Do BA Cabin Crew pull their weight?
 

Having read Jeremy Clarkson's latest words in the Sunday Times - about now being a Virgin convert - having flown BA all his life - are you the Cabin Crew happy with the job you do? Do you try and make the difference every day (despite cost cuts everywhere), do you work as hard as you can, take pride in your job and ensure those around you do the same. Or is it just a bit of a stop gap job, a chance to travel the world and try and drain the company wherever you can of cash whilst shirking away from hard work - whilst hiding behind a strong, but essentially workshy Union. Discuss.

To a large extent, I agree with your post.

There are a number (fortunately only a small number) of people in this company who are never happy with their lot. We are the best paid crew in the United Kingdom but a minority continue to want more.

Our Union are, in my opinion, often quite militant and fight hard for the wrong things. They are a fantastic Union to be a part of and we have some excellent people acting as reps but often, I feel they fight the company for the sake of fighting.

As for the job and working hard, I like to think I pull my weight. Very much so. I quite enjoy doing juicerounds but sadly, with the constant stream of people in to the galleys onboard, doing these at regular intervals is seldom possible.

If working in Club or First where passengers loitering in the galley is less of a problem, I pass through the cabin atleast every twenty minutes and never without a tray of juices or snacks in hand.

The problem these days is that passengers will often not let the crew get on with their job. I love the interaction with the passengers but they don't realise that by standing in the galley for twenty minutes with perhaps just two crew on duty down there during breaks, they are depriving the rest of the passengers of a quality service as the galley can't be left unattended while a passenger is there.

I pull the curtains across and maintain vigilance but it's amazing how often I've returned to the galley to find people with their hands in the bar trolleys saying "I just thought I would help myself so I didn't have to bother you".

I adore my job. There are one or two aspects that annoy me - like rude and selfish passengers, passengers who see fit to sit next to me in the galley after I have just returned from rest at 3:30am in the morning and choose to speak about his/her travelling habits. These things though are just a small part of the job and I can usually deal with them.

This is a great job, British Airways is a fantastic company and should Clarkson choose not to travel with us again, I say that it's his loss.

I think this is a totally unfair post. As if Pprune needed any more topics like this.

99.9% of my colleagues - including myself - do make a difference everyday on board. That's the reason why I so much wanted to be part of this airline.

Jeremy Clarkson loves playing the bad boy and had better stick to his cars.

Flybywire, bravo. The majority of people working with the company do go to work every day and make a difference. From the smallest of gestures like giving someone a few cans of Coke to take off with them because they've missed their connecting flight, to shuffling twenty seats about so a couple can sit together. We make a difference in so, so many ways.

I do see where Sean is coming from though. You and I both know that there are an absolute minority in this company who come to work solely for the money and sadly for them, this isn't the kind of job where that kind of attitude is appropriate.

British Airways have some of the finest crew in the world. We are perhaps among the best trained, most experienced and most professional flyers out there and 99.999% of the time, it shows.

In my capacity as SLF and having experienced both V and BA in cattle class I can say BA is streets ahead. The difference, in my experience, is that one feels, on the whole staff on BA ARE there to serve and with a smile, a sense of humour and some grace (on V it wasn't!)

However, there are, as has been said, always a few bad apples and sometimes crews. The last two LHR-PHX flights were terrible and I vowed never to travel BA on those routes again.

BA Club is very good whatever Clarkson says.

- Kremmen

So true. But I am sure VS have the same and so any other company/organisation in the world!!!!!

It's not the minority that makes a company, but the majority. And I have to say that despite I hate being treated like a slave by some attention-seeking passengers, I feel proud when I think of BA's motto "To fly to serve". It still exists, and most of the senior cabin crew members remind us of it every day.


Ah, and before I forget: Business Travellers award "Best Cabin staff" SIA was first, and BA second. CX was third.
BA won almost everything else. We do work really hard, and it's nice for it to be recognised by our passengers.

I have so many things that passengers gave me as a thank you that I do not really need official awards to feel proud of my job, but it still feels good when it happens.

FBW:)

Funny thing is, Mr Clarkson was more than happy to fly with us on BA109 3 nights ago to DXB....in J class, with his sound man in M! (We bumped him up to W...)

Remember, JC loves his 'controversial' journalism....!

Well iv worked with the company for the bones of 2 years with 7 years in the industry with a few other airlines....and I can say without doubt that BA crew work their ar&£%s off!!!!

It's just a shame then that a few of your collegues let the airline down so badly... mind you you could point the fingers at the baggage handlers and drivers etc.

It could be a great company, but sadly their is no pride in some areas!

Of course BA have some crew that don't pull their weight.

Just do the sums: a small percentage of 13,000+ cabin crew....................

Your right flybywire VS does have the same problem, but i think BA has it on a larger scale because you have 4 or more times more cabin crew.
And as for jeremy clarkson! well i dont think you have lost much there, i read his article and what a pompous, sexist homophobe. I knew there was a reason i switched channels every time he appeared on top gear.:yuk:

i had some pax travelling from SIN to Australia who said that they had previously flown BA a couple of times and just said "well, BA are BA, awfull every time, nothing new". I have never flown BA so i can't comment on it, but these are just comments passed on from what a passenger had to say. I have travelled SIA before and found them nothing flash.

At the end of the day in companies so big, you are bound to have some bad apples around, that's just the way it is. It's just unfortunate that these bad apples stick in people's memories more than the good apples! People are going to remember bad service more than they remember good service.

Oz

I work as crew as BA, but I travel on them as a passenger about 8 times a year to get back home, and I have to say that our trouble is consistency.

Sometimes the crew are great, but other times they are embarrassingly rude and I just think to myself if only they knew I was crew, or thank god I'm not paying full fare for this!!!

I think our product is very good. Even in traveller the dinner is always nice, club is fantastic, and first just blew my mind, but down the back of our jumbo jets it's incredibly uncomftable, but I guess that's the same with any airline and on a long sector like LHR-SIN for example if the crew are average and you're uncomftable it just makes everything seem even worse!

I think on general though our crew do pull their weight, but we're not all angels I'm afraid.

I'm a moderator, so I can't say whether or not I think Jeremy Clarkson is a c**k.

However, were I not to be a moderator, then I would most certainly think the above.... and then be moderated by a moderator. :(

Moving on...

How can you say that paddyinuk? U won't do anything unless the union says its ok. eg if meals are loaded but not taken out of containers, you wont touch them. Don't argue this as i know for a fact ( my partner has told me on numerous occasions) . lazy lazy lazy

What??? That is so not true.
I won't even argue as we have agreed there are some bad apples everywhere. But maybe you could do something, starting from your own partner - tell him/her not to behave like this and if they don't like this attitude in other crew...they could do something about it!!!!

It's only untrue at Gatwick.

Some do some dont
 

I have had really nice times on some long haul flights, met interesting crew chatted exchanged numbers met up for drinks had bottles of wine passed over. The good experiences have happened in all classes. Weirdly although i have had impersonal service in the back I accept that paticularly if the flight is full and busy.

But right in the front I have had awful service grim charmless battleaxes barely ably to raise a smile. I find no excuse for that if you hate your job change it otherwises you will go the way of the cantankerous scowlers on the big US carriers. At six grand odd for the ticket its really inexcusable to not be charm personified.

On an aside why is the service so much worse on the flights in Euro business from gatwick. No one offering to take jackets unwillingness to put rollons in the front locker which often only seems to contain crew garments.

This really isnt a pure knock at BA i fly them pretty much 75% of the time long haul and about 60% of the time medium haul. And god knows i would take a three hour longer flight to fly them over United AA Continental of Alitalia.

I as a Passenger travel to JFK twice a month and have made a small observation which is very noticable.After doing a bit of digging I discovered that the 767 is operated by two lots of cabin crew,BAR & CitiExpress,and from what I can make out CitiExpress is the poorer relative.Now the BAR crew always appear rude and very short and quite unhelpfull where as the CitiExpress crew are always very helpful and curtious.This is so obvious that I have written to BA.Can anybody here with the knowledge shed any light why this is so?

How do you know which is which? I would hazard a guess that the BAR crew are not very happy as they've been told they have to move to Heathrow, sign a much lower paying contract with citiexpress or be sacked.

I am BA shorthaul crew.

I do 50-60hrs PER WEEK

The satisfaction rating for cabin crew in the Global Performance surveys handed out onboard, always hovers around 80-85%.

That should answer your question....

Its a small point of detail but you don't actually do 50-60 hrs per week of work as about a half of that time is spent sitting in CAT or Compass not doing anything at all.

That is not true. Taking jackets is part of the service and we Do it.

As for wheelie bags, NO, they cannot go in the wardrobe as it is not safe. It can contain small size bags that are not too heavy, but most of our Club passengers come on board with bags that exceed their hand baggage allowance in weight and, since they can't even lift the items themselves, expect to put them in the wardrobe, which was not meant for that use.

We have strict safety rules about that particular thing.

Also, for the quality of Club Service at Gatwick....remember, we always go one crew down compared to Heathrow and our passengers are very esigent.
We work flat on (before I wa sick I did 6 on - 1 off - 5 on) and most of our flights are now on fix turnaround (i.e. crew doesn't get off the plane) which results in longer sectors put together.
We are only human.

FBW

And also given the legal maximum is 190hrs duty over 4 weeks ie 47.5 per week..... It is slightly suprising.

You can do overtime. I believe that's a company limit and not CAA limit as when I worked for a charter airline you couldn't do more than 56 hrs per week (mon-sun)
Some contracts require overtime to be paid. Some, like the new BA contracts over here, don't.

I've certainly done over 200 duty hrs in may. And about the same for the rest of the summer. (rosters in my hand).

FBW.

As a pax I find that 99.9% of BA cabin crew are very good but when you get a bad one do they do it in style!!

With the benefit of having flown BA longhaul quite a lot, the attitude and manor of the Cabin Crew has got worse and worse.

On a day longhaul recently they provided a night flight service. A crapy breakfast at 1015 and one drinks service then nothing until 1745 an hour before landing!

Most are very work shy and agressive. Singapore, Etihad, etc ahhhhh

I keep thinking that this particular thread has no sense.

It's obvious that you get good and bad comments, as people are different and not only cabin crew, passengers as well.
What to me is a crappy service to somebody else could be good, or even the best they've experienced.

People with bad attitudes exist everywhere. It's easier to spot the negative ones than the positive ones, of course.
Many times we solve problems that passengers are unaware of, and successfully do so without you realising it.
The majority of cabin crew daily go the extra mile to make pax feel comfortable on board.

Let's not be so superficial, please....:(

ohhhh it has plenty of sense m8...................just people like you who work for BA who don't like the truth. get used to it, the will be a lot more worms uncovered soon.............................

Charming!!! :uhoh:

Indeed. :(

Having just as a passenger returned from Hong Kong on BA (used them outbound as well) i can only describe the cabin crew as being average to poor. While both flights went ok - and were certainly full it seems like a good sector for the crew in my book. After dinner they hide behind the curtains - serve a few drinks and then hide again. Ofcourse passengers go to the galleys - its the only was to attract attention!! Also crw should remember that on such a flight its not fun 9despite having paid hundreds of pounds) to be stuck in a seat with a 31" from the one in front for such a long time. Also when i reported that my head sets were not working and that it was the connection on the arm rest he still through a pair of new headsets at me saying "try these". Duly did to no avail....but no apology for the faltering IFE...no offer of a new seat...dont think there was one anyhow...and i asked him to log the fault....one of a few incidently on that 747. Best comedy of the night was seeing a girl and guy from the crew dismantling the toilet door and to their credt fixing it again. Lat time i went on such a trip was with Cathay Pacfific...next time will be once again back with Cathay Pacific. In my opinion - no comparison! The CX crew are a delight!


Nivsy

I live in London but commute with BA to ABZ weekly....I have absolutely nothing but praise for the CC... you guys are great.

*gis 3 of them scotches plz*

ref the 190hr limit, that is the CAA scheme limit not BA. Its all in FCO's.

I have heard this locker argument on the gatwick flights. And it does just illustrate the point. Its only on the Gatwick flights.
Not on BA LHR to Frankfurt or Stockholm both flights I take a couple of dozen times a year. Ipay £600 for the flight and its a simple fact that on Gatwick flights you have to ask for your jacket to be taken and on Heathrow flights you dont unless the locker is full.

I suspect that the reason is that Gatwick has far more leisure/infrequent flyers the routes are less core business and the combination of lack of push from the top and lack of push from the bottom leaves gatwick suffering.

While I no longer fly BA longhaul (because I was so fed up) I think it's pointless having a go at BA crews on here as nothing changes or will change. The crew are on board to maximise their rest and the company allows them to give minimal service, especially on those Bangkoks, Singapores etc.

If you want to experience a decent longhaul (especially Australia!) where you get offered drinks/snacks thoroughout your journey then just don't fly BA as the galley curtain closes asap!

And the problem is most travellers put up with no service for hours because they believe it's the norm....Trust me, on other airlines, it's not.

BA CC work extremely hard and are without doubt a credit to BA. I think they should be paid more and have more time off to recover from the endless long sectors....e.g JFK/LHR sector time last week was 5.49! The allowances should also be reviewed upwards because the cost of living is increasing throughout the World.

As a pax i tend to agree with traveller 5. Maybe i just remember the "olden days" when somehow passenger consideration, not omly from BA but other carriers were so much better. I chuckle as i remember an old B. Caledonian ex girlfriend who was cabin staff...and how they all somehow managed to serve hot meals, drinks and a smile on the BAC1.11 services between Gatwick and Glasgow all within 50 minutes. I remember her myself still running down the cabin about 5 miles out from touch down with empty food trays and smiling at the regular pax! As for the layovers - I think they do ok. Always seem happy enough in the hotels i have stayed in regularly frequented by cabin crew!


Nivsy

Flying_Sarah747:

...Missed the rest of the quote, but I wonder if there are any rules/forms/comments that you, as CC flying as PAX can put forward to your airline (blind testing, as it were)?

Without "grassing" on your colleagues, is there any feedback system whereby the CC professionals (i.e. you) can "rate" your colleagues, and suggest improvements?

I'm not comparing airline CC, but as I work in the weird and wonderful realm of customer service, it seems that there is a great opportunity here to provide feedback...?

Maxbert

At one time our airline developed an assessment form (two 8 1/2 X 14 sheets) to be used by management when travelling on business. I didn't do them.