Since Sean Doyle took over he has been keen to emphasise that his focus is on making BA a premium airline. (Well, the prices are eye-wateringly premium at least!). This weekend he gave an interview to the Financial Times as well as sending all Executive members an email. Not everyone has received it yet so here it is in full:
To our loyal customers,
I’m writing to you directly today in the spirit of transparency, which is the ethos we’re striving to promote at British Airways in 2022 as we emerge from the worst crisis in our 102-year history.
We know that for many months now we’ve been asking you to be patient with us. Patient while we bring multiple aircraft back from airfields around the world. Patient while we rebuild our network, retrain and recruit people to serve you better, and patient while we deal with the thousands of customers that need our help.
To be frank, we’ve been moving from one set of restrictions to another and the amount of change we’ve been dealing with over the past couple of years from week to week has been relentless. I’m not seeking to make excuses for things that should have gone better. What I am doing is making a personal commitment to you that we will build a better British Airways. An airline you can trust and rely on and that offers great customer service, with someone always available to help. Most importantly, an airline that you are proud to fly with – an airline that you are proud is your British flag-carrier. For me, 2022 is the year we’re finally able to rebuild and re-energise our airline. After the recent news from the UK Government around the removal of restrictions, it’s time to get Britain moving again.
My number one priority is to address the customer call centre issues many of you have experienced and may still be experiencing. In the face of constantly changing and complicated travel restrictions the length of time it’s taking us to take calls has naturally been longer, which has pushed up our waiting times. We are mid-way through replacing our phone systems to create a better customer experience and are also already recruiting more people to ensure your calls are answered, social media messages are responded to and problems are solved in the moment, wherever possible.
We’ve been working hard to create a more premium experience for you, putting you at our heart and doing it in a way that’s sustainable. Every aspect of this strategy is to help make your journey more seamless and enjoyable. For example, our operations teams are working on a new baggage tracing system, allowing you to track your bag via your phone throughout your journey. We know you’ve enjoyed the table ordering service we began to offer in our lounges during the pandemic, and so we’re continuing with this initiative. You’ve also told us you appreciate the complimentary water and snacks we’ve been offering on short-haul flights in our Euro Traveller cabin, so we’ll be continuing with these too. In addition, we’re working hard to improve the quality of the meals and choices we serve across all cabins and rolling out our Club Suite on as many aircraft as we can, as quickly as we can.
We know change starts from within. Our teams across the airline have been through a lot, and I am looking at what we need to do to recognise and reward the people we know make a difference to your journey, and ensure they have everything they need to feel empowered to do the right thing by you every single day.
I know that change won’t happen overnight, but this week I have briefed teams across the airline to do all they need to, to tackle the issues we know you’re facing so we don’t let you down. In the meantime, I want to thank you for staying with us. I know your loyalty has been tested and I want to assure you that we don’t ever take it for granted.
I hope that in the coming months you’ll notice a significant move towards a better BA, driven by our people to deliver a better experience for you, our most loyal customers.
I’d like to say before I give my take on the announcements that I am the highest status you can earn on BA as a Gold Guest List. This year I plan to maintain that status and have a number of BA flights booked. I am loyal to BA currently but as Sean says himself, that patience is being tested. I do, however, appreciate his honesty and acknowledgment that things could be better which is rare from a CEO. I also like the fact that he has actually sent out the communication.
Here are my thoughts on what he addressed:
In this post:
The call centre wait times and social media
Yes, these are pretty shocking. It’s very hard for many people to get hold of BA even with Gold status and BA Holidays are often even worse. Sean says they are recruiting more staff but for me, this misses the issue. I’m sure I speak for the majority of people when I say I’d much rather you automate everything as much as possible for those that want it.
We all lead busy lives and have better things to do than holding on the phone. They could bring back all the pre-pandemic online options, convert all old vouchers that can’t be used online into e-vouchers. I’d like them to go even further and automate even further if possible! Being able to add a second leg to a 2-4-1 and get the taxes correctly calculated would save their staff an awful lot of time.
Even if there was just a form you filled in for non-urgent enquiries, it would be a start. I’d also like to see a proper chat function that works properly. Throughout the pandemic I have changed my Finnair flights solely by the Finnair chat function which has been very useful. Whereas BA is switching to a new phone system. While BA has a chat system it’s not working half the time and limited on what they can do.
“A More Premium Experience”
Sean says he wants to “help make your journey more seamless and enjoyable”
Let’s see what he mentions here:
- Working on a new baggage tracing system, allowing you to track your bag via your phone throughout your journey. AA have had this fir some time
- Table ordering service in lounges continuing
- Complimentary water and snacks for Euro Traveller cabin continuing
- Improve the quality of the meals and choices we serve across all cabins and
- Rolling out our Club Suite on as many aircraft as we can, as quickly as we can.
Items 2 and 3 are things they have been already doing for a long time. Overall I think the lounges are doing OK and the Concorde Room has upped its game in the last few weeks to offer a more premium menu which is great to see. Baggage tracing has been talked about for a long time. It’s a nice to have for me as I think there are more pressing issues.
The key to me at the moment is the onboard service.
Before the pandemic, I used to forgive BA for not having the greatest business or first class compared to other airlines because you could get decent deals in sales or booking far ahead. Most of that has disappeared now with the highest prices I have seen since I started blogging to the US and Canada in particular. Apparently, BA considers that they can charge a premium due to the new club seats and demand. But they are missing the point, I’ve lost count of the amount of times I have booked a Club Suite only to have it changed nearer the time. I’m not paying a premium for a seat I may not get!
The food is definitely an issue and I’m pleased to see Sean mention this. While the majority of the food has tasted OK, it reeks of cheapness. There is no element of luxury or “premium” to most of the meals. The menus seem to consist of what I would think of as pub grub, sausage and mash, cottage pie, pasta and roast dinners with a curry option if you are lucky. None of this says premium to me.
The one tray option in Club is also grating. Crew are not keen to return to a full service as it’s extra work. So we are still using the #covidexcuse long after many other airlines have returned to close to normal. Remember the days when you got a starter and a side salad?
The problem with one tray apart is that there is only so much room so in effect you are getting a Club Europe short-haul meal in terms of volume and the starters/desserts. Just look at the starter below which consists of a couple of bits of lettuce, two bits of avocado and half a cherry tomato!
The one area that I think they are doing well in is the wine and drinks in Club Europe and First. These are generally pretty premium so I’d like to see that continue. I like the cocktails on board too but I’d like to see them changed more frequently.
On the subject of drinks, I’d like pre-departure drinks back properly instead of the ad-hoc service that seems to happen now.
It will be interesting to see what he calls “choices” being improved are. I’d hope that means you get a choice of starter again and a choice of desserts as before.
Sean told the Financial Times “Putting the premium proposition into the heart of what we do is going to be key,” he told the Financial Times at BA’s headquarters near Heathrow. “We want people to come off a British Airways flight and talk about it as if it’s something different.” Sadly at the moment, it is often talked about because it’s different but not in a good way!
“Sean wasn’t hired to make fundamental changes,” said an IAG insider according to the Financial Times. Well, Sean you need to make some changes now! Most of what I have heard and seen recently is a lot of talk about being a premium airline but not much action except the deadline for fitting the B777 Club Suites by the end of the year.
Conclusion
The jury’s still out for me. As they say, the proof is literally in the pudding!
What are your thoughts on travelling with BA at the moment? Did you appreciate Sean’s email? What should they improve? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
72 comments
As often the case with these things action speak louder than words we will see if these words translate into real world changes in a meaningful way. I agree that BA need to take a big step up with the overall package they present. Put it simply don’t charge for premium if you can’t delivery premium.
BA is not and is unlikely to be a premium airline again it’s not the same as it was 10 years ago. the focus now for the vast majority of people is price and BA provide many benefits for those who pay and want them and less for those who don’t people have the choice . Of course they can improve in some areas such as onboard food offerings and doing up the Heathrow lounges but overal they are doing well in what is a highly competitive market especially Europe with low cost airlines . With the call centres Ba have gone through a tough 2 years and have tried their best to get through to people and talented people is what we need not less and more online only services . There will always be critics whatever the airline tries to do
It would be nice to think their service will be improved. It’s been terrible lately and it’s hard to imagine they will get better quickly. As for their phone lines – shocking!
There are a few things they could do straight away, starting by doing away with the unbelievable charges for anyone booking Club Europe/World, (without status), for choosing a seat – I cannot understand why they cant just bake the cost of this into the overall booking – truly, who is going to notice £250 on a circa £4k booking, to also sit in some of the oldest Biz Class seats in modern aviation – appreciating there is a slow refurb of the fleet? Maybe that price is a bad example, but you get my drift. There is also the catering question – I am just off a return Club Europe flight from Malaga, and on both sectors, they’d run out of TWO meal options by row 7, and that isn’t the first time I have seen that. They claim they offer a premium meal in the sky, but to be frank, the “Full English” still has no bacon, and it is basically scrambled eggs and a few mushrooms. I genuinely don’t know what is premium about that- I know this sounds a bit first world problems, but when you are buying into something that is claimed to be “premium” you sort of expect that, don’t you? However, totally agree about the wine selection being spot on! As for the Contact Centres/Twitter/Facebook Messenger – it is an absolute disaster – I have a message from a query that says “I’m connecting you with an agent who can assist, please note it may take longer than usual as we are busy” – this was on the 17th January, and yep, you guessed it. Still waiting. Only went via there because I couldn’t do what I needed to do online, didn’t have the time to repeatedly call, be cut off or sit on hold for hours – this, combined, is something Sean ought to be really investing in to fixing – frankly, their book with confidence policy is actually the opposite for me – I worry what happens when something actually goes wrong, and you have very few means to communicate with them rapidly.
I would not like to see a price rise in tickets to get free seat selection in Club.
You can book seats for free 7 days beforehand with Bronze status, which isn’t hard to achieve – Silver can reserve seats at the time of booking.
They are still hiding behind the covid nonsense an an excuse not to provide a full service. Their club world long haul has for years been poor value and club Europe a disgrace with the same legroom and seat as economy. Take a look at Emirates new premium economy ! I doubt BA could offer this as first class, let alone business class.
Completely agree re worry about needing to contact and not being able to. Booked 2 holidays late last year with Jet2 from Stansted for that exact reason. Half the travel time. More legroom, excellent all round service as always. If I’ve done it how many thousands of others have costing BA millions in lost revenues. Call centres have been a shocking shambles for 18 months. A weak excuse/ apology now is just too little too late BA. Be glad when I’ve used all my 241’s and avios so I cut cut more ties to BA
I realise that Sean can’t criticise his own IT folks publicly, but some acknowledgement that the problems are being addressed would be helpful. I don’t want more call centres; I want an IT department that knows what it’s doing. BA’s outsourcing of this has been terrible for years, by far the worst of any airline with which I deal.
Michele, I agree that we should be able to do as much as possible online, but, until they fire their current IT crowd and make it a top priority, we’ll still be waiting on hold for two or more hours at a time.
Over the last few months I have moved from Tokyo to Cairo. My flights back to LHR are now only 5 hours however, CW has been replaced by CE so sitting in an economy seat with no TV or in seat entertainment, a very poor meal service and terrible overall service has meant that I have switched to airlines which offer a proper service.
For me the one aspect missing from this list is the urgent need to retrain their staff. The loss of most of the long-standing members of staff may be great for the cost base but the current cohort just don’t understand the importance of giving great service. On a recent long haul flight, they didn’t bother to offer anyone breakfast, including any hot drinks. All the food would have been returned causing potential wastage. The downgrade from the Cabin Service Director role to a Flight Manager has resulted in no one really in control on a flight in a senior position and the loss of someone giving the personal touch to their frequent fliers. BA staff are currently providing Ryanair quality service for their premium prices. And at least Ryanair staff are jolly; this lot are generally workshy and totally lacking in interest in their passengers. It’s really sad to experience the fall in service standards.
We recently took a 4 hour delayed flight in Club to Nairobi. On departure 3 of the 4 toilets were not working and we were not allowed to use the unused first class toilet because first class was being used as a crew rest area. Unbelievable. Time and time again we are of the view that BA just don’t care.
In fact I wrote to them suggesting a new slogan “fly British Airways we just don’t care” To me BA urgently need a real focus on customer service from the top down. A very focussed course for all. BA has a mountain to climb
Better posting on BA’s Facebook page. It’s the only place they seem to respond. I’ve had a couple of almost immediate responses to scathing comments recently even giving a point of contact. Could be just words though. Didn’t follow up on it
I have just traveled long haul in BA First Class (new BA B777-300ER cabin config) – and frankly Sean has a challenge on his hands, but one on which I wish him well. It actually doesn’t involve that much expenditure . 1. Cabin Staff – clealry not ‘with it’ any longer, needing to be reminded what request had been made, not responding to call buttons, and very very slow and assistant service – almost as if they are all finding their way.
2. The turnout of the crew was dreadful – sloppily dressed and whist hanging around the airport on arrival with blouses hanging out, cravats askew, an Aeroflot crew walked past them fresh from landing looking well groomed, smartly dressed, with heads held high – the contrast was shocking.
3. Where have the hot towels gone for pre-departure! Please don’t say it is Covid related?!
4. First class was full (8 pax) but they managed to run out of choices by the time they came to the last passenger (unfortunately my wife) and that is with only three choices on the menu (one being vegetarian) – utterly unacceptable and certainly NOT First Class – BA need to quickly pull socks up, add more choice to both F/C and B/C menus (indeed all classes) and stop penny pinching, especially in premium classes. Where are the after-dinner chocolates now – I really cannot believe that by stopping this element BA will somehow repair its balance sheet.
All in all, please insert some slickness and indeed pride back into your cabin service – these crews are lucky to be still employed by what used to be a world-beating brand – and defintely address the quality and section of the product – BA is already been well-overtaken by many other carriers to claim the epithet of ‘The World’s Favourite’ carrier (notably Qatar Airways, Air France, Singapore Airlines to name but two) and we do not want to see UK’s supposed ‘National Carrier’ being seen as slowly descending to that of a budget carrier (and certainly not at the high fares they are charging!). I really wish Sean Doyle all success in turning around this former wonderful airline after the ravages of the previous management -he worked magic with Aer Lungs and let’s hope he and his team does the same for BA I think we are all with him if we can start seeing signs of some consistent improvement both in quality and attitude – I wish him well!!
If all you have is young inexperienced overworked underpaid unmotivated staff that no longer see the job as a career. You have the low cost model trying to be sold as premium and failing
I’ve been dedicated to BA for circa twenty-five years.
I mostly fly paid for F. Every so often I do use 2-4-1 but realistically if I want to fly F I do. And so do my family.
A good friend has always flown Emirates business and F.
We convinced him to fly F to New York with BA. He came back and said product poor, people meh. Don’t make me fly with them again!
This before the pandemic.
I’m going to Brisbane via Sydney this year and BA have put their F to nearly 7k min from 5.4k.
I just laughed. BA have lost the plot and lost this loyal customer to Emirates and other for east coast US.
They just don’t have a clue and like many senior managers in most organisations they have lost complete connection to the people using their products.
‘talk is cheap’. He may have a generous Irish heart but his company finally became a lost cause when they disastrously employed a bonus chasing Spanish discount airline CEO who only knew how to cut and not invest. The death spiral reached the point of no return when they closed UK based IT departments and outsourced to India with price the only criteria, not experience, competence or management.And when you review the voluntary redundancy programmes they set up to cut even more costs you can trace the loss of experience and even customer focussed wisdom to the second rate airline now trying to please it’s IAG shareholders and protect senior staff bonuses and not us it’s less and less captive customers. Remember Margaret Thatcher covering the tail fin? Soon there will be less of them as they wet lease more and more as the post covid world reopens. In sadness.
It’s a pity that Sean has to undo all of the work that high viz Alex Cruz did to destroy BA by turning them into RyanAir.
I can’t see them ever being premium again and will only fly with them if their prices aren’t premium. I’ll use up my Avios and 2-4-1 vouchers and then look at other carriers.
My thoughts from our recent Club World experience. Business Lounge table ordering I hope will end post covid soon. Not a lot of selection & a few sandwiches & cake for a lighter bite is not good enough.
Club Suites are very good, our cabin crew were excellent but we’re we lucky on this flight?
Club Kitchen virtually empty after 20 mins into flight observed. Even Chocolate bars gone & replaced with Lindt chocolate balls x 6. Penny pinching at Club level is not good.
We wait and see if his message delivers…
Just returned from a trip to the Maldives, our First back Club World. First was great, we felt valued but as there are so many new Club Suites we felt just a number, same level of service as if we were in Economy. In fact no choice of main as we were seat 15 they’d run out of one option already. These tickets are several thousands of pounds each, and it would be nice if this were reflected in the service as well as the reclining seat.
The only thing premium about BA at the moment is its prices. A recent Denver-LHR leg in Club Class saw a very disappointing one-tray meal. A stater of a few lettuce leaves, cucumber slices and tomato; a main choice of either curry or vegetarian pasta (what if you don’t like either?!), and a no-choice dessert that was a bit like something you would serve at a kids’ party. The crew rarely came round to see if there was anything we needed.
We had a connecting flight to Newcastle with a long wait at LHR. The south lounge in T5 was at least not overcrowded; but the choice of food was pretty limited and uninspiring.
Finally, despite being tagged priority, our bags were some of the last on the carousel at Newcastle. This has happened for years and when I finally got so frustrated that I contacted BA about it, I hit the usual ‘operational demands’ excuse. What?! Every time?
So, no, nothing much premium at the moment.
I flew London / Lisbon last night where the meal consisted of a main dish and s bread roll and butter. There’s was no starter, side dish or desert for anyone because of “a mistake. Fair enough! But the crew were excellent.
However, the north lounge in T5 badly needs an upgrade. At least, BA, get the carpet cleaners in there as it’s disgustingly dirty with stains all over.
I do like to order the food via the app. Please keep up this option.
I’m afraid I have to concur with the current standards. Having convinced my friend to fly Club to Tenerife last Sat (he’s chasing a quick silver tier) I duly dropped him off early at T5 (and swallowed the £5 drop off levy) to avail himself of the benefits of a premium booking. He had a 32kg mountain bike and bag to check in, and subsequently waited, along with others 1 hr to get a boarding card! Matters were made worse, as passengers on earlier departures were “kicking off” and being brought forward as they were close to flights. The South lounge service was laboriously painful, and the food “service station” was probably a fair comparison. It got worse at the gate, when having invited group 1 and Club to board. They all stood waiting between the gate staff and the airbridge for 10 minutes, as the aircraft wasn’t quite ready! Meanwhile, euro travellers were asked to remain cosily seated. I dared not to ask about the flight, apart from the landing that loosened a couple of fillings! I sincerely hope his trip back will be better!
Been looking at booking a few flights and was amazed at how much BA are asking. Quite often they were nearly double the price of Qatar out of LHR not ex EU. Would anyone fly BA in preference to Qatar even if the price was the same? Last week flew F from LAX to LHR on BA and wouldn’t have called it a premium product although the crew were excellent.
I thought the offer of double tier points for BA holiday bookings was a nice gesture, particularly after having several flights cancelled when flights were consolidated. The double points would have taken me to gold and felt like a nice reward. The additional points haven’t materialised so the offer has ended up creating yet more frustration with BA.
Yes the double tier points offer has been a bit of a disaster. I haven’t heard of anyone who received them without either a very long wait or having to chase more than once. Again it’s down to poor IT. It should have been able to do it automatically.
Let’s not forget that BA operates in an almost uniquely competitive environment. It has received nothing like the level of financial and non financial Covid support of any other airline in Europe. One of whom seems to be so flush with cash that it is bidding for a European competitor less than 12 months after being baled out by its government. It has had to deal with the most restrictive and ever changing travel regulations. Unlike any other airline in Europe it has a very effective domestic long haul competitor on all its most important routes and unlike the Middle East carriers, it has to make money and receives no covert support for its Government/owners. People happily criticise BA for its poor industrial relations and are happy to fly Qatar Airways where they don’t exist and LGBT+ rights are ignored. In spite of all of this, yes it still has to do much better. I believe that it will and we can be proud of our ‘National’ airline again.
Agree completely Michele; he has a huge challenge with repositioning BA to being a credible premium brand.
I’ve Gold status and – like you, I’ve stayed loyal and forgiven a lot of bad practice in the name of Covid… (including warm white wine in a paper coffee cup travelling first from Barbados…)
However, my patience ran out last last year: BA and BA holidays are impossible to contact, generally uninterested and they collectively cancelled or rescheduled over 20 of my flights last year.
I’ve used the opportunity to do the bare-minimum to keep Gold and decided to build status across other Airlines / alliances instead. A few years I would have blindly booked BA, even if more expensive. Now – i actively chop and change. The loyalty has gone completely.
One word. Shambles! Nobody answers the phone. When they do they still manage to mess something up. Using vouchers is far from simple and I have had to challenge for two of them because they short changed me. The website has more glitches than a really bad sci fi movie. Twice now they have put me as both the passengers, instead of my wife and I. Another hour on hold to get it corrected and then they still get it wrong. So another hour after numerous attempts to be told it has exceeded the 24 hour time limit and I’ll be charged a fee to change the name. I’ve now got another tier point error to clear up and I’m not looking forward to another hour of lift music. This year will be a test. We have numerous flights booked, lots of them in Club World. If this year doesn’t go well we will be choosing another airline
Over the years I have written to various Customer Experience Directors at BA about short coming in their service in premium cabins. Had lots of excuses, poor justifications and promises of improvements. For a while the standard excuse especially on 747 and 777 was to blame Boeing. I could never understand why on my flights with Singapore, Emirates and even United, food wasn’t burned, seats worked and IFE usually worked well. They all flew Boeing aircraft. Last November we flew back from Barbados on a new 777 with Club suites, which were great, let down by the fact that there was no Champagne available. It was explained to me that the staff on the outbound flight had let the customers drink it all. Why did the senior cabin manager allow that to happen.? Sean still has a lot to do with staff training. Why do they not have dedicated trained crew to look after the premium cabins?
They used to have a seniority system which allowed those most experienced to choose which position to work first. This meant you normally got the experienced crew in first and club. Now they have done away with that system so it’s a free for all.
I’m retired. I was a travel industry executive all of my career and worked with BA over many of those years. I was lucky enough to be very well looked after by all major carriers and we all know the BA product falls short in many areas. Now, I only fly BA because of the 241- I have nine of them to use and I’m too tight to pay for premium cabins with anyone else- but really, I’m starting to get nervous about my next BA trip. They HAD improved the catering. I love the First Wing. The crew WERE ALWAYS fine. Any airline can have a great hard and soft product- tangible and intangible resources can be COPIED if you have the money as an airline and want to spend it. BA could have the SQ hard and soft product if they wanted to and the financials stacked up but we know they won’t do this. HOWEVER, it is the INTANGIBLE resource that cannot be copied or replicated easily: their PEOPLE- and BA have done an amazing job at destroying this unmatchable element of what BA SHOULD be about. I know a stack of former crew who hate, loathe and detest their former employer of twenty years plus because of the way they were treated during the redundancy programme over the past two years. Now we have smiley staff who don’t have a clue about premium products and service. What is worrying is that there are enough MBA’s in BA who will have carried out substantial analysis before they made these changes and this to me is therefore a DELIBERATE STRATEGY and sadly, I believe Mr Doyle is a snake oil salesman! BTW, BA are so against another runway at LHR….they have pretty much a duopoly on some routes and a strong position on North America with American.
*IF* Sean makes real improvements upto a competitive level and they are reliably delivered for several months I will experiment with them but for now BA remains #BeyondAbysmal and #BestAvoided because they not only deliver sub par product & service but charge a ridiculous premium for it. They days of profiteering from their stranglehold on LHR are firmly over, having tried the alternatives, East, West and even intra Europe.
Wow! I hope Sean reads these comments personally as it seems that BA has already lost the market. My recent LGW Club World experience was consistent with the themes raised. ‘Priority’ bags out last both outbound and return, one tray service of mediocre economy food and a lack of proactive cabin service. Don’t even ask about the lounge! Totally agree with maximising the online channel and I’m VERY disappointed and suspicious that I can’t see all my numerous eVouchers and their values on my account, This can all be fixed but I fear they simply don’t get how ‘sub-premium’ the Club World product is it – why didn’t Sean take the opportunity to ask for comments?
I am not loyal any longer. Choose whatever ticket is cheaper and convenient. With decent airline obviously.
BA are holding millions of our cancelled Avios point bookings and tax money. When you call BA to use your Avios flight voucher it is almost impossible to get through, hence in the end you just give up and pay the cash online. There is no reason why this Avios service cannot be added to their online system, sadly this is a deliberate rather than an IT issue. We also know they removed the ability to cancel an Avios booking online, before the pandemic, a real bug bearer for most of us. So I would like these issues resolved that would make my life a lot easier. I am loyal to BA, but agree with all the comments above that his words need to be backed with highly visible action.
As many say the proof is in the pudding.talking pre Covid BA didn’t offer a Premium service the only time I used them was if I could pay via Avios, or if airlines of my choice didn’t fly where I wanted to go.. This week I’m off to Caribbean, choice of Virgin or BA, Virgin slightly more expensive but have chosen them as has always been a better experience re food & service. BA charge an outrageous amount to reserve a seat and when you’re paying thousands I do not expect that, another reason for choosing a different airline, I’ve changed my seats on Virgin flight 3 times, all were free as it should be. Even if Virgin & BA were on par with my experiences I would still choose Virgin. I’d love to support our National Carrier but not until they up their game and become competitive too.
I’ve already mentioned in my previous postings most of the pertinent points you have made, so would just like to fully endorse all your comments, and to add that BA has little time left to improve their overall product, and continue to ‘hide behind Covid’. As a result we might all be forced to desert to their competitors – sooner rather than later, although it would be such a shame not to redeem all those Avios, companion E tickets, and the various vouchers of which we all now posses so many?????
As someone who has flown throughout the pandemic (rules permitting) it’s frustrating to see the decline of BA. I could write a book about how poor my experience has been with them on occasions just over the last 12 months. Overall, there is no premium feel with BA anymore, no special experience to be felt. It’s just tired!
This isn’t all down to the staff, but there seems to be a malaise over BA where there is no ambition to make a really positive customer experience. I suspect this is down to staff fatigue, both on the ground and in the air.
I flew with KLM to Munich via AMS in business for a social trip at the end of last year and it just felt different. There was a consistency with both the onboard experience, and the lounge experience which was refreshing, something I miss with BA where it is very hit or miss at the moment. I flew with Emirates outbound to Dubai, and inbound with BA. To say the experience of flying business in Emirates is a level above BA would be an understatement.
I still fly with BA 80% of the time, and indeed I am off to the states in a few weeks as well as a regular GLA-LHR every week or two. I love flying with BA, but I hate myself for being so loyal to an airline who makes me feel they couldn’t care less at times.
When we can we travel twice a year to Atlanta we fly either Club or First. This we have been doing for at least the last 10 years. I have a medical condition so must have only gluten free food. This is always noted on my bookings. No choice in what is provided except that it is gluten free. On our last Club flight back from Atlanta in November 2021 breakfast was appalling for me! It is about time that if you order a special meal that some choice should be given especially in premium cabins.
I was once a BA employee back in the 1990s. I was fiercely loyal to BA at the time and for many years afterwards worked up to Gold status pre Covid with travel paid for out of my own pocket and not from business expenses. So it was my choice to fly BA, support the airline and enjoy the benefits of being a Gold Card holder.
Recent years have seen my patience and loyalty to BA severly tested. And recent experiences have just pushed me to the point where I seriously question why I would ever fly with the airline again.
The biggest issue for me is the ‘service’ from the staff. It’s haphazard, inconsistent and erratic. It’s been way too long since I was in a position that I wanted to issue one of those Golden tickets to staff. Too rarely did you actually receive service which actually warranted it.When it’s good it’s very good, however these days this is rare. Just fly with Qatar Airways in economy and even better in business to see how it should be done. Their in flight staff are amazing. Effortless, graceful and personal service that makes flying a delight. Full service food and beverage even through Covid. Ground services which are a delight and lounges in their hub at Doha which are beyond amazing for the wuality and level of service and product.
BA are far away from this level of both offering and service and having just experienced qr yet again on my most recent trip, I’m not really looking forward to my forthcoming trip to Dubai via London in WTP/back Club. Mainly becasue it culd be great and it could be bad or it will more likley ust be indifferent and nothing to truly enjoy and be thrilled by.
I want BA to be amazing again. I’d love it. But it just seems that everything has taken such a battering over recent years that it will be impossible to come back from it and to regain that ‘premium’ label that the airline wants to achieve again. I wish them well, but if I have to spend high to fly them, I’d rather choose a competitor where the value for money is better.
Just back from a week in the canaries. Flew BA club Europe both ways. The club section was 14 rows and full in each direction but both ways there were catering issues. Not enough meals heated up outbound and completely ran out of all meals and drinks glasses by row 10 on the return leg….disgraceful, they knew how many seats they’d sold, it’s not difficult to work out the food needed.
Every time I fly with BA these days I question why but they’ve got me cornered by status and vouchers.
Got a flight to Vancouver booked for the summer, paid a big price and they’ve just changed the plane from new club suites to old club world…really annoyed.
I have read all of the above and would like to offer a counter-balance. I flew BA long-haul yesterday and was taken ill. This was really unpleasant for me and anyone nearby. The BA crew were amazing: efficient but also kind in how they dealt with this. They gave me effective medication and kept checking on me afterwards. This was on top of what felt like a genuinely cheery welcome when we embarked, and meal choices available throughout. I was just a humble Economy passenger, but our party of 4 used the lounge which is the current BA offer at Gatwick North beforehand and it exceeded our expectations – excellent range of food and drink, and the Library was a lovely peaceful area. I work in the media so I speak as a find but I do think that, for all their recent difficulties, you can still trust BA more if you’re in an unexpectedly difficult situation like mine. I’m using 241 Avios to take my brother to Lisbon on CE in June and hoping for a good experience.
Agree with everything you say Michelle (and others). Food awful (although surprisingly nice breakfast coming back from Cape Town last week although had to ask three times for cup of tea and no refill). I have 12 vouchers which have been unable to spend as cant get through on the phone. The chance just before Christmas to allow online changes show that the IT can be used to ease burden on call centre staff for customers who don’t have all the time in the world. Focus on luggage tracking not high priority issue to fix although having priority luggage treated as priority would be nice. Staff increasingly invisible when on board and I do miss my ‘finger of fudge’ or crunchie on trip back from the loo in the middle of the flight.
The mid haul routes operated as Club Europe instead of Club World are unacceptable. Cairo in BA business is a five hour flight in an economy seat with no inflight entertainment and a small meal. Not even a general tv screen showing a map! Choices of food and wine run out before they get to you. The same meal both ways. Crew exhausting serving 60 in club. It’s now better flying Egyptair!
*IF* Sean makes real improvements upto a competitive level and they are reliably delivered for several months I will experiment with them but for now BA remains #BeyondAbysmal and #BestAvoided because they not only deliver sub par product & service but charge a ridiculous premium for it. They days of profiteering from their stranglehold on LHR are firmly over, having tried the alternatives, East, West and even intra Europe.
I think someone needs to tell BA that the Middle Eastern mid haul routes are not in Europe so why are they operating them as short haul European services?
Its all really been said above. More hot air from the latest ceo to take the helm. Just flown to St Lucia in J 2 days ago and food offering was pretty atrocious. Wine was ok but champagne nearly ran out which did not impress my wife. Wine list was non committal as to specific wines – probably whatever Sainsburys are doing at 25% off for 6 bottles or more. Mixed fleet crew were above average for mixed fleet – apart from one surly old woman who clearly wanted to be anywhere but at work!!
BA needs a thorough overhaul in its management – I would suggest outsourcing its leadership and breaking out of IAG with its cranky ideas of “quality”. J us frankly atrocious. Im also disappointed with the Club Suite really…….storage is not adequate on the 777 anyway! Of 13 seats in front of J (all full) only 1 passenger had their door (partially) closed. Waste of time.
Ive just checked flights to BNA in May – £6k for 2 return in Club. Forget it Sean … are you serious??? There are other options and whilst we remain Gold with BA, I have lost patience with their promises of a return to normality. There have been so many bottoms in the ceo seat in recent years that nobody knows the definition of quality any more. Sorry, but BA is a national embarrassment in my eyes and possibly beyond redemption.
When Club Suites came out 3 years ago in 2019, I was amazed that BA thought it acceptable to dribble along with the 20 year old ying/yang design for six years rather than introduce the Suites over 2 years. Clearly they were promoting a new seat that many would not experience depending on their route.
The Covid hiatus, with many planes taken out of service, presented the airline with an unprecedented chance to catch up and speed up the introduction of Club Suites across all the remaining planes. They didn’t take it, they just don’t care enough about a premium service. They are now too far behind the world leaders to catch up. They have wasted their legacy and headstart from Lord King and Colin Marshall.
Spot on when you say ‘While the majority of the food has tasted OK, it reeks of cheapness. There is no element of luxury or “premium” to most of the meals. The menus seem to consist of what I would think of pub grub.’ We flew WTP to Texas last week, main meal was chicken tikka masala with no cheese course. 7 hours later we were served a one slice of bread coronation chicken sandwich and a small kitkat served in an enormous brown paper bag. So hot chicken curry and carbs followed by cold curry and carbs. The tikka was good but how on earth the dreaded coronation chicken survives I’ll never know! For our next trip we had paid extra for a club suite seat, it’s already been downgraded to an old seat..
A fascinating read of comments. Like many I’m very loyal to BA but seriously frustrated with call centre wait times. We are flying ATL LHR today in Club (avios upgrade) and it has taken 4 calls and we still think they might have charged us twice for tax. Our outward was also in club with single plate offering of curry. Ok but nothing more. Service was above recent standards and when my desert choice was unavailable I was offered a choice of F deserts which was a nice touch Bottom line when my hold status goes I’ll be looking at AA and DL for my US flights and buying on price so I doubt I’ll be flying BA as much in future
Wow !! I don’t think I have ever seen so many replies to an article on here !!
# Paying for business class seats when status does not allow or your not a BA member
IMHO there is no need to increase the cost to cover the price, the price of a business class seat is high enough to cover it, just ridiculous to expect people to pay for a seat when your spending 3,4,5,6 or even 7K for a seat.
# Call Centres
C-19 being used as an excuse I’m afraid. This is not happening just at BA though, there are a lot of other companies using the same excuse and swinging the lead
# Food.
Can’t anything about this for long haul but did a business class recently to Madeira and was pleasantly surprised TBH!
# Cost of flights.
Flight prices are just ridiculous when flying “west” right now, especially if you want to start your journey from the UK. My wife and I are due to fly out to SJO in a couple of weeks. Fly from LGW to SJO direct ? over 7K for 2 people. Fly from DUB to LHR, the LGW to SJO ? 2.5K for 2. Seriously, I reckon we have saved around 5K just by spending a few days before hand going to Dublin first.
We booked a BA holiday and the GLA-LGW connecting leg was cancelled 2 weeks before we were due to travel. We were rebooked onto a GLA-LHR which gave us 2 hrs to transfer from LHR to LGW at our own cost. The return leg back to GLA left 2 hrs before the inbound flight into LGW arrived. Trying to get through to BA Holidays by phone is actually totally impossible. Emails were not answered and I only managed to change the flights by getting through on the chat. This took 1 hour to sort, surely an extremely inefficient method.
Our CW flight to MBJ didn’t have any premium gin from the outset (Tanqueray was on the menu card). The meal was sub standard pub grub. Can’t say I’m looking forward to the return leg. Having already had a flight last month to Phuket travelling with Qatar airways, it makes me realise just how far behind BA have become as an airline.
I still haven’t received the double tier points (now 61 days and counting). Emails have not even been acknowledged. The next step is an email to the MD.
BA, get your act together, you’re haemorrhaging premium customer by charging premium prices, and you’re no way near giving a premium service.
Wow! The man needs to study and digest all this criticism! I had to stop reading because there is so much. Obviously frequent fliers with BA loyalty have had a really bad time during the pandemic. Obviously BA have got a lot worse….but bear in mind they have been declining for years especially in their service. F to Mexico City at start of 2020 was £1900 but they did run out of champagne after just a glass each on the return flight because they had under-supplied or the very average crew had given it to themselves and their friends!
Prices now are ridiculous and we have therefore decided not to book anything until the product and price improves, even at the cost of losing gold at the end of the year. It is absolutely clear that they are 9n the skids and so Qatar and others will pick up a lot of business.
Disagree that exclusive table serviceelays but not should stay. Covid excuses no linger wash and some of us like to walk around, choose our own food and serve our own LPGS…oh sorry that has been replaced too.
Disagree that everything should be automated. The gold line service when you get through ( some delays but not too bad compared to the public sector!) has for us been outstanding still.
Total agree on ridiculous prices. Just to be clear I’m not suggesting that everything should be automated instead of the call centre, but for many people they’d rather do stuff online which would free up staff for those that don’t want to or have a complex query.
Just flew back overnight from Nairobi and can honestly say it was one of the worst BA experiences ever. We travelled on a Gold Companion upgrade ticket that is supposed to be a reward for loyalty to the airline. What a joke! At the time of booking we tried to use a voucher for payment but BA had changed the voucher number in its system (no explanation why) and the value of new voucher was incorrect. They told us to wait while this was corrected which took weeks, assured us our boooking was secure, yet when they finally escalated and sorted the issue, we found our booking had gone and to reinstate cost us an additional £360 which despite it being 100% BAs fault they point blank refused to accept any responsibility. Strangely though we received emails a day or so ago alerting us to our return flight on the oringinal booking reference! So kow to the actual flights – outward was OK not what you would call a premium inflight service as this article rightly illustrates, food was acceptable but the one tray approach smacks TV dinner and nothing more. Yes, we did both comment that our non direct flight to Nairobi on Qatar in August when we even flew economy on one leg was infinitely better! So we were not expecting much from last night’s flight but when we were asked whether we wanted the beef or cheese panini for dinner, we knew BA had sunk to rock bottom! There was no menu and I was just shown a scrappy photocopy paper of the panini which when it came was pretty disgusting processed cheese on dry bread with a slice of tomato accompanied by a packet of crisps and some none descript chocolate desert. Breakfast which I didnt hve was chicken omlette or some kind of quiche. I asked for a Jack Daniels and ginger ale – that wasnt available. All this was bad enough but then I tried to get some sleep but the light above my part of the cabin was quite bright. Eventually I went to find a steward to get it turned off to be told he had just written a report about it as it would not switch off! I said i was sensitivento the light and was told to wear the eye mask! What an experience. BA really needs to up its game if it is jot going to lose its loyal customers. I am feeling very let down and disillusioned by this experience today.
Wow. A panini as the dinner. That’s bad.
Like others, I’ve heard fine words from BA before while they have continued to cut and offer a business class product that on long haul is 20+ years out of date and on short haul has been diminished to less than economy was ten years ago. I won’t believe any more words and I’ll continue to fly BA only when I don’t have an alternative until such time as I see changes that make me think they are a better choice for my travels than the airlines I currently use – A3, TK, QR, SQ, NH and AC in the main.
For me it’s all too little too late and I’m bored with BA blaming COVID and it’s effects for a whole raft of shortcomings. Mr Doyle clearly doesn’t have a grasp of just how infuriating listening to prerecorded messages for 10 hours in an attempt to make a booking using a future travel voucher can be. He also clearly doesn’t understand what the food in club world of the last few years is like, I would best describe it as similar to 1990’s package holiday charter flight fare.
Although I have serious doubts about his abiiities to return BA to a true premium service given where he’s starting from, I wish him good luck and will watch with interest from the safety of an alternative airline.
I am looking forward to my first experience flying the new club suite to Sao Paulo in two weeks time on the A350 but I am wondering if the showers in the lounge are open again in the evenings now as last time I flew in October they were closed at 3pm.Reading the comments above slightly concerned that I should be thinking about taking a packed lunch on board haha.
You definitely won’t go hungry from the meals I had though if you think you may want a snack take something with you as the Club Kitchen runs out almost immediately they put it out!
In a nutshell BA have hit the bottom and I will now do anything to avoid flying with them. A national disgrace!
BA really needs to invest in online self service / manage my booking functionality… allow customers to do more things online at a time that best suits them.
Investing more in digital & ensuring it’s an awesome customer experience will reap rewards & improve their Net Promoter Score (NPS).
Also, please remove as many pain points as possible.
It’s a right faff having to call BA Holidays in London during UK hours if you happen to be outside of the UK and need to do something that only their call centre can deal with. ????
It would be awesome if we could message you quickly & easily using Signal or WhatsApp. Living in South East Asia for the last two years, being forced to phone you or use Twitter feels so backwards. Here dealing with government departments, doctors, businesses of all shapes & sizes, you name it – all done using WhatsApp. ????
Something else that needs sorting is bus gates at outstations when airbridges are available. It’s penny pinching and takes the shine off of what might have been a rather pleasant flight with British Airways.
I am cabin crew, A lot of people have told me they like the one tray service in Club World because it keeps the length of the service to a realistic time frame. When full service comes back, look towards 3 hours to complete it because of the number of new people joining, the ridiculous new system of allocating working positions meaning that people will be working in club who haven’t been there in months and slow with the product and the fact we have to hand run everything. What that means for many people is a delay in receiving their meal because others who are closer to the front are already wanting 2nd and 3rd drinks.
There is so much wrong with how we have to deliver the product there is almost nothing right.
Pre departure drinks are not ad hoc, we have been doing them for several months already. If you missed out or didn’t get offered one then it may have been because we are still not flying with a full crew compliment and in a full club cabin I have known times when there are only 2 of us trying to get pre departure service completed against a stream of WTP and WT passing through the cabin. Alternatively it’s possible from an overseas station there was no champagne supplied for the service because in many places customs don’t allow us to open bonded liquor bars until flight.
Tomorrow they are filming a Q&A and telling cabin crew what they’re going to do to make BA a better place to work. I am not expecting anything much. I think Sean Doyle is a decent man but either can’t do anything about ditching certain people in cabin crew management or he still thinks he has a team of people capable of doing the job. When Tom Stevens, in response to a question about Willie Walsh’s comments about IAG splitting BA off from the group (probably out of context) said that Willie had no insider knowledge of BA or IAG which was a ludicrously stupid thing to say of the man who led BA for years and was instrumental in the formation of IAG. The 3 primary leaders of cabin crew department each need to go if this Make BA A Better Place (for customers and crew) stands a hope.
Thanks Millie for the perspective. I agree about service times and I don’t get BA’s obsession with hand running things. Personally I don’t care if it comes on a trolley or the back of a donkey as long I don’t wait for ages. Virgin still use trolleys and in no way does it detract from the service. BA need to go back to using trolleys if they are going make the multi course service work again. I also agree that Sean Doyle is decent. He did some good stuff at Aer Lingus and I had high hopes for him, but sadly little seems to have changed.
Mille, As an Inflight Manager I totally agree with you with regard to onboard working position allocation. The decision to allocate positions in rotating groups and not experience has been commercial suicide. I’ve now got super experienced crew that want to work in Club/First and are now in Traveller and inexperienced crew working in the premium cabins. It’s just not working but the company won’t listen .
Hi Michele. Also cabin crew, you are attracting a following. Perhaps if your followers value the comments as they do the articles we might be able to get the message over that what THEY want is mostly doable but is not what IFCE (cabin crew) management and the product and delivery people THINK they need and want.
More articles in front line places like popular travel blogs and sites have a way better chance of driving change than anything Mille or Steven or I could not make clearer to management.
A host of former Inflight Business Managers escaped hire and fire by being reinvented as “excellence managers” – people who are more concerned with fluff and how we plate up a roast dinner in first class than they are listening to what we have to say about the basics. Almost everyone on the ground with a manager or leader label in their job title has a position to defend and they won’t budge on even the plainest facts cabin crew can feed back.
What we want and what you (passengers) want both have elements of fantasy about them that just won’t happen but there is a lot of common ground and jiggling some of the formats is really all it takes but IFCE can’t see that. The moment Mille, Steven, myself and thousands of others are actually free to interact and offer a modern aerodynamic (pardon the pun) without looking like a circus contortionist then something is wrong. Please speak up loud and clear.
Oddly I didn’t get an email and I have been a loyal client for 30 years
Have an e voucher and trying to use. As I used Avios it’s not a new booking and having waited 60 mins they couldn’t transfer me to right area. Trying a different option they are too busy to take the call – not even an option to hold. Complete shambles of an organisation. Not rocket science to sort out a call centre.
That’s not good. Id try Twitter. They’ll take a while but they do get back to you eventually
Just got back from Switzerland. Arrived at Terminal 5 but nobody could be bothered to put our luggage on the carousel. I have an Itag on my case and could see it was just the other side of the wall about 10 feet from me. BA staff just couldn’t be bothered and couldn’t have been less helpful if they tried. Crying children with their toys in the cases. Mums needing stuff for their babies. One poor family had 7 pieces of luggage. Thankfully we gave them a paper claim to get our case back, even though they said we didn’t need to. Staff advised everyone to do it online. Guess what! The online service isn’t working. Nobody answering the phones, as usual. Will we get our case back? Who knows. Mr Doyle you and your company are an effing joke. National carrier! Bloody National joke and National embarrassment. BA, hang your head in shame.
Sadly I’ve heard lots of similar stories this weekend. I think the combination of the storms with the very busy half term weekend has caused a major breakdown with luggage and stands at T5.
Seems to me BA are light years away from matching the service and quality of their competitors . Arrived in Vancouver on Saturday 1 day and 3 hours late .on arrival told passengers luggage had not been loaded . 5 days later and endless chats on line and telephone no one can tell me where my luggage is and quite frankly they don’t give a damn . BA have totally ruined my trip , lesson learned .
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