Poor Ba . What Rubbish

[mjenkinsblackdog]

I find it a complete joke when Ba pilots etc are so upset about their present lot.. .Ba has been mismanaged for years particularly during the Ayling years.. .1 Painted tails 60 million.. .2 Cabin Crew strike 125 million.. .3 1.98m just to wave goodbye to bob.. .Did these whining pilots give a thought about the following.. .1 Laker Bust.. .2 Danair Bust.. .3 Bcal bust.

I fear not.. .Welcome to the real world at last gentlemen.. .Good luck job hunting. <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[splonguk]

Mate, what exactly do you want? I see in one post you slag BA for doing what any other airline would do and in another you slag Ryanair. Would you rather we got rid of the entire industry and all got around by bus?

What exactly was wrong with BA absorbing the bankrupt BCal and Danair? Both went bust, BA bought them, keeping their aircraft and some staff, saving jobs! Why is there a problem there? Air Canada has recently absorbed Canadian having forced them under, AA has just absorbed TWA, Qantas has absorbed everything in sight down under, Swissair had its finger in everywhere, SAS has bought numerous nordic airlines, Emirates is helping out a couple, Delta half owns Air Jamaica, Air France has seen to the other french carriers. Why can't BA?

As for the tails, yes some were awful, but others were representative of a wider Britain and other nations that BA serves. Most airlines at some stage do promotional paintwork - look at SAA and QF, Delta did some 777 is a special colour, Cathay have as well. So yes they HAD planned for them to be permenant but they did a u-turn. Why? Because the British public did not like not having their NATIONAL flag on their NATIONAL carrier.

So what exactly, would the British public do if our NATIONAL carrier went under? I can't see BMI filling the shoes, Virgin wouldn't know how, Ryanair isn't even British, and I can't see people being impressed if a low-cost carrier were to become our main carrier.

Besides, how exactly would we travel long-haul? As far as I am aware the furthest you can get with Ryanair is the south of Italy, Buzz takes you to Jerez, Easyjet can get you to Athens, Go can get you to Iceland. Noth quite New York or Sydney but close enough!

Everyone seems to be expecting miracles. BA announce a plan of action on the 13th Feb, everyone is expecting record profits by the 14th Feb. Give them a chance. We all know they have been mismanaged for a while, but give them a chance. They are trying, let's wait until we critise.

Do you want to become the next Belgium or Switzerland? No national carrier, trying to form one out of your only profit making subsidury? At least their governments are kind of helping, ours would only be upset because Mr Blair would be without a Concorde to hire.

Have some faith. Be proud to be BRITISH, and stop critising our NATIONAL carrier.

(Ryanair are hardly likely to splash out £6m to repaint their tails to please the British public.)

[Siddique]

Splong. .You miss the point its a free market you are not a nationalised monster any more you should be swimming in the same sea as the rest of us....clearly you missed the bit about the privatisation of BA....incidentially hows your stock options doing? Sorry you forgot about them did nt you? Surely you should look at the rest of the world the NATIONAL carrier dont exist any more RIP SR/SN etc.

[mjenkinsblackdog]

Splonguk.. .I am merely pointing out that Ba has been badly managed for years.. .Its about time some of the paper clip managers were sent home.. .I am british ,but what is wrong with criticising a mismanaged dinosaur.. .Ba have had a lot of advantages in the past,squeezing Laker and Virgin etc.. .Who is to say that Virgin could be the No1 longhaul carrier.. .I guess your another Ba employee deluding himself.. .Affraid of some real competition.. .The coming months will see what comes out in the wash. <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[Big Tudor]

[quote] Because the British public did not like not having their NATIONAL flag on their NATIONAL carrier.<hr></blockquote>

The new BA colour scheme removed the national flag from the aircraft and replaced it with interpretations of the Union flag. Hence we now see Virgin sporing the union flag on their aircraft whilst BA sport something done by primary school children on acid !!

[mjenkinsblackdog]

Sponguk.. .By the way Ryanair get paid to advertise on their aircraft.. .Ba dont. <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[bullshot]

Sponguk

Sorry to appear sensitive about it but BCAL were not bankrupt when BA bought them. At the time BCAL were about to be bought by Scandinavian Airlines. BA stepped in with a ridiculously high price to kill the competition.. .You were obviously not around at the time so I must admit, your idiot rantings do touch a nerve.. .The previous post is right - various BA managements have killed off the 'national airline' scenario.

[splonguk]

My mistake. I misread the section about Danair, Laker and BCal. I thought you were complaining about them being absorbed into BA.

Sorry.

For everyone's info, I am not a BA employee but a university student! I have no financial ties to the airline but simply think that BA is getting a lot of flak. We have to remember that companies of BAs era (ones with a long history and have gone through many mergers) end up with complex management structures, and managers who think there is no need to fix it. Ryanair and Easyjet etc. have been able to look at existing airlines and create low-cost high profit companies because they are NEW. BA cannot scrap it all and start again; that is not practical.

Also, so BA pilots might complain, and might be used to the good life, but that attitude has come from years at the top, as untouchable, as financially stable. If the company is doing well, this will reflect in the employees pay and conditions. How long will it take for pilots at the low fares to figure out that their company is making a killing and they aren't really getting a good deal! (Yes salary is good, but perks ain't compared to scheduled airlines of days gone by.)

It is human nature to compare, the pilots of the low fares will do this. The low fares won't be strike free for ever (unless of cause the contracts forbid you to strike).

Then again, maybe everyone should just be happy being in work! I started an aerospace engineering degree 18 months ago, and was told on day one 'Congratulations, you have chosen one of only a handful of degrees where you are guaranteed employment!' Look at it now!

Man, this is all way too intelligent for 4:50 pm on a Friday.

Here's hoping that the industry pick-ups before many more lose jobs.

Sorry if I have upset some; just my opinion and thoughts, but as someone quite rightly pointed out Laker, Danair and BCal were all pretty much before my time.

[ 22 February 2002: Message edited by: splonguk ]</p>