Reply With QuoteI think most of us who used to fly with them all the time on business have written them off now - on a par with United IMHO. Sad.
I haven’t flown with BA for several years. But in the past (10 or so years back) it was my airline of choice.
Early next year I’m flying back from Rio De Janeiro to Heathrow with my wife, and as a treat we’re flying Business Class.
It seems that, to ensure I can sit next to my wife, I need to pay BA for the privilege of reserving the seats, some £75 per seat! On top of an already expensive business class seat!
Is this normal now? I’ve flown QUANTAS and Emirates over the last years and this has never cropped up, it is normal I know on EasyJet and Jet2 and so on, and I can understand that. No frills airlines, this is what I would expect.
But (in the past) the World’s favourite Airline, Business class? Really? Is it me? Am I behind the times?
Cheers all
I think most of us who used to fly with them all the time on business have written them off now - on a par with United IMHO. Sad.
BA = Bloody Awful
My friend is a short haul pilot for BA. I can tell you that the staff are doing their best with what they have..
I avoid them wherever I can. I really do not like their business class layout where you end up facing the person in the seat next to you.
They've never been the same since Concorde.
It sucks. If you have Silver or above "status" you can reserve your seat assignments in advance. If not, even in business, you have to pay or wait until 24 hours before the flight. As you know, other airlines let you choose your seats anytime during or after booking, regardless of status or class of fare.
That's only the beginning of the pain with BA. Once onboard, you will be treated to the worst business class product of any major airline. 8 across in a 777, even in business class. Air Canada is 4 across, same aircraft. You'll be fortunate if the IFE works, or the seat clean, the blanket unstained or if they even have enough food for everyone. On one recent flight, they ran out of water. The flustered flight attendant offered me her half-drunk bottle. This is business class. The new CEO is determined to downgrade this even further. A recent presentation to investors boasted about increasing the number of passengers per cabin with even more crammed in. Also extending their already ageing, malodorous and threadbare 777 fleets to a 30-year service life.
You'll get good pilots with BA, and all the crew do their best, but the penny pinching is everywhere.
Took this picture while waiting for a long haul flight out of T5 this year. The pilot was struggling to start the 'plane (really - he told us when we finally boarded the newish 787 that it had been "completely shut down, and it was proving hard to reboot").
Customer Service. (Not) Here to Help:
Last edited by Tokyo Tokei; 3rd November 2017 at 11:59. Reason: service joy
BA have been shit for years. Flight back from the USA ten (!) years ago on BA; knackered screen in the seat for my wife. Answer? "nothing we can do".
No offer of a better meal, nothing. Just a shrug.
I actively avoid them.
I bet this is the case, same in most firms right now.Originally Posted by RustyRoses
So, management to blame. Still shit though :)
They've always been OK and their staff are better than many others, but they drove a nail into their coffin for me when I had to pay for a coffee on a flight to Athens (4+ hours).
Come on BA, that's NOT short haul...
A free tea or coffee isn't too much to ask from a supposedly quality airline...
M.
Yep there's been a steady erosion of benefits and steady decline in service. I used to fly long haul with BA in Business once or twice a month so you become familiar with the service routine. The crew nowadays are what make or break a flight for me, some are very fed up as they too have seen the constant cuts, from an airline they used to be proud to work for to little better than a low cost carrier in some respects.
We have flown a fair few sectors with BA this year (about 15) mostly in Business. I actually lodged a complaint against crew from a flight from Cali home as it was so bad.
The good news is that you will have a flat bed, and better food than in Economy. The even better news is that the GIG route is nowadays served by a new 787 Dreamliner. If the seat map shows 2-3-2 and code 787 this is the case. Better cabin pressure and newer in flight entertainment. We flew this cabin to Santiago a few weeks ago (BA's longest flight) and it was noticeably better than the 777/747.
The other good news is that all seats in Club are much of a muchness. If you are on the same booking reference then theoretical seating should plonk you next to each other.
If you do choose seats, there is a mini-cabin of 2 rows, but I always prefer being upfront as it's further from the Premium Economy baby cots and you get fed quicker! We always prefer the window pairs, but are quite agile so don't mind clambering over somebody. On the way back from Santiago we were across the aisle from each there, it's not as easy to talk, but is best to avoid the Club World Climb.
And yes paying to select seats in Business is robbery! We now fly Qatar Airways a lot, it's hands down as good if not better than First on BA.
I would completely agree with all of the negative comments about BA. Paying a big premium for business class tickets and the you have to pay extra to choose your seats or leave it to the lottery of what's left the day before... that's a disgrace.
BA are penny pinching themselves in complete disaster.
To me the only redeeming bit of the BA experience has been the staff, as mentioned before I always feel like they are doing the best they can with what they have.
Reading all the comments here and elsewhere, one would think that BA shareholders would want a better CEO who wasn't intent on running the business into the ground.
Is this yet another example of short term thinking and profit taking overriding longer term economic sustainability and good sense (in both the airline and shareholders)? Is it driven by bonuses or just lack of ability to think in the longer term?
If you look at Alex Cruz track record, he is a cost cutter and Willie Walsh's new hatchet man. It's the BA Capital Markets day today, and they've announced another £200m investment for Business Class. But look at the competition; the amazing Q Suite from Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines new Business and First also unveiled this week.
BA has the lions share of transatlantic landing slots and legacy corporate contracts so is still heavily relying on this, plus any shred of brand dignity/ loyalty it still has, which is dwindling fast at all levels. For us we will fly with them Westbound because T5 is a great terminal, and it's easy (with our travel patterns) to maintain Gold status and earn/ burn avios points.
You can read the 2016 Investor Presentation here (118 page PDF)
Skip to p.17 on for the cost cutting/pension capping/cabin-filling/seat-increasing/cost-lowering/plane life-extending joy. Then rejoice, the next time you find yourself paying extra to choose your dismal, tired, broken, narrow seat on a £3500 business class ticket that BA will soon have lower cost per seat than a Norwegian 787 (see p.20) and that further "densification" is planned for 2018.
I fly to Hong Kong fairly regurlarly for work
I choose Cathay Pacific over BA every time;
- A Business Class ticket is always £1000-1500 cheaper with CP
- The layout of the Business Class cabin is much, much better than BA's - I really don't like BA's face to face arrangement
- I find the bed much more comfortable
- Even the lounges at Heathrow T3 and Hong Kong are nicer
- I still get Avios (though not as many if I flew BA)
All in all, Cathay is a much more pleasant experience - the only downside is that the selection of English language films is less than on BA - but then I always take night flights and plan on spending most of it asleep
I've been persuading my colleageues they should try Cathay, so far all who have done, are converts
I would say both.
I used to fly BA short haul 3 or 4 times a week but with cost cutting, customer service short termism, changes is crew route allocations and airport security delays I just don't. I changed tack business wise and have never looked back.
B
Last edited by Brian; 3rd November 2017 at 12:47.
I agree, far better than BA, especially the seating with direct aisle access. Lovely crews too. We spent a long time chatting to the crew when we were flying back to Dubai for New Year from Hong Kong. Gave them lots of tips of where to party, they looked after us very well too!
All of the airlines are going through similar cost cutting exercises, some are further down the track than others.
I have never flown business class with BA as I don't like the seating layout. I fly transatlantic with Virgin Upper Class reasonably frequently which is fine on the new planes, some of the older ones are getting a bit tired though. Its a bit mean to charge £15 extra each way for onboard wifi on a £3.5k ticket too but at least seat selection is still free.
Can't believe BA charge for booking seats in Business....have already used Virgin Upper to Hong Kong a few times and will again in 3 weeks.....pretty good "sale" price compared to other direct carriers. Certainly would consider Cathay having used them in China...but wouldn't consider BA looking at seat layout, charges (on principle)... etc.
Virgin Upper Class on Dreamliners (LHR to Hong Kong) suits us fine....no seat booking fees & exclusive drive-in/check-in entrance to lounge is excellent.
The on board bar area and tarts boudoir lighting is cool ...and there's only 3 rows of seats/beds, personally find the left side seats best as they don't look directly at anyone or their feet !
No complaints from me.
I fly trans atlantic 4 or 5 times a year and will only use Virgin now. BA's service is appauling
Always try and avoid them if at all possible (difficult on some routes i know) their service has been going downhill for years.
Honestly EasyJet generally puts them to shame for service and price!
I find them as 'ordinary' as any other these days. I use them to the U.S. as it's the only direct flight.
That said, I'm not a fussy traveller and want on-time, take off and land at the best price!
I've never met anyone who has paid the fee to reserve seats, nor anyone else who hasn't been sat together (if booked together!). I assume it's a catch for business travellers who book separately and want to travel together?
It's just another revenue stream - you'd be absolutely amazed at the numbers of people that pay to reserve seats.
I'm a long-time sufferer of BA having held a gold card for a number of years now thanks to lots of long haul travel for work. I guess not having to pay to reserve a seat works as a perk (of sorts) for regular travellers. Frankly I've never been fussed about exactly where I sit, as long as I'm not in those cursed middle business class seats next to a complete stranger.
As to the broader point, BA has been in a steady decline for years now. The food is regularly awful, and then planes are often very dirty indeed (next time you get a hot towel wipe it over any surface and you'll see what I mean). But I suppose they have always got me to where I've needed to be without major incident. I presume long term the Qatars and Emirates of this world will continue to innovate while BA slowly declines. Meh.
I try and avoid BA if possible but as I always fly from Gatwick to the US (it's twenty minutes from home) I only have the choice of BA, Virgin or Delta.
Last time I looked Virgin were still flying 747's!
However Virgin's stewardesses are usually more attentive and better looking whereas the last BA lot that "served" me looked like they were just about to draw their pensions and couldn't really care less.
Not enough food either!
Cheers,
Neil.
Nowt wrong with a 747! Best flight I ever had was in Upper Class on a VA 747!
M
BA have the largest fleet of 747s of any airline. Best plane in the sky
I used to always try and get the upper class seat right in the nose of the 747 as it was very quiet and no one walking past.
Yes and you get a near panoramic view through all the windows.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
We recently flew to the Canaries BA club Europe both members of BA “ executive club” SWMBO did not fancy either of the mains and asked for a cheese sandwich that will be £3.00 OK not a big deal financially but there is a penny pinching feel about the company so next trip to the Canaries is booked with Jet 2 quite frankly BA if i want budget i will pay budget.
I thought it was amusing when BA made a big song and dance about the arrival of their first A380 a few years back. I think they have 10 or so now (a mates wife works on board them).
Emirates are taking delivery of their 100th this month.
Says it all really.
I use them 2/3 times a year only because the other choices are even worse. Oh and if anyone from BA reading this you can shove your egg goo sandwich in the proverbial, tight gits.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
I paid for 4 exit seats 6 months ahead of flying. They changed the plane configuration and cancelled my seats without notifying me. Literally found out when I went to print off my tickets and found I had no seats allocated.
The best bit is 3 months on I still haven't been refunded the seat fees I paid - just an acknowledgement of my claim saying it has been passed to refunds to see if I MAY qualify for a refund.
Try to call and all you get is recorded message saying because of the backlog they can't speak to you.
Start threatening them with Small Claims - they may take notice.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
Same thing happened to me except I didn't realise until I was on the aircraft as I still had the same seat...just my seat isn't an exit row on the 787! I've not bothered chasing the refund, they may have done it but it's more hassle that it's worth. Once my avoid are gone I'll vote with my feet and fly with other carriers. I expect better service to be honest!
As an aside any recommendations for a airmiles credit card as I won't be bothering with my BA Amex any more!
I have managed to avoid them for the last 4 years-I don't travel for business so that makes it easier. In the next few months, I have two return trips however, one as it is a charter as part of a package trip so no choice there. The second is because I could use their recently departed policy of club baggage allowance both ways if you fly club one way. Now that they have scrapped this there is yet another reason to avoid them!
Not so sure that they’re going downhill; my experience has been that they went downhill several years ago.
Every other airline that I’ve flown with in recent months, such as Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, ANA have all been far superior to what I last remember BA service to be like.
I was a loyal BA customer back in the day when I used to travel a lot for business. These days, however, they're just another budget carrier IMO. I'd just as soon go EasyJet - at least they're up front about it.
Cheers,
Plug
I usually fly BA to San Diego a few times a year, choosing BA as it is the only direct option to SAN from LHR (Or any other EU airport!).
I am currently in San Diego, having travelled out on Tuesday.
This was an interesting, eye opening experience.
The ancient 767 that was supposed to take me from EDI to LHR went technical at LHR on the incoming leg - 3 hour+ delay.
I was lucky to get the last seat on the next EDI-LHR flight, but too late to make my connection to SAN. BA re-routed me through Seattle, with the last leg being from Seattle to SAN by Alaska Airlines.
Guess which leg was on the most comfortable, newest, cleanest plane with the best crew?
Have to say the food has improved significantly over the last couple of weeks, I think they've taken on a new supplier and I was mightily impressed on a return flight to NY a couple of weeks back. I'd say it was the best I've ever had on a flight.
The only airline to lose my luggage three times. In fact, the only airline to lose my luggage at all. The worlds favourite airline? my arse!
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
I notice there penny pinching when they started to withdraw the small bar of chocolate with your meal (economy trips to Athens) and then tomato sauce sachet at breakfast on trips to and from Hong Kong.
I flew on their A380 I think 3 years ago in economy and I'm pretty sure BA instructed Airbus to make the armrest not go all the way up so you cannot lie across the seats unless you are a child or a size zero model, possible a ploy to get you to buy a World Traveller Plus ticket next time.
On my last flight with BA I flew Business class/Club World, I didn't realize the flat bed was only a flat bed when used with the foot rest which my elderly mother had to climb over the next passenger legs as she didn't want to wake them up when going to the toilet in middle of the night!
The only good thing about BA is departing from T5, check in and security is fast and easy, well it should be seeing as no other airline operates out of it!
Not surprised to see all the comments about how poor BA are these days but really surprised to see a couple praising T5.
I suppose its Heathrow in general rather than T5 specifically but I have flown through there 20+ times in the last 12 months and still have not had a flight depart on time. Awful place.
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That's a route into Colombia I wasn't aware of
I wouldn't use BA even if they did fly here. Whilst not perfect, Avianca is still streets ahead.
T5 is really just the best of a bad bunch in Heathrow, especially compared to likes of Singapore and Hong Hong international airport.
Told the wife away to Rome with BA business once, and it was literally just a piece of fabric between economy and business class. Only difference was leather seats in business but it was still 3 to a row! On the return leg the business lounge wasn’t even available ( closed for refurb)
Complained when we got back given the huge price difference but surprise surprise nothing was ever forthcoming from them. Never again will we fly BA.
T5 I like. Never had any problems.
I fly back and forth from Mumbai many times a year. I would normally use Jet or Air India over BA. They are also pretty bad but nowhere near the horror of BA economy.
I occasionally use Etihad via Abu Dhabi and the A380 economy is better than premium economy on BA if you can take to 3hour stopover.
One of the last times on BA they had no nibbles with the first drinks service in economy. I asked for some nuts or pretzels with my beer and they told me they could only sell me pringles . The flight attendant was so embarrassed he actually came back 20mins later and gave me a bag of nuts from business saying he agreed it was a pathetic measure from management.
When I fly business I don’t mind BA as the food and booze is usually pretty good in business. One of the best flights I had was BA business on an ancient 747 from Mumbai. Unusual to have that plane operating on that route but even though it was a bit tatty it was rock solid and felt great up on the top deck.
I have now relocated to Glasgow from London when I’m in the UK. So its easier to use BA and just transit through T5 to the Glasgow flight without reclaiming baggage and clearing security again. Otherwise I avoid BA like the plague.
BA's business class configuration isn't great and it's a shame that they a380 is the same poor layout.
However, for me they have the best direct routes and timings. I use them regularly for trips to India, Argentina and the US.
The service is always fine.
Emirates and Etihad have swanky planes but the stop over is a killer.
The biggest problem for me was the downgrade in the points scheme and the price. You have to pay a big premium for those routes.
Can anyone please make a recommendation for a GOOD shorthaul carrier for Europe.
I don't mind paying more as long as I get the service.
B
Netjets.
We flew business class with Etihad in September and then business class with BA last month; can't tell you the difference in service and cabin!
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