An article on CBS Marketwatch, reporting on the supposed talks between BA and KLM, suggests that "Rod Eddington, British Air's new boss, is eager to change the airline's image of taking economy-class passengers for granted. Fully 85 percent of the airline's customers fly economy. Under former executive Bob Ayling, first- and business-class passengers were given the priority. 'There is a strong awareness at the top of BA that economy passengers think we no longer value them,' an unidentified company source told the Mail, adding: 'This will be corrected.'"

It's definitely true that B.A. (actually, both the airline and Bob Ayling himself) has in recent years made it abundantly clear that it doesn't give a fig about its long-suffering economy passengers. The airline's attitude towards eco passengers--no matter how loyal, no matter how much or how often they fly--has been nothing short of haughty. I hope this really is a genuine sign of a new attitude. The premium cabins may fill up when the global economy's booming, but when push comes to shove (as it inevitably will), the economy passengers will always be there, even when they're business passengers flying under tighter budgets---and no airline should take them so much for granted as BA has in recent years. With the possible exception of Virgin (which has similar problems), I can't think of an airline frequent flyer program so systematically stacked against economy passengers--principally with the tier points system--as the Exec Club.

But I wonder if this report is accurate, and if so what sorts of changes they have in mind.