Originally Posted by
bizgeez
I don't understand why Y in BA on those 11hr+ flights is so poor. For the BA crews on here, maybe they could enlighten us. My last QF flight in Y was to SIN and the service was indeed impressive for economy, and included hot towels, menus, ice creams, mid-flight snack kits, a choice of continental or full English breakfast before arrival etc. Maybe all this seems quite trivial, but after several long flights on BA, it seemed that longhaul Y was simply an endurance test! No, it's that BA chooses not to offer much more than the basics, not even menus. JAL are also very good in Y on their long sectors, and give 'mere' Y passengers a good service. Another good one is Singapore Airlines, who seem to be out in the cabin all the time.
Don't get me wrong, BA are a lot better than any American carrier, for example, and do well in Europe, but they do short change passengers on those ultra long flights, with the crews doing the minimum and the product being no more than a free drink and a hot meal. Would be interesting to see why.
Hmmmmm. Qantas is a fantastic airline. I've flown them and really enjoyed the service I received down the back (from BNE-LAX before I worked for BA). You're right, they do offer more. The problem, I think, is that BA have gone from being a (or THE) leader to a follower. We used to set the trends for new products, service standards etc. Now, sadly, we're cutting back as much as we can to save money.
That said, I don't think the company is adverse to change and I really do believe that with enough complaints from customers (god knows they don't listen to the crew) the company will improve the offering down the back.
Problem is, nobody complains (in writing). People will rant and rave but when it comes to putting pen to paper, it seldom happens (regarding the onboard service in terms of quantity and quality of food/drink provided).
I encourage my customers to do it. When I hand out the appalling afternoon meal down the back after a 10 hour LAX flight and see the customers' faces drop, I'll encourage them to write in. It's much harder for us crew to deliver a second full service, but we're in this job to serve the customer and ensure they get value for money.
SO I guess that, in answer to the question "why [is] Y on those 11+ hour flights so poor", I guess the answer can only be "because we can get away with it". But for how long?