GUWonder

The BA LHR transit experience and the declining BA product and service levels are such that BA operated flights don't get my one-connection business unless it's priced at a discount for the poor experience aspects involved when choosing BA over another carrier.

Internaut

I have an all round far better experience on both Emirates and Qatar. BA are scrapping Raid The Larder, for economy class passengers. On my flights with the ME carriers, I never feel the need to even find out if there's a larder to raid. Add to that, the entertainment is better and there's cheap, on board internet, which recently proved very useful for staying in touch with the office during a flight (plans made, reviewed, discussed and approved over an eight hour day flight).

T8191

Heliboy adds another excellent post to the ever-growing list of similar "goodbye BA" threads, and there's little to argue about in his posts.

I know virtually nothing about BA s/h, apart from the hops between JER and LGW, and only ever fly J l/h ... where our traval has shifted to AA westbound. Monday's BA to CPT may well be our last BA l/h for a long time ... and BA won't care one iota.

The only thing that will change anything is when/if loads and/or revenue shift negatively, and I suspect there will still be a long queue of occasional pax (or those bound by Company policies) who have no points of reference about how BA used to be (or don't even care). Until the Great British Public learn to compare price/service to the same extent we do here on FT, BA will totter on.

gordon0808

Well, I still prefer BA/AA over LH/UA in J going west.
My experience is that Star is significantly more expensive ex OSL and offers less direct destinations to the US. So, altough BA's product has deteriorated in recent years, OW is in my book still the best choice for my west bound travel.

Internaut

Most of my travel is south and east. West would probably still be BA, for me. Going west, I don't think there are any great options for the economy traveler.

ahmetdouas

AA?

corporate-wage-slave

Having been through the mill with Lufthansa in the last few weeks, I wish you the best of luck there, suffice to say it was a blessed release to get out of Frankfurt and to get to Heathrow. I'm Senator with them and that certainly is no guarantee of good service recovery. LH have rather a lot of stikes, incidentally, and the notice period is bordering on wildcat.

Now I try not to challenge too hard on other people's experience, they are what they are, and I certainly do recognise some aspects of what you are saying. But in all candour, if I was getting as bad a service as you, I would have jumped long ago - and my experiences are simply different. In particular if you think you're going to whizz through Frankfurt, or any large airport, faster than T5 then you are in for a few surprises. Fast track has improved remarkably in the last few years (you can tell it has, since the complaints about it happen here have greatly reduced).

I wish you well in your separation, and indeed that is absolutely the right thing to do when you get to a certain point.

ShuttleRunner

So today I had a bit of a last minute change of plans, and had to fly UA...

oh no! I hear you say, HOWEVER, yesterday they launched the new Polaris soft product, which, granted I only have a 1 flight sample so far, was on par with AA - the crew were rightly proud to present and provide the new service. Now, when the new Polaris hard product is installed in the New Year, I think United will/should be a new carrier of choice for those defecting.

creampuff

I also avoid LCCs. I also fly BA a lot, maybe about twice a week from LHR, due to them often being the only non LCC carrier (or only OW carrier) on my short domestic/European domestic routes and because it takes less than half an hour for me to go from home to Heathrow. So for those short routes, I'm bound to BA.

But I also do long trips where there is full service airlines competition and on those routes, the chance of me actually choosing to buy a BA ticket is a big fat zero unless they were significantly cheaper than the alternatives. Which going by the number of long haul BA flights I've taken over the last few years, is not very often.

As I said before:
In Y you will go hungry unless you pay for food.
In PEY you will go hungry unless you pay for food.
In J they have still downgraded the catering plus the CW seat was starting to look old 5 years ago.

FlyerTalker39574

At LHR T5 F passengers should be driven in a car or luxury mini bus from the Concorde room to B or C gates. None of this mixing with the hoi polloi

DIRECT MERIT

Sad to have to say it, but as a London-based lifetime AA Plat/OWS):

Shorthaul: whoever's cheapest/got the best times from LHR or LGW;

Going west: AA if it's a destination served by a B773;

Going south or east: QR or CX. It's a bit of a detour going to JNB via Doha, but the last time I went the BA A380 took a 15 hour delay anyway.

are51

Since BA and you are getting divorced, who is going to win custody of the Baby Bus:-)

SoggyDollar

But did you get the bear??

flygod

Shouldn't there be a master thread for defectors?

Internaut

Been a good few years since I flew AA TATL in Y. Back then, it it was paid booze, none existent entertainment and frumpy flight attendants.

Depends. There are outright defectors, and also avoiders. I'm in the latter camp.