British Airways Centenary Becomes A PR Nightmare
Here at London City we have BA, as in Cityflyer (not that many pax would know) with little of the above. The drinks and snacks are free on board. The crew are always great. And above all there is NO STRIKE today and they are carrying on just as normal. Doubtless with 100% loads on many routes. And yet the BA PR team seem to have been quite unable to push this fact out to the media. There must be a good few who think their LCY flights are not operating.
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BCAL
Remember your history...BA was financially featherbedded by Thatcher pre-privatisation in order to kill British Caledonian. BA was never really a great carrier. BCAL was. A truly great airline, first 402 certificate in history, invented business class, devoted employees, fantastic, dedicated cabin crew and pilots.
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
"I wish they all could be Caledonian Girls". Super cabin crew (at least on shorthaul; can't speak for longhaul). When BA had the "Shuttle" service Aberdeen to Heathrow, Caledonian ran the "Subtle" service to Gatwick. Far, far better.
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. Now, while we can all say with total truth that what BA has is a bunch of whingeing, overpaid Nigels cynically using their muscle to screw BA for more than they are worth
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I'm not clever enough to know whether the pilots are either whinging or overpaid. What I am convinced about is that the fallout from this dispute has been disproportionately heightened by the incredible stupidity surrounding communication with passengers and the media. Whatever you think of the pilots' position, Balpa gave plenty warning. Management, once again, messed up. Will Mr Cruz never pick up on the point that cheap does not always mean good.
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Extreme cutbacks are suffocating BA
The poor communications with pax (not for the first time) and the totally inadequate data resilience after the outage last year rather supports the pilots' contention that BA has lost the plot by curtting back infrastructure costs to such an extreme that the business is suffering. There is always a time lag between cutting costs to the bone (immediate benefit to the bottom line) and declining activity and reputation (disaster for the bottom line) which allows directors to take handsome bonuses in the interim. Sorry to say that BA seems to be on that curve now. Nice if someone could correct me.
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Wrt removal of 'travel perks' from striking flightcrew... two can play at that game.
Given that a Captain's word is final, i.e. as to who's allowed to travel, a Captain is perfectly within their rights to deny travel to any passenger.
The simple phrase of "I do not consider that your presence onboard is conducive to good order and accordingly you must leave the aeroplane" would be enough to have a passenger removed and no further reason or explanation is required of the Captain. The Captain's word is always the final arbiter.
So, BA Management types (whom have kept their 'travel perks') might find that those perks are not worth a jot when they're not allowed onboard because the BA Captain says "No" to their presence, and maybe also a similar implementation for Management staff whom are travelling on duty might help to focus some BA Management minds?
Given that a Captain's word is final, i.e. as to who's allowed to travel, a Captain is perfectly within their rights to deny travel to any passenger.
The simple phrase of "I do not consider that your presence onboard is conducive to good order and accordingly you must leave the aeroplane" would be enough to have a passenger removed and no further reason or explanation is required of the Captain. The Captain's word is always the final arbiter.
So, BA Management types (whom have kept their 'travel perks') might find that those perks are not worth a jot when they're not allowed onboard because the BA Captain says "No" to their presence, and maybe also a similar implementation for Management staff whom are travelling on duty might help to focus some BA Management minds?
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BA generates dollars and other currencies by selling tickets to London in other countries. Converted to pounds to pay salaries they buy more. Simplistic but you get the drift.
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It only requires a continuous 4 or 5 days strike and no simulator checks being completed and there is a tipping point when there are not enough crews in check but I’m sure management are aware of this as will BALPA be
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An earlier poster stated ...”its a damned sight better than Vueling/Air Malta/Ryanair/Eurowings/Wizz etc.”. I am afraid that really says it all - you are comparing BA (known as Budget Airlines in my circle), with the exception of Air Malta perhaps, with low cost carriers. We should be comparing BA with Lufthansa, whom I fly with regularly, KLM & Air France. Having flown recently on Turkish in economy, I was stunned to receive a menu with 2 choices of hot meal on the flight from Instanbul to Munich.
I'm not clever enough to know whether the pilots are either whinging or overpaid. What I am convinced about is that the fallout from this dispute has been disproportionately heightened by the incredible stupidity surrounding communication with passengers and the media. Whatever you think of the pilots' position, Balpa gave plenty warning. Management, once again, messed up. Will Mr Cruz never pick up on the point that cheap does not always mean good.
Sure BA jocks earn plenty but in truth when you take responsibiity and skill levels required that should be the norm, not the exception.
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Apparently the spin given by the BA management easily persuades some simpletons here. The average salary of a BA pilot is £160k p/a! Really!!! Therefore anyone that gets paid more than me is an overpaid sponger.....
The Atlantic Barons on the old contract big bucks are either gone or close to retirement. The company comprises many new pilots who have either trained with BA and have the $$$$ obscene debt from the experience or the direct entry guys who have moved on from Easy or Ryanair. The ab-initios earn around £26k before deductions and the direct entry guys £45-50 with all new hires going on the new contract.
They want a pay rise linked to RPI, not one that might just keep pace with inflation. By the looks of it BA want this strike more than the pilots. Top of BA's wish-list is BALPA out of the picture. Then BA can get of with slashing costs and squeezing employees without union interference. It's all about profit, profit and more profit.
The Atlantic Barons on the old contract big bucks are either gone or close to retirement. The company comprises many new pilots who have either trained with BA and have the $$$$ obscene debt from the experience or the direct entry guys who have moved on from Easy or Ryanair. The ab-initios earn around £26k before deductions and the direct entry guys £45-50 with all new hires going on the new contract.
They want a pay rise linked to RPI, not one that might just keep pace with inflation. By the looks of it BA want this strike more than the pilots. Top of BA's wish-list is BALPA out of the picture. Then BA can get of with slashing costs and squeezing employees without union interference. It's all about profit, profit and more profit.
Paxing All Over The World
Yes, it is Magplug but as is always the case - everyone loses. The mgmt have failed in the last 20 years (as countless others have done) to manage their business for the true long term. Flight and Cabin crew are scrunched by it all and nothing helpful will come of this. Strikes rarely bring good things - especially when the public does not see the employee's problem.
We can blame who we like but it is another nail in the coffin.
We can blame who we like but it is another nail in the coffin.
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This is just boring.
It is a race to the bottom. An eternal one. You do it faster, cheaper, better. Tomorrow a compeditor will do it slightly more effectively. Management will work out a new method to do it faster, cheaper, better! Why? Well consumers want cheaper, faster.....and aspire to better! And it is a vicious circle. Because we've all less pay, we need cheaper, better, faster! Management at BA most likely wish they had the "Worlds fave airline". This won't change anytime soon - so it will be a continuous erosion of service standards until we are all standing up in the cabin, eating from paper boxes ........in an argument it is better for the environment etc. But it will be dressed up as Club class or whatever..........
It is a race to the bottom. An eternal one. You do it faster, cheaper, better. Tomorrow a compeditor will do it slightly more effectively. Management will work out a new method to do it faster, cheaper, better! Why? Well consumers want cheaper, faster.....and aspire to better! And it is a vicious circle. Because we've all less pay, we need cheaper, better, faster! Management at BA most likely wish they had the "Worlds fave airline". This won't change anytime soon - so it will be a continuous erosion of service standards until we are all standing up in the cabin, eating from paper boxes ........in an argument it is better for the environment etc. But it will be dressed up as Club class or whatever..........
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Sad to see the decline of what was once a world leader. Surprised that nobody seems to recall that BA owns half the slots at Heathrow simply because they were once reserved for domestic flights -- essential to Scottish business, even more to both parts of Ireland where the train is not an option. It's a licence to print money for its foreign owners, just like most of our airports in fact. To my mind BA never got over the competition from British Midland and BCal introduced by Mrs Thatcher; as an occasional traveller I would no more consider BA than Ryanair. Good luck to the staff seeking their share of the profits.
