The Filth of BA [scruffy and dirty aircraft interiors]
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Phuket Thailand
Programs: HH Diamond, BA Gold, IHG Gold, Oman Gold
Posts: 1,036
The Filth of BA [scruffy and dirty aircraft interiors]
A general observation from flights with BA.
Crew excellent and I enjoy flying with BA, but they are always lets down by scruffy and dirty planes. Whether Domestic, Econ or Club, seats are dirty, carpet not cleaned. My dad just flew 747 to Hong Kong, dirty WT+ toilets out of service and econ food served to WT+.
Wrote to EC, with my comments, praising the staff yet why they have dirty planes. Usual comment back:
Thank you for your email dated 21 November 2012. I am sorry to read that you found the area around the seat to be dirty and the cabin to be shabby on your recent flight. I know this isn't the kind of service you would expect from British Airways and I do apologise for letting you down.
We know how important the aircrafts appearance and cleanliness is to our customers. We have made improvements to our cabin environment a top priority. This has meant spending more on specialist cleaning equipment and setting up new performance-based contracts with the cleaning company we use.
We have also re-examined our own processes to make sure that problems in the cabin are dealt with as quickly as possible. Everything is recorded and passed on to our maintenance team as soon as the aircraft lands, so they can put it right.
We acknowledge that there is still work to do in this area. We have started the changes and we are getting a positive reaction from our customers. We will continue to focus on long term improvements to our aircraft.
I am glad, though, you and your wife were happy with the service you received from our cabin crew. You can be sure they will see a copy of your email - and I know they will appreciate what you've written.
I wish they would up their game, it is a huge let down. I work in Hospitality and would not let people into my meeting rooms/bars/restaurants in a dirty state, so why would you expect it from a plane. Maybe I am too over critical
Crew excellent and I enjoy flying with BA, but they are always lets down by scruffy and dirty planes. Whether Domestic, Econ or Club, seats are dirty, carpet not cleaned. My dad just flew 747 to Hong Kong, dirty WT+ toilets out of service and econ food served to WT+.
Wrote to EC, with my comments, praising the staff yet why they have dirty planes. Usual comment back:
Thank you for your email dated 21 November 2012. I am sorry to read that you found the area around the seat to be dirty and the cabin to be shabby on your recent flight. I know this isn't the kind of service you would expect from British Airways and I do apologise for letting you down.
We know how important the aircrafts appearance and cleanliness is to our customers. We have made improvements to our cabin environment a top priority. This has meant spending more on specialist cleaning equipment and setting up new performance-based contracts with the cleaning company we use.
We have also re-examined our own processes to make sure that problems in the cabin are dealt with as quickly as possible. Everything is recorded and passed on to our maintenance team as soon as the aircraft lands, so they can put it right.
We acknowledge that there is still work to do in this area. We have started the changes and we are getting a positive reaction from our customers. We will continue to focus on long term improvements to our aircraft.
I am glad, though, you and your wife were happy with the service you received from our cabin crew. You can be sure they will see a copy of your email - and I know they will appreciate what you've written.
I wish they would up their game, it is a huge let down. I work in Hospitality and would not let people into my meeting rooms/bars/restaurants in a dirty state, so why would you expect it from a plane. Maybe I am too over critical
#2
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London, ARN, HEL, ..... or MAN
Programs: BA GFL, Mucci Diamond!, HH Diamond, Radisson Premium, IHG Diamond, Hertz Gold 5*
Posts: 5,812
I know this is a recurring thread on this board - just yesterday I was in CW on a refurbed 767 (G-BNWV for those who are interested!)
The seat was nice and clean, all of the kit was new, but clearly a previous passenger had spilled something which looked like tomato soup behind the IFE screen. To have cleaned it actually required the screen to be moved from its stowed position to the viewing position and then the mess could have been cleaned. However of course this was not done. It would have been impossible to not see the mess, but because it appeared to require some effort to clean, this was not done. I ended up cleaning it myself with the hot towel.
Also the forward toilet didn't work on departure so there was one toilet for 24 CW passengers... this was all on a newly refurbished plane in its highest cabin.. all very sad.. Crew were great though.. no complaints at all..
The seat was nice and clean, all of the kit was new, but clearly a previous passenger had spilled something which looked like tomato soup behind the IFE screen. To have cleaned it actually required the screen to be moved from its stowed position to the viewing position and then the mess could have been cleaned. However of course this was not done. It would have been impossible to not see the mess, but because it appeared to require some effort to clean, this was not done. I ended up cleaning it myself with the hot towel.
Also the forward toilet didn't work on departure so there was one toilet for 24 CW passengers... this was all on a newly refurbished plane in its highest cabin.. all very sad.. Crew were great though.. no complaints at all..
#3
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYZ
Programs: BA Gold/Marriott Gold/HH Diamond/IC Plat Amba
Posts: 5,978
My last flight on BA a week and a half ago was actually excellent,food was surprisingly good, aircraft was clean had the really good Thales IFE and as a special bonus I got to lay in my CW seat watching the antics of 2 cockroaches exploring the left hand side CW cabin walls for 8 hours.
To be fair to BA they probably hitched a ride in someone's carry on. I certainly inspected my carry on for any of their friends before bringing it inside the house.
To be fair to BA they probably hitched a ride in someone's carry on. I certainly inspected my carry on for any of their friends before bringing it inside the house.
#4
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London.
Programs: BAEC,Avis Preferred. Hilton Silver, Tesco Super Dooper Platinum.
Posts: 157
My last flight on BA a week and a half ago was actually excellent,food was surprisingly good, aircraft was clean had the really good Thales IFE and as a special bonus I got to lay in my CW seat watching the antics of 2 cockroaches exploring the left hand side CW cabin walls for 8 hours.
To be fair to BA they probably hitched a ride in someone's carry on. I certainly inspected my carry on for any of their friends before bringing it inside the house.
To be fair to BA they probably hitched a ride in someone's carry on. I certainly inspected my carry on for any of their friends before bringing it inside the house.
#5
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA Executive Club
Posts: 999
I wish they would stop pouring coffee down the toilets and forgetting to flush / clean them after. It looks as if someone has been in there with explosive bowel movements.
Last edited by visualAd; Nov 25, 2012 at 2:04 pm
#6
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others
Posts: 6,156
#7
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,513
#9
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYZ
Programs: BA Gold/Marriott Gold/HH Diamond/IC Plat Amba
Posts: 5,978
Actually the flight was very pleasant and since no one else seemed to either notice or be bothered by them I figured I'd just mention it on disembarking. However it was a scrum to get out of the door upon arrival so I forgot until I was up the jetbridge. When I was getting my bag out I noticed an old crushed one in the overhead locker so they had been on the plane previous to my flight. It was G-VIIB so hopefully they got off in warm MIA yesterday.
#12
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: London UK
Programs: BA Gold, Amex BA Premium Plus
Posts: 536
As usual, crews are very good, but this thing with dirty aircraft has been happening too frequently in the last months.
#14
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: The Far, Far North
Programs: Alaskans fly everywhere on any aircraft going there!
Posts: 1,261
Saw an interesting piece on Japanese trains last night. The commentator described the train as being "spotlessly clean" and then went on to talk about how many passengers travel by train every day in Japan (more, apparently, than in the US, GB, France and Germany combined) and stating that the trains are always clean. Then they showed the crew cleaning the trains - they have about 7 minutes to clean the entire train at a station and they manage to do it to this very high standard. Airline cleaning crews have longer and don't manage.
Maybe BA and other airlines should send someone to study what they do?
Maybe BA and other airlines should send someone to study what they do?
#15