BA worker 'suspended for taking backhanders from celebs'
#33
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges and Environmentally Friendly Travel
Join Date: Jan 2003
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I'm not sure that's right NickB. There will be a lot of people with a house of that value and a similar income, certainly enough to make it of little significance in the context of this story. The combination of easily-available self-certification mortgages and a steeply rising property market prior to the crash meant that if you are in your mid-40s and in your third property, it would be difficult not to have a house worth £800K. Starting with a small deposit and putting the gains from that sale into the next purchase, with the maximum gearing each time, would get you to £800K pretty quickly.
#35
Moderator: Qatar Airways
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I presume the journalist who wrote the article, checked the Land Registry to ensure the accused actually owns the property, opposed to perhaps the accused renting?
#36
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: London N8
Programs: BA (LTG), Miles&More (whatever the lowest level is), Oyster card (zones 1-2)
Posts: 891
What is that people think is wrong - that this sort of service is available at all, or that someone (allegedly) took money for it?
I personally am amazed that it was even possible to have relationship with an individual who could re-attach the bridge to a plane, move someone to a better seat etc for free, but then I am not GGL.
I personally am amazed that it was even possible to have relationship with an individual who could re-attach the bridge to a plane, move someone to a better seat etc for free, but then I am not GGL.
#39
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: London
Programs: BA GGLfL
Posts: 1,342
What is that people think is wrong - that this sort of service is available at all, or that someone (allegedly) took money for it?
I personally am amazed that it was even possible to have relationship with an individual who could re-attach the bridge to a plane, move someone to a better seat etc for free, but then I am not GGL.
I personally am amazed that it was even possible to have relationship with an individual who could re-attach the bridge to a plane, move someone to a better seat etc for free, but then I am not GGL.
#40
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Posts: 2,286
Surely BA should add a compulsory gratuity to the cost of tickets so we do not have to tip in lounges? £20* a sector seems reasonable, with perhaps £30 for Gold Card holders due to there more demanding nature.
* Non refundable and per sector; gratuity may or may not be passed onto staff depending on on-time performance and customer satisfaction targets.
* Non refundable and per sector; gratuity may or may not be passed onto staff depending on on-time performance and customer satisfaction targets.
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,364
I'm not sure that's right NickB. There will be a lot of people with a house of that value and a similar income, certainly enough to make it of little significance in the context of this story. The combination of easily-available self-certification mortgages and a steeply rising property market prior to the crash meant that if you are in your mid-40s and in your third property, it would be difficult not to have a house worth £800K. Starting with a small deposit and putting the gains from that sale into the next purchase, with the maximum gearing each time, would get you to £800K pretty quickly.
The combination of easily-available self-certification mortgages and a steeply rising property market prior to the crash meant that if you are in your mid-40s and in your third property, it would be difficult not to have a house worth £800K. Starting with a small deposit and putting the gains from that sale into the next purchase, with the maximum gearing each time, would get you to £800K pretty quickly.
It seems to me that some people on this board tend to extrapolate from their own lives and those of their families and friends and assume that they are reasonably representative of a substantial part of the population whereas, in reality, they represent a small proportion towards the higher end of the income distribution.
if you are in your mid-40s and in your third property, it would be difficult not to have a house worth £800K.
The very fact that you consider it "difficult" for somebody of that age/income not to have a house near £800K just shows how much your worldview is shaped by your own personal experience and social circle.
little significance in the context of this story.
#43
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
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So, you disagreed with the statement that followed my discussion of house prices that "Not that this means anything in relation to the particular individual under discussion here, though. People should avoid jumping to conclusions when they are not in possession of sufficient facts to do so."
And yet, you state a little later "Talking about the value of this guy's house in the context of this story just vindicates the journo's decision to include it."
Has it occurred to you that there might be a contradiction between the two?
And yet, you state a little later "Talking about the value of this guy's house in the context of this story just vindicates the journo's decision to include it."
Has it occurred to you that there might be a contradiction between the two?
#44
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 4,029
This is patently not true. With median house prices around 315K in London, it just is not the case that there are "a lot of people with a house of that value."
Well, it may be that in planet DV or planet prospero, or generally planet Flyertalk-GB, there are lots of people who "self-certificated" and purchased house several times "with the maximum gearing each time" and ended up with houses worth over 800K. The idea that this is a typical experience in the population at large is, imo, fanciful and quite simply not borne out by the numbers on median house prices.
It seems to me that some people on this board tend to extrapolate from their own lives and those of their families and friends and assume that they are reasonably representative of a substantial part of the population whereas, in reality, they represent a small proportion towards the higher end of the income distribution.
Really? I am above mid-40s; my income is higher than £35K; I live in London; I have changed properties over 3 times and my current house is not remotely near £800K. And most of the people around me also have houses which have much lower values than this (when they own a house, that is).
The very fact that you consider it "difficult" for somebody of that age/income not to have a house near £800K just shows how much your worldview is shaped by your own personal experience and social circle.
I stated in my first post on this that one should not attempt to extrapolate to the situation of the individual discussed in the article. I stand by this.
Well, it may be that in planet DV or planet prospero, or generally planet Flyertalk-GB, there are lots of people who "self-certificated" and purchased house several times "with the maximum gearing each time" and ended up with houses worth over 800K. The idea that this is a typical experience in the population at large is, imo, fanciful and quite simply not borne out by the numbers on median house prices.
It seems to me that some people on this board tend to extrapolate from their own lives and those of their families and friends and assume that they are reasonably representative of a substantial part of the population whereas, in reality, they represent a small proportion towards the higher end of the income distribution.
Really? I am above mid-40s; my income is higher than £35K; I live in London; I have changed properties over 3 times and my current house is not remotely near £800K. And most of the people around me also have houses which have much lower values than this (when they own a house, that is).
The very fact that you consider it "difficult" for somebody of that age/income not to have a house near £800K just shows how much your worldview is shaped by your own personal experience and social circle.
I stated in my first post on this that one should not attempt to extrapolate to the situation of the individual discussed in the article. I stand by this.
#45
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Join Date: Feb 2000
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No I am not: I am explaining that his assumption is wrong by showing counter-examples. I am not claiming that my experience is typical of anything, merely that there will be examples like me (just in the same way as I am sure that there also are examples of people who are mid-40s, etc.. and own a 800K house) so that the statement that it is difficult for somebody in their mid-40s with that kind of income not to have a 800K house is wrong.