Gatwick, found the toilets weren't working, and had to transfer everyone and all the luggage to a new plane), and then they managed to break the handle off my suitcase and it seems dump it in a puddle somewhere between the aircraft and the baggage carousel. And the Mrs wasn't happy as they'd run out of tonic by the time the trolley got to us so she couldn't have a G&T
Flight to Schiphol this morning was about half an hour late. Back to Easyjet next week.
I did my first budget flight in may on easyJet I certainly found the service and legroom a lot better than on BA I was really shocked (I know any carrier is better than BA) Flight to Schiphol this morning was about half an hour late. Back to Easyjet next week.
My favourite flight has been with Royal Jordanian. The service I received and the quality of everything from staff to food to the quality of the aircraft were all second to none.
GT03ROB said:
Only had to do cattle on this route twice in the last couple of years. I nab the pair seats at the back of the 747. 2nd seat has been free in the past & on one of them had a steady flow of champagne bought back from Club by the stewardess.
Incidently cancelled a QR flight to take the BA option which will shed light on how BA can still compete with the ME3. To get home with any of the ME3 I'd have to transit via DXB, DOH or AUH. This would mean spending anything from 4-6hrs in one of these airports at stupid o'clock. I'd get home either an hour earlier or few hours later than flying BA having lost a nights sleep. Returning pretty much the same except I wouldn't get in the office until late morning. With BA I get a full nights sleep in a bed & home for lunch. Returning I get a full day at home & in the office here by 8am. BA price same as QR.
Ever braved Kuwaiti?Incidently cancelled a QR flight to take the BA option which will shed light on how BA can still compete with the ME3. To get home with any of the ME3 I'd have to transit via DXB, DOH or AUH. This would mean spending anything from 4-6hrs in one of these airports at stupid o'clock. I'd get home either an hour earlier or few hours later than flying BA having lost a nights sleep. Returning pretty much the same except I wouldn't get in the office until late morning. With BA I get a full nights sleep in a bed & home for lunch. Returning I get a full day at home & in the office here by 8am. BA price same as QR.
RizzoTheRat said:
I flew BA Business class back from Kuwait and I was quite amused that they rush round with the glasses of bubbly as soon as they're in the air rather than giving you one on the ground as they did on the way out from Heathrow
I find that as business & 1st is predominantly Kuwaiti's & it's an 8:30 departure they tend not to do that. However once they realize that you do want the stuff it tends to flow a lot better than on other BA flights. djc206 said:
Ever braved Kuwaiti?
No even the Kuwaiti's don't fly Kuwaiti! And it normally more expensive than BA with worse timings.I fly long haul with BA semi-regularly and they've always taken great care of me. Even when I was delayed due a faulty plane, customer service was brilliant, they organised everything to get me there asap and then compensated me more than the cost of the flights. I'm a very happy customer.
Cathay going east was good, but I can't say it was significantly better. I'd take whichever was cheaper or most convenient in future.
Did an Emirates trip recently and while the A380 was fancy, the service on the way out was shocking. My food wasn't served until after the cabin lights had been turned off and both the staff on the plane and customer services afterwards couldn't care less.
I think a lot of it depends on your luck on the day. Any airline can have issues from time to time.
Cathay going east was good, but I can't say it was significantly better. I'd take whichever was cheaper or most convenient in future.
Did an Emirates trip recently and while the A380 was fancy, the service on the way out was shocking. My food wasn't served until after the cabin lights had been turned off and both the staff on the plane and customer services afterwards couldn't care less.
I think a lot of it depends on your luck on the day. Any airline can have issues from time to time.
I quit using BA years ago, the attitude of the cabin staff is what got to me.
That was followed by the Business Class holiday we took to Miami where on the return they messed up our luggage; when we got back to London we were made to wait for 2 hours until they located it, there was only us and 2 other sets of Business Class passengers who had this issue, all other passengers (economy and business) all got their luggage pronto - no offer of compensation, no apology, nothing, just a load of "attitude" - and I had a Gold card at the time. Game over, f
k BA.
At that time I was flying London to (either) Istanbul, ME, Africa, weekly and found better quality service and quality of aircraft far better on other airlines. Turkish Airlines at that time were way ahead, still use them now.
I hasten to add I had a very bad experience on Emirates a year ago, family holiday down under and it was a near fking disaster; late departure from Istanbul, the Emirates staff tried to bounce us off the flight from Dubai to Singapore (yes, it was one of those with 2 x stops but overall the travel time was good and got us to our destination earlier than some of the other options we looked at), we argued with them at the gate (held up the flight), eventually got let on and made it to Singapore.
Then in Singapore after a 1 hour technical stop which became a 2 hour fk-up, as ı went to board I was told I didn't have a seat but my wife and daughter did (despite being booked-in again in Dubai 8 hours earlier).
The day was saved by the woman next to us in the queue who didn't have a tight schedule for arriving in Australia and happened to be booked into my seat, (after I had exhausted all angles such as move us into First - "no sir, that is full") she suggested to the Emirates staff that I board with my family the 'plane and she would wait 6 hours for the next flight.
The service was also bad, just not attentive. But there was a cabin services director (or whatever title they use on Emirates) who was very helpful, and one or two other crew who were sympathetic and really made an effort.
Then after the long holiday down under I got home and was asked to get on a flşght 2 days later to go to Dubai for a week of business meetings - and the bds booked me onto .... yes, Emirates! My wife saw the irony of it (but was relieved she didn't have to suffer Emirates again!).
That was followed by the Business Class holiday we took to Miami where on the return they messed up our luggage; when we got back to London we were made to wait for 2 hours until they located it, there was only us and 2 other sets of Business Class passengers who had this issue, all other passengers (economy and business) all got their luggage pronto - no offer of compensation, no apology, nothing, just a load of "attitude" - and I had a Gold card at the time. Game over, f
k BA.At that time I was flying London to (either) Istanbul, ME, Africa, weekly and found better quality service and quality of aircraft far better on other airlines. Turkish Airlines at that time were way ahead, still use them now.
I hasten to add I had a very bad experience on Emirates a year ago, family holiday down under and it was a near f
king disaster; late departure from Istanbul, the Emirates staff tried to bounce us off the flight from Dubai to Singapore (yes, it was one of those with 2 x stops but overall the travel time was good and got us to our destination earlier than some of the other options we looked at), we argued with them at the gate (held up the flight), eventually got let on and made it to Singapore.Then in Singapore after a 1 hour technical stop which became a 2 hour f
k-up, as ı went to board I was told I didn't have a seat but my wife and daughter did (despite being booked-in again in Dubai 8 hours earlier).The day was saved by the woman next to us in the queue who didn't have a tight schedule for arriving in Australia and happened to be booked into my seat, (after I had exhausted all angles such as move us into First - "no sir, that is full") she suggested to the Emirates staff that I board with my family the 'plane and she would wait 6 hours for the next flight.
The service was also bad, just not attentive. But there was a cabin services director (or whatever title they use on Emirates) who was very helpful, and one or two other crew who were sympathetic and really made an effort.
Then after the long holiday down under I got home and was asked to get on a flşght 2 days later to go to Dubai for a week of business meetings - and the b
ds booked me onto .... yes, Emirates! My wife saw the irony of it (but was relieved she didn't have to suffer Emirates again!).
SS2. said:
recordman said:
Make sure you make a claim for the five of you under EUR261.
Back in Blighty now and a claim has been submitted to BA.Will update as and when anything happens.
No quibbles, no arguing, no hassle.
djc206 said:
You've also not experienced miserable until you've flown Emirates with a majority eastern european crew. Christ I think if any of those girls had tried to smile their faces would have cracked.
However the crew today on EK521 have done a superb job evacuating that 777 following a crash landing. They can be as miserable as they like as long as they do the single most important thing right.GT03ROB said:
However the crew today on EK521 have done a superb job evacuating that 777 following a crash landing. They can be as miserable as they like as long as they do the single most important thing right.
I disagree. They have done an exceptional job but there's no reason why they can't ensure your safety and crack a smile or be polite, service doesn't take away from safety.RizzoTheRat said:
GT03ROB said:
I tend to find a couple of hours in the lounge with a few bevvies allows the sense of security to pervade..... trouble is thats not possible in the Kuwaiti lounges!!
I flew BA Business class back from Kuwait and I was quite amused that they rush round with the glasses of bubbly as soon as they're in the air rather than giving you one on the ground as they did on the way out from Heathrow The aircraft bars are sealed prior to arrival and are only opened when the seat belt sign is extinguished after departure.
On departing Saudi the bars can only be opened after leaving Saudi airspace.
Edited by WD39 on Wednesday 3rd August 19:48
chopper602 said:
I'm taking the family to Vegas (back from SF) with BA (economy) in a couple of weeks time and note that it's an ageing 747 on this route. It seems to be consistently delayed, day after day. I haven't flown BA for a long time and going by the comments in this thread, I hope we're not going to be too disappointed . . .
Well the trip was as bad as I expected. Delay of three hours, only when I asked was I told that the original aircraft had gone 'tech' and the replacement had done similar, so needed another replacement. Further 'security' checks when everyone was at the gate (there were no crew on board) for another 40 mins. IFE didn't work for the first 2 hours and then when it did it wasn't on-demand, just broadcast. Ran out of food choice about a third of the way through the seats. Managed to get into LV less than three hours late, so no comp.Return flight on a 777 from SF was the exact opposite . . .
chopper602 said:
chopper602 said:
I'm taking the family to Vegas (back from SF) with BA (economy) in a couple of weeks time and note that it's an ageing 747 on this route. It seems to be consistently delayed, day after day. I haven't flown BA for a long time and going by the comments in this thread, I hope we're not going to be too disappointed . . .
Well the trip was as bad as I expected. Delay of three hours, only when I asked was I told that the original aircraft had gone 'tech' and the replacement had done similar, so needed another replacement. Further 'security' checks when everyone was at the gate (there were no crew on board) for another 40 mins. IFE didn't work for the first 2 hours and then when it did it wasn't on-demand, just broadcast. Ran out of food choice about a third of the way through the seats. Managed to get into LV less than three hours late, so no comp.Return flight on a 777 from SF was the exact opposite . . .
We've decided that if we go back we will accept a change rather than deal with the 747 again - at lease outward. Coming back we were too knackered to care....
surveyor said:
Amazingly the 747's on the Las Vegas route are not getting their cabins updated. Maybe they are retiring those planes to replace with new alternatives, rather than just providing an aged dated product to those travellers...
There is nothing amazing about it. There are now 3 versions of 747's, 'Mid J', 'High J', and 'Super J'. J refers to business class, so the versions are the amount of business class seats (52, 70 and 86 Business Class (aka Club) seats. When BA did the cabin update on 747's, they converted Mid and High J aircraft to Super J spec which before last year didn't exist.Why did they do it? To reasons, to improve the hard product of the 747's (which they own outright, so maximising the asset rather than committing to busying new and shiny aircraft to get screwed if the next economic hits the the wrong time for them) so they can keep running them and keep the customers sort of happy. But the higher priority is increasing the amount of premium cabin seats on these airframes, to make more money in business routes.
So simply, LAS is a holiday route, full of holidays makers which only a few will not be buying First or Business class seats so it won't get Max Business seat upgraded 747's (same goes for BA's 777 fleet, which have old and new cabins). Loads of Long Haul destinations which they use 747's are in that boat, Cape Town, Mexico City, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Florida, Accra etc.
Not every airline has state backing and favorable landing charges setups that the ME airlines have so they can have have a young fleet and constant cabin refreshes that they are up against - most of the major Western airlines are in that boat in that regard.
smack said:
There is nothing amazing about it. There are now 3 versions of 747's, 'Mid J', 'High J', and 'Super J'. J refers to business class, so the versions are the amount of business class seats (52, 70 and 86 Business Class (aka Club) seats. When BA did the cabin update on 747's, they converted Mid and High J aircraft to Super J spec which before last year didn't exist.
Why did they do it? To reasons, to improve the hard product of the 747's (which they own outright, so maximising the asset rather than committing to busying new and shiny aircraft to get screwed if the next economic hits the the wrong time for them) so they can keep running them and keep the customers sort of happy. But the higher priority is increasing the amount of premium cabin seats on these airframes, to make more money in business routes.
So simply, LAS is a holiday route, full of holidays makers which only a few will not be buying First or Business class seats so it won't get Max Business seat upgraded 747's (same goes for BA's 777 fleet, which have old and new cabins). Loads of Long Haul destinations which they use 747's are in that boat, Cape Town, Mexico City, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Florida, Accra etc.
Not every airline has state backing and favorable landing charges setups that the ME airlines have so they can have have a young fleet and constant cabin refreshes that they are up against - most of the major Western airlines are in that boat in that regard.
But yet the Virgin planes flying that route have a refreshed interior, and many of the US fleet that involve a connection are far more modern. A connection does not put me off as I get to stretch my legs at least. Get on an American plane you get video on demand, on board internet etc. BA 747, your lucky if the ark age cabin entertainment works.Why did they do it? To reasons, to improve the hard product of the 747's (which they own outright, so maximising the asset rather than committing to busying new and shiny aircraft to get screwed if the next economic hits the the wrong time for them) so they can keep running them and keep the customers sort of happy. But the higher priority is increasing the amount of premium cabin seats on these airframes, to make more money in business routes.
So simply, LAS is a holiday route, full of holidays makers which only a few will not be buying First or Business class seats so it won't get Max Business seat upgraded 747's (same goes for BA's 777 fleet, which have old and new cabins). Loads of Long Haul destinations which they use 747's are in that boat, Cape Town, Mexico City, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Florida, Accra etc.
Not every airline has state backing and favorable landing charges setups that the ME airlines have so they can have have a young fleet and constant cabin refreshes that they are up against - most of the major Western airlines are in that boat in that regard.
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