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So this is my own fault for not doing enough research but…
I booked BA business class from London to Amman. I am deliberately avoiding saying ‘Club Europe’ as that’s not what I thought I’d booked. I assumed it would be flat bed seating as per flights to Dubai etc. This was based on the photo on BA’s website here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/destinations/amman/flights-to-amman. The ‘business class’ photo is clearly a flat bed.
Upon doing further research I’ve since come to realise that I won’t be getting this and will just be short haul Club Europe seating (aka economy from a legroom perspective). I can also see they used to offer ‘throne’ style seating on the route, but that was scrapped a few years ago. I’m obviously kicking myself as I booked in a hurry and didn’t really pay enough attention / twigged when it said ‘Club Europe’ as opposed to Club World.
This is more of a moan than anything else – and a way of putting off telling my partner that we won’t quite be travelling in the style I’ve been alluding to… – but am I right in thinking that BAs advertising is misleading to the point of completely misrepresenting the product they are selling here?
Cancel?
Those are just generic cabin photos but I agree it’s bit sneaky not to make the distinction. Could you cancel and change to Royal Jordanian who I keep hearing are better?
I flew this route last November in Club Europe. Not to make it worse; but I did feel like a 5 hour flight should have a flat bed. Ridiculous that this is called short haul.
Tips for Jordan: make sure you have car insurance if hiring a car (Amex Plat is fine). The speed bumps on the highway are completely disguised (no markings and no street lights). You’ll be driving at 70mph and suddenly you’ll bump your head on the roof of the car!
Also make sure you carry cash on local CCY; a fair few places don’t take card.
We stayed at the Hilton Amman and would definitely recommend it
Flying this route today. Still disappointed, although I did know in advance because it has been discussed on here in the past. I was hoping that BA would cancel because of the strikes so that we could get onto the Royal Jordanian flight that goes 15 minutes earlier from T3. Much fancier.
I would agree that those pictures are a misrepresentation though. In Economy too.
@trader363 – got three nights on points there in the coming days! Re. the speed bumps – did you damage your car on them? I’ll cope with head bumps but I don’t fancy the row over it. We’ve got excess cover though.I agree those pictures are misleading.
The pictures of the economy seat also show seat back IFE.
A complaint to the ASA might be appropriate.
When did you book ? 24 hours to cancel free of charge
That really is quite sneaky, isn’t it. There’s a number of routes now (Amman, Cairo, Beirut if it comes back) that used to be really decent on BMI and then on BA with BMI’s planes which are now frankly embarrassing with the CE set-up. But, clearly, enough people will happily pay BA’s exorbitant prices for the sub-standard product that there is no need to make it any better.
I’m not sure whether it’s a case of no need to make it better but rather there is no way BA could make the commercial case for putting long haul aircraft on any of those routes in the current environment and diminished business demand. Personally, I don’t see the need for a flat bed or airline IFE on these not very long day time flights.
While it obviously would be nicer to have long haul aircraft or even some intermediate type cabin setup on these routes, BA needs to be commercial. If they don’t make money, you don’t get new aircraft, Club Suite, improved lounges or staff the extra pay readers want.
@JDB – which is reasonable, but they probably shouldn’t use long haul imaging to sell it. That will make a difference to some.
Yet their competitors (Egyptair, Turkish, MEA, RJ) manage either long haul aircraft or short haul aircraft with a medium haul configuration, suitable for this length of journey and presumably still make money. So it absolutely is a business decision and if enough people either get bamboozled or assume they’re getting a product suitable for a 5hr flight then it’s a win-win. This is certainly where the power of a brand + frequent flyer programme + Oneworld comes in.
Just for what it’s worth, another option albeit quite hypothetical is to equip the A320’s on these longer ‘short’ haul routes like Qatar does their A320s business class, that seems like a fair middle ground. More comfortable than economy seating for sure
Just for what it’s worth, another option albeit quite hypothetical is to equip the A320’s on these longer ‘short’ haul routes like Qatar does their A320s business class, that seems like a fair middle ground. More comfortable than economy seating for sure
Of course, but that creates a sub-fleet, which BA doesn’t like, because they want to freely move all SH planes around for maximum efficiency.
@JDB – which is reasonable, but they probably shouldn’t use long haul imaging to sell it. That will make a difference to some.
Agreed, although I actually doubt it’s intentional but rather a mistake nor indeed a page many people rely upon to make decisions.
Yet their competitors (Egyptair, Turkish, MEA, RJ) manage either long haul aircraft or short haul aircraft with a medium haul configuration, suitable for this length of journey and presumably still make money. So it absolutely is a business decision and if enough people either get bamboozled or assume they’re getting a product suitable for a 5hr flight then it’s a win-win. This is certainly where the power of a brand + frequent flyer programme + Oneworld comes in.
Their competitors are not required to stand on their own two feet – they are all subsidised in direct and indirect ways. BA has no sugar daddy – it has to be ruthlessly commercial to survive. Some European airlines, all US airlines, plus ME3 and many Asian airlines enjoy all sorts of overt or hidden subsidies that UK airlines simply don’t have and in Europe it also has to compete with LCCs who have naturally lower cost bases than legacy carriers. BA also still has a massive pension problem (although rising rates will have assisted) that eg US airlines have been able to shed by stuffing the staff and consolidation.
Their competitors are not required to stand on their own two feet – they are all subsidised in direct and indirect ways. BA has no sugar daddy – it has to be ruthlessly commercial to survive. Some European airlines, all US airlines, plus ME3 and many Asian airlines enjoy all sorts of overt or hidden subsidies that UK airlines simply don’t have and in Europe it also has to compete with LCCs who have naturally lower cost bases than legacy carriers. BA also still has a massive pension problem (although rising rates will have assisted) that eg US airlines have been able to shed by stuffing the staff and consolidation.
Poor BA, they only operate from one of the richest markets for international air travel in the world, in SE England 🙂
And remind me who owns a large chunk of BA?
@PeteM Qatar may own 25% of the company but that doesn’t help pay back the covid debt or pensions. It actually forces them to be more commercial because Qatar expects a return on its investment which is both strategic and commercial.
While BA of course has a rich market in London, US airlines have many equally rich markets but they received $billions of non repayable cash sums during covid and they were previously allowed to wipe out pension and healthcare liabilities [BA has to top up by c.£300m pa – not good to start your year minus that sum]. ME and Asian airlines are subsidised and bailed out. BA and Virgin, owing to long standing government policies by both parties, operate in a very different environment to their competitors.
BA is 100% owned by IAG.
QR owns shares in IAG not BA.
@PeteM Qatar may own 25% of the company but that doesn’t help pay back the covid debt or pensions. It actually forces them to be more commercial because Qatar expects a return on its investment which is both strategic and commercial.
While BA of course has a rich market in London, US airlines have many equally rich markets but they received $billions of non repayable cash sums during covid and they were previously allowed to wipe out pension and healthcare liabilities [BA has to top up by c.£300m pa – not good to start your year minus that sum]. ME and Asian airlines are subsidised and bailed out. BA and Virgin, owing to long standing government policies by both parties, operate in a very different environment to their competitors.
And until customers vote with their feet they will get away with being ruthlessly commercial.
Said something similar in the comments on the SAW article. For these 4-5+ hour flights, a flat bed might not be needed but the seats really should be better than what you get in CE, maybe a 2-2 recliner layout you get on other airlines, but I guess they want to keep the CE/ET set-up where they can move the curtain and planes around freely. I was looking at Cairo and the new RFS pricing is ridiculous for CE, I guess the only thing I can do is vote with my feet and avoid BA on these routes.
What is interesting is that if you look at the equivalent page for Cairo (https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/destinations/cairo/flights-to-cairo) it is correct on the pictures and seat information, so it almost seems like Amman was forgotten?
I did damage the underbelly on the front of the car, but Amex Platinum insurance covered it. Shockingly easy to claim – took 10 mins to fill out an online form and got the money back in a few days!
I’ve just had a look at the link above on the BA page about flights to Amman, I couldn’t see anywhere a photo of a CW/CS/F seat, but I did see what assumingly looks like a WT seat with IFE, BA can’t be bothered to equip their aircraft that they use for the longest routes that’s classed as ET/CE for the purposes of which band of APD the flight falls under, and it calculates how many TPs are earned.
What is bizarre is that the TLV route that is actually shorter, isn’t classed as ET/CE, and they also use large wide body aircraft, so therefore you get a much better journey, even though you spend (marginally) less time inside the plane !
Of course there’s nothing wrong with using smaller aircraft where possible, since they’ll use less fuel than the bigger planes, as well as requiring less crew, both things save money, meaning the fares are cheaper, but there’s no excuse whatsoever for them to inadequately adapt the smaller aircraft used on the longer routes for these journeys, like offering a proper business class seat, and installing IFE for all seats. On my flights to CAI and then home from AMM, there was also no recline at all !
One can only hope Sean Doyle will open his eyes to these atrocious offerings, and make some decent changes, things like these we won’t be thanking Alex Cruz for…
I’ve just had a look at the link above on the BA page about flights to Amman, I couldn’t see anywhere a photo of a CW/CS/F seat, but I did see what assumingly looks like a WT seat with IFE
You’re right – I wonder if they rotate the pictures automatically between the different pages? It was definitely showing what’s been discussed yesterday.
Just arrived in Cairo, sitting in row 1 in Club “Europe”. The name is certainly not lost…
But either way, whilst it certainly wasn’t the most comfortable flight, and agree the route should use a comparable SH product (to Turkish or Aegean), or LH product (comparable to BAs Tel Aviv flights) or indeed a middle ground in between… we had some of the best in flight service we have had in a long time on the flight today. The cabin crew were great, gave out plenty of food and drinks and made what is quite a long, mundane and uncomfortable flight a bit more enjoyable. The clear views over the alps and the Balkans certainly helped too!
Credit where credit is due.
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