Originally Posted by
tristar500
... before spending lavish sums of cash on a product that is already sufficient ...
Not being in the company, but a mere customer, I have no position or even real knowledge on the pensions issue.
But I can say this: from the passenger's point of view, the current Club World is out of date. The upgrade is definitely required. BA will never be top of the pack, but it must always be near it. And the hard product (ie the seat) has started slipping fast down the quality rankings.
Also, you have to remember this. Passengers who can choose their carrier have a lot of inertia. By the passenger figures drop noticeably, you've already lost a lot of people who will be
very difficult to get back - when they've found someone else they're comfortable with, they'll stick with their new buddies. Then you're in a double-whammy: you're spending money on upgrading the cabin at just the time that your cash flow and profitability take a dive because you didn't act sooner. And you end up spending the money as an emergency recovery measure, rather than a pro-active measure to keep the passengers where they are and to prevent the crisis from occurring.
If anything, NGCW is 18-24 months later than it should have been. There have been other priorities, and the financial situation of the company is the healthier for it. But it really couldn't have been delayed any longer. That would have been bad for everyone, employees included.