I'm in sunny Houston for the next couple of weeks for a business team meeting.

There are about 20 people who have traveled over for it and who have probably taken something like 100 transatlantic trips in Club between them this year.

When we got together on Monday, we started with the casual conversation around how the trip over had gone.

Almost to a man (and woman), all had issues with BA and spoke with some passion on how poor BA were. IFE, delays and cancellations, the general level of cabin food and service, poor or variable crews, poor service recovery and the generally tatty state of the cabin were key issues that came up consistently.

The general view was that CO, the main competitor on the route were better in almost every way, except for the fact that BA had a flat bed and so they could get some sleep on the way home.

The most depressing thing was that there was little to disagree with. I've probably experienced most of their issues on my BA trips this year.

There is a corporate deal in place that has BA as the preferred supplier on this route. Offer customer choice to the travelers and I'm sure that a good proportion of them would walk.