SFO777

In other words, BA can do no wrong and even the crappiest service and product will not get you to change. You'll even try to convince yourself that there is no better airline in the world... usually by not flying any other airlines.

Much like Canadians and Air Canada. They love to wave the flag and boast that AC is the best airline in the North America, yet complain about miserable employees, reduced frequent flyer benefits and most recently the US-like elimination of meals on short-haul flights.

Some of us are more open to other experiences and aren't irrationally nationalistic. That you know you'll hate EK before you even try them is so typical of flag wavers. Even if EK is a better experience, you will convince yourself that BA is better.

BotB

As a data point: Canadian. Air Canada is not my preference.

Much prefer BA. Other airlines can be hit or miss, however, one point that may be misinterpreted here is that it may be less nationalistic flag waving and more a cultural feel.

If you hear a familiar accent and fully understand what the person is asking you when being addressed with all of the nuances, along with the way service, hard product and food come with such things then naturally one feels more at 'home' there than on a plane with different expressions, different ideas about what 'decent' looks/tastes like, etc...

Not suggesting one is better than the other, only that British and Gulf state cultures are different as are British and N. American...one may fit your 'taste' and one may fit the British chap in question.

Some people travel for pleasure and to experience other cultures, food, etc...and others are quite happy to stay at home but need to travel for work and just enjoy a bit of home when doing so.

Padmeister

^

That made me laugh! In all fairness i will soon praise EK if they are very good, It will be nice for me to see how amazing there food and service is Apparently

I will report back the Middle of April after i have returned back home

HIDDY

I think we're going round in circles with this one.

One should just accept that there are a multitude of reasons why people stick to flying with certain airlines. Yes some are better than others but I really don't think the majority of normal passengers gives much thought to the service or the product. Judging by what you read on here no sane person would ever fly long haul on Iberia yet millions do.

Price and convenience are the two main factors I would think.

thegoderic

Firstly convenience - being based in the UK and travelling East and West, BA allows me to do that and gain status.

Secondly - flat beds in J

wyvern

Emirates J has a better ground product than BA. The catering is miles better. I prefer the J seat on BA but I like Emirates' bar area at the back of the A380 upstairs - BA has missed a trick not to do something similar on its A380s (and indeed not to do all J upstairs on the A380s IMO). It's great to have a decent area to stretch your legs and meet other pax and it must give the crew more peace in the galleys.

But Emirates service, however polished, is not the same as the service you get from BA cabin crew - and there the known quantity/touch of home probably plays its part. Needless to say, the generally very high standard of BA CSDs adds an extra level of class that I have not seen on an Emirates flight!

Yahillwe

The EK upstairs bar, the J one, reminds me when I was young and we used to fly Pan Am and as we entered the plane, we sat in the semi round seating g had a drink before we were escorted to our seats... The good old times of traveling. I have gone back there for some of their amuse bouche, very good, much better than they have in the front's quasi bar.

BA should incorporate that in their design. Luxury.

BA235

Have I blundered into the Mail online comment section? What is it with the flag/'British'-ness/patriotism/national pride etc? It's only an airline, and if an alternative company - let's call them Emirates - held the position that BA does at LHR vis a vis network, FFP et al I am sure I wouldn't be the only one that would be using them. Being British (which, for my sins, I am) has absolutely nothing to do with it. Thank Goodness.

kanderson1965

Whilst believing that there is a choice and would never suggest to deny people of it, it is a bit unfair to criticise British people for supporting a British airline employing British people. Are we not allowed to be patriotic and support our own companies anymore?

TravellerFrequently

Agreed.

Australians are, IME, generally proud of QF and many Americans choose to fly with US carriers. There will always be a large volume of nationals on an airline, for a variety of reasons - e.g. routes, FFPs, language preferences etc - and some who wish to support their national airline.

In Canada, the maple leaf adorns some companies logos (e.g. McDonalds, for some reason) and locally produced goods in Australia are clearly labelled as such, "Proudly Australian" IIRC.

ronin98syu

1. From SFO to Europe, BA offers extensive network throughout Europe. JL doesn't offer any flights to Europe from SFO. We would have to go to Tokyo for that.

2. My partner and I are not a traditional family. We live in the same house, but not married. . We used to be with JL MileageBank. But with JL, if we wanted to pool our mileage together, we would have to prove that we were married and submitted our marriage license - such a traditional and conservative mindset/policy (very much like one of our political parties ) this was back in 2009 and 2010. I started to research other frequent flier mileage and I liked BA's policy/guideline on opening a family account. Now my mom, my partner and I are in the same family account! :-:

3. BA's mileage accrual rate is much more generous than that of JL. Flying WT+, regardless of what fares you pay (except with the award redemption tickets), you will get 110% accrual rate from the mileage you have flown. With JL, if you pay for the discounted PE fare, you would only get 70% of your flown mileage.

4. BA's mileage will never be expired if you have activities going on. We went ahead to apply for the BA Chase card and we didn't have to worry about expiration dates on our mileage.

5. BA is in OneWorld alliance.

6. Flat bed in Club World

7. Love the sound of British English

However, JL offers better services in flights. When you fly JL's PE, regardless of your elite status, you are entitled to use their lounges.

HMPS

^ Yes you are correct, To hate something without trying it out keeps our biases undisturbed. Someone has said travel is fatal to knowledge......how true.

You are partially correct, in that for example millions of people bought GM cars, till "better" ones came around.....pulling GM into bankruptcy. What one needs to remember is that with the globe shrinking, opening minds to new experiences and different peoples that were closed for many reasons will start to thin out these millions that still fly the " home " airlines....in other words equipment, pricing,convenience , and CUSTOMER service will draw them away.

What I glean here is BA crew " makes you feel at home...". What of other nationalities that flies BA, how long will they be able to feel " part of " this population segments. Yes difficult to be all things to all people's, but the ones who can deliver on the most common denominators will win in the long run.

NOTHING wrong with patriosm. ^

BA304

No one seems to fly VS, BE etc for patriotic reasons. Yet they are based in the UK, employ British people and are at least partly British-owned.

kanderson1965

Guilty as charged re VS as I have never needed to fly anywhere they fly to and which BA don't, flown plenty on BE though usually LBA to SOU.

bernardd

I no longer fly London Airways, in fact I'm getting away from the yoke of FF and credit card schemes, choosing more by schedule at a reasonable price than anything else, and switching to cashback cards.

As some will remember I was particularly frustrated by London Airways deceptive to dishonest business practices related to Avios and nothing would delight me more than to find a way to extract value from the 200,000 devalued points I have without having to hand over a lot of dodgy fuel surcharges and telephone booking charges.

I'm thinking of taking several family members to Costa Rico for a few days so wondered what it would cost to trade these Avios for AA flights to Liberia? (For those that don't know, there are some decent resort Hotels in the area)

I go to the London Airways site and it assured me there's no service to LIR, but it does offer flights to the nearest alterantives of San Juan and Managua(!), prompting me to email their customer service to ask:
which elicited the reply:
No Darlin, you weren't even close. Did you paste the standard reply without reading my question?

To those that claim London Airways offers great service I would say it's like the proverbial curates egg - parts of the on-board service can be great. Some of it is downright hopeless.

PS - to kanderson1965 - it's not "a British airline employing British people" - it's a Spanish Company that employs a lot of nationals from across the EU. I could speculate about why there are a not of non-British employees, but I'm darn sure it isn't altruism!