Jonathan1974

In May I flew on the BA 777 (club world) from Sydney to Singapore and five days later on the 747 from Singapore to London (club world). The flight from Sydney was a day flight. The cabin was by no means full yet the service was at best mediocre. The announcements by the crew were virtually unintelligble ( I am an English-born native speaker--if I can hardly understand the announcements, how will non-native speakers cope?). Every time I asked for anything, I was told ' no worries' and then generally the request was ignored ( for another roll, for a glass of water). When the male flight attendant handed over anything, he finished by saying: 'OK'? The meal was of high quality but the quantity was insufficient and the club kitchen was very poorly stocked. The crew were obviously enjoying each other's company: the shrieking giggles from the kitchen area were constant during the first three hours of the flight// The main deck (club) on the 747 from Singapore to London (14 hours night flight) was like travelling on a completely different airlines. The crew was highly professional, well-groomed (!!), polite and competent. No 'haya', 'no worries' and 'ok?' here but attentive, intelligent customer-oriented service with a sense of humour. Unlike on the mixed fleet flight, these people were thoroughly informed about all the food and wine choices available. The pilots on both flights were excellent: clear, polite and friendly announcements and obviously very high standards of piloting. Cabin Service Director on the 747 was around all the time and kept stopping to talk to passangers. On the flight from SYD to SIN I had no idea who the senior flight attendant was.

matthandy

This isn't really a trip report so I'll move this over to the BA forum.

Thanks for your understanding.

matthandy
Moderator: Trip Reports

londonba2014

Deleted Post

BA.MF.CSM

I ain't touching this one with a Jumbo Jet sized pole.......

Can I help you

Nor am I.

londonba2014

I knew my post sounds really bad, most MF are excellent & ambassadors for the company, its just this small minority letting the side down!

I don't want to offend anyone!

81romeo

Always happy to hear I'm not the only one disliking MF service.

I had the same bad experience recently on a CAI-LHR in CW (cc just chatting in the galley, no breakfast order taken, etc) and on a MIA-LHR in F.

I think most MF crews are awful, just a small minority is really engaged and proud of their work/service.

LondonCanuck

I am pretty neutral on the subject, but on a return trip in F to JNB (BA A380 MF) in end of April/beg. of May, we had unbelievably FANTASTIC service on the way down (my wife gave her golden ticket to the girl looking after us). Think was the best flight of the 20 or so F flights I have done. On the return to LHR, it was pretty good as well (although more laid back since night flight).

Don't think it is fair to blame MF for every bad service. Really just varies with the crew TBH, although I can agree with that they (sometimes) can be a bit less formal than WW, but likely due to age (I am a bit younger myself, so personally don't mind)

Anyways, that is just my 2 Avios...

windowontheAside

Couldn't agree more.

Came back from GIG in F - a MF route - and had been warned on here to expect poor service and bad food. We had a very good flight indeed - and had I not given out my first ever golden ticket the month before, I'd have given it to this chap. We also got a proper welcome and chat from the CSM/CSD/whatever title and everything ran just perfectly.

I've had good, bad and indifferent crews in MF and WW. I've never experienced the 'matey' sort of service but I have had WW crew members who seemingly just couldn't be bothered to engage with us. Does that make all WW tiresome? No.

My biggest beef with BA is simply that the service is quite variable - whatever the crew. It doesn't really show much in WT but as you move up the cabins the difference between a great crew and a bad one can make a huge difference to the flight.

BApilotinsider

Usually overlooked on these forums, but of course, the most important thing of all...

Foltan

I think the general summary whenever this topic comes up is that "all crews vary and any fleet is possible of producing a bad service".

The only difference may be the nature of the bad service:
- MF - more likely to use 'overly-casual' language, talk loudly, forget requests
- WW - more likely to be curt, rude or patronising.

The "shrieking in the galley" one is actually something that resonates with me. The reason being that pretty much any other error or rude behaviour can be 'fixed' by confronting it or asking again (even though it may not be desirable to do so). However it really takes a level of balls to walk to the galley and tell them to stop enjoying themselves and keep it down; unless it was the middle of the night, I can't imagine it going down well but despite that, it can be really rather grating when you're reading or relaxing.

noubliepas

I would agree with this 100%. I'm also a bit younger, and generally appreciate the more relaxed attitude of the MF crew. Certainly a lot more smiley than the WW. Having said that, the service has been a bit lacking at times.

I'm on LHR-MAD almost twice a week and for me this route seems to attract the absolute worst crew in BA - particularly those operating the 767. They tend to be older, snappy, and have very little patience with the hoards of connecting passengers onboard (who often speak minimal English). I actively try to stick with Iberia now to avoid BA on this route (speaking Spanish generally gets better service with IB crews).

Interesting for me, as generally I've been pretty impressed with other European routes. Had great service to ORY and OSL in the past couple of weeks, just MAD always falls down.

paul4040

Is ORY a MF destination? The female crew on my recent trip there had the hats (which look great, btw).

windowontheAside

Hats are not a reliable indicator of MF. I made that mistake once and was smartly corrected by the lady in question.

Jonathan1974

Hats are worn by MF (female) cabin crew members and by WW and Mf on the A380.