Chuchinchow
 

I believe the newspaper was the 'Western Gazette' and you sir, are showing your age! :eek: This was way back when I was a kid and thus early fifties!

Sorry Mods, off piste for a second. :uhoh:

Roger.

Truly gentlemen (and ladies) is the issue really Ms. M's true identity?

Isn't the real issue that her/his statements are so easily refuted by the simple facts of the record?

I could care less if Ms. M is Ms. Malone or the Grinch that stole Christmas. The reality is that he/she's arguments are simplistic and without foundation.

ST and Upgrades
 

It's late at night for me, so maybe I'm not reading properly.
Over on the CC thread, there was a flurry of contributions suggesting that the "striking" BA CC appear to be upset that not only can they no longer receive ST, they can now no longer vote themselves an upgrade.
If they want an onboard upgrade, only the Captain can authorise it.

These people really are a very long way from understanding Customer Service and the Paying Customer.

They really do not understand much about PR, either. My caricature picture of a BA CC CSD is becoming more and more like a caricature of a nineteenth century slum landlord, lording it over 2 sets of peasants - 1. The worker ants, who pay his salary from the union, and 2. The customers, who pay his salary from the Company..

The thing is Diplome, there still is a very large amount of employees that need to be convinced that they will only be worse off, by the same proportion as other groups.

Too much has been made about the T&C's of current LHR crew, when compared to other airlines. They have a contract, that was signed in good faith. Mr Walsh has said that no one will loose money. It seems such a simple statement, but people are not convinced. Why is that?

If the collective forces of pprune have not managed to convince one person, then another approach is needed. He/she has stood up to a barrage of criticism, but still maintained a presence to answer questions from anonymous posters. No doubt, this will not be an infinite presence on here. What purpose will it serve if MissM retires to the comfort of the BASSA or Crew forums? Unless people just want to rant. If that is the case, then you will just be talking to yourselves.

Ancient Observer:

(By the way, I thought of your management opinions and smiled earlier today. They would have been quite appropriate).

I'm going to have to go back over posts...I may have missed your observations.

As a regular First customer I'm will admit to being a tad amazed to be learning through this dispute that the reason I may be waiting for service is due to a few Cabin Crew's friends, relatives, whatever...being invited to join the party.

Somehow that takes away a bit of the "special" experience.

Litebulbs, in response to your post:


I'm quite ready to engage, but I am not willing to disregard reality in my opinions...nor am I willing to give someone a pass simply because they are giving a rather "the earth is flat" assertion when all knows that that is not the case.

That is your prerogative and who am I to change that? My point is that what are you trying to achieve by your debate? Does it matter to you whether BA are successful in their restructuring programme?

At the end of the day, they are a service provider to the travelling public, nothing more. That is the same with Unite for me. If you have invested, then OK, but as a former employee, BA have my money too.

As you travel in First, then we probably will not play at the same golf course, so we are fundamentally different people. There will always be at least one cabin between me and you, if we fly together.

Reading what the CBI have stated today, will probably please you and definitely concern me. I am no flag waiving socialist, but I am not rich enough to not be concerned with developments in employment law. This dispute will be a game changer and I am on the wrong side of the mahogany desk.

Still, I do enjoy listening to opposite opinions and I am only too willing to learn.

It hardly matters if "missM" is miss Malone or just someone who sounds like her. The fact is that she is one of a steadily dwindling number of BASSA extremists who will shortly be signing on (or whatever the appropriate term is in the US).

Willie Walsh has won all his battles and will soon end the war. Its all over, bar some shouting and crying.

Summing it up
 

"It is not OUR fault that the public is against us. Blame WW and his so called management." from MissM.

Well as a member of the public, I would like to take this oportunity of telling you how deluded, petulant and childish that comment is. I am not attackng you personally, describing you in the same manner, but break down the comment and please tell me (the public/customer) why it isn't your fault, and why is it WW's and his management?
Is that the shareholders btw who tell willie what to do or management under Willie? and all of it or just a small section? and to what level?
I look forward to you alienating even more of your collegues with groundless ranting.

It is COMPLETELY BASSA's fault that the public are against them. The public know they are paid very well, the public know they were not asked to sacrifice much, the public know they tried to screw passengers over Christmas, and are trying to screw up their summer holidays, for nothing more than MACHO PRIDE.

Oh yes, we blame BASSA alright!

I don't belive that Miss M is Ms Malone, but on the basis of what he/she has said previously, IIRC:

- joined as CC straight from school, over 10 years ago, and saw BA as a "career" for life
- benefits from being on a part time contract
- can afford the expense and time of commuting from Dover to LHR

Attempting not to be patronising, I feel this points to a person whose only work-life experience began at an impressionable age, being inculcated into the BASSA parallel universe, and has never experienced anything else. The influence of that BASSA universe has been strengthened over the years by the inablity (for whatever reasons) of management to assert the influence of everybody else's earth-bound values, ethics, "normal" work environment etc within IFCE. Miss M is definitely more able to express the virtual reality of BASSA world better than many of his/her colleagues who live in the same world.

Unfortunately, for this dispute, there still seems to be too many who live in that world. They are not necessarily evil, ill-motivated or whatever description you might choose. They just cannot see that there is a different world that the majority of non BASSAmentalists actually live in.

Diplome..
 

Not sure if i am going to regret this or not!

I am going to stick my nose above the parapet a little here. I am one of the much maligned "management" troops at BA. I cannot comment on how crew and crew friends/family behave on staff travel when upgraded. I do however, as a part of my package, get just two tickets a year with a First class priority- ie, if there are seats available in First on that flight, i can be moved to them, through purely official channels. Yes it is an amazing perk, and i totally do realise how much it is worth. It kind of makes up for the fact that i am probably earning somewhere between £12-£20k less than market rate for my job. That is why it is offered, to sweeten the deal. But sometimes there are no seats available and if so, no second chances on another day. If i am fortunate enough to be seated up front, i am very very mindful of the other customers there who have paid for their seats. The staff rule book is strict on dress code, and we are never to accept something that another customer might want. So no amenity kits, no sleeper suits. And when asked for my meal choices, if there are other customers yet to be asked, i ask for whatever wont be run out of, and leave it to the crew, and ask to be served last. If the wine i want isn't opened yet, i have something else. These things are pretty usual throughout the management community and are part of our rules.
So i hope that if i was ever on a flight with you, you would never be kept waiting on my account. In my book, the customer always should come first..

Pax view
 

This pax allocates blame for the strike as follows:

BASSA - 100%
BA Management & volunteers - 0%

Miss M
 

MissM says she is not Lizanne Malone.

I want proof :ok:

BAAlltheway:

My post was poorly constructed...my apologies. What I was trying to convey was that I was (and am) surprised at the number of perks available to BA Cabin Crew...including all of these upgrades I keep hearing of.

It sounds that at times the paying customer must be in the minority on some flights.

It amazes me that so many feel so abused by BA when it seems to treat its employees pretty darn well.

It is muted that today's emergency budget will contain measures to change airline passenger tax from a per seat to a per aircraft basis.

This could have major ramifications for BA and any other "full service" airline operating out of the UK. Clearly, the tax element would have to be passed on to the consumer as is the case now. No matter how full, the stated rate of APT for that aircraft will be payable. So, the amount of tax payable by a passenger on an aircraft operating in 4 class mode (many BA long haul flights) with low density seating could be much higher than that paid by a passenger flying with an airline operating a single or two class aircraft of the same type. So at a time when BA is struggling to increase its "premium" product, the Coliation Government is loading the ticket price such that J and First Class travel becomes unaffordable. So where does that leave BA which is already facing continuing IA and the prospect of no additional runway capacity at EGLL.

Perhaps this is another reason why UNITE/BASSA should wake up and consider the implications. If it intends to maintain the current cabin class structures, BA will have to ensure it operates its long haul flights with the highest possible load factors in order to minimise the impact of APT on its customers. In turn, it could mean the axing of some multi flight per day destinations such as KLAX for instance which gets 3. Reductions in services means less cabin crew required and in turn that could lead to composary redundancies.

The combination of an aviation-phobic Government, disaffected work force, cheaper working practices adopted by main competitors and no room for expansion at EGLL, makes it's hard to see a future for BA and its blinkered cabin crew.

Perhaps to offset this, BA will have to transfer its centre of operations to a European airport where APT is not so high, if payable at all. Again, the impact on UK based support industries and would be profound. I will be looking very closely to fly from Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt etc in the future in order to minimise the impact of this tax. At least EHAM, LFPG and EDDF can be reached by train.

Do you honestly think Lizanne Malone would have chosen such an obvious username as MissM on an open forum as this?

ExecClubPax
 

In the light of the Iberia merger, may I add MAD to your list?

I think you will find that MissM joined BA over 15 years ago! :ok:

Most of the crew who joined before '97 are on the old contract and usually on part time too - they earn more money than those who joined post '97 and are full-time.

But - that's the way it was!