Passmethesickbag

My travel on BA between 1989 and 2011 was to infrequent to be significant - I have noted how dirty the planes have been during the last few years, but not presumed that I'd seen enough to be able to pronounce on it being a pattern. However, now that the Continental lunatics have taken over the United asylum, I have sacked Star Alliance except for when they are significantly cheaper and/or more convenient, given that I have lifetime Gold status whether I fly with them or not, taken up the AA EXP status match, and begun to see a lot more of BA (this obviously coincides with the disappearance of BD as an alternative out of LHR). There is a lot to like - many aspects of T5, including the F lounge, the cheerfulness and helpfulness of most employees, and even the fact that notwithstanding the cutbacks in short-haul catering, BA still looks better than most competitors. One issue remains though: The aircraft really *are* uniformly *filthy* - carpets, seats, trays, the lot. The only cleaning that has manifestly been done is a cursory wiping of the loos and removing most of the litter from the seat pockets. I never saw anything like this on BD, certainly not on LH, but also not on more exotic *A partners such as SA and TK. UA, famously, transformed their fleet from filthy to tidy by introducing an inflight survey that helped them pinpoint which aircraft needed a deep cleaning the most. But BA... good Lord! In my flight today, an American lady in my row (in Y) refused to accept her drink until the FA brought her a wet towel. After simply wiping her tray, all the encrusted filth (which adhered to all other trays I could see, including mine) disappeared - it obviously hadn't seen water let alone detergent in many a day (I am not even going to try to describe what the towel looked like after the operation).

Why is BA the Struwwelpetter of European airlines? Looking at everything else - hub terminal, lounges, mileage earning, onboard catering, seat quality etc - they clearly have stayed clear of the lowest common denominators. Surely cleaning can't be that expensive compared to the rest of what they do? Are they not doing it, or do they not care whether the cleaning it gets done or not? I would be more sympathetic if it applied to cleaning out of outstations, but aircraft leaving LHR, too, look like they have not been cleaned properly or at all for many many days.

DYKWIA

Paragraphs, paragraphs!

eddyegghead

Passmethesickbag

My apologies, I forget that you've all been force-fed the Daily Mail for years - I haven't, and therefore I do not add a carriage return after each full stop. But I've added one for your comfort and convenience.

sunrisegirl

I think they were only saying it as it's quite difficult to read all in one block like that. Thanks for amending it.

Nothing to do with the Daily Mail.

Stez

Agreed that BA planes, both LH and SH needs a good clean, and a system to keep it in that state.

Flown bmi last week, and it was surprisingly clean, this was obvious without even looking for faults.

I hope BA will learn lessons from bmi in this regard and apply it to BA to remove the grime, filth and general mess.

travelfan199

I agree.

I think the cleaners are rushed to achieve an on time departure.

I flew to Madrid in Feb on one of the new A320s, and it already looked a bit dirty & tatty.

DYKWIA

Fair enough... I didn't get past the first sentence as my eyes were hurting. So, no idea what your rant was about (assuming it was a rant).

angatol

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IAMORGAN

Grow up, people.

Yes, standards have slipped: I think it's to do with cost.

Fruitcake

But presumably the other airlines the OP refers to have to consider costs too?

bwaflyer

And bear in mind that on most bmi short haul flights, the cabin crew have cleaned the plane.

angatol

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45128

The OP had more or less gained my support for his ideas - until his latest rude rant. I wonder if that was really necessary?

binkydoodle

I travelled in First to IAD a few weeks ago and it was filthy.

It looked like some maintenance had been done as there were dirty hand prints all over the roof and overhead baggage bins. Loads of them!

The windows were filthy - I used my hot towel to clean them - and there were horrible stains down the fabric next to the bulkhead.

But the final insult was the glob of bogey smeared down the back of the seat in front of me.

Not nice.