ukgooner

And still only on a small proportion of their planes. Likewise AA.

The Far-east carriers have been held up as paragons of luxury flying since..well they pretty much started flying!

And the ME 3 have joined in too - but again with pretty inconsistent seating, and middle of the night transfers to add to the mix.

The typical BA experience is generally better than a typical 'other airline' experience. Sure, I have had stand out flights on other carriers where everything was great. But its not really representative of typical. Others might do some things better, but in the round I like flying BA because I know what I'm going to get, and I like what it is.

Cap'n Benj

I wouldn't if I were you! J yes (on day flights anyway), F, no chance

ukgooner

Indeed. And it always strikes me as ironic that for every thread like this, there are a dozen celebrating the latest crazy deal.

Champagne tastes and lemonade budgets!

Crampedin13A

The only way BA will up it's game would be if the ME3 suddenly had the rights to fly passengers from LHR to the U.S. and Canada. No way the U.K. government allows the first and the Canadian government wouldn't allow the second. So BA basically just has to stay barely at the top in the TATL market with their product and pricing. Going East BA still have the advantage of being able to fly non-stop from LHR to destinations although their product isn't as good as the ME3 competition. So not much will change.

shorthauldad

I've got plenty of BA metal flights behind me, but I've still no idea what "a typical BA experience" is supposed to mean.

Of course, if you're in l/h J then the seats are mostly the same across the BA fleet, but apart from the seat itself BA has got to be one of the least-consistent carriers I've ever flown with.

"BA: on a good day, excellent. On a bad day, awful."

Andriyko

^ Sums it up pretty well me thinks...

HIDDY

Long haul flying is never a joy no matter who you fly with. How can it be when you're confined to your own piece of personal space for hours and hours on end along with a bunch of strangers all following the same rules from the moment you entered the airport.
Every flight no matter which class of cabin I'm in I just look forward to the time I can escape out of the door. No amount of Champagne, food or fondling from the crew makes any difference to me. As you can probably tell I get no kicks from it but if you want to get somewhere fast there is no other choice.

Cradders....it looks as if you've reached the end of the road.Let someone else do it.

economyman

Certainly I agree with the "becoming jaded" sentiment but in so far as it applies to business travel in general, not BA specifically. I don't get excited anymore with J or F for that matter, I still am happy.

I am TLV based and as I fly nearly exclusively to the US for business, BA have the perfect offering. They fly to / from LHR to most of the cities I need to be in which changes each trip. The only request I would have would be for BA to fly to/from MSP, that would be excellent as I need to be there often.

I am happy with the J product, I don't notice all these little nuances of degradation in product or service, probably because I care little. I want a comfortable seat to work and play in, a flat bed to sleep in, reasonable food, and lounges to make the journey more comfortable. Most of all I want to get to my destination in no more than 2 flights and not pay through the nose. I decide who I travel with and book my tickets myself.

BA offer me all that. I have done AA J on the 77W a couple of time and was not impressed overall with the experience. MPOV may have been different if I was flying east but frankly I'm not sure.

bafan

If that is all you care about, you could probably fly with almost anyone.

For me, it was the little extras that attracted me to BA; and the loss of which upsets me so much.

economyman

That's the thing. No one besides BA offers me all of that out of TLV.

destere

Your point about being marginally better than the rest of the TATL market I agree with. But the fact is that standards are slowly improving, so I expect there to be changes. Not to ME3, CX or SQ standards, but better than it is now.

ukgooner

And you can say that about anyone. When you fly a carrier a lot you know the service routine as well as the staff, so when somethings not done as you know it should be it is obvious.

Yet the other airlines' boards on here have whingy threads too. NOt as many as this one, mind, but enough to show me that is you fly even CX enough, certain things begin to grate.

ChickenOrBeef

I think the OP makes a fair point, and over the past 18 months, BAEC changes aside, I have found myself frequently frustrated by the BA experience. Most interractions are very lacklustre and on pretty much every flight in a premium cabin, I leave feeling underwhelmed. Maybe it's because I remember the "good old days" but when you have broken seats, dirty cabins, catering shortages and frequent delays due to ground services at LHR, it's simply annoying that the airline no longer seems to understand what keeps customers satisfied. It was often the crew that could turn an average flight to a great flight, but it seems that the company has managed to demotivate the crew to such an extent that I more often get a sense from them of "why bother?"

I was always a big advocate of BA, and would promote them and even defend them to friends and family. But now I really can't do that because there are now better flying experiences out there. Whilst I'm sure the penny pinching is doing wonders for the bottom line, the effect on the front line is equally as noticable and far less positive.

Cap'n Benj

I suspect your experience is typical of most regular flyers. FT by its nature is going to attract the passionate, the ones who look into the n'th degree on every little detail.

For most the BA J offering will meet expectations. For most an extra 5-6 hours travelling via the middle east, for slightly better food, a slightly bigger seat and a more massaged ego, is simply in no way worth it.

Across the Atlantic as with Economyman, I've tried the AA 77W service, which most believe is the standard now set and I continue to book BA.

That said, its clear services have been cut, has it lost its joy? Perhaps, I suspect even as a non frequent flyer, I have simply become jaded. J is just a comfy flight now, not an experience, like it was the first time I did it. F still gets me excited but even that has lost a bit of its novelty

strichener

Happy with BA J Product and not impressed overall with the AA 77W J. Wow, just wow.