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Because we can be very flexible about when and where we fly to we have flown first using Avis a few times.
We did our most recent flight a couple of days ago and before that was probably a year ago. I thought I had read that BA was planning to roll out some training for the crew for First class cabin service? They clearly haven’t. Not this crew anyway.
The whole experience is just underwhelming. The Concorde lounge might have some decent drinks available but the service level and food is not what I would describe as premium.
If you’re flying First you’re probably used to staying in decent hotels with v high levels of service and might reasonable expect similar from your in flight experience?
It really feels like they think they’re giving terrific service just because they give out free champagne. The passengers really need to feel like nothing is too much trouble and try to anticipate needs but that’s definitely not what we experienced.
No drink on boarding. Dining on demand in First doesn’t exist. Knowledge of wines is poor. Getting your bed made requires more than one request. Ran out of main meal menu items.
We didn’t raise a fuss at the time as there’s no point (might feel different if we had paid full fare though) but others did and were met with very defensive responses. The crew really do seem to do as little as possible.
Which route ? (Mia-LHR ?)
I’ve had similarly poor experiences in First too. I have only flown first class on one other airline and that was 10 years ago (an Etihad upgrade) and the service was night and day different to BA.
I’ve flown First a handful of times and Flub a couple of times and have never noticed much difference. I sleep better in the First seat and it’s nice to get decent coffee, but I would struggle to point out one other difference.
I can’t say I’d rave about the CCR as it felt underwhelming compared to, say, the Virgin LHR Clubhouse, or The Pier at HKIA. answering the how much would you pay for it thread here, I don’t think I would; I’d just go to the Ramsay place.
But I’d never pay cash, at any price, for BA’s current first class product. Any hugely discounted First seat is likely matched with a cheaper Club World seat, which I’d see as a better deal.
It’s very up and down – I’ve had amazing service on one route, and I’ve also had the crew leave my plates sitting on my table for 45 minutes after I had finished dinner and then switching the lights off, with plates still on my table! You really shouldn’t have to call the crew to clear the table in F.
It’s probably more helpful to compare the CCR to the overcrowded misery of T5 Galleries lounges currently!
Unrealistic expectations = unhappy customer but so do crap crew. What’s described here is poor crew.
CCR is undoubtedly the best lounge in T5 and better than most but not all OW first lounges. Maybe it’ll be top class after its eventual refurbishment, the new JFK lounge doesn’t seem to do too badly in reviews and feedback.
If you feel you’re waiting too long for something press the call bell don’t sit there stewing you’ve been forgotten cutting off your nose to spite your face.
It is not a top class restaurant it is still a plane with all of the other things crew need to do so priorities are safety over comfort.
I don’t fly first often, but we had the most wonderful cabin crew looking after us out to BGI this summer. They could not have worked any harder if they tried. The perfect mix of attentive but not overbearing service at every stage of the journey. I’ve complained about service levels on recent club world flights which have fallen well short of expectation though. It’s such a shame service levels cannot be consistent. In most cases for me it would be so simple to rectify.
Re dining on demand OP did you tell the crew there what you wanted to do?
They aren’t mind readers. You need to tell the, so they can be prepared such as keeping your menu aside and putting thr oven on so it heats up etc.
@rosswill when BA got rid of the long serving staff they lost a whole slew of dedicated F crew who knew the ins and outs of the service spec. These days F service training is basically a couple of hours.The biggest negative about BA first is that it has been dropped from so many routes as while First isn’t up to the standard of other airlines, it is just so much better than Club. Much smaller cabin/more space, far better individual service, food and wine and wine on a totally different level to Club so we would always choose it where it exists, even on shorter flights and it isn’t much more than Club and it’s an entirely better overall experience.
I actually find the new F staff generally better than the old lags.
“priorities are safety over comfort”
Sadly with BA, the priorities often seem to be crew over passengers, regardless of which cabin you are in.
“When is First going to improve?” I suspect never. BA lost many of their best cabin crew during the pandemic. Of the few that remain, many are fast approaching retirement age.
I’ve had a couple of trips in F where I got excellent service and was made to feel special, but not the latest one (to SIN). One of the FAs had never worked in F before. The other would have been more at home on Easyjet. The purser didn’t introduce himself or work the F cabin. I had to find him to complain about my IFE not working.
I would book a F redemption if J was scheduled to be old Club World, but I don’t think F is worth the extra if you would otherwise be in Club Suite.
On our last trip, our F flight on BA was followed by J on JAL and Finnair, both of which were better than BA First.
I don’t think BA are paying enough to recruit the calibre of staff that they need to operate an F cabin. Or a J cabin for that matter.
@rosswill when BA got rid of the long serving staff they lost a whole slew of dedicated F crew who knew the ins and outs of the service spec. These days F service training is basically a couple of hours.
This is clearly the biggest issue. I think some of the cabin crew I have had this year would be blown away if they flew with some of their competitors.
On one our F trips ( some years ago) the attendant asked if I was R or L handed. Then proceeded to lay out the afternoon tea so that the pot handle milk jug handle and handle of the cup were at 45 degrees for ease of access.
That’s the sort of touch never seen in CW… here’s a mug of tea!At least they still acknowledge that cheese is a separate course from dessert on the F menu! I have given up trying to get both after my last few CW world flights when the reaction from crew seemed to be that I was being demanding and greedy expecting cheese as well as pudding 😂
However, after the past couple of days’ postings, I’m just hoping not to be downgraded on our F flight next month, anything else will be a bonus, lol.
Same old BA problem of huge inconsistency of service in both First and Club. Some staff are great and others are in the wrong job. The worst aspect for me is the noise emanating from the galley on overnight flights, both the clattering of dishes and the shrieking and yelling as the cabin crew discuss their various social activities. I can’t believe BA management are unaware of the unreliable service, but if passengers are paying the fares, do they care…….
Unrealistic expectations = unhappy customer but so do crap crew. What’s described here is poor crew.
CCR is undoubtedly the best lounge in T5 and better than most but not all OW first lounges. Maybe it’ll be top class after its eventual refurbishment, the new JFK lounge doesn’t seem to do too badly in reviews and feedback.
If you feel you’re waiting too long for something press the call bell don’t sit there stewing you’ve been forgotten cutting off your nose to spite your face.
It is not a top class restaurant it is still a plane with all of the other things crew need to do so priorities are safety over comfort.
Crew were sitting in the galley chatting so not a safety issue. I was watching a movie so it didn’t bother me until the lights went out, then you can be damn sure I called immediately and in person! 😂 She did apologise profusely, they had a full cabin and had forgotten to check. Just poor crew as you say.
We have a family mantra… “If you don’t ask…..”. Always had great service – treat them as they treat you; it’s OK to be demanding but be nice about it. In F, unless my table is overflowing, I’d always go and ask for what I want – I don’t like the call button. Also never had a problem asking for food to be served later; my wife is GF so we ask she always get “first choice” at the menu, and always delivered (the GF menu isn’t great) . I’ve seen regulars get “wine tastings”.
It’s not the best, but also it’s not the most expensive. And you have to remember it’s an airport/airplane, not a 5* restaurant. And when many flights now have 50-70+ Club Suite, a smaller cabin and better service is still attractive.
Whilst many seem to agree the service isn’t great, I’m surprised at the amount of excuses being offered up in BA’s defence.
@BA Flyer IHG Stayer – re dining on demand. What if a passenger didn’t know that was an option but would have chosen it if offered? I would have preferred to eat later but as the service wasn’t offered I could imagine that requesting it would have been met with a reluctant sigh before agreeing to it.
The point of a premium service offering is anticipating needs and being made to feel like. nothing is too much trouble.
BA claims their First is ‘The Finest Experience’ and ‘exceptional, elegant British service’.
It’s like checking in to Claridges when they’re staffed with well meaning staff from a Holiday Inn. Out of there depth through no fault of there own
Whilst many seem to agree the service isn’t great, I’m surprised at the amount of excuses being offered up in BA’s defence.
Not just BA, it’s endemic.
@BA Flyer IHG Stayer – re dining on demand. What if a passenger didn’t know that was an option but would have chosen it if offered? I would have preferred to eat later but as the service wasn’t offered I could imagine that requesting it would have been met with a reluctant sigh before agreeing to it.
Qatar’s dine on demand is legendary right – my 2 recent flights – couldnt decide what time zone 2pm was, so i said fine, serve my dinner in about 4 hours time. It arrived after 90 mins. Apologies all round and I just said fine, whatever.
Next flight, credit to them for loading and reloading the full catering stock after a replacement aircraft was needed but they had no idea what I’d preordered, and didn’t ask when I wanted it.
The point of a premium service offering is anticipating needs and being made to feel like. nothing is too much trouble.
And it rarely happens anywhere these days
BA claims their First is ‘The Finest Experience’ and ‘exceptional, elegant British service’.
BA are the laughing stock of the airline industry and my airline of last resort. I’m actually dreading my A380 1st class experience next month via LHR but it was slightly preferable experience to CPT-LHR and having to self transfer with luggage from T3-T5 VS-BA.
I’ve always had a great experience with BA First. Sometimes the food isn’t the best but the crew have always been outstanding.
@smitrax I’m pretty sure the printed menu you are given explains “dine on demand” so not sure why the crew need to explain that.
@davefl – if you are dreading the BA First experience that much then other airlines are available.If you have a genuine grievance with your flight experience, I find a constructive, polite email to BA customer services will sort you out with enough Avios to cover whatever “First” world problems you had to endure.
I’ve always had a great experience with BA First. Sometimes the food isn’t the best but the crew have always been outstanding.
@smitrax I’m pretty sure the printed menu you are given explains “dine on demand” so not sure why the crew need to explain that.
@davefl – if you are dreading the BA First experience that much then other airlines are available.If you have a genuine grievance with your flight experience, I find a constructive, polite email to BA customer services will sort you out with enough Avios to cover whatever “First” world problems you had to endure.
The menu does not say anything about dine on demand.
I’m not interested in making a complaint, I want the service level BA promise I their marketing.
I want BA to train their staff to be able to deliver the service level they claim to offer. I had heard from an article on here, I think it was based on a BA Investor day presentation, that BA was investing in its First class offering and wondered if there was any news on this?
The menu does not say anything about dine on demand.
I’m not interested in making a complaint, I want the service level BA promise I their marketing.
I want BA to train their staff to be able to deliver the service level they claim to offer. I had heard from an article on here, I think it was based on a BA Investor day presentation, that BA was investing in its First class offering and wondered if there was any news on this?
Agreed, we are yet to really see all the fruits of this multi-billion £ investment that they hammered on about some months ago. Yes Club suite is great but what is the roll out progress on it like? Are any dreamliner aircraft type done yet?
Flew F outbound from LHR Sept 23, yes a while back I know but crew seemed a bit disinterested in any personal service and just did what they had too. Contrast to QR J earlier that year where I got personal introductions and they explained dine on demand, asked when I would like to eat unlike BA F where it was just served in front of me. It would have been nice if it had have been explained. This was only one experience (post-covid) I know and things may have improved since then I don’t know, as not been in F since.
The biggest negative about BA first is that it has been dropped from so many routes as while First isn’t up to the standard of other airlines, it is just so much better than Club. Much smaller cabin/more space, far better individual service, food and wine and wine on a totally different level to Club so we would always choose it where it exists, even on shorter flights and it isn’t much more than Club and it’s an entirely better overall experience.
I actually find the new F staff generally better than the old lags.
Agreed, I’m reminded of Come Fly with Me…
Club suite wouldn’t be an investment in first but yep all the 787-10’s have it so that’s at least 11 Dreamliners with it 😉
First 787-8 was completed in June and the second is being done right now and probably ready to roll off in a few days.
All 28 LHR 777-200ER have been done
15/16 777-300ER are done with the last one being done as I type.
All 18 A350 were delivered with it.
It’s about 62% of the LHR fleet as it stands.
The investment into First wasn’t onboard service if I recall it was the new suite coming to aircraft Inc A380 and the the ground experience like first wing, lounge improvements etc I’m sure they’ve included JFK T8, LHR T3 First Dining etc in it.
It’s not about excuses for BA but just the realisation crap service can be circumvented by being assertive and when you don’t get good service you have to complain because without that feedback how would any of the management know customers are left wanting?
Also since when is British service ever exceptional … I think BA are delivering exactly what they promise when using that line 😂
Just completed the return flight and it couldn’t have been more different.
Even though it was a night flight and previous experience has been that the crew just want everyone off to sleep as soon as possible, this flight didn’t have a hint of that.
The crew were engaging and happy from the moment we boarded to the moment we stepped off the plane.
Welcome drink was offered. When we would like to dine was offered. Had a bit of a chat about the wine and learnt that this crew had been on some enhanced training and part of that involved learning about the wines. Default champagne was a Bollinger vintage and I thought it was usually Laurent Perrier?
The biggest difference was just how proactive the crew were. Just like you would get in a very good restaurant. Very observant and never intrusive.
Flights were 787 to/from MXCM.
I’ve always had a great experience with BA First. Sometimes the food isn’t the best but the crew have always been outstanding.
@smitrax I’m pretty sure the printed menu you are given explains “dine on demand” so not sure why the crew need to explain that.
@davefl – if you are dreading the BA First experience that much then other airlines are available.If you have a genuine grievance with your flight experience, I find a constructive, polite email to BA customer services will sort you out with enough Avios to cover whatever “First” world problems you had to endure.
The menu does not say anything about dine on demand.
I’m not interested in making a complaint, I want the service level BA promise I their marketing.
I want BA to train their staff to be able to deliver the service level they claim to offer. I had heard from an article on here, I think it was based on a BA Investor day presentation, that BA was investing in its First class offering and wondered if there was any news on this?
But if you are not interested in making a complaint how are BA supposed to know there is a problem, especially if it is with a specific flight and/or crew. Given the range of views in this thread it is clear that sometimes First is great, and sometimes it doesn’t live up to expectations. On those latter occasions, I would always let BA know via official channels.
But I’ll also let them know when I’ve had outstanding service.
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