I am so done with BA
Dec 5, 2013, 12:33 pm
#46
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Dec 5, 2013, 12:41 pm
#47
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Anyway, FlightAware appears to be wrong (and not for the first time). EF correctly shows BA269 and BA268 as high-J 744s both yesterday and today.
Dec 5, 2013, 12:44 pm
#48
Join Date: Apr 2010
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As yesterday's BA269 (the subject of this thread) was delayed by 6 hours, why is this any surprise? The aircraft that operates BA269 then operates BA268 back to LHR.
Anyway, FlightAware appears to be wrong (and not for the first time). EF correctly shows BA269 and BA268 as high-J 744s both yesterday and today.
Anyway, FlightAware appears to be wrong (and not for the first time). EF correctly shows BA269 and BA268 as high-J 744s both yesterday and today.
I wonder how long it will take to get the big bird back into its normal routine? I was looking forward to flying her out of LAX on the 16th...
Dec 5, 2013, 2:18 pm
#49
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Just to put a wrap on this one... we are back in -15 degree Denver. Earlier this morning, BA269 finally touched down at LAX around 12:30A. We were towed the final 50' into TBT which was supposedly closed so we were bused to immigration at T2.
FWIW, I thought I'd share a mini report of my day with BA. The full report including nearly 100 pics of the A380 cabin will appear in my Thanksgiving in the Maldives trip report. Insert gratuitous plug.
As some of you know, my history with BA has been mixed. A couple of excellent flights but for the most part, pretty disappointing. Call it bad luck, bad timing or bad karma. But, BA and me are simply not made for each other. IMO, I just don't think BA has anything close to a world class F product. To start, any airline thats stuff 14 pax into a space designed for 8 to 12 is not a serious international premium player. While my one First Dining at ORD was superb, except for one BA F flight, inflight food has been poor to terrible. Although service has usually been reasonably good, and FA attitude mostly pleasant and friendly, service is far from polished. IMO, BA First more like J+.
It had been 9 months since my last BA flight, another delayed LHR-LAX old First 744. At least on that one, I still got home the same night. But I was really was looking forward to Wednesday's flight. I'd heard good things about the A380. First Check-in was pleasant and efficient today. Presumably not BA's fault, but despite few people in line, Fast Track security was slow and manned by staff that made TSA look like a model of efficiency.
I'm starting to tire of the CCR. Indeed, the B Terraces Lounge seemed more inviting. Every time I visit the CCR, it looks more tired and the warts start to stand out. Dining? A lot of the booths are really claustrophobic. And the food? Our burger today was so bad that we gave up after one bite. And how can one screw up fries??
To quote Mrs. SFO: "This is the worst burger ever. This menu is terrible. I never want to eat here again."
Inside is depressing so we headed outside. More pleasant, but there are no power outlets to recharge, forcing one to improvise and unplug a lamp and use its outlet.
And why are the nibbles hidden behind the bar and not out in the open where one can serve themselves instead of waiting for the waitstaff to fetch and deliver? To quote Mrs. SFO: "This is stupid. Why don't they have a place where you can just walk up and fill up your trough like the Admirals Club." Ouch, she'd rather be in an Admirals Club.
At around T-55, we headed down to limo dispatch for our S class ride to the C concourse. LOL, yeah right. Fifteen minutes and a train ride later we are at C56. Security check on a train that goes back and forth from A to C?
Our First class treatment continued with boarding, first with handicapped, families with very small children and then "First Class, Business Class, Executive Club elites and One World elites". Half the plane rushes the Fast Track lane. Once on board, it did seem that BA has greatly improved its hard product (seat comfort, IFE) but still not in the same league as the other A380s we've flown... EK, LH, KE and MH. Each of those offer a far more spacious cabin and seating. Nothing demonstrates the differences like the A380 lavs...
BA A380 First Class lav...
EK A380 First Class lav...
LH A380 First Class lav...
The A380 tasting menu looked great and the wine list superb. Too bad we didn't get to experience it. According to our 744 Captain, this was the first A380 cancellation. Although scheduled for a 8:00P departure, we only boarded our substitute 747-400 at 8PM. The only good news is that it was NF 744. We finally pushed back around 9:15P and we were on our way.
But apparently BA doesn't have a drill or at least practice how to substitute aircraft. Naturally no tasting menu on the 744, actually no menu at all as catering forgot to load. Uh-oh. Kudos to the crew for improvising although I don't think our FA expected me to ask if I could take a pic. BTW, he consented.
Reminiscent of our SFO-LHR strike flight a few years ago.
I had a couple of G&Ts and then made the mistake of asking about the wine selections. No wine list as well, but our FA did remember the William Fevre 1er Cru Chablis. OK, a ray of hope. Unfortunately, our FAs forgot or didn't realize that they needed to chill white wine. It was room temperature. Ice cools it quickly but then dilution sets in... not my friend tonight.
Neither was our FA's math. I was given the choice of and ordered the Chicken Tika Masala. Unfortunately, just before he was about to serve the main, an hour after I had ordered it, he discovered that there was no more Chicken Tika Massala for the Emerald in 5A. "Sorry, but it was a popular choice tonight." Really, you didn't know that earlier? No, I don't want any of the other options thank you. How about a J meal? In the end I wound up with a rather dry chicken from Business Class.
On one of my trips to the loo, I stopped by the snack counter. Perhaps this crew does indeed believe that champagne and white wine should be served at room temp, as both the LPGC and Fevre Chablis were sitting on the counter in a +22 degree cabin, not on ice.
With my body clock still on Maldives time and a garbage IFE compared to the A380 and other airlines (even SriLankan has better IFE on its A320), I worked most of the flight and didn't bother to sleep in way too narrow seats. That was until the power gave out as I was unable to recharge my MacBook Pro. My 110 plug wouldn't fit into the outlet. Is BA really the only airline on the planet that has 220 volt only power outlets in First Class. Even with an adapter, I could not keep my MacBook Pro charged.
And finally, there was this bizarre mid-flight conversation with a "senior" battle-ax type FA who stopped by to tell me "The Captain is concerned that you may be taping announcements and taking pictures of cabin crew. The company frowns on this especially in the era of social media and The Captain has alerted security in Los Angeles". Seriously??? Since I was doing neither and my pics were only of food, drink and cabin pics without any people except Mrs. SFO (and which the FA acknowledged was entirely permissible), I can only assume this little "conversation" was generated by a sensitive-to-criticism BA employee that read flyertalk.com and alerted operations, perhaps in some stupid attempt to intimidate me from expressing my opinion. You want a better opinion, offer a better product. I offered to show her my pics but she declined and apparently that was end of it, as neither LAPD nor Homeland Security was at the gate to meet me.
As we disembarked, even Mrs. SFO opined that she hated the seat and the cabin and warned me "don't ever book me on another BA flight."
On a positive note, a BA rep was waiting as we deplaned with our hotel voucher. Naturally, BA's fine treatment of revenue F pax continued as we were given a voucher for the lovely Sheraton Four Points LAX.
FWIW, I thought I'd share a mini report of my day with BA. The full report including nearly 100 pics of the A380 cabin will appear in my Thanksgiving in the Maldives trip report. Insert gratuitous plug.
As some of you know, my history with BA has been mixed. A couple of excellent flights but for the most part, pretty disappointing. Call it bad luck, bad timing or bad karma. But, BA and me are simply not made for each other. IMO, I just don't think BA has anything close to a world class F product. To start, any airline thats stuff 14 pax into a space designed for 8 to 12 is not a serious international premium player. While my one First Dining at ORD was superb, except for one BA F flight, inflight food has been poor to terrible. Although service has usually been reasonably good, and FA attitude mostly pleasant and friendly, service is far from polished. IMO, BA First more like J+.
It had been 9 months since my last BA flight, another delayed LHR-LAX old First 744. At least on that one, I still got home the same night. But I was really was looking forward to Wednesday's flight. I'd heard good things about the A380. First Check-in was pleasant and efficient today. Presumably not BA's fault, but despite few people in line, Fast Track security was slow and manned by staff that made TSA look like a model of efficiency.
I'm starting to tire of the CCR. Indeed, the B Terraces Lounge seemed more inviting. Every time I visit the CCR, it looks more tired and the warts start to stand out. Dining? A lot of the booths are really claustrophobic. And the food? Our burger today was so bad that we gave up after one bite. And how can one screw up fries??
To quote Mrs. SFO: "This is the worst burger ever. This menu is terrible. I never want to eat here again."
Inside is depressing so we headed outside. More pleasant, but there are no power outlets to recharge, forcing one to improvise and unplug a lamp and use its outlet.
And why are the nibbles hidden behind the bar and not out in the open where one can serve themselves instead of waiting for the waitstaff to fetch and deliver? To quote Mrs. SFO: "This is stupid. Why don't they have a place where you can just walk up and fill up your trough like the Admirals Club." Ouch, she'd rather be in an Admirals Club.
At around T-55, we headed down to limo dispatch for our S class ride to the C concourse. LOL, yeah right. Fifteen minutes and a train ride later we are at C56. Security check on a train that goes back and forth from A to C?
Our First class treatment continued with boarding, first with handicapped, families with very small children and then "First Class, Business Class, Executive Club elites and One World elites". Half the plane rushes the Fast Track lane. Once on board, it did seem that BA has greatly improved its hard product (seat comfort, IFE) but still not in the same league as the other A380s we've flown... EK, LH, KE and MH. Each of those offer a far more spacious cabin and seating. Nothing demonstrates the differences like the A380 lavs...
BA A380 First Class lav...
EK A380 First Class lav...
LH A380 First Class lav...
The A380 tasting menu looked great and the wine list superb. Too bad we didn't get to experience it. According to our 744 Captain, this was the first A380 cancellation. Although scheduled for a 8:00P departure, we only boarded our substitute 747-400 at 8PM. The only good news is that it was NF 744. We finally pushed back around 9:15P and we were on our way.
But apparently BA doesn't have a drill or at least practice how to substitute aircraft. Naturally no tasting menu on the 744, actually no menu at all as catering forgot to load. Uh-oh. Kudos to the crew for improvising although I don't think our FA expected me to ask if I could take a pic. BTW, he consented.
Reminiscent of our SFO-LHR strike flight a few years ago.
I had a couple of G&Ts and then made the mistake of asking about the wine selections. No wine list as well, but our FA did remember the William Fevre 1er Cru Chablis. OK, a ray of hope. Unfortunately, our FAs forgot or didn't realize that they needed to chill white wine. It was room temperature. Ice cools it quickly but then dilution sets in... not my friend tonight.
Neither was our FA's math. I was given the choice of and ordered the Chicken Tika Masala. Unfortunately, just before he was about to serve the main, an hour after I had ordered it, he discovered that there was no more Chicken Tika Massala for the Emerald in 5A. "Sorry, but it was a popular choice tonight." Really, you didn't know that earlier? No, I don't want any of the other options thank you. How about a J meal? In the end I wound up with a rather dry chicken from Business Class.
On one of my trips to the loo, I stopped by the snack counter. Perhaps this crew does indeed believe that champagne and white wine should be served at room temp, as both the LPGC and Fevre Chablis were sitting on the counter in a +22 degree cabin, not on ice.
With my body clock still on Maldives time and a garbage IFE compared to the A380 and other airlines (even SriLankan has better IFE on its A320), I worked most of the flight and didn't bother to sleep in way too narrow seats. That was until the power gave out as I was unable to recharge my MacBook Pro. My 110 plug wouldn't fit into the outlet. Is BA really the only airline on the planet that has 220 volt only power outlets in First Class. Even with an adapter, I could not keep my MacBook Pro charged.
And finally, there was this bizarre mid-flight conversation with a "senior" battle-ax type FA who stopped by to tell me "The Captain is concerned that you may be taping announcements and taking pictures of cabin crew. The company frowns on this especially in the era of social media and The Captain has alerted security in Los Angeles". Seriously??? Since I was doing neither and my pics were only of food, drink and cabin pics without any people except Mrs. SFO (and which the FA acknowledged was entirely permissible), I can only assume this little "conversation" was generated by a sensitive-to-criticism BA employee that read flyertalk.com and alerted operations, perhaps in some stupid attempt to intimidate me from expressing my opinion. You want a better opinion, offer a better product. I offered to show her my pics but she declined and apparently that was end of it, as neither LAPD nor Homeland Security was at the gate to meet me.
As we disembarked, even Mrs. SFO opined that she hated the seat and the cabin and warned me "don't ever book me on another BA flight."
On a positive note, a BA rep was waiting as we deplaned with our hotel voucher. Naturally, BA's fine treatment of revenue F pax continued as we were given a voucher for the lovely Sheraton Four Points LAX.
Last edited by SFO777; Dec 5, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Dec 5, 2013, 2:40 pm
#51
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Left
Programs: FT
Posts: 7,285
could SFO777 asked to be put on the A380 flight in F the next day? take a pass on any replacement? can one do this. i know that you might not want to but if you had the time and knew that a substitution can turn out really bad, i might be tempted.
Dec 5, 2013, 2:51 pm
#52
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: Meh
Posts: 2,598
What a terrible experience that you spent thousands of $ for. I hope it did not ruin your trip. As a BA frequent flier after reading that report I think I really have to consider my future options in terms of just accepting a stop off in the Middle East on the way to Asia.
The threat you were given on the flight about taking pictures/recording announcements is simply shocking. I would take serious issue with BA on this.
The threat you were given on the flight about taking pictures/recording announcements is simply shocking. I would take serious issue with BA on this.
Dec 5, 2013, 3:13 pm
#53
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, IHG Spire Elite
Posts: 1,713
And finally, there was this bizarre mid-flight conversation with a "senior" battle-ax type FA who stopped by to tell me "The Captain is concerned that you may be taping announcements and taking pictures of cabin crew. The company frowns on this especially in the era of social media and The Captain has alerted security in Los Angeles".
Speechless of Berkshire.
Dec 5, 2013, 3:17 pm
#54
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: BOS
Programs: BA Silver, Mucci
Posts: 5,289
I'm starting to tire of the CCR. Indeed, the B Terraces Lounge seemed more inviting. Every time I visit the CCR, it looks more tired and the warts start to stand out. Dining? A lot of the booths are really claustrophobic. And the food? Our burger today was so bad that we gave up after one bite. And how can one screw up fries??
To quote Mrs. SFO: "This is the worst burger ever. This menu is terrible. I never want to eat here again."
To quote Mrs. SFO: "This is the worst burger ever. This menu is terrible. I never want to eat here again."
But the hamburger is a minor issue compared with the conversation with the battleaxe. Please share your letter of complaint here.
Dec 5, 2013, 3:20 pm
#55
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Dec 5, 2013, 3:39 pm
#57
Join Date: Mar 2010
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SFO777 I hope you 'soak' BA for every cent of compensation that you can get on this. And some form of written apology for your interaction with the battleaxe, which I hope you share with us. Simply dreadful and cack-handed.
Who knows, maybe BA are starting to show some sensitivity to (well merited) criticism? Could it be possible that the penny is beginning to drop?Loved your comparisons of the washrooms - pretty much says it all in terms of how BA handles First Class at the moment. Just about adequate.
I don't see that you have any reason to fly BA F in the near future again when you have so many other airlines that can do a better job.
FWIW I'll be on QR and EY for my next trip to the Gulf.
Dec 5, 2013, 3:42 pm
#58
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That is one of the most shocking stories I gave heard about BA!
Sorry to hear you had such a dreadful flight!
aks120
Sorry to hear you had such a dreadful flight!
aks120
Dec 5, 2013, 3:53 pm
#59
Join Date: May 2006
Location: London Heathrow
Programs: British Airways Executive Club
Posts: 719
Yes, I believe that LAX is MF. How typical of BA to use their least experienced crew on one of their most high profile routes. White wine with ice - how naff (as we used to say)!
SFO777 I hope you 'soak' BA for every cent of compensation that you can get on this. And some form of written apology for your interaction with the battleaxe, which I hope you share with us. Simply dreadful and cack-handed.
SFO777 I hope you 'soak' BA for every cent of compensation that you can get on this. And some form of written apology for your interaction with the battleaxe, which I hope you share with us. Simply dreadful and cack-handed.
It seems from reading SFO777's posts that he does not enjoy the BA product and yet has continued to fly time and time again only to be disappointed. I hope he has better luck at his new preferred carrier of choice. Some things just aren't meant to be.
Not too sure though if the crewmember had concerns about the behaviour of a customer, why this requires a written apology. Only a handful of crew would even know what FT is, let alone follow the threads.
Dec 5, 2013, 3:53 pm
#60
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