Originally Posted by
Nicc HK
IBA now has virtually all its eggs in one basket, Heathrow, and while a strength as the World’s Premier airport, it is a weakness as BA’s does not seem to have anything else as a fallback
While the financial points are also correct, BA has not only shrunk to just operating at Heathrow, but they narrowed further to over-concentrate on premium classes and corporate-level agreements, which there was a short-term rise in demand for but which has now dropped back, and wholly on the London market rather than connecting traffic. T5 is a poor terminal for connections, they take for ever and I suspect a substantial number are still lost.
Short-term pennypinching on the premium class catering and ancillaries will drive more such passengers away, while for connection BA should look at how many others do it - Lufthansa do published 25-minute connections at Munich, and I've never missed one yet, because they are organised for it. A Heathrowite writing here a while ago about these said firstly that they were illegal, and then when I showed they were officially published just said they should not be allowed. A typical BA attitude to life I am afraid. Lost connections because the inbound aircraft waited 20 minutes for a stand at T5, or because the flight connections security is disorganised and queues are huge, is just bad management.
Does anyone from Waterside ever come down to T5 to think up any improvements ? No, because the prevailing attitude is that management is all about generating spreadsheets in the office and showing conformance to budget, not about developing and improving a product so more people will want to buy it.
As for Willie Walsh, BA is just a placeholder for him until he gets the job he really wants, Chief Exec at Ryanair following Michael O'Leary. And he can indulge in upsetting his future competitor while he's at it. Wonderful.