kai.lileboo

After almost a year, last week I flew BA again BCN-LHR.
I booked a cheap eco fare, wih 0 bags, 0... so after the payment and confirmation it all started: BA kept sending me every 2-3 days e-mails for this and that....
The check in was not open until after 24h before the flight and it took me almost 5, to complete...as apis required
Then the seats: I was assigned 17A but wanted to change it. BA wanted 16€ or more for another standard seat, even though the check in was already in process!
The cabin crew was layz and stupid!
The plane was half empty after row 15.
We were delayed (of course LHR!!!) and the flight took us more than 2hrs iso 1,25. Our flight path was in an L, first till Bilbao /left/ then up towards Brest and once in front of London, again holding.
Once in front of the gate (T3) waiting for more than 10' to be able to park.
LHR is defenitely the worst airport in the world!
The seats are not comfortable at all, there is just enough pitch, but the seatback is very straight...
Cabin crew passed through the cabin only 2, and BA now does not offer even a free glass of water.
What is the point still flying regular airlines, as they do not offer anything extra, but charge much more extra than others.
BA is definitely not what it once was.
I am happy I don't have to fly them again, there is no need to. And if I wanted to go somewhere, I would look around first!
By the way: I got an SMS to share my experience... another waste of time!

bhbloke

Careful with comments like that, saying the pitch is just enough means it'll be Cruzified in the next cost cutting round!

cattp

Does this really need its own thread? We've heard this same complaint over and over...

christiang7

BA's seating policy is very clear. If you buy HBO, you have to pay to change the assigned seat.

Could you please elaborate as to why the cabin crew was 'lazy and stupid'

Delays happen at every airport, I often fly out of and into LHR with no delay...BA has no control over being placed in a holding pattern. I can assure you there are many airports that rank 'worse' than LHR. There are also many other airports in London to which you can fly to Barcelona from

Again, BA's food and beverage policy in economy is very clear now. You can get a glass of water for free, just not bottled water. If the crew did 2 runs on a short haul flight, I dont think you have anything to complain about

While I agree with you BA arent what they once were and offer a drastically reduced service, they are much more price competitive now and compete with LCC on short haul routes.

I'm glad you don't have to fly them again and since you are so unhappy, at least there you have the choice to fly with another airline next time.

millionmiler

That's a big statement. In what way was the crew stupid?

LHR is not the worst airport in the world. Not even close.

Danusa86

While everything is very clear, and I agree with the posts above I still think £30/€35 for a checked bag on a HBO fare is way, way too much. How is that even justifiable? As BA Gold I've booked an HBO fare as I thought I didn't need a bag, now I realized I need one and they charge that amount of money. Quite outrageous.

Smid

I object to the term Low Cost Carrier, Easyjet and Ryanairs biggest marketing victory was to get people to refer to them as that.

They, (sometimes like BA), are only Low Cost Carriers if you fly at 6am on a Wednesday morning. For instance, if I want to fly the likes of Wizzair from Birmingham to Budapest during the School holidays, we're talking £300 return. That's without even a space in the overhead (only really small hand luggage is free). Same with any "LCC" on a Friday evening, Sunday evening, or Monday morning...

V10

Some justified, some not.

- Cheap fare comes with no bells and whistles. Not news. Plenty of other airlines out there offering similar cheap fares that don't include checked bags. BA's good at sending emails for stuff you don't need to worry about and hopeless at emailing when you DO need to know something.
- APIS is a legal requirement. Can't really complain about that. It's stored in the system if you're flying regularly in your BAEC profile so in theory only needs entering once.
- to select a seat costs a lot more than that on long haul. You can avoid paying for it by being a fancy pants high tier BAEC member; these are the only people BA even remotely cares about and even that is debateable.
- Crew comment. Not justified. At all.
- LHR. It's operating at full capacity but the UK is stuffed full of people who hate any idea of further development. This means delays are inevitable. Oh and it's not the worst airport in the world as others have said. Nowhere near.
- Seats. I agree. They were announced to great fanfare here but I find them uncomfortable and cramped. They might look nice but it's all rather similar to putting lipstick on a pig.

BA isn't what it was. Neither are many other airlines because what they offer is constantly changing in response to economic and market demands. The stupid thing, as a customer, is not being prepared to respond to these things yourself when it makes no sense to stick with the same approach. If that means flying with someone else, then you're doing the right thing.

ba_cityflyer

British Airways are in no way a low cost carrier.

They are a high cost, high fare, low service carrier.

It's akin to the Savoy Hotel swapping out their posh toiletries for one of those squeezy all-in-one bottles bolted to the wall you find in a Holiday Inn Express - it doesn't make them low-cost, it just makes them a bit rubbish.

Oxon Flyer

Just for context, how much did you pay ?

obduro

This is a very odd thread, not sure if troll. Most of your complaints aren't really justified.

You paid for the cheapest economy fare but are complaining you were charged for seat selection - this is the terms and conditions of the ticket, if you would like free seat selection at check in, select the appropriate ticket.

You could have completed this in advance and saved yourself time, this is pretty standard for all airlines

Not justified

What relevance?

Delays at LHR are not BA's fault. And is this a complaint about the flightpath?

Not BA's fault

There are a lot worse airports I assure you.

With due respect, you are flying economy.

What stopped you asking?

You pay your money and make your choice.

Other than buy on board I'm not sure why this is the basis for a complaint, you could have solved half the issues by carefully looking at the ticket type and selecting one based on your needs rather than what was cheapest.

lost_in_translation

Slightly OT and maybe the non-premium experience is very different, but I think as long as you're not doing a connection from say T3 to T5 that LHR is actually quite a good airport for its size. Most of the complaints ignore the fact that it's superior to almost every one of its Western peer group (JFK, LAX, MIA, CDG, FRA, etc.). Yes, it's no SIN/HND/HKG, but no airport in the Western world of similar size is.

Ancient Observer

I'm not sure that one can describe CC as lazy and stupid. To properly observe behaviours that might be described as lazy and stupid, one needs more time than this very short flight.
In fact, might I suggest that the writer is being rather lazy and stupid by describing what s/he saw in those terms?

South London Bon Viveur

Not it's not the worst in the world any respect. And in some respects, with some of the terminals, it is up there with the best. That said, I cannot think of many major airports in any developed countries (and certainly not in Europe) that have LHR's level of delays. We all know why it is, and of course there is nothing direct that BA can do about it, but when it comes to punctuality in the category modern airport in developed world, it might just be amongst the worst...?

corporate-wage-slave

Subjectively, I would say AMS isn't great, though that is more weather related. And for very similar reasons, at the other end of the canal, LCY.