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Does HfP have an ‘anti-BA’ bias?

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I received a private message via Flyertalk yesterday from a British Airways employee who said, to paraphrase, that he was fed up with the anti-BA bias that he felt runs through the site.

In my experience most BA employees are not hugely enamoured by everything done by their employer, so I wouldn’t want to dismiss his complaint on that basis.  In some ways, I am tempted to take it more seriously!

What pushed him over the edge was this line in my review of the Eurostar lounge at St Pancras yesterday:

British Airways BA A350 in flight

“There is also no shortage of reading material, which always wins brownie points with me, [and] which makes the weak British Airways Galleries selection look pitiful.”

Ironically, I received this message whilst sitting in a two hour meeting with a senior IAG employee who at no time expressed any issues with my content.

My response was this:

I need to use a common frame of reference for comparison purposes in reviews.  The logical comparison point is with British Airways because that is an airline that most HfP readers fly.  If I had compared the Eurostar magazine selection to the typical Singapore Airlines lounge magazine selection, it wouldn’t have meant much to 95% of the readers.

(I could, I admit, have pointed out that the breakfast on offer in the Eurostar lounge is far worse than the breakfast offered by British Airways – and I didn’t.  Magazines in lounges are a personal bug-bear of mine, however, as long-term readers will know.)

It makes no sense for me to run down British Airways.   Avios, and the fact that you can use Avios to redeem for aspirational flying experiences, is a key driver of this site.  If I was permanently criticising BA it would not be great for business.

I don’t think there is a single frequent flyer in the country who genuinely believes that British Airways is offering the market leading product compared to Qatar, Etihad, Emirates etc.  Even American Airlines, unbelievably (given its history), is now offering a business class product on most London flights which beats the BA seat on most criteria.  I would lose all of my credibility if my writing implied that BA could do no wrong.

I have 13 BA flights in my diary between now and mid-September …..

It is also true, to be honest, that criticism is easier to write, and more interesting to read, than praise.  However, for the record, here are a few things I honestly believe even though the general opinion out there is often the opposite:

Heathrow Terminal 5 is a fantastic facility

British Airways afternoon tea in Club Europe is OK and I’m not sure what would be a better option

The British Airways lounges at Heathrow are generally very good and are worth spending time in

The Club World cabin – irrespective of how you find the seats – on the new 787 aircraft is a very classy piece of work

The Avios booking system at ba.com is, in terms of ease of use and the number of partner airlines which can  be booked with it, almost best in class

Reward Flight Saver – and the BA short haul reward pricing structure in general – is a good idea and puts other frequent flyer programmes short haul pricing to shame

The guaranteed ‘4 + 2’ reward availability for Avios seats on BA is a genuine improvement (although 4 + 4 would be even better)

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express ‘2 for 1’ voucher is the most attractive credit card reward in the UK

I obviously need to have a lie down now after such a rare burst of BA enthusiasm 🙂

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (177)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • James Ward says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:42

    What nonsense! You’re more than fair to BA, given their – IMO – lacklustre on-board hard product and mediocre lounges (compared to all those carriers you mentioned plus Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia.

    Even if you were biased – so what? You’re entitled to take any editorial stance you like. It’s your blog.

  • Alex W says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:45

    I agree BA has a lot to offer, and I’m relatively happy with the BA lounges at LHR. I have little interest in what reading material is available!

    The one thing that gets my goat about BA is the redemption “fees” and general pricing. How can the same flights be £1000 cheaper if you add on a connection via Dublin etc, compared to flying directly to your destination from Heathrow?

    • Genghis says:
      9 Jun9 June 07:57

      Basic economics – supply and demand

      • DublinFlyer says:
        9 Jun9 June 10:00

        Ehh or maybe it has something to do with Aer Lingus including Fuel Surcharges in there fares!

  • Keith says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:47

    When will BA wake up and find that they are no longer ‘the world’s favourite airline’. I am a Gold For Life passenger thus my experience with flying BA is significant. However (and not status match) I’ve been a Gold Card holder of a number of other carriers due to my travel schedule with BA probably accounting for 40% of my flights. A very good friend of mine is a senior BA employee responsible for the development of cabin crew. He spends around 10 days a month flying BA in CW auditing his staff (but they know he is there) and then spending 2-3 nights in some 5 star hotel and interviews the CSD over dinner before flying home. He is then forced’ to take 24 hours off before he can return to the office. His life is one holiday.
    He only EVER flies BA (his 2 first class free flights and the heavily subsidised yet guaranteed a Club seat over and above paying passengers) and we’ve almost come to blows at times because he has no idea of just how the other carriers operate. Therefore he has nothing to compare his staff against apart from his own staff.
    This example I believe in indicative of how BA operate. They think they are the best and everything they do is better than anyone else.
    Do I think that HFP has a biased approach against BA? No, Rob is just reporting the issues as he sees them based upon experiences with many other airlines.

    • Genghis says:
      9 Jun9 June 07:59

      If your friend ever decides to leave BA, give me a heads up. Sounds like a right jolly of a job.

  • Hugo says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:51

    Have been readin HFP for 2 years since I decided it would be fun to get some avios for holidays with my girlfriend, and there’s 3 things I can definitely say:

    1) I have accumulated over 320k avios without flying longhaul business for work or breaking into Silver
    2) I have flown BA more than I would have done without HfP
    3) Raffles’ commentary has always been insightful and useful, and has always presented the pros and cons

    All three are directly or indirectly a contribution to BA’s bottom line and constructive for BA’s image.

    Wouldn’t be surprised if Raffles was secretly employed by BA come to think of it!

    • LondonFoodie says:
      9 Jun9 June 09:46

      +1 on Hugo. Raffles is directly responsible for my (and I think Hugo’s?) honeymoons being as amazing as they were.
      I also have to say that our experience flying F has been a mixed one. It really depends on the crew and how busy the cabin is.
      We had the most amazing flight to start our honeymoon in HKG in a half empty cabin where the crew arranged a nearby seat as a table for dinner for two! it was like flying PJ!
      But then on the way back from NRT in F had only a mediocre experience, with a full cabin and crew that didn’t really seem to care.

      But then once I tried the Virgin lounge… hard to go back!

  • Andrew Stock says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:54

    Rob is only telling the hard facts. Constant cost cutting, reduction in food on short haul, reduction in leg room in CE, the complete mess that is the lounge situation at LGW, hand luggage fares.

  • Mark says:
    9 Jun9 June 07:54

    The sad thing is when United roll out their new business class seat at the end of 2016 even that will be better than BA!!!

  • James67 says:
    9 Jun9 June 08:00

    Simply unbelievable! If anything I would say that on the whole HFP is comfortably proBA-biased, often over-generous, and probably some of the best free advertising BA gets. Sure, this employee may not like some of the points you make, or don’t, and almost certainly they despise some of the comments we readers make. However, had BA any sense at all then they would be listening to them very carefully because we are very likely their most valuable source of information on their products and performance from a customer perspective. I believe HFP does them far more good than harm. Most of the criticism that comes their way is justified, they should act on it if they are wise and it is of concern to them.

  • Anon says:
    9 Jun9 June 08:04

    Rob, you report the facts with your viewpoint and analysis, as much as we respect you we don’t have to take is as gospel.

    As you’ve listed the positives (most of which I value) with lets us HFP readers list the negatives. Here’s my top three for a kick off… (ps BA should be grateful for this feedback from a customer focus group)

    Removal of free connecting flights from the regions for a European destination (2014 I think)

    Removal of ABZ-LGW route (2012 I think – yes it still hurts)

    Having to pay to select your seat in CW, (Virgin Upper allows you too do this for free months ahead of the flight.)

    • Lady London says:
      9 Jun9 June 08:55

      Corporate customers of BA that I’ve worked for have always had immediate seat selection as soon as the ticket was booked regardless of the individual’s status in Club.

      You’d be surprised what BA will do for its corporate customers that it will deny and penny pinch on for individual flyers.

      • Lady London says:
        9 Jun9 June 09:01

        PS to clarify, that’s immediate FREE OF CHARGE seat selection immediately in Club, for every BA corporate I’ve worked for, for all the corporate’s travellers, regardless of the travelling individual’s status.

    • Scallder says:
      9 Jun9 June 09:04

      Virginia allows free seat selection in Upper Class AND Premium Economy!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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