@ That1Feeling above .......

Yes, a difficult one to interpret !

It certainly adds to the growing range of varied approaches evident, as far as the whole principle of ‘status greetings’ is concerned.

Thus far, we have reports of :

- greeting received - and in a warm, genuine manner
- greeting received - but in a very stilted, robotic style
- greeting offered to a passenger holding Gold via a partner card - but with the ‘prime’ (accompanying) member being ignored (mildly amusing, in a quirky way ......)
- no greeting received whatsoever
- no greeting - but a subsequent unsolicited apology for the fact that one wasn’t given

The current thread (and similar ones in the past, IIRC) includes reports from FT-ers who have seemingly been accorded extremely high rates of recognition - some, even as high as 100% (nice !) ; others where it is much more a hit & miss affair ; and many status members who have yet to receive a single formal ‘dedicated’ greeting, in many years of BA flying.

I myself am largely in the latter camp (ie, no greetings .... BA-wise, that is), though this has never really bothered me (I’m FAR more interested in what sort of service I actually receive during the entirety of a flight). I say ‘largely’ because I do recall one particular BA flight last year where a very pleasant CC member approached me mid-journey, and asked whether I could perhaps help out with a query posed by another passenger regarding calculation of Avios earning rates. She added, in a friendly, warm, courteous, manner, that I would “very likely know the answer, being one of our regular customers”

It is understandable that on some flights (perhaps due to an ‘unfavourable’ ratio of CC versus high status pax, and resultant time pressures) it is not easy for gestures of personal recognition to be given. I also believe it is right that the CSM should be allowed a certain amount of discretion. What strikes me as very odd, however, are the huge discrepancies reported here. The policy of offering a greeting has not been dreamt up by crew themselves. It surely (?) has appeared - at some point - as part of the airline’s SOP. And yet the inconsistency is such that one could be forgiven for assuming that the guide notes read something like :

“All our high-status BAEC members should be greeted personally by a senior crew member, and thanked for their loyal custom.
The only permitted exceptions to this policy are
a) where in-flight operational pressures do not permit this OR
b) if you can’t be bothered”.

@ Pascoe - dunno !

I think your guess is probably about as good as mine. It’s all rather perplexing

What does seem very clear is that - based on many experiences reported here on FT (inc. my own) - the consistency in individual recognition of BAEC status members is, ironically, far greater onboard other OW carriers than it is on BA.

The recognition “conversation” is a should rather than a must. As has already been mentioned here more than once, it is down to a combination of time permitting, and the individual staff member’s approach. On some flights it’s not really feasible, on others it absolutely is.

I recall this on a RAK-LGW service where my dad and I had swapped seats so he could have the window. When the crew offered the Gold greeting and spoke to him by his name (Mr K..) he was genuinely puzzled as to that was going on. He doesn’t fly often enough to know what a Gold card etc is. I didn’t tell him, just let him think it was a particularly personal greeting!