British Airways announces its in-flight service cuts for August ….

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• JD says:

  23 Jul23 July 07:46

  British Airways sucks. I only use them for Avios flights europe now and that’s under sufferance!! I fly to Istanbul for £35 to then transfer to a much cheaper long haul flight with far superior service. Eg.. Christmas flights LHR/Mumbai £830 return or LHR/IST/Mumbai £413 + 35avios fare return It’s a NO brainer !! Another fare example is £35 avios flight plus IST/UAE for well under £250 rtn compared to double that on a decent airline direct LHR/UAE Massive savings to be made when there’s a few travelling.

  • Genghis says:

    23 Jul23 July 08:15

    Have you included the value of the 20k avios return to / from IST in this analysis? If not, add in a price for the inconvenience and I don’t think it’s necessarily a no brainier.

• Cheshire Pete says:

  23 Jul23 July 07:48

  Don’t BA have a ‘Panel’ of chosen travellers who meet every month to give feedback to senior managers? I’m just curious if this panel is simply ignored or are they so happy with the continued downscaling of service, they all vote it is just brilliant.

• Frankie says:

  23 Jul23 July 08:04

  Only a salad starter in CW is bad. I look forward to my yearly serving of Scottish salmon 🙁

• Myer Bennett says:

  23 Jul23 July 08:09

  As a Gold Executive club member,I am now seriously considering boycotting BA, there arrogance and lack of customer service has now hit new levels. The appointment of Alex Cruz, as CEO the Spanish gentleman formerly in charge of Vueling, speaks volumes. Firstly the Spanish are not known for customer service, no offence meant, my wife is Spanish and she is the first to complain about the lack of care shown to customers in Spain, its a cultural thing!

  Last week I sent an email to Sr. Cruz, in the vain hope that he might, just might respond, here it goes:

  I am writing to advise you of my recent dissatisfaction with British Airways. I have been a loyal customer for some time but recently due to several poor experiences and the lack of interest shown by your customer service department in respect of issues raised.I have for the most part taken my business elsewhere.

  Yesterday I flew from AGP to LCY, in business class, the cabin temperature was around 16 degrees Celsius, so I asked the senior flight attendant if he could increase the temperature. He replied by telling me the thermostat was broken and therefore no adjustment was possible. After telling him that it was not acceptable to endure such a low temperature for two and a half hours, he reluctantly told me that he could offer me a “used blanket”!

  I am contacting you in the hope that as the new CEO, you might be interested in what is occurring from the passengers point of view. Should you wish to discuss matters further I am available on ………..

  Needless to say, no reply!

  • xcalx says:

    23 Jul23 July 09:12

    “Firstly the Spanish are not known for customer service,”

    Really? I have only had one cause for complaint that led me to fill in a complaint form. Regarding poor cabin service and food on a business flight from LAX-MAD. Within 24 hours I had a call from Iberia customer service Apologising for the issues we encountered and the offer of 21,250 Avios each which were in our accounts within another 24 hours.

    We have used Avios to fly Iberia Business MAD-MIA-MAD a few times a year for the last 4 years without any issues.

    • Myer Bennett says:

      23 Jul23 July 09:58

      Believe me you were very lucky, Iberia rarely respond to any communication be it email or signed for mail.

      I frequently fly out of Barajas T4 to South America and I have to say mostly satisfied with the service I receive. The flight attendants are helpful and unlike BA offer to help passengers put there cases in the overhead lockers. (A young male BA attendant to an elderly lady last Thursday, LGW-AGP sorry we are not allowed to lift bags, Health & Safety!)

      My comments regarding Spanish Customer service, relates to the senior managers not the crew, whom as I have mentioned are helpful not to mention that the females are lot better looking than their BA counterparts, that why I married one!

      • xcalx says:

        23 Jul23 July 11:13

        We must have been very lucky because after receiving the first call we then received a second call from another CS person within 2 hours of the first call. I had filled out the complaint form which can be found online and contains all your IB details. It wasn’t even a strongly worded complaint either just noting the lacklustre attitude to service from the cabin crew and the overheated dinner and breakfast offerings which were both so overcooked they were inedible.

        To be honest I was very surprised at receiving a call and the amount of Avios handed out.

    • Peter K says:

      23 Jul23 July 10:25

      Wow. You were lucky. I still have 3k avios from a car hire 2 years ago not credited. The IB customer services could not care less!

  • Michael says:

    23 Jul23 July 11:06

    Your mistake was to write in about that flight… LCY short haul flights are operated by CityFlyer, and while this is an owned subsidiary it manages its own affairs entirely, with little or no input from Mr Cruz. Far better to write to Adam Carson, MD CityFlyer. Mr Cruz is far more likely to care if you fancy writing in about an actual BA flight.

• krys_k says:

  23 Jul23 July 08:12

  What a first world problem. Assuming most people travel club, the race to the bottom and an increased “hatred” for many posters consists of more ambient, less fresh items in Club Kitchen, no choice of starter (trial) and removal of ice cream. You’d make Marianne Antoinette proud.

  • Stressed says:

    23 Jul23 July 08:39

    First World Problem = Let’s Be Complacent – Let’s become utilitarian.

    • Alex W says:

      24 Jul24 July 01:35

      “Assuming most people travel club” – surely a flawed assumption as there are many more seats in WT?

  • Ross says:

    23 Jul23 July 08:41

    A first world problem is having so much surplus leisure that you need to fill it by browsing frequent flyer sites for people who like flying in premium cabins and complaining when they talk about flying in premium cabins. If it’s virtue signalling you seek, buy an Oxfam t-shirt.

  • Rob says:

    23 Jul23 July 09:27

    First world problems are what we cover here!

• Tony says:

  23 Jul23 July 08:13

  In Response to Cheshire Pete
  BA have a market research website (now called Future Lab). I used to be active on it (for several years) and have been invited to workshops at Heathrow. Much of the feedback on the web site relates to issues/concerns that we have all raised concerning BA, but management are obviously not interested (and you ask why they even set up this forum and raised expectations?). I am still a member but very rarely contribute as I feel that I am wasting my time. I suspect the site is now populated by people telling BA what they want to hear… I have been using BA less in recent years (and more of Emirates) because the BA service/whole package is no longer competitive. I still use BA because of Avios but as the service declines I am getting to the stage where I am not sure I want to use BA. It is all about the brand, and if BA want to compete at the bottom end of the market, it is not an airline for me. Customers paying premium prices expect a premium product…

  • James says:

    23 Jul23 July 08:44

    No choice of starter in business is ridiculous for a ‘premium’ product. There’s plenty of folk who don’t like one or other foodstuffs. I hate avacado

  • Alan says:

    23 Jul23 July 08:48

    Also doesn’t help them look at the wider picture if all their meetings are in the South East!

    • Tony says:

      23 Jul23 July 09:28

      Interesting you should say that… Living in the north west I feel completely alienated as a BA customer, but that is for another day…
      Relating to the workshops, expenses were reimbursed for the one I attended (this was a few years ago). I was invited to another more recently and no expenses reimbursed i.e. make your own travel arrangements… London’s favourite airline

  • Cheshire Pete says:

    23 Jul23 July 08:51

    Thanks for the clarification. I’ve just cancelled my BA Premium Amex card and downgraded to the Free one. I have 2 vouchers still unused due to lack of finding 2 avios seats, so didn’t see the point in paying extra to generate a 3rd. But like you its all part of my debranding myself from BA. I had to call Amex to cancel my product and they obviously asked why and I told them most clearly I simply don’t regard them as a Premium brand anymore to be associated with Amex, for instance. If BA came even close to the customer service Amex provide then it would be a dream come true.

    • Cheshire Pete says:

      23 Jul23 July 08:59

      Just to say as an example. Last year BA cancelled one if my avios flights and I didn’t want the alternative so I was entitled to a full refund. I got all my avios back but BA only credited the Tax I paid minus a booking fee which was incorrect, as they cancelled my flight! I got the usual run around with BA customer service but never got my £70 back, so I complained to Amex and within a day they credited me £100 and apologised on behalf of BA. Now that is CS, and I know for a fact Amex credited me that and BA got away with it.

      • Ross says:

        23 Jul23 July 09:09

        Unfortunately, this mistake is better than my recent experience. Booked Avios flight to Tokyo in F (x2 with 241); flight was cancelled. Took three months and threat of legal action to get the £1k taxes back. In the end I think it was only pressure from AmEx that changed their minds. Disgraceful.

        • Mark Priest says:

          23 Jul23 July 11:18

          Again, BA are legally bound to refund in 28 days, same as any other company in the UK.

          They and most recently Royal Caribbean have received letters from my solicitors.

        • John says:

          23 Jul23 July 11:34

          Don’t waste time and money on lawyers. DIY online small claims gets the same result and a lot faster.

• Eastland says:

  23 Jul23 July 08:39

  BA has a place… BA first (we’ve never even flow club) is still excellent value using the 2-4-1. This is still what drives our points collecting.
  Most now comes from referrals for the gold card so after we’ve finished collecting for Hilton Maldives, we’ll be piling it into a diff airline I think.

  • Yuff says:

    23 Jul23 July 10:01

    I would agree that BA F, with a 241 is still great value.
    However I tried to get as close to MLE, using 241’s recently and it was virtually impossible to get a connecting flight from SIN, Indian airport or ME for less than £500( in economy)
    Eventually flew Qatar from Oslo for £730, each, in J on 787 and an A320 I think. I used the 241’s to Oslo, in CE, as they were about to expire. My 8 year old daughter got on the flight and said “I’ve got to sit in this for 2 hours” personally the flight out was not that bad as it wasn’t that busy, the flight home was packed and even with the tray in the middle seat it felt ridiculously cramped.
    Flights to Europe, at peak times( ie school hols), also represent great avios opportunities/value but for everything else there are better opportunities out there.
    I would have thought at some stage BA passenger figures will drop to a point where they have to compete on services.

• Kipto says:

  23 Jul23 July 08:58

  Flying in club next month. Can’t stand cheese so can see myself swapping my starter for his beef main course. Seems a fair deal

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