Hi Renbabe,
To be fair to that original poster, he does have some valid points...........
Whether the finger is pointed at the right target......... I know not.........
But as an operator at the pointy end, the service we have received has been crap and is getting worse.
The people I have dealt with, primarily the Redcaps and the odd bod that comes down to the aircraft have been fine. There just seems to be a general air of frustration everywhere at LHR. Individuals seem to be doing the best they can, but somebody at management level is not putting sufficient resources or planning into delivering a service that fellow workers are happy with, never mind the customers.
Whether it be baggage handling, enough people to man the gates, availability of tugs, availability of drivers for steps on remote stands, hi-lift availability, somebody to turn on the stand guidance.......... it just goes on and on and on.
Economic scale works against us as well. If BA pisses 10 people off enough to fly with another carrier, would they notice? If those same 10 people fly BMED routes, then yes, it hurts us big time.
Enough crap happens to make aviation a dodgy enough job as it is; economic cycles, war, fuel crisis, weather etc etc but the crap that's happening at the moment is just crazy, own goal, shoot ourselves in the foot stuff.
In our case, we pay a considerable sum of money for our ground handling but to be honest we don't really know whether the fault lies with BAA or BA or both. So please don't take personal sleight, my anger is certainly aimed higher up the chain.
Again, with the marketing, the fact is that our new routes were/are poorly advertised. Where the fault lies is a bigger question. It's bloody frustrating when you speak to British Embassy staff down route and even they don't know that BA/BMED have started a service! What chance the paying public?
I can't speak for ops, maybe they will reply themselves, but I've worked for 5 airlines and they are as good as, if not better, than any others.
I'm not sure I understand your point about our outstations and your interface with them?
Anyway, keep smiling. I am proud to have flown the BA colours, even by proxy. I would just like to have not made excuses as often as I have.......