Originally Posted by
CX828
My issue with this is this seems to be a trend with BA if it relates to staff. BA staff system allows employees to standby for each class of service and passengers will then pay accordingly. Obviously Club is a lot more expensive than Economy.
Often on empty flights when cabin crew/pilots know the staff or indeed they are family - they upgrade them once onboard so that they do not have to pay the higher price. this is a breach of their travel policy and should be reported when seen.
Whilst it is not an entitlement, often seat blocks will be done next to higher card holders - and these might have a pax such as above placed in it.
I am all for upgrades - op ups, seat inops, special occasion etc. but to breach their airlines travel policy just brings the overall quality of the cabin down. My last flight had 2 family members from the captain, two family members from first officer, and girlfriend of relief first officer, and wife of the CSM all join the trip - It was a very light load. As they were operating I assume they just moved them up onboard, as expertflyer showed me the seats vacant after flight had closed . . .
Apologies for the lengthy post but I’m just going to clear up a few points you make here.
In a nutshell the most commonly used staff travel tickets at BA can be summarised as “Basic” and “Premium” standby. Each ticket is priced at 10% of the full Y(basic) or J(premium) fare plus any tax. A basic standby ticket entitles you to a seat in Y and a lower onload priority whereas a premium ticket entitles you to a seat in Club (or WTP if Club is full) and a higher onload priority. The difference between ticket prices can be up to £150 when departing the UK (due to higher tax on J fares) but when leaving the US the difference in price is marginal. There are also various other ticket types plus duty travel, BAs staff travel system is very complicated. In any case purchasing a premium standby ticket may still mean you only get a jumpseat because the flight is full, but you will have been onloaded ahead of staff passengers with basic tickets.
If the Captain chooses to upgrade staff travelling on a ANY standby ticket contrary to your belief this is not a breach of BAs staff travel policy so long as they are suitably dressed, do not take an amenity kit etc.
Regarding your point about blocked seats, staff passengers are commonly sat next to cardholders regardless of class/when they were upgraded. This is because on full flights staff seats are allocated last and these “blocked” seats just so happen to be the last free.
I hope you enjoyed your last flight and that the staff travelling on standby were upgraded discreetly and that having them there didn’t “bring the overall quality of the cabin down”. If you were a BA captain would you really make your own family sit in economy?
I will just add that for BA staff travel concessions are part of a remuneration package for what can be a very tough and challenging job. Additionally I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that BA staff will also help each other (within the rules) when they can. For every flight a staff member has in Club they will have endured hours on a jumpseat or had their holiday cut short because the flight the day before went tech.
Deadgiveaway