Dave Noble

For travel to/from North America the rates might be similar, but going further afield such as Asia and South Pacific , the AA rates are far better ( e.g. 60k one way business London-Auckland )

MrCheapSeats

I also agree totally with the OP and having flown mainly with BA going east, particularly SIN, I now don't forsee me flying with them again other than this year I have 2 LHR-BRU returns to get the 4 BA metal flights with all my other flying being on QR, Sri Lankan, MH.

The latest Avios changes have basically told all silvers to bugger off so I have burnt my stash of 1m avios on 5 J/F LH returns. I find the BA experience so poor now I couldn't even bring myself to burn my miles with them and opted for MH and QR instead even though they are indirect flights.

When I can fly J with QR at the price of WT+ on BA I effectively have no choice to make!

Oh, and I recently sold all my BA shares at 560 pence before it all goes horribly wrong...

orbitmic

Indeed. US airlines also tend to be more generous with their most frequent flyers in terms of soft perks (irrops handling, upgrades, schedule changes, etc)

shorthauldad

My latest theory is that so long as BA provide sufficient Champagne and/or gin appropriate to the time of day (ie all the time), their core market will be happy.

As for the rest of us ...

Wayland

Doesn't the joy get sucked out of any activity as the experience becomes routine and no longer exciting and new?

Often the level of happiness realised is the difference between the expected and actual experience.

Sure, the product is clearly being cut back in some places to reduce costs, but isn't the much larger factor here the fact that it's just impossible to attain the same level of joy as when those experiences of CW/F, new lounges etc were, well just simply new?

I've flown CX in J, and sure the seats, IFE etc are better than BA's typical CW but aren't all these posts of "abandoning BA and switching to Cathay, Singapore, Emirates etc" more a desparate cry to try to relive those experiences of when it was all new than a rational response to minor changes in the product itself?

And even if there is an airline out there which is the promised land, it will seem good for a while, but mainly because it's different, to start with at least. And then that will become routine, and niggles which are minor in the big scheme of things become annoying.

All just human nature at the end of the day?

amt

It's been 4 months since I last took a BA long haul all CX and QR... Longest time without a BA flight in about 10 years. I have one coming up in two weeks and I just know I'm setting myself up for a disappointing flight. The more you read and talk to other fliers the more it just depresses me.

I resolved I wouldn't fly BA but in First... But I've been sitting on 4 GUF2 I can't seem to use.

I think the biggest kick in the teeth. Is hearing over and over like a broken record how passengers requested this or prefer a reduced service or you asked, we listened.

Internaut

To be fair, it's not just BA. The entire corporate world is pretty disingenuous when it comes to cost cutting and milking the customer for that little bit extra. Any long term customer of Orange, in the UK, knows exactly what it means when a service gets simplified*. I think Enhanced is merely the new Simplified.

* The classic example (slightly exaggerated) being "You've told us the rates for international roaming are too complicated for your poor little minds. We've simplified them for you. Now it will cost £5 per minute to receive all calls."

BasilBush

BA has an increasingly strong market position at its home base which will only be exacerbated if a third runway is not built (leading to a further imbalance of supply vs demand).

The classic signs of an abuse of a dominant market position are high prices, poor quality of service, failure to innovate etc.

Sound familiar?

It will only get worse until BA does something really outrageous at which point the competition regulators will have to step in. But I have no idea what the remedy might be, short of stripping BA of enough slots to allow a meaningful competitor to enter the market (and who that might be!). It's not an easy problem to solve, in the absence of a third runway.

Cradders

Thanks for all the interesting comments.

The comments about elements of this being human nature and/or typical corporate behaviour are fair to a certain extent, I think.

I do think it goes a little beyond this though: Whilst true that becoming jaded will indeed eventually kick in with anything, it does feel a little like this is a straw on the camel's back type of situation. It seems to me that lately there is getting to be critical mass of assumptions being made by BA as to what their (presumably target) customers will mind. It's interesting to see that I'm not the only one to feel this way.

Will it change things in the short term? This seems very unlikely to me. The only thing that will ever change this type of behaviour will be a significant drop in profit (or return to loss). I find it a shame that this is often standard MO for a lot of corporations... But then coming from an SME background, I suppose this is a mentality I don't generally face.

x229cle

I suggest that BA has thought carefully: How can we maximise profit by (a) eliminating competition - BMI, etc, and (b) cutting costs so that our offering is a bit better than the others flying to North America?

For me the "BA offering" peaked in the early 2000's - the flat bed was innovative, the Exec Club was better than other airlines, etc. Then 9/11 changed everything. It may have chnged anyway, but suddenly business travellers became more cost aware, etc.

If you find a better offering (e.g. CX) then use them. Unfortuately I believe that BA now aim to be marginally better than the main US competitors.

Fly Baby

I sort of agree with the sentiment but maybe what we are really talking about is "satisfaction"?

I don't think it is unreasonable for customers to complain when they see the product they are buying being eroded with every passing year. Its gone beyond being merely "jaded" for most I suspect.

I haven't been flying for work that many years but already I see a difference in the BA product on offer (in CW/F) Its hard to remain positive about a work trip when so much of what was once a lovely experience has been so noticeably enhanced away to a utilitarian norm.

I'm sure the staff feel the same. It's noticeable that on KLM, with the new 747 business seats, the CC are very engaged and enthused over their new product (even if its not really market leading) - its bright, fresh, comfortable and they are pleased the company has invested in the product - they're so keen to show it off. Must be much nicer for them to go to work and work in that environment than for BA crews who are clearly embarrassed by what the BA product has now become...

South London Bon Viveur

Like being married

where2travel

It's this for me and I now only tend to use Amex 241s, GUFs and the A318 service for flying on BA in J.

18 months ago I decided to actively try other Oneworld airlines for a change, the experiences in premium cabins were so much better on QR, CX, QF, AA (only tried the B77W) and more recently VS that it's been refreshing to try and enjoy so many different airlines and cabins etc. Even AY wasn't too bad. It also had the benefit of racking up more Tier Points more quickly but I started drowning in Avios so I now concentrate earning AAdvantage and (Virgin) Flying Club miles for diversification so I'm drifting away from BAEC as well.

Every time I'm back on BA long-haul these days, it just reconfirms to me that it's not time to reverse the continued switch to other airlines.

FlyerTalker688786

Interesting. Personally I have lifetime QF Gold and currently Platinum. The Qantas changes made me switch to BA and AA. Now both Sapphire. I am on the verge to requalify BA Silver, but I am starting to winder if I should concentrate on AA solely.

Raffles

Given the huge improvements in product quality on other oneworld partners ( eg Qatar 1-2-1 in J on the 787, 380, 350, the new AA long haul product, Finnair going fully flat with solo J seats, anything Cathay however old) there is little excuse to use BA even if you want to retain Avios and BA status.

BA launched this 'race to the bottom' but they have failed to notice that no-one else has joined in!

As I was discussing with a couple of very heavy flyers last night, it is a changing world when the best airport lounge in the world is potentially in Istanbul.