starlight

Ok, don't bite my head off!!

I know I don't write a lot on here but I got so fed up I have put fingers to keys. Please don't think this is just a rant, but I would be interested as to what everyone thinks and what we might all do about it (any lurkers?), if you guys and gals agree with me:

I am very lucky and always fly in First (or CE) - sorry, it's true- and so have the gold card, the miles (what use are they!) but I have come to the conclusion, after more than 20 years of being a loyal (and I mean bloody loyal) BA customer that I am astonished BA are in what is supposed to be a service industry.

Can I just start, however, by thanking all the staff who are on the 'old' contracts (you know what I mean) and suggest that new staff/agency workers, etc. think about living up to the ideals that once made BA great. Mind you, I don't think they reward staff any more...

Those of you who have never flown First, don't get excited. I think we all know that quality of a flight depends on the crew and it seems to me that there is about a 1 in 5 chance nowadays of getting a crew member who give a damn about a pax. On my recent flights, the food was awful (so bad the CSD asked me to fill out a questionnaire he then stapled to his in-flight report), the IFE hardly ever works (made to change seats on every flight recently to watch safety video) and the crew were just not up to it.

If I hear another crew member moan about getting 10 pax on at once and not being able to do drinks...I tried this with friends at a dinner party the other day and managed to take orders and deliver drinks on my own in 6 minutes. They never have the right size sleeper suits and when flying to SYD they never change your suit at refuelling (ok, minor point!).

I am also fed up of hearing crew members going on about how hard they work - I used to be a junior doctor and I worked an average of 110 hours a week: they do an 11 flight and sleep for some of it; what the hell is SO difficult??? Don't give me the safety crap - I did aviation medicine and know a lot more than the crew about it (sounding arrogant am I? Sorry).

Sorry, I now feel I am ranting.

To sum up: we pay a lot of money for an F or A class ticket and the service we get is simply not reflected in the price. There is nothing luxurious about it and it does NOT live up to what ba.com says about it. It is obvious when greeted by the crew on the 'old' contract and they are a vanishing breed - the ones I have spoken to are ashamed at how BA is going. Bring back the days when the pax was important - please!