Why do you fly BA?

Old Feb 23, 2013, 1:19 am
  #1  
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Why do you fly BA?

Hello all.

I've flown on ba mainly to the states as there is a real lack of alternatives to get to Denver direct. I've flown in y and j on ba and never really rated them as an airline. My gripes:

1. Paying for extra bags and the 23kg limits (I get 30kg as standard on EK and 62 if I'm in F)

2. The cabin crew. In my experiences they are pretty uptight. For example, the whole headphones issue and electronic devices thing...one time in j the steward was outright rude. In y they are very rude. My general y experience on ba has been poor with service. I do find the seat ok though.

3. J seat. I m just not a fan compared with the 380 or 777 on ek. Sitting rear facing in the middle means when the divider comes down you get to eyeball the front facing pax! Service has been ok but nothing amazing. I also have mixed service ok ek j so that's a crew dependent issue I guess.

4. Customer service. This is my biggest issue! Extortionate charges to move a flight then on check in in the states they did it free....seems so rigid and unreasonable.

Having flown Qatar, ek and sq I feel BA has a lot of catching up to do in the above areas.

Am I missing something with ba? Happy for you to prove me wrong but I only fly with them now if there is no decent alternative, happily for me I'm based in dxb so I can stick with ek.

Tin hat on!

M3
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 1:29 am
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I fly BA because they are part of oneworld.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 1:33 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by m3red
Hello all.

I've flown on ba mainly to the states as there is a real lack of alternatives to get to Denver direct. I've flown in y and j on ba and never really rated them as an airline. My gripes:

1. Paying for extra bags and the 23kg limits (I get 30kg as standard on EK and 62 if I'm in F)

2. The cabin crew. In my experiences they are pretty uptight. For example, the whole headphones issue and electronic devices thing...one time in j the steward was outright rude. In y they are very rude. My general y experience on ba has been poor with service. I do find the seat ok though.

3. J seat. I m just not a fan compared with the 380 or 777 on ek. Sitting rear facing in the middle means when the divider comes down you get to eyeball the front facing pax! Service has been ok but nothing amazing. I also have mixed service ok ek j so that's a crew dependent issue I guess.

4. Customer service. This is my biggest issue! Extortionate charges to move a flight then on check in in the states they did it free....seems so rigid and unreasonable.

Having flown Qatar, ek and sq I feel BA has a lot of catching up to do in the above areas.

Am I missing something with ba? Happy for you to prove me wrong but I only fly with them now if there is no decent alternative, happily for me I'm based in dxb so I can stick with ek.

Tin hat on!

M3
You don't pay extra for bags on BA. If you had your EK status with BA you'd be entitled to 2 bags of 32kg in economy. In business and first you'd get 3 bags.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 1:37 am
  #4  
 
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BAs routes and schedule are convenient for me, pricing is very competitive, the product (W,J) is perfectly acceptable and the frequent flyer scheme works particularly well for me.

When I flew to the Middle East Etihad's routes and schedule were convenient for me, pricing was very competitive, the product was perfectly acceptable and the frequent flyer scheme worked particularly well for me.

Before that, VSs routes and schedule were convenient for me, pricing very competitive, the product (W,J) perfectly acceptable and the frequent flyer scheme worked particularly well for me.

I can't say I am BAs biggest fan and my heart doesn't flutter when I board a BA plane. I'm just mercenary. But then again it is just and airline and we do just fly.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 1:57 am
  #5  
 
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I only fly for leisure and the reason I use BA is for the benefits of Avios collection via other means such as Tesco, the 241 companion voucher, their safety record and that they're a member of OneWorld
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:04 am
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Because they are so much better than anyone else on the DME-LHR Route. Once was *A when BMI were the best on the Route now am OW. Not that I could be *A anymore now BMI have been gobbled up
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:11 am
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Because they're convenient, hands-down the best option from my main two airports (CDG and BOD), I love the fully flat seat and don't mind staring at the neighbour when the partition comes down (it's about 20 minutes each end after all, how inconvenient can you find that?) and mostly the cabin crew are good to excellent. The electronics issue is not regulated by them. And finally, you're not limited to 23, for a fee you can still get your heavier bag. With status, you get two or three, depending on class. Never an issue.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:19 am
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I wasn't aware the divider had to be down for take off and landing. Is that correct?
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:27 am
  #9  
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It doesn't, just for the safety demo.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:29 am
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All my flying is for leisure and paid for by me. I enjoy long haul travel but this represents a fairly considerable outlay of cash whoever I fly with. When I'm spending large sums of money I want to feel a sense of security. I trust BA with safety and I also trust them to deal properly with any issues and problems that may arise (and my experience has borne this out).

However, my local airport is EDI and I will do a direct short haul hop with other airlines if available rather than considerably extending short haul journey time by going via London with BA.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:35 am
  #11  
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1. They are in OneWorld which IMO is the best alliance by a long shot.
2. I like flying through LHR because I like the lounges, the plane spotting and Terminal 5.
3. I dont particularly like flying through the other European hubs
4. I think EK and QR are overrated (although I am delighted QR are joining OW)
5. They fly to ABZ up to 8 times a day form LHR giving me plenty of connection options
6. I like Club World and remember it was one of the first airlines to offer fully flat beds in business class
7. I am patriotic and like flying with my national carrier

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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:36 am
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The notice on the seat says it must be down for the security briefing. Nothing about take off and landing. I certainly put it up as soon as the briefing is done and haven't had any complaints. Once it's up I'm in my own little world and that's how I like it.

I fly BA because I fly frequently from the UK to many worldwide destinations, so they're the only logical choice for getting status benefits such as lounges. I spend a lot of time in the LHR lounges and I find them very good.

I also like the generous hand baggage allowance (23kg to all - not 7 or 9kg for all as many airlines do) which means I often don't need to check my bag. So even in Y with no status someone can check 23kg and carry 23kg (subject to sizing regulations of course) and I think that compares pretty well with most airlines.

I'm surprised you found CC rude on the headphone issue. I've seen CC ask people (me included!) to comply with this many, many times and the only times I've seen any kind of sharp behaviour has been when the person didn't comply with the first couple of requests. But I guess anyone can have a grumpy day.

I can understand the complaint about pricing changes on BA. As I understand things, BA (and other European airlines) use quite a different pricing model/strategy from US carriers so this is one area they don't match their offering.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:42 am
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Firstly it is not the cabin crew who make the rules and secondly if we make an announcement asking you to comply with the rules and you ignore it we have to make our requests more of a command and I am sure some do not like this.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:43 am
  #14  
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I fly BA because I like the J seat and the brand. It is also great that the BAEC's UUA product allows me to travel consistently in J due to lower average price per sector than always travelling with the cheapest carrier on a straight J ticket.

Originally Posted by m3red
4. Customer service. This is my biggest issue! Extortionate charges to move a flight then on check in in the states they did it free....seems so rigid and unreasonable.
It is easy to get confused about what constitutes customer service in reservations and ticketing.

I would argue that good customer service is explaining and adhering to the fare rules.
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Old Feb 23, 2013, 2:49 am
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Originally Posted by Can I help you
Firstly it is not the cabin crew who make the rules and secondly if we make an announcement asking you to comply with the rules and you ignore it we have to make our requests more of a command and I am sure some do not like this.
^
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