BA Cabin Crew
 

Is there part of their training where they learn to be rude ?

If there is, in my experience most of them miss that part of the training.

I fly with them several times a month and as a rule find them helpful and friendly. As in all walks of life sometimes people have bad days - crew included!

Why, do you have a particular axe to grind?

cym summed it up perfectly, don't matter if you are cabin crew or on the checkout at Asda, there are good ones and bad ones.

no axe to grind just an observation.

I travel with a number of other carriers but BA seem to have an unusually high number rude crew. They make one feel like ones an inconvenience.

OK

I will say that of all the carriers I've ever flown with, the BA cabin crew score in the lower half of the table. They've never made me feel like a toilet but I have had some that made me feel as though I was putting them out asking for something.

Some you win, some you lose!

They are like all populations - a mixed bag. Some are excellent, some appear to hate customers. I guess that most are perfectly OK for the job.
Like all organisations, the immediate "feel" of the place is important - if the pilots go out of their way to try to create a positive environment, and if the onboard Supervisors are any good, then service should be good.
If BA want a premium price, they must have a premium crew.
Whilst performance management of crew is notoriously difficult, BA need to try harder to manage out of BA those that are not giving the high standards that customers pay for.

But its very difficult to do. I cant tell you how many times ive left a flight annoyed at their attitude and I dont have high expectations.

Virgin are by the best.

Flown BA many times and have always had an acceptable service. However some CC have displayed a precious or even a prima donna attitude. The best for me was a short flight on a long gone airline called Novair. AGP-MAN on a brand new 734, top service. Not surprising really as there were only about 30 punters on the flight. No wonder they went bump.

grassy I use VS as my main long haul carrier and have certainly had some less than helpful ones. Given that I am 'low maintenance' pax, that's saying something. You might search for old threads on this topic, the attitudes of CC, as they usually crop up about every six months. Overall, the CC get a good report, even on some carriers that have poor reputations.

I work in a field where every single supplier trumpets how much they care for the customer. It's on all their notepaper and shop fronts. Having worked in this business for 20 years I can say, "It ain't necessarily so ..." :rolleyes:

I would have to concur. I used to be somewhat of a roadwarrior and fly constantly with many different airlines, although mainly with the 'biggies' on each continent. Generally speaking each airline had a personality and I know that generalisations are crass, but it seemed to hold true on the majority of flights that I took :8. The American legacy carriers were much of a muchness, friendly, homely and welcoming and in Europe, Lufthansa were efficient, but somewhat cold, Swissair efficient and a bit warmer, Alitalia chaotic, but charming, Air France (well, Francais :rolleyes:) KLM, SAS, Warm in a quirky way, Iberia simple and uncomplicated :E and BA.....Efficient, reliable and yet there was a pervading 'personality' somewhat akin to the assistants in luxury clothes/shoe shops whereby they take on the airs of grandeur. It seemed to dissipate the further forward in the cabin one was domiciled :hmm: As to whether this attitude was caused by company conditioning or to do with the British personality and it's abhorrence towards serving others (unlike professional servers in many European countries) I cannot say. I have been very low maintenance as a passenger and have always been courteous and polite, yet have experience said attitude on many BA flights. I do remember during the BA strike in 2009 ? taking a longhaul flight to South America and the outbound flight was staffed with volunteers. It was so relaxed and enjoyable as to have stayed in the memory, yet the return 3 weeks later was back in the old rhythm of agitated diva who was being bothered by any passenger request (and that was just me :}) It's not the easiest of jobs being a long haul steward/ess, bad air, many diverse passengers, jet lag and so on, but as long as that's the chosen path, then a helpful service orientated attitude and credo would help.



SHJ

SHJ,
I think you summed it up perfectly with " they take on the airs of grandeur".

I too am a "low touch" passenger but heaven help you if you ask for something out of the usual service - this morning I asked for a cereal and the fruit salad (which I didnt get !) instead of pastries and bacon sarnies - the cc seemed to take it as a personal affront and was very offish.

I'm not sure that complaining would do any good either as it seems more cultural.

From what I gather from colleagues who actually fly for BA, it seems that since the Industrial problems of the past 2-4 years or so many crew have their minds on everything else but passenger service and comfort. There is still a lot of "in house fighting" amongst the crews. Standoff between colleagues, negative attitudes towards mixed fleet, disrespect of management and senior crew. The list is endless. This of course radiates to passengers and they see everything and experience this side. Hence this thread.

I still have to bang my head and say to myself "Did I really work for BA 30 years ago. I look at the youtube clips of BOAC. I then realise I flew for a great airline and was proud to do so!

What of the future? Who knows, but be sure BA won't be getting my hard earned cash.

The new TV series on the PanAm heydays might show them how it should be...

Having worked for both Virgin AND BA, I have to say that it is really difficult to train people to be rude because it is so subjective.

crewmealNot according to the latest BA adverts there isn't ... :E :}

VS-LHRCSA,

Having also worked for VS and having spent a lot of time at Newman House, I can certify that the ones that were going to go ''bad'' went so as soon as that red uniform went on...

Back on thread - my experience is the short-haul BA crew are much happier than the long haul. Last time I came back from HKG in C, I felt compelled to ask what I'd done to upset the FA who clearly didn't want to be there (late night in Lan Kwai Fong perhaps????). I got a glare and a grunt in reply...:hmm:

Over the last few years, BA crew have generally turned more miserable.

I think taking a person off the aircraft and making them actually work a bit harder has something to do with it.

They were probably happier with more crew on board and a less demanding workload.

Not really much of a criticism per se, no-one likes their status quo being eroded, and I'd probably be a bit grumpy if I was used to an easier work day.
.

I agree, but why should the customer(s) have to be on the receiving end of any matter between the employees and their management, especially in a service industry ? Too many times service industry jobs are staffed by people who don't want to be serving and either passively or aggressively show their customers that. Perhaps either a change of job is needed or a change of attitude.



SHJ

(repeating myself) BA is nearing the end of this life span. It's a natural arc. Look at ANY company, institution, govt - and you will see how they rise and fall. It's not always pretty but it's life.

(for the record, I always enjoy travelling on BA when I do.)

Don’t forget that in the past BA management overtly encouraged staff to consider back cabin passengers as unwanted but necessary by stating that they (management) would prefer only to carry premium “front cabin “passengers.
However, they admitted they still needed some cattle to fill up the empty bit at the back.
Sadly there remain a few CC who delight in maintaining this attitude to those they perceive as the great unwashed.