T5 Miserable Failure To Perform
Paxing All Over The World
apaddyinuk
As is usually the case, we don't know. One report that I read (in here) stated that staff told pax that their employer would NOT pay overtime, so they had no choice but to go home.
But there are a number of factors to consider here. Did the company actually OFFER overtime??? Overtime is getting harder to come by in BA these days and generally when it does its snapped up, I cant see any reason why any loader this time of the year wouldn't want a bit of extra cash unless their own union has some sort of issue with BA and therefore instructed its staff not to take it.
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Where Do I Begin? ................
Please let me start by stating that the following is written from my own, personal, perspective and my employer BA, or the owners of the building, HAL (part of Ferrovial plc), may not agree with my views. Additionally, the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and theDfT (Department for Transport) may not agree with me either.
Right Ho! First and foremost, let me apologise to customers for whom Heathrow and Terminal 5 haven't lived up to expectations. It is always very sad to see people whose sad, dejected faces tell the story of a long, disrupted journey, and whilst I understand the problems of our BA cabin crew, I am glad none of the disruption was caused by them! This inability to cope with disruption was highlighted well before the building was opened, as the entire structure is designed to keep passengers moving swiftly forward from check-in, through security, enjoy the wonderful world of retail and disappear through the boarding gate on to the waiting aluminium transportation tube!.
Nothing was ever mentioned or built in to the design for what happens when passengers cannot go anywhere or have to return from whence they came! (Whenever this subject was broached, we were told "There won't be problems in T5!" Yeah - right - and the aircraft will be delivered to us on little pink fluffy clouds..............)
Enough of the "We Told You So's!" Willie Walsh and BA management are probably sick to death of all the "told you it would never work" comments from staff and passengers alike! As a member of British Airways' staff, who is loyal to his employer, I will humbly accept that it's a lovely building, and a place to work that other aviation employees can only dream about, and we have to just accept T5's shortcomings and do the best we can! Most of the time, T5 works extremely well - we only struggle when passenger loads are high or when we have disruption.
For sure, T5 has shortcomings but I cannot stand idly by without trying to separate fact from fiction.
Now, let's deal with the weather chaos this week and inject Bealine's viewpoint into it:
1. Heathrow Airport has been at full capacity for aircraft movements for a number of years It's no secret and that is why we desperately, desperately need that third runway that no-one seems to want us to have! Until we get that third runway, every time we have snow, ice, fog, drizzle or just plain low visibility the Air Traffic Control tower has to call for "reduced flow-rates". (ie reduce the number of take-offs and landings per hour).
2. Reduced Flow-Rate = Delays and Cancellations.
3. When there is seriously reduced flow-rate, British Airways, as Heathrow's l;argest operator, is requested by the CAA to cancel a number olf flights to protect the operation of other carriers whose aircraft are "away from base". (This is a universal "gentleman's" agreement worldwide that the home carrier will cancel flights to allow Johnny Foreigner to get his aeroplanes home). If we didn't do that, poor old Delta, United, Qatar, Emirates, Etihad etc would be stuffed!
I am too small a cog in the mighty BA to know what happens financially in these circumstances, but there is possibly some "contra" raised by the CAA by way of compensating an airline for its trouble.
4. British Airways has certain flights and routes that are first for the chop! UK Domestics (simply because there are alternative means of transport to get you home), Paris, Brussels (there's Eurostar) come first, followed by a raft of short-haul flights (like Amsterdam, Frankfurt etc) where we have more than one service per day and it's normally relatively easy to disperse the luckless passengers on later flights.
5. The plan for Terminal 5 always was that passengers would be self-reliant. Check in would be done on line or using Check In Kiosks (as per IATA and the ACI's ultimate aim that, one day, there will be no airline staff at all at any airports - check-in will done on line or on Common User Self Service machines (CUSS) and baggage accepted by security personnel). Indeed, there were no plans for any Ticket or Reservations staff in the original T5 drawings, deliberately.
BA planned, at times of disruption, for passengers from cancelled flights to leave the airport and make their reservation changes through ba.com or by telephoning the contact.ba call centre. Unfortunately for the airline industry, and fortunate for staff, is that the vast majority of our customers don't want to leave the premises unless and until they know for what alternative flight they have a firm reservation.
As an Airline Customer Service guy (and a good one I hope, who doesn't want to see our jobs disappear), it is as plain as a pikestaff that the majority of customers are resisting automation as much as they possibly can! For the most part, people seem to like being able to select seats on-line and print a boarding pass - the business traveller with no bags to check in loves this - but unless intercepted, even passengers who have used the Check In kiosks a hundred times before, will avoid them and walk straight up to a desk if they think they can get away with it! (.....they always do "get away with it" if they come to me - LOL! The only thing is, the good seats tend to have already gone the day before!)
6. Because of the plans for passengers to be self-reliant, staff numbers are down. That is why such horrendous queues form!
7. As I mentionmed earlier, the problems come when passenger numbers are high. At the present time, with the Christmas holiday, every flight you could possibly mention is booked nearly full, so rebooking becomes an ever increasing nightmare for Reservations staff.
8. Because there is a bullying culture by management at the moment, (as with this recession there is in many companies. I know my wife finds the same thing with another airline at LHR), managers are frightened to put their name to authorising anything. I'm afraid some of the management would have veins sticking out of their neck and would be jumping up and down with rage if overtime was authorised! Similarly, if a manager is stupid enough to wait until the end of shift before offering overtime, then very few will take it up when they know there's a fine brown brew waiting for them at Nellie's Bar or their wives have a pile of chips and a fine big steak with their names on it! With earthy working men, such as you get baggage handling, you have to use a bit of psychology and make it worth their while!
9. By and large, our Terminal Management have done a good job of writing "Standard Operational Procedures". (You know the I-phone advert "There's an App for that!" or Subway's "We have a SUB for that!" - well our managers say "There's a SOP for that!")
The only trouble comes when one "SOP" intereferes with another plan as I will highlight in a later post!
Right Ho! First and foremost, let me apologise to customers for whom Heathrow and Terminal 5 haven't lived up to expectations. It is always very sad to see people whose sad, dejected faces tell the story of a long, disrupted journey, and whilst I understand the problems of our BA cabin crew, I am glad none of the disruption was caused by them! This inability to cope with disruption was highlighted well before the building was opened, as the entire structure is designed to keep passengers moving swiftly forward from check-in, through security, enjoy the wonderful world of retail and disappear through the boarding gate on to the waiting aluminium transportation tube!.
Nothing was ever mentioned or built in to the design for what happens when passengers cannot go anywhere or have to return from whence they came! (Whenever this subject was broached, we were told "There won't be problems in T5!" Yeah - right - and the aircraft will be delivered to us on little pink fluffy clouds..............)
Enough of the "We Told You So's!" Willie Walsh and BA management are probably sick to death of all the "told you it would never work" comments from staff and passengers alike! As a member of British Airways' staff, who is loyal to his employer, I will humbly accept that it's a lovely building, and a place to work that other aviation employees can only dream about, and we have to just accept T5's shortcomings and do the best we can! Most of the time, T5 works extremely well - we only struggle when passenger loads are high or when we have disruption.
For sure, T5 has shortcomings but I cannot stand idly by without trying to separate fact from fiction.
Now, let's deal with the weather chaos this week and inject Bealine's viewpoint into it:
1. Heathrow Airport has been at full capacity for aircraft movements for a number of years It's no secret and that is why we desperately, desperately need that third runway that no-one seems to want us to have! Until we get that third runway, every time we have snow, ice, fog, drizzle or just plain low visibility the Air Traffic Control tower has to call for "reduced flow-rates". (ie reduce the number of take-offs and landings per hour).
2. Reduced Flow-Rate = Delays and Cancellations.
3. When there is seriously reduced flow-rate, British Airways, as Heathrow's l;argest operator, is requested by the CAA to cancel a number olf flights to protect the operation of other carriers whose aircraft are "away from base". (This is a universal "gentleman's" agreement worldwide that the home carrier will cancel flights to allow Johnny Foreigner to get his aeroplanes home). If we didn't do that, poor old Delta, United, Qatar, Emirates, Etihad etc would be stuffed!
I am too small a cog in the mighty BA to know what happens financially in these circumstances, but there is possibly some "contra" raised by the CAA by way of compensating an airline for its trouble.
4. British Airways has certain flights and routes that are first for the chop! UK Domestics (simply because there are alternative means of transport to get you home), Paris, Brussels (there's Eurostar) come first, followed by a raft of short-haul flights (like Amsterdam, Frankfurt etc) where we have more than one service per day and it's normally relatively easy to disperse the luckless passengers on later flights.
5. The plan for Terminal 5 always was that passengers would be self-reliant. Check in would be done on line or using Check In Kiosks (as per IATA and the ACI's ultimate aim that, one day, there will be no airline staff at all at any airports - check-in will done on line or on Common User Self Service machines (CUSS) and baggage accepted by security personnel). Indeed, there were no plans for any Ticket or Reservations staff in the original T5 drawings, deliberately.
BA planned, at times of disruption, for passengers from cancelled flights to leave the airport and make their reservation changes through ba.com or by telephoning the contact.ba call centre. Unfortunately for the airline industry, and fortunate for staff, is that the vast majority of our customers don't want to leave the premises unless and until they know for what alternative flight they have a firm reservation.
As an Airline Customer Service guy (and a good one I hope, who doesn't want to see our jobs disappear), it is as plain as a pikestaff that the majority of customers are resisting automation as much as they possibly can! For the most part, people seem to like being able to select seats on-line and print a boarding pass - the business traveller with no bags to check in loves this - but unless intercepted, even passengers who have used the Check In kiosks a hundred times before, will avoid them and walk straight up to a desk if they think they can get away with it! (.....they always do "get away with it" if they come to me - LOL! The only thing is, the good seats tend to have already gone the day before!)
6. Because of the plans for passengers to be self-reliant, staff numbers are down. That is why such horrendous queues form!
7. As I mentionmed earlier, the problems come when passenger numbers are high. At the present time, with the Christmas holiday, every flight you could possibly mention is booked nearly full, so rebooking becomes an ever increasing nightmare for Reservations staff.
8. Because there is a bullying culture by management at the moment, (as with this recession there is in many companies. I know my wife finds the same thing with another airline at LHR), managers are frightened to put their name to authorising anything. I'm afraid some of the management would have veins sticking out of their neck and would be jumping up and down with rage if overtime was authorised! Similarly, if a manager is stupid enough to wait until the end of shift before offering overtime, then very few will take it up when they know there's a fine brown brew waiting for them at Nellie's Bar or their wives have a pile of chips and a fine big steak with their names on it! With earthy working men, such as you get baggage handling, you have to use a bit of psychology and make it worth their while!
9. By and large, our Terminal Management have done a good job of writing "Standard Operational Procedures". (You know the I-phone advert "There's an App for that!" or Subway's "We have a SUB for that!" - well our managers say "There's a SOP for that!")
The only trouble comes when one "SOP" intereferes with another plan as I will highlight in a later post!
Last edited by bealine; 20th Dec 2009 at 11:45.
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An Interesting "SOP"..............and a view from the other side!
I promised I would give you an example of where one "Standard Operating Procedure" interferes with another - here goes!
The "SOP" in question was brilliantly planned. Yesterday morning, the announcement was made at about 0730 that the Newcastle and Glasgow flights (both due to depart around 10.30) would be cancelled. Any passengers would be referred to check-in "Zone G" from where they would be escorted down to arrivals where the Disruption Desks opposite Krispy Kreme would be opened up to handle them.
Staff were sent to the Distruption Desks and briefed as to their duties. The passengers, we were told, were to be given a hand-written boarding card, £10.00 refreshment voucher per person to buy food/drink for the long road journey from Marks & Spencers, and then referred to the queue by the Staff Search area to be escorted into the Baggage Hall to reclaim their hold baggage. Once done, they would be brought back outside where the first coach would be waiting at about 10.00.
So far, so good.............
I went up in the lift to Zone G! In the words of Batman, "Holy Cr4p!" - there were snaky queues and Tensa Barriers everywhere while another "SOP" for handline re-bookings was under way.
So, the only way to find my passengers was to proceed up and down the queue bellowing in a very undignified and unprofessionmal way "Anyone for Newcastle or Glasgow, please!"
I sifted the first few and took them downstairs, then the next problem reared its head. The DfT and BAA are, understandably, rather touchy about allowing passengers to return to the Baggage Reclaim Hall. In this case, with about 250 passengers (and the usual tossers who say they "forgot" to collect their baggage), the BAA refused point blank to allow our NCL/GLA passengers to be escorted back in. (I suspect they have a SOP for that!)
Eventually, the BAA relented and allowed pax to be taken in to reclaim baggage 6 at a time. With the security scanning etc, that took a tremendous amount of time and it was soon plain that with the first two coaches sitting outside revving their engines at 10.00, that the first passengers wouldn't be ready until about 10.30.
The airport won't let coaches sit outside on the stands for long, so the two coaches were told to go to the Coach Holding Area out on the Northern Perimeter Road until they were called back in. (That's the Traffic Warden's "SOP" I shouldn't wonder!)
So, eventually, we got the first coaches ready at about 11.00, swe then have to satisfy DfT requirements by writing a list of all the passengers on the coach, with the coach registration number and fill an envelope with the tear-oo bits of the handwritten passengers' boarding passes. When I was asked what was taking the time and I answered "Administration and Paperwork", I though I was going to be killed!
The last coach departed at 12.25 - nearly two hours after our original plan! I have to say, the "SOP" was extremely well designed and would have worked extremely well, if it had been the only SOP being followed! As it was, we did a brilliant job and worked tirelessly throughout - but I am sorry to say none of the passengers involved with us would have thought so!
The "SOP" in question was brilliantly planned. Yesterday morning, the announcement was made at about 0730 that the Newcastle and Glasgow flights (both due to depart around 10.30) would be cancelled. Any passengers would be referred to check-in "Zone G" from where they would be escorted down to arrivals where the Disruption Desks opposite Krispy Kreme would be opened up to handle them.
Staff were sent to the Distruption Desks and briefed as to their duties. The passengers, we were told, were to be given a hand-written boarding card, £10.00 refreshment voucher per person to buy food/drink for the long road journey from Marks & Spencers, and then referred to the queue by the Staff Search area to be escorted into the Baggage Hall to reclaim their hold baggage. Once done, they would be brought back outside where the first coach would be waiting at about 10.00.
So far, so good.............
I went up in the lift to Zone G! In the words of Batman, "Holy Cr4p!" - there were snaky queues and Tensa Barriers everywhere while another "SOP" for handline re-bookings was under way.
So, the only way to find my passengers was to proceed up and down the queue bellowing in a very undignified and unprofessionmal way "Anyone for Newcastle or Glasgow, please!"
I sifted the first few and took them downstairs, then the next problem reared its head. The DfT and BAA are, understandably, rather touchy about allowing passengers to return to the Baggage Reclaim Hall. In this case, with about 250 passengers (and the usual tossers who say they "forgot" to collect their baggage), the BAA refused point blank to allow our NCL/GLA passengers to be escorted back in. (I suspect they have a SOP for that!)
Eventually, the BAA relented and allowed pax to be taken in to reclaim baggage 6 at a time. With the security scanning etc, that took a tremendous amount of time and it was soon plain that with the first two coaches sitting outside revving their engines at 10.00, that the first passengers wouldn't be ready until about 10.30.
The airport won't let coaches sit outside on the stands for long, so the two coaches were told to go to the Coach Holding Area out on the Northern Perimeter Road until they were called back in. (That's the Traffic Warden's "SOP" I shouldn't wonder!)
So, eventually, we got the first coaches ready at about 11.00, swe then have to satisfy DfT requirements by writing a list of all the passengers on the coach, with the coach registration number and fill an envelope with the tear-oo bits of the handwritten passengers' boarding passes. When I was asked what was taking the time and I answered "Administration and Paperwork", I though I was going to be killed!
The last coach departed at 12.25 - nearly two hours after our original plan! I have to say, the "SOP" was extremely well designed and would have worked extremely well, if it had been the only SOP being followed! As it was, we did a brilliant job and worked tirelessly throughout - but I am sorry to say none of the passengers involved with us would have thought so!
Paxing All Over The World
As so often before, bealine, we must give you a big THANK YOU for telling the truth.
The very idea that you could build a terminal now for 'minimum' headcount and almost complete 'self-operation' is one of the funniest things I've heard in years. Here is another example of this in the UK. Post Offices:
Same with airlines. Start the phased move over to online services but keep some staff. The mgmt don't like this as it means that IT investment is done now but cannot be offset by headcount reductions. In other words, they actually have to invest hard cash into the business.
Secondly, the idea that pax would just troop away from the terminal without knowing about their onward connection is simply laughable. Anyone who has spent any time with pax (or in customer service of any business) knows that ain't gonna happen. To imagine that you can change the established behaviour of all your pax (particularly the infrequent flyers) without any warning is just remarkable.
I had thought before that BA and BAA made a complete hash of T5, this confirms it. My only use of the place has been minimal and with light traffic flows, yet it was not enjoyable and the waste of money and space is obvious. All the woes of T5 prove, again, that T4 was a failure. The blatant selling opportunities are tedious but, fortunately, very easy to ignore.
The very idea that you could build a terminal now for 'minimum' headcount and almost complete 'self-operation' is one of the funniest things I've heard in years. Here is another example of this in the UK. Post Offices:
- The govt want to save money by closing smaller ones
- They provide some of the services online
- They drop other services
- They close them down
- They are astounded when people protest
Same with airlines. Start the phased move over to online services but keep some staff. The mgmt don't like this as it means that IT investment is done now but cannot be offset by headcount reductions. In other words, they actually have to invest hard cash into the business.
Secondly, the idea that pax would just troop away from the terminal without knowing about their onward connection is simply laughable. Anyone who has spent any time with pax (or in customer service of any business) knows that ain't gonna happen. To imagine that you can change the established behaviour of all your pax (particularly the infrequent flyers) without any warning is just remarkable.
I had thought before that BA and BAA made a complete hash of T5, this confirms it. My only use of the place has been minimal and with light traffic flows, yet it was not enjoyable and the waste of money and space is obvious. All the woes of T5 prove, again, that T4 was a failure. The blatant selling opportunities are tedious but, fortunately, very easy to ignore.
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I'm glad I could lighten up your weekend and give you a good laugh, PAXboy! I'm glad I haven't lost the touch!
How interesting, though, that you used the British Post Office as your analogy because, for all the rhetoric and supposition over the cabin crew dispute, not one newspaper drew on the parallels between BA and Royal Mail!
The fact is, the manager responsible for failing to turn up to union/management talks (both cabin crew and ground staff) was appointed by Willie Walsh last spring from ................ Royal Mail!
Say no more!
How interesting, though, that you used the British Post Office as your analogy because, for all the rhetoric and supposition over the cabin crew dispute, not one newspaper drew on the parallels between BA and Royal Mail!
The fact is, the manager responsible for failing to turn up to union/management talks (both cabin crew and ground staff) was appointed by Willie Walsh last spring from ................ Royal Mail!
Say no more!
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Bealine
Your post 23 just underscores why anybody from the regions should never, ever, consider booking with BA and always place their business with Ryanair, Easyjet, KLM, Emirates, Continental and anyone but BA.
Your post 23 just underscores why anybody from the regions should never, ever, consider booking with BA and always place their business with Ryanair, Easyjet, KLM, Emirates, Continental and anyone but BA.
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Your post 23 just underscores why anybody from the regions should never, ever, consider booking with BA and always place their business with Ryanair, Easyjet, KLM, Emirates, Continental and anyone but BA.
RYR or EZY would cancel flights just the same - the differnce is they would just tell you "Tough!" and leave it to you to find your own way home.
At least BA has a very reliable system in place when things go wrong. No other airline has as extensively written "SOP's" as BA!
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I guess we'll never know if it was clock-watching baggage handers or reluctant management that caused the problem but our baggage has just arrived by courier so well done BA for reuniting us with it within 48hours.
We're away somewhere else now until 5 January so Merry Christmas one and all......especially the usual suspects...
We're away somewhere else now until 5 January so Merry Christmas one and all......especially the usual suspects...
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I guess we'll never know if it was clock-watching baggage handers or reluctant management that caused the problem but our baggage has just arrived by courier so well done BA for reuniting us with it within 48hours.
We're away somewhere else now until 5 January so Merry Christmas one and all......especially the usual suspects...
We're away somewhere else now until 5 January so Merry Christmas one and all......especially the usual suspects...
Last edited by bealine; 20th Dec 2009 at 15:27.
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Its not only a British disease. I arrived late in Copenhagen from Munich last Thursday by SAS and as a result of no contingencies for additional late duty staff had to add a one hour delay of baggage on top of the two hour delay in arrival.
Airlines are not a service industry anymore :-(
Airlines are not a service industry anymore :-(
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Bealine,
No, No, my whole point is you book on Emirates to Dubai and Continental to Newark and avoid LHR. They fly from the regions ! Granted the one thing wrong with Ryanair is they dump passengers, but the score for me in recent years is Ryanair around 100 trips (no problems), BA nil. Ryanair have a base in Prestwick.....BA dumped it....and GLA....and MAN...and....
I cannot imagine arriving at LHR expecting an onward flight to GLA to find myself being put on a coach. Even Ryanair don't do that ! If BA LHR centric expect to fill their clapped out 747's and newer 777's etc, then maybe they need to treat their regional Customers with more respect than a coach to GLA let alone what you described.
Having said all that, you and the BA staff who want to serve Customers are to be highly commended. I remember years ago going business class to Australia for work and choosing BA because they were the British carrier !!!!! Haven't made that choice in more recent times.....
No, No, my whole point is you book on Emirates to Dubai and Continental to Newark and avoid LHR. They fly from the regions ! Granted the one thing wrong with Ryanair is they dump passengers, but the score for me in recent years is Ryanair around 100 trips (no problems), BA nil. Ryanair have a base in Prestwick.....BA dumped it....and GLA....and MAN...and....
I cannot imagine arriving at LHR expecting an onward flight to GLA to find myself being put on a coach. Even Ryanair don't do that ! If BA LHR centric expect to fill their clapped out 747's and newer 777's etc, then maybe they need to treat their regional Customers with more respect than a coach to GLA let alone what you described.
Having said all that, you and the BA staff who want to serve Customers are to be highly commended. I remember years ago going business class to Australia for work and choosing BA because they were the British carrier !!!!! Haven't made that choice in more recent times.....
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Thank you bealine for this informative and well-written post. I also respect you for your loyalty towards your employer, although sadly I feel it is misplaced.
I had to laugh though when I read this: British Airways has certain flights and routes that are first for the chop! ....... Paris, Brussels (there's Eurostar) come first,
Having been caught up in this weekend's debacle with Eurostar, I ended up booking a flight back to the UK from Belgium, although not with BA.
I had to laugh though when I read this: British Airways has certain flights and routes that are first for the chop! ....... Paris, Brussels (there's Eurostar) come first,
Having been caught up in this weekend's debacle with Eurostar, I ended up booking a flight back to the UK from Belgium, although not with BA.
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RYR or EZY would cancel flights just the same - the differnce is they would just tell you "Tough!" and leave it to you to find your own way home.
I have been on a canceled flight (severe wx), was rebooked for the next morning, given HOTAC and meals.
This was not a 'one off', it is the company's policy and can be found in their conditions.
I was in Lyon the week before last and BA canceled on me (severe wx), offered the next morning flight, but refused hotac,
Some comparison, eh?
Reason #140 not to fly with BA.
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I've only used T5 twice [Long-haul J-Class, one in and one out, in Sep/Oct] - I have to say I was moderately under-whelmed by the experience. Still, at least I left and returned with my bags, so I suppose I should be happy.
Somehow I felt the experience was substantially less than the hype. "Fast Track" security took 30 minutes; walk for endless miles to reach anywhere; and poor signage.
Only consolation was someone from BA kicking people out of the Priority Boarding line and sending them back to start again. The first time I've ever seen anyone with the balls to do that!
April will be interesting - if it even happens.
Somehow I felt the experience was substantially less than the hype. "Fast Track" security took 30 minutes; walk for endless miles to reach anywhere; and poor signage.
Only consolation was someone from BA kicking people out of the Priority Boarding line and sending them back to start again. The first time I've ever seen anyone with the balls to do that!
April will be interesting - if it even happens.
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There are a lot of positives about BA and T5 - just perhaps not as wonderful as the BA hype would imply.
I've done the miles, but have always been just a little bit disappointed with the end product.
I've done the miles, but have always been just a little bit disappointed with the end product.
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There are a lot of positives about BA and T5 - just perhaps not as wonderful as the BA hype would imply.
I've done the miles, but have always been just a little bit disappointed with the end product.
I've done the miles, but have always been just a little bit disappointed with the end product.
Clinically speaking, the BA service and style is pretty positive on the whole - but lacks a certain sparkle!
I have a suspicion that if T5 had been left alone after it had shaken down and the staff bedded-in with the new processes we would have done it! However, BA has been in a constant state of change for 15+ years (I swear it's an addiction - the managers are even asked "What have you changed?" at interviews and wouldn't get promotion if they replied that nothing in their department was necessary!)
To use a teacher's favourite phrase - "Could do better!"
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Sorry Bealine, I can't let you get away with making an incorrect statement about easyJet.
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bealine
Wow - that IS funny. 
I chose the Post Office as it is such a good example of the right action being taken (reduce costs) but at the wrong time and on a time-scale set by politicians and accountants. My guess is that the T5 idea of 'running on auto' was sold to both BA + BAA on the basis of cost saving NOT on service delivery. Oh yes, of course, service delivery would have been high on the list - but not to anyone who understands where the travelling public are.
Quite apart from the staggeringly obvious - when something goes wrong, we want to see a human being. That is the same for ANY line of enquiry. I'll bet some of those senior managers don't understand the frustration with websites where you cannot find the answer, then calling the 'help line' to be told whilst waiting that, "There is so much information and help on our web site." because they don't do that themselves.
It's not just BA + BAA that have caught this disease. The whole of the British govt has been based on it for the past couple of decades!
OK, end of rant.
How interesting, though, that you used the British Post Office as your analogy because, for all the rhetoric and supposition over the cabin crew dispute, not one newspaper drew on the parallels between BA and Royal Mail!
I chose the Post Office as it is such a good example of the right action being taken (reduce costs) but at the wrong time and on a time-scale set by politicians and accountants. My guess is that the T5 idea of 'running on auto' was sold to both BA + BAA on the basis of cost saving NOT on service delivery. Oh yes, of course, service delivery would have been high on the list - but not to anyone who understands where the travelling public are.
Quite apart from the staggeringly obvious - when something goes wrong, we want to see a human being. That is the same for ANY line of enquiry. I'll bet some of those senior managers don't understand the frustration with websites where you cannot find the answer, then calling the 'help line' to be told whilst waiting that, "There is so much information and help on our web site." because they don't do that themselves.
It's not just BA + BAA that have caught this disease. The whole of the British govt has been based on it for the past couple of decades!
OK, end of rant.
bealine
As a long haul "Nigel" can I thank you for your postings, it reminds us of the stresses and hassel you front of house staff face on a daily basis...hope you have a great Christmas and fingers crossed 
for 2010.
Rgds
for 2010.Rgds