BA Fifth Freedom flights – Is it unreasonable to expect a clean-ish seat?
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It was only a 30-minute hop from St Lucia to Grenada yesterday, and there were only a dozen or so passengers joining the flight, but I was surprised that it is BA policy (according to crew) not to do even the most basic of tidying of those seats that have just been occupied for 9+ hours and have been assigned to new passengers.
We found used blankets, food, crumbs and lots of assorted rubbish strewn around which we moved to an unoccupied row.
It is common practice not to clean planes between short-haul sectors, but there’s a greater need after a long haul.
You should count yourself lucky that they weren’t any bugs or worst pee-soaked seats. Head over to the Roach in my cutlery thread…
I saw the cockroach thing earlier. Made me LOL. But even the best run catering will sometimes suffer from contaminants. Depends if it’s a one-off or part of a pattern.
“ We found used blankets, food, crumbs and lots of assorted rubbish strewn around which we moved to an unoccupied row.”
Absolutely abysmal. I’d have photographed the lot and conspicuously filmed a video “for the socials” so the crew knew just what I thought of the situation. I’m not asking cabin crew to put on Marigolds and crack out a vacuum, but the least they could do in the absence of a ground agent cleaner is make an effort to tidy it themselves.
Unreasonable? No. I have a feeling this is entirely BA crew dependent. I can’t believe it would be policy to sell a seat in whatever condition the other person left it in.
Having done some fifth-freedom flights with Singapore Airlines recently, I can tell you that the seats were spotless. So it can be done….
See the article on LL yesterday regarding BA cleaning and cry. My own experience is not good, and my partner complains about it almost every flight, even in premium cabins. I have only limitted experience of flying EasyJet but so far I’ve found their cabins have been in better shape than BA.
On the LHR-NAS-GCM route, when the plane is on the ground at NAS a local cleaning crew comes on and collects the rubbish, but that’s the extent of it – I guess for an even shorter hop BA might decide it’s not worth the time and/or cost.
The actual cabin crew leave the plane as soon as the NAS pax are off, with the remaining premium spirits and champagne!
The actual cabin crew leave the plane as soon as the NAS pax are off, with the remaining premium spirits and champagne!
That’s all you really need to know. Speaks volumes. BA pretends to pay them, so they pretend to work as the saying goes. Most won’t care about passenger satisfaction or BA’s long term prospects, nor apparently does BA, because if it did they’d book the handling agent to come and tidy up like on other carriers. It’s becoming really noticeable that BA metal feels dirty compared to other airlines and it’s not as if BA planes are not on the ground for long enough to give them a deep clean compared to low cost carriers who, sometimes due to multiple delays over the course of the day, might end up only being on the ground for a consistent 4 hours during the early hours.
“ We found used blankets, food, crumbs and lots of assorted rubbish strewn around which we moved to an unoccupied row.”
Absolutely abysmal. I’d have photographed the lot and conspicuously filmed a video “for the socials” so the crew knew just what I thought of the situation. I’m not asking cabin crew to put on Marigolds and crack out a vacuum, but the least they could do in the absence of a ground agent cleaner is make an effort to tidy it themselves.
BA couldn’t care less if you started a thousand threads on socials. Socials are indeed full of such posts.
We took pics of filthy storage lockers and disgusting stained footrest . Filled out online forms and got corporate bollocks from CS. Then sent to ( at the time Sr Cruz) and got a call from his office with abject apologies and a plane load of Avios. My point was to track down the plane and and clean it properly.
No excuse for not giving the area a quick tidy. That’s just lazinessOn the LHR-NAS-GCM route, when the plane is on the ground at NAS a local cleaning crew comes on and collects the rubbish, but that’s the extent of it – I guess for an even shorter hop BA might decide it’s not worth the time and/or cost.
The actual cabin crew leave the plane as soon as the NAS pax are off, with the remaining premium spirits and champagne!
We leave the plane at NAS but any alcohol or crew purch is paid for and definitely not premium! To do so would mean dismissal and I find your comment a little offensive.
I flew to St Kitts just before Covid. From what I recall crew explained they would be leaving along with some passengers when we stopped in Antigua and new crew and passengers would be joining flight. They then tidied, cabin collected all blankets, pillows etc and stored them. They also asked for/collected all rubbish. They seemed to check more than usual.
I flew from Heathrow on a BA short haul flight operated by Finnair a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately there were only 5 of us in 6 rows of CE. I changed seats after take off because the pocket in the seat in front of me was disgusting – full of crumbs, waste food and rubbish. Thankfully I hadn’t rummaged in the pocket first. I didn’t need to. The pockets are mesh so the filth was obvious to anyone who looked at the seat back. I assume the plane was cleaned at Heathrow as it was on a 4+ hour return flight.
@njb, if you get offended by people reporting what they have actually witnessed, you’re going to have a very unhappy life. I would have imagined that you were mature enough not to fall into that category, tbh. Unless you were actually crew on the flights I’ve taken, you’re not in a position to say what did or didn’t take place. I didn’t even speculate about whether the crew were authorised to remove the drinks, or what they may have done with them afterwards, I simply said what I’ve seen, and I stand by that. I was commenting in relation to what happens on an aircraft on a fifth freedom route, from my own experience and not how I find the general level of service. Anyway, I’ll be sure to watch what happens on my next trip!
…Oh, and the cabin crew’s primary role is your safety, so after a 10 hr working day already with another 90 or so minutes to go, why should they start cleaning…
This is factually inaccurate.
The crew disembark at St Lucia. A fresh crew does the 30-minute flight to Grenada and the 30-minute flight back, before a third crew operate the flight to the UK.
I see no reason why the crew for the short hop can’t do some basic tidying of the small number of seats that are about to be occupied.
Safety being a crew’s primary role seems often used to justify a reluctance to carry out other necessary roles.
‘The actual cabin crew leave the plane as soon as the NAS pax are off, with the remaining premium spirits and champagne.’
To clarify – I find this statement a little offensive.
I am not personally offended. It reads as a statement of fact and not as your personal observation from a flight/s.If crew take premium spirits and champagne off the plane they are stealing and will be dismissed if caught. I have not witnessed this on any of my flights. It is unfortunate that you have as it is without doubt not the norm.
I am happy and mature (in age and mind).
Happy flying.@njb having worked for airlines and had to source crew hotel accommodation, I can tell you now this happens all the time. One of the biggest issues we had with crew HOTAC was “room parties” fuelled by spirits and champagne, and the lack of appetite from some hotels to accommodate crews going forward.
@Supergers19
Im not naive enough to think crew don’t drink too much downroute and I know that ‘bus juice’ was a thing back in the day.
What I will say is that any parties are primarily fuelled by crew purchase of warm sav blanc and miniatures, not stolen goods. The main problems has been widely reported in the press and have been on the MLE route.
I think there has been a change in culture with regard to taking bottles off and it is not my experience to see blatant purloining of premium bottles as was remarked on for the NAS shuttle trips.
I am well past the room party stage but love a lovely red with steak on a CPT followed by the obligatory karaoke night 😂@Supergers19
What I will say is that any parties are primarily fuelled by crew purchase of warm sav blanc and miniatures, not stolen goods.
With the greatest of respect, I think you need to open your eyes a little more. I know several crew who frequently take unpaid miniatures with them off the plane. I’m not saying all crew, I don’t even know if it would be a majority or a minority – but it definitely happens, short haul and long haul. Not heard about people taking bigger bottles though, one would assume that it would be a much smaller group to attempt that, as it is a bit more difficult to stuff into your bag.
Keep an eye out, and let us know in a few weeks what you see!
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