DreamTrip

Took my first ET flight a week ago in over 3 years. I sat in last row on the a319 since I was traveling with my partner. CSM came back and said hello and took time to chat with us. We were offered coffee, water and cashew nuts from CE ^

It was a nice gesture and left me with a great positive experience..just remember not to choose those seats in the future

FlyerTalker39574

It sounds like too many of you are being disrespectful to the crew members on your flights.

Passengers should say hello at the door when boarding and accept assistance when being directed to your seat, even if you've looked up the seat map on basource and know exactly where it is, pay attention when the safety demonstration is being communicated and say thank you and goodbye when leaving the aircraft.

Anything less is just plain rude and disrespectful, nothing to do with BoB, status or cabin you're traveling in.

irishguy28

You took your sweet time setting that one up!!!!

FlyerTalker39574

Corrected the spelling mistake.

Takiteasy

Which airline are you referring to here? I don't think I was directed to my seat on any BA short haul ever.

FlyerTalker39574

Have you been on a BA B767? If not, time's running out.

Flexible preferences

I am not sure about this inner conflict about a need to say thank you to the crew when you feel you don't have anything to thank them for. If you don't feel gratitude to the crew, then don't thank them. A polite goodbye is perhaps OK?

T8191

I tend to settle for a quick "Thanks, folks" as I shuffle off to Reclaim etc. Long wistful goodbyes tend to delay the people behind me.

DrBernardo

The M&S sandwiches were mighty fine. So was the litre of freshly squeezed OJ and whatever cake I felt like for the 5 hour journey...

The service isn't rendered by a chat, it's rendered by some form of interaction, of which exchanging at least few words or some basic level of eye contact are good indicators. I know the CAA-mandated functions of the crew on board, but few of those ever translate into personal service. What was personal in the past, and actually was one of the delights of BA over some of its competitors, was the odd quip/joke/etc that you got whilst negotiating your coffee/tomato juice/G&T/dodgy biscuit.

I'm OK with the possibility of having an interaction-free journey. Indeed, I note that, what with online check-in and automated passport control, if you have minimal or no stuff to be scanned at the security check, you can probably do the whole thing end-to-end without any human interaction if you wanted to, making it exactly like travelling by train or tube.

The point was more that the whole experience is still presented in its old, full-service wrapper (what with the marketing, and the announcements etc), and at certain times in the journey the crew still behave as though it had been (fullsome farewells at the door) - but more often than not (at least for me - ymmv) what actually takes place feels much more like the self-sufficient anonymity of the British Rail journey than the engaging interactivity of BA shorthaul in times gone by.

And the realisation on my last flight that the crew had at no point exchanged a single syllable with me, nor made any eye-contact whatsoever, made me question why I was still in auto-pilot mode of saying "Thanks and goodbye" as I left. I still did, mind you, I just wondered why...

DrBernardo

It's true - I draw the line at a kiss on each cheek for the crew. Three kisses for the skipper, of course. No tongues.

FrancisA

I do detect a certain rose tinted aspect to this. I can't say on a full LGW-JER flight before BoB the crew would have any time to stop and talk. The same was true on many other DOM and Band 1/2 routes.

The reality as always is money. BA are not imposing this in their customers - they are giving their customers what they are prepared to pay for.

CE is now an excellent product (unless you are very tall or obsessed with size for some reason). ET is a modern Y product - I.e. designed with Generation EasyJet in mind.

I am personally much more inclined to fly CE and I suspect full and large CE cabins reflect the fact that plenty of others also appreciate its value.

I am sorry but I think the idea that before BoB the crew spent hours attending to Y pax every need is just nostalgia for something that really didn't exist.

BA6948

Luckily it still exists with some other legacy airlines. I can still have some interaction with AF, KL, LX or LH.

headingwest

Something tells me that perhaps you have a pair of those rose tinted glasses too if you think CE is an excellent product from somewhere like Madrid or Vienna (ex-band 3s). I would suggest that you take a look at what other airlines have to offer.

Regarding economy class, I don't think anyone was suggesting that crew should spend hours attending to passengers every needs. The point being made, which is a very valid one, is that there is very little interaction (if any at all) with those who don't want to spend money on BoB products.

makin'miles

Sorry, its not.

Even comparing to several European business class competitors, seat comfort isn't great, legroom is poor even for those of moderate height, and catering is often lousy (if BA manage to cater a meal at all).

Compare more broadly (including to airlines that compete with BA head-to-head on longer CE routes like IST), and its frankly nowhere near excellent. At all.

World Traveller Fuss

Improve it with free drinks and snacks.

Charge for a choice of fresh, hot food. Maybe booze too if that's the stickler.

Pair with wifi coming (as mentioned in Capital Markets presentation) and you have a compelling economy product. For PAR at least 😜