Having in the last 4 days travelled BA CW from Rio to London and then continued my journey to Mumbai Via Dubai on Emirates business class I am in a good position to review the 2 services.
- Equipment - Got off an ageing BA 777 onto a pretty new Emirates 777 300 ER. The Emirates fit out was way ahead of the BA cabin with nice touches like wireless ICE control, electric blinds and the toilet bag provision was superior to that provided in BA's 1st. On a personal note I found the BA bed more comfortable to sleep in even though Emirates provide a mattress to lie on.
- Service - Emirates win here - Young, energised and keen to help Versus BA matronly seen it all before and lets get the blinds closed and get you all of to sleep approach. I found myself wondering how BASSA would react to having to manage mattresses in CW. Did Emirates management have to negotiate with the cabin crew union before introducing this touch? The prepare cabin for landing task was a pretty major undertaking on Emirates and they were given 15 minutes warning into Dubai but did it with a smile nevertheless.
- Cost - Well the reason I was on Emirates down to Mumbai was it because it came at less than half the price of BA CW.
This is the scale of the mountain BA have to climb, the management know it but BASSA are still of the belief that they are the custodians of the premier airline service. Time to wake up, the world has moved on and BA need to move with it and cannot possibly do it with the old BASSA millstone around its neck.