TyneTraveller

I have just had my very first experience of this on Monday. I received a very warm welcome which I believed was thoroughly genuine, greeted by name etc. etc., and was travelling on a domestic in Y. “ Mr XXX Sir, I wish you a very warm welcome on your first flight as a gold BAEC member”, to which I quietly responded with a polite and simple “thank you”.......I did not have the heart to say actually this was my fourth sector with a gold card, I don’t particularly enjoy being addressed by surname, and I am also not a personal fan of the term Sir being applied to myself.

Whilst personal greetings can be deemed a nice gesture I guess, I wish there was an opt out setting. I don’t class myself as antisocial or anything but when travelling alone I very much like to blend into the background. Yes, it is very nice to receive good attentive service whilst on board, but my view is that this should be available to all travellers no matter what status they do or do not hold. Luckily when my first greeting transpired I was travelling with friends on a quiet ish flight hence avoiding the embarrassment of this happening in front of strangers, although I will no doubt now be at the receiving end of many a joke amongst good friends (which I can live with.....just). I am very much looking forward to enjoying the benefits that come as a byproduct of holding a gold card, whilst being anonymous in my own world of silent contemplation.

Dan72

In terms of consistency, I don't think BA make any commitment to greet golds etc. I expect they also know that it won't always be possible for the crew to greet golds on every flight - I'd also like to think it would be tiresome for all concerned if they did. But regular travellers should expect a few greetings in the course of the year. That should be enough, unless you're really needy. As i have said before, I'd rather I was spared and think it's peculiar that people seek such greetings.

CKBA

Zilch today on a TATL in Y... . I was the only group 1 passenger. Did show my card when ordering duty free and the CC said 'oh you must fly a lot - I thought I recognised you!'
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TPloser

The other week on an evening flight back from Dublin I could see the CSM personally greeting what I assumed to be the Gold members and shaking their hands. His ipad was never far from him. The service was all by hand and no trolley which also surprised me but it was very efficient especially as it was a short flight. I was even more shocked near the end of the flight when he addressed me by name introduced himself and shook my hand as I am a lowly silver about to return to bronze. He then popped into the front of economy and was obviously greeting the gold member in economy. Top marks for his enthusiam during the flight.

antichef

Whilst the greeting can be hit or miss on short haul probably depending on load etc, on longer flights if not an "at seat" visit by CSD/CSM it often seems to be at meal delivery that the greeting is "Hello Mr antichef, what can I get you?"

Brisbane Road

Someone more in the know would be able to clear this up, but I’m a little at odds with the fact some have said the ‘Gold greeting’ is still inconsistent.

In the past year or so (granted my travels are most LH and the crew on my routes is usually the more experienced type- I can’t remember the name, worldwide is it?)- I’d say on about the 18-19 flights I’ve had, I’ve probably been greeted personally 16-17 times. This paled in comparison to previous years where it would probably have been half that. I should also mention that much of this travel has been in Y. Perhaps they make more of an effort if I’m further back? As the CSD would usually be servicing the J cabin anyway

Others have mentioned recently that it is not a CSD or crew requirement but I’d be surprised if it hasn’t been mentioned as something the crew should proactively be doing, such has the increase in the greetings been for me.

bisonrav

I had a great greeting on the HEL-LHR morning flight on the 4th March - extremely good CSM (Stewart Mc) who was deeply knowledgeable about pretty much every aspect of BA and other flying topics so wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't follow things here - if so thanks to him for a really good flight. It was a very low key hello by name as he was doing something else, with a pleasant and non-robotic chat ensuing and various points of helpful interaction during the flight. He was also active in sorting out various connection problems up and down the aircraft (the flight being an hour late) regardless of status. This is how great customer service works, it's not about a scripted hello, it's about empathy and consideration. He'd also sent the FA from the front to the ET cabin presumably to help with BoB, and managed service solo, so quite prepared to roll his sleeves up and do some work.

I had a couple of other greetings during the last trip - typically the CSM squats down and goes through the "we know you fly a lot with us... if there's anything I can do to make your flight more comfortable..." spiel, and it's all a bit forced and pointless. Qatar take it to the point of the absurd by the way, I had 4 greetings in 3 minutes on the HEL->BKK flight, and on the return BKK->DOH I had a procession of FAs saying they'd seen me in first the previous day and could they do anything to make my flight more comfortable, etc etc. When I said I was thoroughly enjoying the experience to one FA, she seemed to be almost crying with delight and went off to get a feedback form with her name written on, so I guess there is some direct measurement of feedback as part of the KPI structure.

EuropeanPete

Odd - I'm now taken around 10 flights since I made Gold (didn't quite make GGL by tomorrow's end of year) in a mixture of classes but usually the best available, crew types and distance and haven't had anything as yet. To be honest, it's not one of the things that I particularly missed from Gold - the upgraded boarding now on BA and AA vs. Silver is very welcome though.

geerat

Telecasterman

Travelling at the minute but must say

MAN - LHR couple weeks back. All on board , I was travelling with my eldest son to LHR and on to TXL. Through no ones fault flight delayed. Sat in the exit rows when the cc tapped me on the should and said "sorry for the delay Mr T heres a bottle of water"
such a nice gesture - well done

benjai

Was on BLL-LHR last night, chap behind us got a congratulations from the (rather nonplussed) crew for being gold for 10 years and was handed a small bottle of champagne. Does anyone else get this? Not sure if he just got past 10 years or was like that for a while. Chap was a very nice guy so was pleased for him.

MrCheapSeats

I never get greeted when travelling in Y on BA but do almost always when travelling on other OW carriers in Y. Other carriers seem much better at seat blocking for Golds than BA.

HarryKUK

I’ve always had this on 6+ Cathay flights and 8+ Malaysian flights, in a mix of Y, W and J. BA much more hit and miss (more miss than hit). I’ve had an empty seat next to me on the last 4 Malaysian flights but there were so many empty seats I couldn’t say if this was because I was Gold.

Malaysian and Cathay always greet by name too, and often without looking at the manifest right in front of me (as in they seem to memorise it out of view) which is impressive as my surname isn’t easy.

CloudCoder

I'm Emerald with AA, fly BA all the time, and never get greeted. Apparently personalised GA greetings are reserved only for their own Emeralds?

annihilation

Gold for years, never been greeted or offered anything "special" on a flight no matter what cabin. What I have seen though is that in Club they offer the meal by name (sometimes), I suppose that is something?