BA gone to pot?
According to Evening Standard, BA spokesperson allegedly commented that today's cancellation of 21 flights "wasn't that much" as there are 500 flights a day in and out of LHR.
So that's the sort of response these PR professionals are paid for - I shudder to think if she'll adopt the same approach if just one of those 500 had an accident?
Wouldn't a humble apology to the thousands whose holidays/businesses/lives have been disrupted be a bit more appropriate? Still, I expect we'll get the usual blurb in BA News this weekend about how the staff performed wonders rather than the heads that should roll...
So that's the sort of response these PR professionals are paid for - I shudder to think if she'll adopt the same approach if just one of those 500 had an accident?
Wouldn't a humble apology to the thousands whose holidays/businesses/lives have been disrupted be a bit more appropriate? Still, I expect we'll get the usual blurb in BA News this weekend about how the staff performed wonders rather than the heads that should roll...
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This is what happens when a plc makes cutbacks, cutbacks, cutbacks - not just in the aviation business but in all businesses.
THE BUBBLE HAS TO BURST
Employees can only take on so much extra work, after that point incentives, bonuses and overtime are irelevant.
The bosses at BA make me very angry!
PS. I fly on BA on a regular basis, my employer insists on it...
THE BUBBLE HAS TO BURST
Employees can only take on so much extra work, after that point incentives, bonuses and overtime are irelevant.
The bosses at BA make me very angry!
PS. I fly on BA on a regular basis, my employer insists on it...
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As someone else said, I am suprised too about how long it took for this thread to start... our service was going downhill fast before, now it's a nosedive!
Part of the problem in BA is that no one dares to say when anything is bad, it's seen as being negative. Everyone's so afraid of losing their job they just toe the line.
I got told off the other day for saying that the terminal management and most of Inflight Services management were incomepetent bean counters. Apparently the suggestion that when people make a mistake they should be held accountable was "not what we need to be thinking about in the current climate" What can you say to that?
Part of the problem in BA is that no one dares to say when anything is bad, it's seen as being negative. Everyone's so afraid of losing their job they just toe the line.
I got told off the other day for saying that the terminal management and most of Inflight Services management were incomepetent bean counters. Apparently the suggestion that when people make a mistake they should be held accountable was "not what we need to be thinking about in the current climate" What can you say to that?
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I'm afraid the heydays at BA are over. They have to trim the workforce to be competitive against the Locos and in doing so they are going to make mistakes.
10 years ago the airline was able to charge £600 for a return trip to Milan because of a lack of competition and make profits of hundreds of millions of pounds despite being hugely cost inefficient.
Those days are gone and the airline is left with a legacy of high costs and a heavily unionised workforce in what is a very competitive environment. I feel for Rod Eddington. He is on a hiding to nothing trying to make the airline efficient and correcting the mistakes of his incompetant predecessor.
Regards Orion Man
10 years ago the airline was able to charge £600 for a return trip to Milan because of a lack of competition and make profits of hundreds of millions of pounds despite being hugely cost inefficient.
Those days are gone and the airline is left with a legacy of high costs and a heavily unionised workforce in what is a very competitive environment. I feel for Rod Eddington. He is on a hiding to nothing trying to make the airline efficient and correcting the mistakes of his incompetant predecessor.
Regards Orion Man
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Maybe the BA management should have a read here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3593872.stm
They might realise just how much damage is occuring to the airline's reputation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3593872.stm
They might realise just how much damage is occuring to the airline's reputation.
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The rather low public visibility by Rod Eddington highlighted by Skylion just about sums it up.
If senior management has appears to have lost interest, why should those on six-month contracts at the coalface give a dam?
As BA’s recent adverts stated “…….more staff would be nice”, was that at Waterside or T4?
If you aspire to being a full service airline, and charge accordingly you’d best deliver, and the current evidence does not look promising, even if some events where initiated by weather conditions
When the low cost model is used as the basis of future competition on long-haul routes, which is just a case of natural progression, life will start to get really difficult for BA, and I feel this is but a couple of years away.
Time for a radical re-invention?
If senior management has appears to have lost interest, why should those on six-month contracts at the coalface give a dam?
As BA’s recent adverts stated “…….more staff would be nice”, was that at Waterside or T4?
If you aspire to being a full service airline, and charge accordingly you’d best deliver, and the current evidence does not look promising, even if some events where initiated by weather conditions
When the low cost model is used as the basis of future competition on long-haul routes, which is just a case of natural progression, life will start to get really difficult for BA, and I feel this is but a couple of years away.
Time for a radical re-invention?
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78 flights now cancelled
This from the Evening Standard:
THOUSANDS of holidaymakers face chaos at Heathrow today after British Airways cancelled 78 flights. More delays and cancellations are expected and BA is facing its busiest period over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The cancellations, which caused 'pure pandemonium,' were being blamed on shortages of check-in and other ground staff. There were also reports of shortages among cabin crews.
The airline said more than 5,000 travellers had been affected so far. Passengers facing long delays today reacted angrily. South African tourist Terry Allan, 34, said: 'An airline as big as British Airways must surely know how many staff it needs to operate its routes.'
The trouble began yesterday when 10 short-haul flights were cancelled because BA could not open check-in desks due to a lack of staff. Passengers flying into the airport had long waits on the tarmac.
Massive queues built up as passengers showed up for their flights only to learn they had been cancelled.
Chaos ensued as baggage halls were swamped with a backlog of flights and passengers on incoming flights were kept waiting on runways for more than two hours after planes had touched down.
The chaos followed a total of 47 flights being cancelled last night and 31 more today. The total included three US-bound flights which were cancelled after technical faults.
BA, which only last weekend averted a strike planned for this Friday by ground staff, blamed today's disruption on crew and aircraft being out of place following last night's cancellations.
At Terminal 1 today the queue of frustrated passengers attempting to re-book after having flights cancelled stretched over 60 yards long and up to four people deep. Many of them were returning to try to arrange travel for a second day after falling victim to yesterday's disruption.
Spanish tourist Eduardo Tilve, 39, had been due to catch a flight home to Barcelona at 7.10pm yesterday but found at 10pm that it had been cancelled.
He said: 'There were no staff around to tell me what to do so in the end I just had to take myself to a hotel near the airport to wait until today so that I could try and get home.
"I thought they would have got their act together today but things are even worse. I was trying for ages to get through to their helplines and when I did finally get an answer they told me the earliest I could possibly get a flight would be tomorrow morning and that I should just occupy myself in London while I was waiting.
'They have all my luggage so I have nothing but what I am standing in. How am I supposed to occupy myself?
'They then put me on hold and while I was waiting they cut me off. The call cost me £8 and now I don't have any credit left on my mobile so I have no choice but to queue. The whole company is a mess. I don't know how they stay in business.'
Factory worker Terrence Delgaty, 48, and his 15-year-old daughter Nikita, from Basildon, Essex, had been due to fly with BA to Dusseldorf to visit relatives at 3.10pm yesterday.
Their first flight was cancelled and they were re-booked on to another at 6.15pm. But, after being told that flight was subjected to repeated delays, it too was cancelled.
They then had to get up at 6am and start queuing in the hope they might be able to get to Germany some time today.
'It was utter chaos here yesterday evening and is still a mess today,' said Mr Delgaty.
'Towards the end of yesterday people were getting so angry that armed policemen were having to stand next to what few British Airways managers there were to make sure things didn't get out of control.
'There is nothing we can do except queue and hope the airline finally gets it act together.'
Steve Allum, 47, an insurance broker who had been due to fly to Switzerland, said: 'We made a point of checking to see if there were any delays before we came and there was no disruption reported but we turn up here and the flight is just cancelled.'
Robert Banks, a 39-year-old businessman from Basingstoke, Hants, said: 'British Airways clearly have problems and in a way I am not surprised they are having difficulty getting staff in.
'Morale has got to be very low if they are threatening strikes but I don't think this sort of cancellation nightmare for travellers will improve their situation.'
Many travellers stranded in the Heathrow lounges said they could not find anyone from BA to tell them what was going on. This is a repeat of the criticism made against the company during last year's wildcat walk-out by BA check-in staff.
A BA spokeswoman apologised for the cancellations today but insisted that out of a total of 500 flights in and out of Heathrow every day 'it was not that much'.
She added: 'There is a bit of a backlog but we are working our way through it.'
BA said it expected that today would be the last day of difficulty and that flights will be fine for the Bank Holiday weekend.
THOUSANDS of holidaymakers face chaos at Heathrow today after British Airways cancelled 78 flights. More delays and cancellations are expected and BA is facing its busiest period over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The cancellations, which caused 'pure pandemonium,' were being blamed on shortages of check-in and other ground staff. There were also reports of shortages among cabin crews.
The airline said more than 5,000 travellers had been affected so far. Passengers facing long delays today reacted angrily. South African tourist Terry Allan, 34, said: 'An airline as big as British Airways must surely know how many staff it needs to operate its routes.'
The trouble began yesterday when 10 short-haul flights were cancelled because BA could not open check-in desks due to a lack of staff. Passengers flying into the airport had long waits on the tarmac.
Massive queues built up as passengers showed up for their flights only to learn they had been cancelled.
Chaos ensued as baggage halls were swamped with a backlog of flights and passengers on incoming flights were kept waiting on runways for more than two hours after planes had touched down.
The chaos followed a total of 47 flights being cancelled last night and 31 more today. The total included three US-bound flights which were cancelled after technical faults.
BA, which only last weekend averted a strike planned for this Friday by ground staff, blamed today's disruption on crew and aircraft being out of place following last night's cancellations.
At Terminal 1 today the queue of frustrated passengers attempting to re-book after having flights cancelled stretched over 60 yards long and up to four people deep. Many of them were returning to try to arrange travel for a second day after falling victim to yesterday's disruption.
Spanish tourist Eduardo Tilve, 39, had been due to catch a flight home to Barcelona at 7.10pm yesterday but found at 10pm that it had been cancelled.
He said: 'There were no staff around to tell me what to do so in the end I just had to take myself to a hotel near the airport to wait until today so that I could try and get home.
"I thought they would have got their act together today but things are even worse. I was trying for ages to get through to their helplines and when I did finally get an answer they told me the earliest I could possibly get a flight would be tomorrow morning and that I should just occupy myself in London while I was waiting.
'They have all my luggage so I have nothing but what I am standing in. How am I supposed to occupy myself?
'They then put me on hold and while I was waiting they cut me off. The call cost me £8 and now I don't have any credit left on my mobile so I have no choice but to queue. The whole company is a mess. I don't know how they stay in business.'
Factory worker Terrence Delgaty, 48, and his 15-year-old daughter Nikita, from Basildon, Essex, had been due to fly with BA to Dusseldorf to visit relatives at 3.10pm yesterday.
Their first flight was cancelled and they were re-booked on to another at 6.15pm. But, after being told that flight was subjected to repeated delays, it too was cancelled.
They then had to get up at 6am and start queuing in the hope they might be able to get to Germany some time today.
'It was utter chaos here yesterday evening and is still a mess today,' said Mr Delgaty.
'Towards the end of yesterday people were getting so angry that armed policemen were having to stand next to what few British Airways managers there were to make sure things didn't get out of control.
'There is nothing we can do except queue and hope the airline finally gets it act together.'
Steve Allum, 47, an insurance broker who had been due to fly to Switzerland, said: 'We made a point of checking to see if there were any delays before we came and there was no disruption reported but we turn up here and the flight is just cancelled.'
Robert Banks, a 39-year-old businessman from Basingstoke, Hants, said: 'British Airways clearly have problems and in a way I am not surprised they are having difficulty getting staff in.
'Morale has got to be very low if they are threatening strikes but I don't think this sort of cancellation nightmare for travellers will improve their situation.'
Many travellers stranded in the Heathrow lounges said they could not find anyone from BA to tell them what was going on. This is a repeat of the criticism made against the company during last year's wildcat walk-out by BA check-in staff.
A BA spokeswoman apologised for the cancellations today but insisted that out of a total of 500 flights in and out of Heathrow every day 'it was not that much'.
She added: 'There is a bit of a backlog but we are working our way through it.'
BA said it expected that today would be the last day of difficulty and that flights will be fine for the Bank Holiday weekend.
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Talking about appearing up front. The BA Operations Director appeared on lunchtime television news to say that the crisis was now passed and everything was back to normal.
Strange that Heathrow arrivals board is showing 10 BA cancellations at the present time. Perhaps that is what he regards as "normal."
Strange that Heathrow arrivals board is showing 10 BA cancellations at the present time. Perhaps that is what he regards as "normal."
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Perhaps he meant “Normal” in the context of his increasing regular appearances to say sorry.
It’s just such a shame that all of the poorly paid customer facing guys and girls have to take all of the real flak from passengers, and all senior well paid management is required to do is go on television and say “Sorry”.
Or where we treated to Mike Street speaking to staff and passengers at a terminal, that would be something special.
It’s just such a shame that all of the poorly paid customer facing guys and girls have to take all of the real flak from passengers, and all senior well paid management is required to do is go on television and say “Sorry”.
Or where we treated to Mike Street speaking to staff and passengers at a terminal, that would be something special.
WHBM, I wasn't referring to 'normal' lost baggage, but the harping back to the chaos that the recent storms caused as if it was normal for BA to lose tens of thousands of bags a day. There isn't an airline in the world that doesn't lose bags , and the larger the airline the bigger the numbers lost even if the percentage per 1000 pax stays the same. Very few bags remain lost forever and most are found and delivered within 3 days.
The example you post seems to be a bit cack handed and shooting themselves in the foot. No doubt an accountant somewhere has calculated the number of passengers likely to require the service and decided the number is too small to justify a Supervisor starting early. That said, they have a system in place which should work if people communicate. Sorry getting reactionary again....... people communicate.......it'll never happen.
The example you post seems to be a bit cack handed and shooting themselves in the foot. No doubt an accountant somewhere has calculated the number of passengers likely to require the service and decided the number is too small to justify a Supervisor starting early. That said, they have a system in place which should work if people communicate. Sorry getting reactionary again....... people communicate.......it'll never happen.
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Sack Mike Street, an incompetent, patronising and arrogant fool.
Listening to him spout his rubbish was depressing. Those comments are for inside a meeting room, grovelling apologies and a commitment to customers is what was needed today.
I've reached the point now where I feel like telling someone I do live experiments on furry animals rather than tell them I work for BA, I'd feel less of an outcast
They spend their whole time bleating on about costs of this and that and savings and they're killing the company.
Andwhat's that muppet we've just recruited as a chairman up to?
Skippy had better pull his finger out as well, they're all fiddling while Rome burns and it's like watching the story of the emperor' new clothes round here.
p.s. Employ accountant to count money not decide company policy.
Listening to him spout his rubbish was depressing. Those comments are for inside a meeting room, grovelling apologies and a commitment to customers is what was needed today.
I've reached the point now where I feel like telling someone I do live experiments on furry animals rather than tell them I work for BA, I'd feel less of an outcast
They spend their whole time bleating on about costs of this and that and savings and they're killing the company.
Andwhat's that muppet we've just recruited as a chairman up to?
Skippy had better pull his finger out as well, they're all fiddling while Rome burns and it's like watching the story of the emperor' new clothes round here.
p.s. Employ accountant to count money not decide company policy.
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Skippy
Hate to have to drag up old news, but just have a look at what Skippy left behind him when he joined BA... looks like he is trying to complete the set... the guy is a complete tw@t... 
As a.matter of interest, is RE in the country as present as the absence from public view in recent crises has been conspicuous? MS is not a great front-man - the performance after Radio 4's 15 minutes of the most appalling passenger experience interviews on the PM programme this evening was a touch haughty and unconvincing, I'm afraid. Much like the computer generated standard letters that will no doubt be sent out to those affected in 3 months' time (with 3 bottles of cheap wine,of course).
On a different tack, was there not a more imaginative and less traumatic solution when passengers are in the terminal, crewed and serviceable aircraft plus loaders are at the gate (especially on low baggage short haul?) I'm sure that in Japan tearful directors would fall on swords, but here..well BA was the top performing FTSE 100 stock today, so who needs happy customers!
On a different tack, was there not a more imaginative and less traumatic solution when passengers are in the terminal, crewed and serviceable aircraft plus loaders are at the gate (especially on low baggage short haul?) I'm sure that in Japan tearful directors would fall on swords, but here..well BA was the top performing FTSE 100 stock today, so who needs happy customers!
At last someone has the courage to mention what a f8888g idiot mke street really is and just recently he awarded himself the OBE.
He was a cabin crew manager many years ago and was terrified of the platelayers union.He still cowtows to them whilst making the pilots eat sh..t,so the pilot workforce would like to see thecretin disappear up his own arse. As for EWS,try the 400 trip the other day with no apu sitting in the dark groung power tripping off line,cant start 2 engines on stand because some idiot put the aircraft on a cul de sac stand and you cant start 2 before pushback there.Of course the apu had been stuffed for at least 10 days.Talk about billy smarts circus.
He was a cabin crew manager many years ago and was terrified of the platelayers union.He still cowtows to them whilst making the pilots eat sh..t,so the pilot workforce would like to see thecretin disappear up his own arse. As for EWS,try the 400 trip the other day with no apu sitting in the dark groung power tripping off line,cant start 2 engines on stand because some idiot put the aircraft on a cul de sac stand and you cant start 2 before pushback there.Of course the apu had been stuffed for at least 10 days.Talk about billy smarts circus.
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Over Bearing Eedjit?
Senior Managers at BA and the unions spent months, weeks, days trying to prevent a strike.
"Please don't go on strike said the management! You'll wreck the company, and that's our job not yours."
(I know they didn't, it just feels like it)
Senior Managers at BA and the unions spent months, weeks, days trying to prevent a strike.
"Please don't go on strike said the management! You'll wreck the company, and that's our job not yours."
(I know they didn't, it just feels like it)
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It's interesting that only a few days ago it was going to be "the strike" that was going to cause terrible damage. With that issue resolved for the time being, it seems that there are some serious mismanagement problems coming home to roost that are destroying the company. I expect the directors are disappointed that they can't now blame the check-in and handling staff for wrecking BA's reputation. It seems that clueless management is rife in the UK now; it's just that most of these imbeciles don't perform in such a public arena.
As a BA engineer for many years I can only apologise to my colleagues who have to fly the lumps of junk we now call aeroplanes.
We told our managers that the EWS system would cause unacceptable problems and having browsed through a couple of tech logs today I am frankly shocked at the levels of ADDs now outstanding.
3rd world charter outfits operate like this, not European aviation leaders.
We told our managers that the EWS system would cause unacceptable problems and having browsed through a couple of tech logs today I am frankly shocked at the levels of ADDs now outstanding.
3rd world charter outfits operate like this, not European aviation leaders.
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I work for BA as cabin crew, and have seen how demoralised the whole workforce has become over the last couple of years. Yet front line staff still give 100% when they go to work.
Each time there is a debacle, Mike (I am so great) Street, is pushed out on his box somewhere near the airport, to spout of about, staff shortages, staff sickness, technical problems, weather problems!
They blame everyone and everything else but themselves. Whilst they sit in their ivory towers at waterside, awarding themselves big payrises, and thinking up more ways to cut more frontline staff, and save more money.
They have seemed to have lost the idea, that we are an airline, in a very competitive market. Filling HQ with MORE managers, that just sit and stare out of windows, is not going to check in passengers.
It is a well known fact, that we are the most top heavy airline in the world. Costs have been cut, but in all the wrong areas, ie front line staff.
The only ones to suffer are passengers. I dont blame anyone for voting with their feet. If I had a choice, I would not buy a ticket with BA at this present time either.
It is such a shame, that this once great company is slowly but surely going down the pan.
Each time there is a debacle, Mike (I am so great) Street, is pushed out on his box somewhere near the airport, to spout of about, staff shortages, staff sickness, technical problems, weather problems!
They blame everyone and everything else but themselves. Whilst they sit in their ivory towers at waterside, awarding themselves big payrises, and thinking up more ways to cut more frontline staff, and save more money.
They have seemed to have lost the idea, that we are an airline, in a very competitive market. Filling HQ with MORE managers, that just sit and stare out of windows, is not going to check in passengers.
It is a well known fact, that we are the most top heavy airline in the world. Costs have been cut, but in all the wrong areas, ie front line staff.
The only ones to suffer are passengers. I dont blame anyone for voting with their feet. If I had a choice, I would not buy a ticket with BA at this present time either.
It is such a shame, that this once great company is slowly but surely going down the pan.