Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Misc. Forums > Passengers & SLF (Self Loading Freight)
Reload this Page >

Look at what BA are up to....

Passengers & SLF (Self Loading Freight) If you are regularly a passenger on any airline then why not post your questions here?

Look at what BA are up to....

Old 4th Mar 2010, 12:30
  #41 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Isle of Man
Posts: 609
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
white door to the Concorde room unless you have a gold card
Erm...no. You have to be travelling in F or (from the BA site)

Previously issued by invitation only, the Concorde Room Card will now be offered to Gold Executive Club members who earn 5,000 Tier Points.
But you do get to be ignored by a nicer class of people.
Haven't a clue is offline  
Old 4th Mar 2010, 13:46
  #42 (permalink)  
Final 3 Greens
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
As I specified a J class pax, they won't be travelling F.

So that means even a J class pax with a gold card, but less than 5,000 tier points, has to take the hike.

And if that passenger is travelling on a flexible ticket to Tokyo, they will have have paid £6,449 for the privilege.

It's ludicrous, isn't it?

At the other airports I use, the lounges are placed for the convenience of the pax, not the shops.
 
Old 4th Mar 2010, 16:14
  #43 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Outside the EU on a small Island
Age: 79
Posts: 529
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
@ F3G ... thanks for that route plan; a useful reminder.

As a humble J, I really thought I'd got lost by the time I'd done the "long walk" to reach the Galleries Lounge. You're quite right: "Concorde" has set a new standard in putting J-pax in the place an making them walk the extra mile [almost literally]. Did someone actually design this? Or is it like the kid controlling at JFK, who got to pencil in where the J-pax can't get access?

Anyway, next trip we're heading straight to the Galleries Lounge above our Gate in T5b [which never seems to get mentioned by either BA or BAA]. I only found it by accident once we'd done the journey to T5b to get ready to board.

Why do BA/BAA spend so much money on providing these facilities, and then make them so difficult to access?
Why do BA spend so much time pi55ing off J-pax?

[PS - don't even get me started on the "Priority Security" channel]
Two-Tone-Blue is offline  
Old 5th Mar 2010, 13:47
  #44 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: West Wales and Zug, Switzerland
Age: 63
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Mrs. J often flys in J class and she has never been pissed off with BA. Alot of her colleagues also travel in J and they have never been pissed off.
We have in the past had some bad experiences on other airlines and have voted with our money, we still to this day refuse to use 2 airlines due to very poor service. So if you don't like the product don't use it simples.
Jarvy is offline  
Old 5th Mar 2010, 14:16
  #45 (permalink)  
Final 3 Greens
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Maybe they have lower expectations than some of us?

Possibly because we travel on the best airlines in the world, as well?
 
Old 5th Mar 2010, 16:25
  #46 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: West Wales and Zug, Switzerland
Age: 63
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Maybe or perhaps they have been luckier.
The fact still remains if you don't like the product don't use it. If you can get better value elsewhere do so.
Jarvy is offline  
Old 5th Mar 2010, 16:47
  #47 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Outside the EU on a small Island
Age: 79
Posts: 529
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
@ Jarvy ... which sort of brings us back to where the thread is supposed to be.

People pay a lot of beans to fly up front, and they expect something for their money other than just a bigger seat. Most people here, I guess, are British, and naturally expect British Airways to deliver a quality product.

AIRLINE QUALITY

Feel free to explore how wonderful US airlines are. I won't even think of flying one across the Atlantic.
Two-Tone-Blue is offline  
Old 5th Mar 2010, 17:01
  #48 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: West Wales and Zug, Switzerland
Age: 63
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
No I don't want to fly across the pond with an american airline. There are only 2 british airlines that fly on the route I choose (bos-lhr). I fly mostly down the back so the two are pretty much the same exept that from my point of view T5 is much better than T3.
Mrs J flies further up the plane and prefers the red airline but it costs more so she goes with BA which from her view offer better value. The company she works for get a better deal with American but that is going a bit too far.
To finish off, myself and F3G will never agree on BA or T5.

Last edited by Jarvy; 3rd Aug 2010 at 12:15.
Jarvy is offline  
Old 5th Mar 2010, 17:13
  #49 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Outside the EU on a small Island
Age: 79
Posts: 529
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
@ Jarvy ... Interesting comment from you on pricing with BA/VS. Booking from this side of the pond [LHR-IAD] they always come up with the same cost [+- about £5].

However ... down the back, I agree VS and BA are fairly similar, I recall.
Up front it's a question of style/comfort/service.

T5 is not great, but better than T3. At least my overnight stop is in a hotel attached to T5. Cheaper hotels exist outside the perimeter, but then the cab fare to the Terminal quickly eliminates the difference!
Two-Tone-Blue is offline  
Old 5th Mar 2010, 20:09
  #50 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: West Wales and Zug, Switzerland
Age: 63
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Funny about pricing but maybe company discounts come into play in favour of BA.
Going back to the begining of this thread, we had booked to fly WT and because Mrs J is gold we were giving exit row seats on booking.
I also think T5 is better than T4 and better than either at Gatwick.
Jarvy is offline  
Old 6th Mar 2010, 05:29
  #51 (permalink)  
Final 3 Greens
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
To finish off, myself and F3G will never agree on BA or T5.
That is not true, for example

T5 is much better than T3.
I agree with. Then again, it should be, as one is a brand new design and the other is nearly 50 years old, landed with an old fashioned design and added to in an ad hoc manner over the intervening period.

I would also choose BA over the US carriers on the BOS-LHR routing, in fact I would choose BA over VS.

I repeat, as I have said on other threads, I have never had a bad experience with BA aloft. The service is acceptable or better.

On the other hand the ground service is often diabolical; e.g. I had to spend 20 minutes speaking to my credit card company yesterday (international call), because BA did not know whether they had charged me for some flights I booked for later in the year and called me to ask whether I knew.

Their system had confirmed payment had been taken, but they could not find the payment.

When I called back to tell them the money had not been debited, their finance section decided to wait for two days before re-debiting, 'just in case we have a hold over the funds.'

That is just crass.

With the very greatest of respect, I travel frequently in business class and have very high expectations of the product/service - I would admit to being very critical.

I make no apologies for this and apply the same standard to my own performance (I run a micro service business, where our clients are also hyper critical - quite rightly for the fees they pay.)

If I was travelling economy (and I do sometimes, on leisure) I would be much less critical as my perception of value for money changes considerably.

Finally, I don't know if you are American or an expat Brit, but I want British Airways to be a strong player. It's good for me as a traveller and as a British citizen I want to take pride in our largest national carrier.

Those who have been on PPrune for a long time will know that I was a very strong supporter of BA until about 2005, when a combination of threatened strikes and the GG fiasco made me step back and question my loyalty.

Sadly, the past 5 years have seen a further decline, IMHO.

Over my 32 years of business travel, BA started off as 'Best Avoided', then improved dramatically to be my airline of choice from the mid 90's to 2005 and now, sadly, are returning to their former status.

The sad aspect is that BA does have some very good individuals working for it (I think of some cabin crew and also the operational research people I knew), but has suffered from poor leadership and management for a long time. In particular, the company has seriously lost its way in managing its relationship with independent premium passengers, who are not hampered by corporate travel policies and will switch carrier if mishandled.

Paxboy has opined several times about the decline of BA and saldy I tend to agree with his call.

If you take a look at this webpage Understanding the Corporate Lifecycle | Adizes it may be interesting to take a view where BA is on it's corporate lifecycle.
 
Old 6th Mar 2010, 08:24
  #52 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Isle of Man
Posts: 609
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
F3G:

In particular, the company has seriously lost its way in managing its relationship with independent premium passengers, who are not hampered by corporate travel policies and will switch carrier if mishandled.
I couldn't agree more. And what really niggles me is the nagging suspicion that the flexi F fare that I pay is artificially hiked to allow the corporate customer a substantial "discount". Which I effectively subsidise. It would be nice to know I am wrong.
Haven't a clue is offline  
Old 6th Mar 2010, 11:12
  #53 (permalink)  
Final 3 Greens
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Not just corporates, but staff as well.
 
Old 6th Mar 2010, 13:18
  #54 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: West Wales and Zug, Switzerland
Age: 63
Posts: 416
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I am a brit who has lived out here for only 18 months and its nice to find some things we agree on.
We can all look at things and say how it could be better. I can only comment on the things in my little world. We have only travelled with with a few airlines so can only comment on those. You agree that from Boston to London my options are limited and BA is the better one.I could increase my options if I used any of the New York airports but I won't as I like Boston Logan.
We do get some of the older aircraft of the BA fleet and I also understand that its not a popular route with the crews.
We have also in the past used BA on european routes (Mrs. J spent 18 months comuting between the UK, Germany and Portugal).
I will agree that overall standards have dropped but I think this has happened across the board. Early Easyjet flights were much better than todays, the same applies to Virgin. I flew with Virgin to Miami in the early 90's and service was much better than current flights.
Why sould this be so?
I believe the answer to that not just one thing but many and varied, and if I knew the whole answer I could be a very wealthy man. I know where to start and that is customer satisfaction first and foremost.
Jarvy is offline  
Old 6th Mar 2010, 16:25
  #55 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Outside the EU on a small Island
Age: 79
Posts: 529
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
@ Jarvy ... you said:
We do get some of the older aircraft of the BA fleet and I also understand that its not a popular route with the crews.
... which, i hope, is one of the aspects that BA will be addressing.

Frankly, at the risk of being banned from this Forum [I've been denied access to the "Private" CC Forum for a couple of weeks now], this is where the whole BA operation starts to go down the tubes.

I pay my fare [usually in J] and I expect to receive what I pay for. In the nicest possible way, I really don't care whether the CC enjoy flying that route or not. I gather the same applies to BA flying to IAD. Hey, people, sorry about the lack of the white sandy beach. They don't do those in MA or VA. Live with it, or work with an airline that only does long stop-overs at somewhere with a nice beach/hotel. Please don't blame the pax for flying to a destination you don't like.

@ F3G ...
I have never had a bad experience with BA aloft. The service is acceptable or better.
Is that Premium service that is acceptable? Whatever happened to 'excellence'? Remember the "World's Favourite Airline"? Do BA believe that 'acceptable' is good enough in a competitive marketplace?

@ British Airways ... please, when the current nausea has subsided, resume offering a superior product to your Premium pax. "Acceptable" isn't going to recover the thousands of pax who have deserted BA in recent months.

@ BA Cabin Crew ... I honestly, and with sincerity, do NOT tar you all with the same brush. Most of those who i have encountered have been excellent, especially on European and Domestic sectors. The unfortunate exception is some of those who work LHR-IAD.

Does that minor rant get anyone anywhere? Probably not. Sorry.
Two-Tone-Blue is offline  
Old 6th Mar 2010, 17:51
  #56 (permalink)  
Paxing All Over The World
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Hertfordshire, UK.
Age: 67
Posts: 10,126
Received 58 Likes on 48 Posts
Devil

Remember the "World's Favourite Airline"?
If I recall correctly, that was based on international pax carried NOT how the pax felt about the carrier!!! It was always acknowledged that AA carry more pax but do so within the USA. BA found this fact about their number of international pax and went with it, i.e. Simply because we are a small country, BA could claim to be big! It was a very successful pitch.

F3G Thanks for the link to Adizes, I have often sketched that for folks so it's very nice to have a fully 'Flashed' version of it. My response is 'Bureaucracy'. How near the start of that phase, depends on how benevolent you feel. There are a number of other companies in the UK and USA that are in a similar position, such as most of the motor-car manufacturers. I won't start on other airlines ...

For the record (again for new joiners of this forum) it gives me no pleasure to say this about BA and I shall not see them eventually close and get taken over with any joy - but it will happen, it's only how and when. As with F3G, I have had wonderful flights with BA and they only stopped being my first choice in long haul after the Dirty Tricks affair.
PAXboy is offline  
Old 6th Mar 2010, 21:40
  #57 (permalink)  
Final 3 Greens
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
TTB

Is that Premium service that is acceptable? Whatever happened to 'excellence'?
When you read the CC forum, the feeling is the BA people really believe that they are providing 'excellence', when in fact they are providing something that is really mid range.

To be fair, the cutbacks imposed by management have degraded the product, but the service compenent is usually acceptable to good.

On the other hand there are other carriers who are good to excellent.

There was a discussion on here, not so long ago, about why BA ask people to close the overhead bins.

That summed it up for me. The people explaining this were not being sarcastic, but the detachment from reality was quite tangible.

This policy was putting the needs of CC before passengers and I have not encountered another airline who expects this.

Small point, perhaps, but a significant indicator of mindset I would say.

I was lucky enough to start travelling at the end of the era of the BOAC 'Sergeant Major', who were unbelievably good at what they did.
 
Old 3rd Aug 2010, 10:23
  #58 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: england
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
As a customer, when you say you are flying BA, it is still met with approval by your peers, that you are flying with the best. Professionally as an Air Traffic Controller, BA pilots are great to work with. I am flying with BA long haul on Thursday after flying with Virgin last year. I have got to say, I will be flying with Virgin next time. I cannot believe that BA would stoop so low as to charge to book a seat. As a family of 4, it will cost me £80, and it is less to do with the money, but more to do with principle, that I will not pay this ridiculous charge. It feels like I am traveling with Ryanair. I have been allocated seats as I have a child, well 2 actually but one is over 12, but we are not all in the same row, so I will have to wake up early from my nightshift, to check in and try and change my seats. I actually work the flight I am going on every day, and usually met with the question, "any chance of this and that " and if I can I accommodate. I just phoned BA and asked any chance of moving one seat so we are in the same row and it is an inconvenience to check in tomorrow, and they said I would have to pay this silly charge. (and I didn't name drop, I just asked as a favour to a customer who has spent over £2000 for a flight)

Last edited by aaaabbbbcccc1111; 3rd Aug 2010 at 11:24.
aaaabbbbcccc1111 is offline  
Old 3rd Aug 2010, 10:57
  #59 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: south of Cirencester, north of Lyneham
Age: 76
Posts: 1,267
Likes: 0
Received 7 Likes on 2 Posts
I was told (by BA ground staff) that internally and informally, the Concorde door is referred to as the 'million pound door', as BA have to pay an extortionate amount to BAA to have that door and not have F class pax walk past the shops.

BAA really is the pits and the economies they make on T5 are silly. No paper towels in toilets - does it never occur to these dimwits that people may want to wash their face? Lack of moving walkways on arrival - one can go on and on. Public flogging and execution of the top three levels of BAA management would be a good start - 'pour encourager les autres'.
radeng is offline  
Old 3rd Aug 2010, 17:13
  #60 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: london
Posts: 79
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I was told (by BA ground staff) that internally and informally, the Concorde door is referred to as the 'million pound door', as BA have to pay an extortionate amount to BAA to have that door and not have F class pax walk past the shops.
Pretty much true. When T5 was being designed, the briefed BA requirement for the Galleries was for entrance at the same level as security. BAA disregarded this, and provided the entrance on the gate level as they wanted the BA premium customers with lots of cash (in their eyes) to walk past all the shops. That is why its all the posh shops going down that end towards the Galleries. On many occasions before opening BAA were approached again and asked if they would reconsider. Sometimes the answer was a flat no. Sometimes they said yes, but with a hefty price tag. And a million£per year is underestimating it by a long way. Eventually they agreed to having "the million pound door" but on the proviso that it really was only for use into the Concorde Lounge so they don't lose too much shopping revenue. And again a million £ price tag is a bit stingy as an estimate of what that is costing.
BAAlltheway is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.