Also said that there were 28,000 bags now without their owners at LHR!!
This continues to be the most confusing part of the whole affair. Supposedly the situation with baggage has been improving since day 1, and BA are "dealing with the backlog", but every time a number is posted it's considerably larger than before - which would suggest exactly the opposite.
On the other hand I'm not actually seeing a lot of stories of people who have had their bag "lost" and of those who have, some have already been reunited - which implies that actually BA's version of events isn't that far from the truth after all.
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Not wishing to veer too far OT, but with respect to HIDDY's post (and what a diplomat you are, senor!) referencing national loyalty, I shall have a chance to test it out today.
Am flying with US Airways - lucky me - and I suspect I will hear very few (perhaps less than one) pax say 'I feel so pleased to fly with US, it means a lot to me to do so'. If I do hear any such comments or sober expressions of similar ebullience, I'll get back to you. But don't wait up.
I would say it is not only my view uk1 although I do not claim my view is correct for all,I'm far too broadminded for that.
I doubt very much then if the fiasco at T5 will dent the popularity of those you believe fly BA through national loyalty, if they feel that strong an attachment to the flag then they shall continue to fly BA.
I believe BA ditched the Britishness of the airline years ago somewhat controversially with the ethnic designed tailfins as they thought and I quote “The company's intention, replacing the traditional Union flag tailfin with something more modern, was to create a cosmopolitan feeling airline, not one trading on past glories of the Empire”. They wanted to attract more passengers, UK ones as well as foreign nationals whom they believed were being put off by the snooty image BA had at the time.
I am sure BA are far more worried about losing the non-nationalistic passengers to be honest.
But they misjudged it then as you are now, and the enormous outcry had the tailfin issue reversed at great expense and embarrassment! And I never said that the number of people buying through conscious patriotism was large - just that they exist - whereas it is your postion that they do not exist at all.
Back to your point. What you were saying was that the flag - or patriotism - had no part whatsoever in any passenger purchasing process currently or in the future, and as you cannot possibly know what caused every passenger to buy or will buy, it has to be incorrect.
If a Brit had a choice of two tickets from two airlines all other elements of the offer being equal - then if more than 50% chose BA and we were then able to get some answers - we'd know what part of the sub-conscious element of ingrained patriotism holds. And with the reduction of differentials the purely emotive element of the decision (which I feel is larger than you think) becomes even more important.
Anyway - don't wish to bore others so I'm happy to let this cul-de-sac remain simply a difference of opinion.
Also said that there were 28,000 bags now without their owners at LHR!!
I was somewhat dissapointed to see how ill-informed most of the MP's were in their questions. None of them appeared to have heard WW accept full responsibility and several asked for BAA to be fired because of the T5 debacle. Kramer indicated that BA and BAA were blaming the lack of a 3rd runway for the situation - something that no-one has said. Another asked for Fitzpatrick to ask BAA not to cancel flights to Scotland. Why on earth do they think BAA decided which flights to cancel at T5. And Fitzpatrick corrected none of these misaprehensions.
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Are they not just using the situation the their advantage, i.e. ammunition for the breakup of BAA as well as the third runway arguments (for or against).
That's usually how these things work with MPs, isn't it?
Last edited by jbfield; Mar 31, 08 at 11:39 am.
Reason: PMs to MPs (I think it's time to go home!)...NB. FT hasn't updated GMT to BST.
Are they not just using the situation the their advantage, i.e. ammunition for the breakup of BAA as well as the third runway arguments (for or against).
That's usually how these things work with PMs, isn't it?
(MPs!) Some of it - but one was the head of the Transport Committee (Dunwoodey) - the other simply wanted the 3rd runway killed (MP for Richmond) and the other a Scottish MP with no interest in BAA - just hopelessly ill informed.
EDITED TO ADD: WW on Sky News tonight being interviewed by Jeff Randall. Should be .... errr ummm ..... interesting?!
Perhaps the architect did not want to diminish his 'calm' terminal design with such common clutter?
This attitude is also a reason why some terminals have poor customer wayfinding signage-- so that brightly lit signs do not detract from the purity and clean lines of the terminal-- customers be damned!
Ah yes, the architect's motto: Form Before Function
On the other hand I'm not actually seeing a lot of stories of people who have had their bag "lost" and of those who have, some have already been reunited - which implies that actually BA's version of events isn't that far from the truth after all.
Just some anecdotal evidence. We returned from skiing in Canada this morning. There were plenty of people at our resort who had arrived on BA flight that left London on (I think) Friday without any bags at all. It was the talk of the shops in the resort, as so many people had been in to buy replacement ski kit. Lots of families on Easter holiday ski trips of course. I spoke to one family who had arrived initially with no bags. But two of their four bags had been delivered 24 hours later. Unfortunately the other two were not showing at all on the on line tracing system they had been told to use. They were remarkably philosophical about it all.
Our trip back through T5 this afternoon was smooth enough. CSD on flight was trying to be reassuring, saying that she had heard it was all getting better. We were amongst the first off and with no one to follow, a little group of us got a bit lost finding our way to arrivals and were initially a bit non plussed by the shuttle. It was really deserted and the flow was not that intuitive so with no one to direct us we kept having to stop and squint at the signs. We found it more amusing than annoying though. It was about an hour total from plane to car including picking up four bags and one set of skis, which I thought was fairly normal. Had to queue a bit for lifts to car park although there were plenty of staff organising the queues and directing us in to the lifts. Terminal looks very nice if a little characterless. But who needs character as long as it is (eventually) efficient.
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Apparently, 50 flights will be cancelled on Tuesday, and 50 flights on Wednesday.
- and I suspect I will hear very few (perhaps less than one) pax say 'I feel so pleased to fly with US, it means a lot to me to do so'. If I do hear any such comments or sober expressions of similar ebullience, I'll get back to you. But don't wait up.
