Dumped by BA!

[BRUpax]

Thanks BA! First we went from A319s to piddly EMB-145s and now you show your utter contempt for your clients by off-loading us onto SN Brussels Airchaos on a crappy codeshare deal. Thanks again !

[eastern wiseguy]

Try being a passenger/customer from BFS ...they dumped us totally !!!!

[martinmax]

which airport are you flying from/to with BA, i thought they were 2 flights a day ex lhr/bru operated by sn brussels airlines? BAce still operating ex lgw/bhx and man, or am i wrong. There are at 4/5 other flights per day ex lhr ops by sn. when have ba started using 145s ex lhr?

[bealine]

At a guess, 'cos you're BRUPax and you're talking about A319's and Emb145's, we're talking about the British Airways Regional services.

Many times have the ethics of "franchise" and "subsidiary" operations been discussed and it is rumoured that Rod himself doesn't like the damage it does to BA when things go wrong. The customer does not see that it's the franchisee at fault - he/she automatically perceives BA is in the wrong!

In the same way, when the railway screws up, I'm not interested in whether it's Railtrack, Thameslink, Gatwick Express oe any other firm - I see it as British Rail!

Unfortunate though it is, the downsizing of aircraft does not necessarily cause oversales - our Sales and Reservations team must also share some responsibility!

I'm afraid, once again, I feel I must apologise to one of our loyal BA customers about the inconvenience we caused to him - even though it may be a franchisee's fault.

Hope you got home okay, BRUPax.....you obviously don't rate SN's codeshare agreement very highly. Might we know why???

Hope next week goes better for you!

[Hand Solo]

Poor BRUpax must be confused. After all, the general manager of BA Regional told us that the passenger wants frequency to Brussels, not service. He should be delighted that he can have 5 EMB145s scheduled each day (even if only one operates) instead of 2 measley A319s. After all, our GM can't possibly be wrong.

[bealine]

Poor BRUpax must be confused. After all, the general manager of BA Regional told us that the passenger wants frequency to Brussels, not service. He should be delighted that he can have 5 EMB145s scheduled each day (even if only one operates) instead of 2 measley A319s.

Funny thing is that environmentalists, and other carriers, would rather we reduced the frequencies and operated larger aircraft. One of Seattle's finest 767's will carry the pax of 10 EMB's using only twice as much fuel. Less pollution per pax, more available traffic movements for other carriers. Win Win (unless you finish your business trip early)

[Pax Vobiscum]

While I'd be upset to find my 10:00 is now EMB instead of 319, I might be attracted by the fact that there's now a 12:00 as well. So while existing passengers may complain (and, if there's an alternative, be lost to competitors) more new passengers may be gained if flight frequencies are increased (this, of course, depends on those flights not being cancelled!).

[BRUpax]

Sorry, I didn't make it clear - too busy ranting! I was refering to the BRU-BHX route. Indeed it went from two A319s and a single ERJ per day (weekdays) to five daily ERJ rotations. That was the theory. In practice a high proportion of these ERJ rotations were cancelled (read combined). Then, out of the blue, BA decided to codeshare using the SN Brussels Airlines’ services. There’s nothing wrong with SN. But where I feel let down is that BA want to ignore the fact that their customers may actually want their product! If I have to fly on SN then I will book with SN. Why should I give BA revenue if they are not going to provide me with their own product? As it is, I’ve booked my next BHX trip on cheaper FlyBE. I don’t find them as good (tried them out before and wasn’t impressed) but I might as well save my money since BA doesn’t want it.

[bealine]

I'll say it again BRUPax - I hope our BA management look in on this forum 'cos we - the staff - are fed up to the back teeth of telling them!

1. Franchise Operators operating in BA colours
The pax and the press view them as "BA" when things go wrong. The press pile accolades on the franchisee's name (and BA doesn't get a mention) when things go right!

2. Codeshares/Alliances - The pax get brassed off when they discover they're not flying BA! They also become rather cross when they discover they're paying scheduled fares for a charter service!

3. Overseas airport staff wearing BA uniforms when not employed by BA - the pax get cheesed off when things go wrong and the staff hide behind the "it's not our fault, ask British Airways!" responses.

Sorry about the SN codeshare BRUPax, and I'm truly sad that you're going to FLY.BE when you don't really want to!

If our management look in, perhaps you could explain to us all WHY?

[Tiger]

BRUpax can I ask, did you use to fly BHX-BRU with BD when they operated the route?

It was thanks to SN (who use to code share with BD) that Midland pulled off the route.

[BRUpax]

As a matter of fact, yes I used BMA on the route since their Fk-27/Viscount days. I wasn't too bothered when they came off the route because I had already fallen out with them after they went from an EXCELLENT single class service to the usual two-class concept. And they too downgraded from Fk-70/100 to the ERJ. But in all fairness to BMA they could only offer point to point service with just a single route out of BHX. It was inevitable that when SN came on the route offering BRU as a hub that they would push BMA out. BA on the other hand operates a significant hub operation out of BHX.

[Tiger]

I transfered to BHX just as the 2 class cabin started. Was on DC9 in those days. I left just before the EMB started. I would have had to, as being 6`2 I`d never have stood up on the thing.

Midland was fairly big once at BHX, but EMA pushed the BHX routes. I use to do the BHX-LHR, JER as well as BRU. I believe transatlantic charters were once operated by 707`s. A TXL route was planned but BA started operating it so BD dropped it. JEA/BE sort of taken over as BHX 2nd airline now. Trouble was BD had fixation on LHR and LHR only.

I know the BHX-BRU was very profitable for BD, something like in the top 5.

[PAXboy]

When I was in the Upper Class lounge at LHR on Tuesday, I overheard someone telling a VS staffer that he had read in the London Times taht day (12th Nov) that some folks were using Eurostar to BRU and CDG and then flying FIrst Class to NYK for cheaper than BA from LHR.

At least, I think that was what it was but there was no copy of The TImes around.

Anyone heard of this?

[Hand Solo]

I can well believe it, but they obviously have plenty of time to waste if they can spend an extra hour and a bit going to BRU then an extra hour flying west again. I would suspect most weary business travellers would rather stump up the cash than put themselves through the ordeal of prolonging the journey.

[BRUpax]

Of course Tiger , I think that BMA's most profitable period on the BHX-BRU route was when they had a monopoly on that route. If I remember correctly they then did a route swop deal with BA giving the BHX-BRU route to them in return for ? (I think it was an ex LHR route. Perhaps DUB). Later BMA came back on the route in competition with BA Regional. All was still relatively well until SN came in on the act. By the way I remember flying a BHX-LHR sector on a DC-9 with a flight time of 17 minutes, a load factor of 80%+ and a full English cooked breakfast! Ah, those were the days

[Tiger]

I remember DC9 BHX-LHR ........it was aaaaaahhhhhhh, but fun!
The jet was used when the motor show was on, and if the ATP went TEC.

There was a route swop with BA. BMA took over BA`s routes from Liverpool, inexchange for BHX routes. BMA had a European route structure from LPL some direct others via EMA. It was Viscount/F27 days!