uk1

As a person who has flown as much as you, you will know that when things start to go wrong they always seem to form an orderly course of events because - and not in any way trivialising any individual thing you said in your OP - but once they go wrong it's natural we become in an increasing state of dissapointment and negative anticipation. It's natural.

Shouldn't have happened. I fly a lot less than you but my BA experience has been almost the exact opposite and shared by many others. I'd put this down to a bad experience and give it another shot. At least next time you won't be called up to the desk ......

Can I help you

BA has a system in place where we proactively contact a customer to welcome them onboard and check if there are aware of what is available to them on that flight in that cabin.
We will also speak to them if they have reached a new tier level in the Executive Club or if the system shows that they flew a lot with us in the past and haven’t flown with us for a while.
Like everything it depends on perception and also how a message is delivered, when we speak to these customers we give any feedback the customer gives us back to BA.
I personally have always found that my customer’s appreciate these welcomes and that they feel that BA cares about them.
Please don’t write us off after one flight, you say that you want to like BA so please have an open mind for your return journey.
I hope that you enjoy your time in Jamaica and that your return journey is better for you.

Smirnoff

It sounds like the OP was determined to have a miserable flight for his Ł1000, either before or after the "special welcome" pushed him over the edge.

There could be a million reasons why the crewmember didn't offer her pen - maybe she didn't hear the question, maybe she was in the middle of running an important errand, maybe she had just been asked 10 times for a pen, who knows? I'm quite sure that a trip to the galley and a courteous "excuse me, could I please borrow someone's pen" would have sufficed. Instead of writing on here all about it.

Palmer

Or perhaps just a separate queue/line at the gate - such as BA at Heathrow now employ? Seems to work well there. Passengers can then truly board at their leisure...

Palmer

littlefish

You know what? Tezzer's thread here got me thinking.
What service are CW CC supposed to deliver?

In F, I know you can ask for meals / drinks when you want; and presumably pens by the colour.
But CW? Isn't "service" by time and formula?

A pet peeve of mine is looking at my crockery after finishing eating. But in CW there seems to be a set time-line for collection. A good crew (member) will remove crockery ahead of time, but normal service is it sits there a while.

Just wondering if the OP saw 'routine' CW service, but without any warmth; as opposed to bad CW service. Begging the question if CW service is now a notch below KLM and the likes?
I would encourage the OP to make this point in any comms to BA CR, if I'm reading it right.

HighLife

As someone said up-thread, this just sounds like a 'bad service' flight. They happen, though very rarely in my experience.

For someone who flies so much I really think the OP is being over-sensitive about the welcome to his first BA CW flight. Just see it as a nice gesture and don't take it personally. Let's face it, if the OP's last BA business class flight was fifteen years ago that would have put him in the old cradle seat, which wasn't BA CW as we know it now anyway.

I'm down in EBB now and flew CW down last Friday. It was a stand-out flight and a ba.com/welldone was filed for the CSD Jane as soon as I arrived at my hotel here. On exiting the 'plane I told her that she was a credit to the airline. It was an absolute pleasure to fly with her and her crew, and the old 767 with the 1st generation seating didn't matter a jot (I quite like old CW anyway and don't need the extra room in NCW). The welcome on board was warm from the outset and there was a pen when I needed one for the Ugandan immigration form... in fact she had a handful of them when handing out the forms which I thought was a jolly nice touch. The food was decent and the wines about as good as can be expected for a J cabin. IFE worked just fine and sleep came easily.

I've flown KLM, Qatar, Kenya and Ethiopian J down here over the last year and if the fares were always as competitive with BA then BA would win hands down on the basis of this flight alone (it's a pity they are not always competitive and that I don't have access to a corporate deal )

This CSD reminded me just how good BA is when the team is led by someone who is really proud of their job (her crew were great too, it's just that she did hog the limelight ... those of you who might know her won't be surprised!) and the very prominent person I was flying with in 1J was blown away by BA on this occasion... that will do no harm to the airline given the circles he moves in.

That said, sorry the OP had a bad experience. I would give BA another try given you get those experiences on every airline apart from select Asian carriers that are so damn consistent they bore me to death...

sunrisegirl

Unfortunately there is insufficient space at the gates/jetties at LGW to allow this.

LHR have different set up for boarding, and (I believe) they also have some gates with two jetties onto the aircraft.

LGW is also about to lose a number of gates for a few years due to refurbishment.

tezzer

I was not determined to have a bad flight, at all. I WANTED to enjoy the experience.

And as for the CC not hearing my question, she did, and responded with a curt "no".

Every day is a school day, and one thing I have learned today is not to criticiseBA, in here at least !

jplondon

I agree.

HighLife

Don't let anyone here put you off posting. This place would be dull as ditch water if we didn't have to put up a robust defence occasionally... it's character-building, like those school days you referred to.

rossmacd

[snip]

Please keep posting your comments on future BA fights - fairly often BA do not meet the levels of expectation that their marketing blurb describes.

sunrisegirl

Hi Tezzer
I've tried to explain the policy about the welcome and the boarding procedure - both issues which you were unhappy with. But so far I've not seen you comment about those.

Now that they've been explained I'd be interested to know if your thoughts have changed on those particular aspects of service. Thanks

Jenbel

Yes, that's entirely the point of it

Sorry you've been on the receiving end of it when making an entirely legitimate observation.

Prospero

Folks,

I wish to make it clear, this thread is not the place to express your views on the dynamics of FT and the BA forum. So please treat this as one further and final request to stick to the topic.

Prospero
Moderator: BAEC forum

tezzer

Ok, I'll bite.

The welcome, in my opinion was perhaps well meant, but as a very Frequent flier I found it a little patronising, being told what to expect as it was my first time in a Club cabin. As someone who fortunately or otherwise travels in the premium cabins of major airlines on a virtually weekly basis, I knew what to expect, thank you. BA know what programmes I am in, and at what level, it does not take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that I fly "a bit". Had the, very polite, lady told me to expect mediocre service, and a general air of disdain from the CC, it would have been nearer the mark, but I digress.

As for boarding, as explained, as soon as the screen said "boarding" I was on my toes. By the time I had gone from the 4th floor to the 3rd, it was "last call", and by the time I was a minute from the gate, it was "gate closing". Hussein Bolt couldn't have made it to the priority boarding if he had been having a coke in the lounge. Although to be honest, he was more likely to be flying Virgin Upper class than BA Club World.