The problem of frustrations through airports, regardless of whether you are travelling AA,BA,CA,VS etc is the root cause of dissatisfaction even before you get on board.
Totally agree, in fact I have made similar comments in here before. Most of the following I have already posted on other threads, but it is germane to this one, so I will repeat it.
BA's problem (as this thread is BA centric) is that they are players in the dissatisfaction and do not seem to realise that it impacts their reputation.
If I pay several thousand € for a business class ticket, I do expect priority treatment (accepting that first class should receive even higher priority.)
As other posters have lucidly described, being forced to play sardines on a bus or getting 'slow track' security or just generally being p*ssed around (e.g. online check in info says no need for visa check, queue at 'fast track'
security entrance point for 5 mins, then sent back for visa check) is not providing value for money.
That is why I tend to avoid BA, where my experience is that the air part of the journey is good or better, but the ground part is unreliable and sometimes shambolic.
I don't care whether BA is based at a poor airport, I do expect VFM and will usually find it by flying other airlines.
e.g. my last trip to the middle east was with BD, no fast track security, great *Alliance lounge, departure from a jetty and a good flight. It was a little irritating not to have fast track security on a J ticket, but then again the airfare was £700 less than BA and the total time in security was probably about the same for my average fast track experience at T5 (i.e. about 10-12 minutes.)
Coming back from the middle east, last year on BA, the menus in club were incorrect.
I ordered breakfast, to be informed that unfortunately that meal was not available, as the meals loaded were different. I was offered a beef bacon sandwich and anyone who knows the middle east will recognise that this is rather unhealthy, in fact it is the stuff that hardened arteries are made of.
The same thing happened for lunch, although the crew did preempt the situation by informing us of the fact beforehand and reading out the available options.
As I did not really like the sound of the options on the lunch menu (once again high fat/high calorie), I decided to hang on to eat at the arrivals lounge as the CC serving me told me that they did food there until one hour after our STA. I also had an hour to kill before checking into my Heathrow hotel.
When I got to the arrivals lounge (flight being on time), there was a couple of slices of ham, a piece of lettuce and some distressed bread.
I was informed that they were 'winding down to close' and that the chef has gone home, so that was all that was available; this later proved to be not quite correct, as the chef came out and offered to cook me some eggs on toast, which was a nice offer.
However, by this time I was rather fed up of the whole performance and somewhat hungry (eggs on toast didnt really inspire me), so I left my silver card with the duty manager, with instructions to explain to the Exec Club that I wouldn't be needing it anymore and went to M&S Only Food, where I bought a delicious sandwich and a nice green salad.
The extra £6 was not really much under the circumstances, but as I had paid 3,000€ for the ticket, it was disappointing that I had to for out for my own lunch.
I have not booked another long haul ticket with BA since and have no intention of doing so unless the schedule mandates it.
Someone at BA needs to get their act together, as the ground side lets down the air experience.