G-BOAC

I've had that response from all the fleets on BA I think - both as a joke which then gets clarified and, sadly, as 'the' response. I've had both good and bad MF experiences by now, but for the record this one isn't MF-specific!

I flew with one of the training CSMs recently - a thoroughly nice chap and extremely dedicated. He spent a lot of time in F chatting with me and some other passengers. Feedback, feedback, feedback - that's pretty much what he said. If you don't feedback examples to BA in a constructive way, things can't get passed on and improved.

BingBongBoy

This is usually the case... When I joined BA, my first flight was a Moscow... So, it would either scare me away and I would leave, or I would get it all in one go...

But in all seriousness, yes... We are usually put on some longer sectors on our first days flying, so, as you point out, we get get to grips with things. No point putting us on a MAN or CDG where we just stand there wondering what to do and getting in everyones way etc...

luitje

Oh, that explains a whole lot to me - I've always been wondering why younger members of crews on MH routes are always extremely enthusiastic on the outbound leg and seem completeley knackered on the inbound. Never realized this might well be their very first experience in the job.
Now that I know I promise to give my full attention to safety instructions on such BA routes. I appreciate it must be bloody discouraging (especially to a newby) to do these demos while nobody on board pays attention.

Andriyko

Looks like we flew on the same day!
I agree that the cabin crew were not at their best. I knew this would be the case based on the 'unwelcoming' welcome the CSM delivered upon boarding. I don't know how this person can motivate anyone when she is not motivated herself - I hope she simple was having a bad day and is a nicer/more attentive person otherwise.
I think it was the first day on the job for at least one of the girls in ET as she was clearly learning to do things on the spot (the guy was explaining how to do duty free etc.).
I agree that no one is asking whether you're going to eat anymore (I usually don't) and just hand you a tray (without even looking at you so they are suprised when you have not taken the tray).
As for the wine - it's either red or white so it's not like you have a great choice The new Spanish red is quite nice by the way.

I don't think there is really anything to complain about to BA. It's not the cabin crew were rude to you. As I said, I don't think they were the best but they were polite and pleasant enough. They may just be new. But I blame the CSM - with low load in CE she could have and should have been more present in ET.

Maybe your expectations were a bit higher after flying CE but ET is usually good enough. And sometimes BA only puts two members of teh cabin crew in ET (shame!) and poor guys just cannot cope with full load, so I would not expect too much from them when they have a whole plane to feed...

Littlegirl

Mixed Fleet is a new fleet that BA have set up on lesser terms and conditions and lower pay than the current WW and E/F cabin crew. They are called Mixed Fleet because they fly on both longhaul routes, on the 777 and 747, and on shorthaul flights, on the Airbus. All new crew will go onto this new fleet and it will steadily grow as other crew retire, leave or take part time.

AYellowBelly, You need to write in, you can do this on BA.com(contact us at bottom of page) and give your feedback. I personally feel that, that kind of service is shocking and as these crew are just out of training, very surprising. Whatever fleet it is, I always think you should feed back good and bad issues. Good things being fed back really makes crew feel motivated and bad things do need to be pointed out to BA, so that it can be addressed during training.

2Fly2Serve

I was on this flight also. Thought this might be a good example to give some constructive feedback for that crew/mixed fleet if you can think of some examples?

No5

NRT is very unlikely to be operated by the new CC who speak Japanese as the current ICC operate to the same agreements as WW. BA can't make them redundant either as it's against the law.

When NRT went from 2 x daily to 1 x daily some years ago BA wanted to utilise the NRT ICC on other routes from LHR but the union was against it. Instead the NRT ICC had to accept a part-time contract as BA were unable to make them redundant.

AYellowBelly

Complaint submitted... let's see what BA have to say.

ColdWalker

Like most airlines, BA make a point of saying to keep your seatbelt showing so they don't disturb you. The implication to me is that they want to leave you alone if you are sleeping. So, like you, I would be pretty fed up to have been woken twice. Maybe you could have asked the CC not to wake you, but that should only be belt and braces.

Quite right to give feedback to BA, especially if the CC was curt with othe pax.

Lite

I'm really sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your flight with some of my colleagues on Mixed Fleet, and as has been encouraged by other members of the board (both other customers as well as colleagues on different fleets), please keep sending your thoughts back to BA - both well done emails, as well as constructive criticism.

I can tell you that the service you received is definitely not how we've been trained. All Mixed Fleet crew undergo a wine awareness course, so although we're not going to be sommeliers, you should at least be presented with the name of the wine, and if applicable the vintage and if you know it, the region. There's a distinct discouragement of using "red or white?" as it does not sound premium. Similarly, customers should be allowed to sleep and only woken up if their seatbelt isn't visible, although most regular travellers are good for keeping seatbelts visible and it is mentioned in the CSM's welcome announcement. I'm unsure why you were woken up for drinks and meals if you were clearly asleep, it isn't in the service standard to wake people. Menus are not always loaded as standard on Club Europe in certain bands, so this may be the reason that they weren't handed out on your flight to the OP saying no menus were presented.

Finally with regards to Japan, Mixed Fleet crew operate the Haneda flights and are specifically recruiting British citizened Japanese speakers as there are a high number of Japanese customers onboard. We won't be doing Narita as there are locally based "International Cabin Crew" who are technically Worldwide crew, and we do not work together onboard the aircraft (that sounds a lot worse than it is meant to, sorry). For the same reason, Mixed Fleet is unlikely to do Middle Eastern destinations, Indian destinations, SIN, GRU and MEX where there are local crew bases. Apparently there's a base at Bogota from when we used to fly there, not sure what routes those crew do or if it still does exist but it came up in conversation the other day.

Anyway, please keep feeding back your experiences and happy flying!

AYellowBelly

Got a pretty poor, substance-lacking response....

hammythehammer

you need to remove the employees name from your post ( and you might want to remove your own name !) ^

AYellowBelly

Apologies. Done.

ukflo

Sorry, but what were you expecting? I think this is a pretty good response. The problem acknowledged, action taken via the line manager and an apology... ^?

Hubbabridge

Not quite sure what you were expecting really: the crew member to be sacked or a free rtw ticket?