the point most seem to be missing is that it does not matter if crew believe the level of service or product has deteriorated as a result of the 'one down'! That is nothing to do with their remit.
Autobrake Low - you are correct in what you say but it is easy to see how some of the crew take any reduction in the service quite personally as this is
what BA have previously wanted.
I have no idea whether this has been the case with your pilot training but for the last decade, we have trained the 'go the extra mile' message into the cabin crew along with a 'guardian of the customer experience' mentality. In short, we told them
it was their remit. (The mood before that was all about the individual, with crew encouraged to 'be unique' and bring their personality to work).
We now have to retrain them into 'just do what it says in the service book' and the only extra they can get is 'you'! This is quite a difficult message to get your head around as it is so different to the ones that have gone before, so in the spirit of all 'change management' principles, it will take time and training to adapt the mindset. On Eurofleet we are currently delivering 'Eurofleet Experience' which is designed to do just that; it still goes against the grain not to hunt around the aircraft to find someone a veggie alternative, to lay the apple juice down so no-one sees it or fetch a Eurotraveller customer a Bailey's because you know it will make them happy.
It's also about retraining our customers because they are used to us stretching the rules to make them happy and they don't like to be told 'NO'. It's not always easy being shouted at for a whimsical change (e.g. removing hot towels from Club Europe) which has come from a faceless individual who may never have worked on an aeroplane.
So it's not the crews fault per se, old habits die hard but give us time, we'll get there just in time for the next change of direction from head office.
