1010101

I don't really think that's fair. The people you mention haven't suddenly overtaken the board and started complaining, they have always been on here and in most cases once flew BA often. The airline has started giving them more reasons to complain now.

Each to their own but i never quite understood why someone who never flies would want to rack up so many posts on a frequent flyer board. Glad to hear he is ok all the same.

msm2000uk

I totally agree (my bolding).

FT is a community, and the BA Forum one of the tighter knit ones. There are regular DO's, many active posters, and that helps make the forum both informative, and interesting to follow. Thus, when a regular FT poster like HIDDY isn't seen for a while, it is natural for there to be a degree of concern.

What started out as a very light-hearted thread about a friend to the BA Forum, has spiralled downward - which is a shame.

M

Worcester

There was a young man called Hiddy
in the Pampas he got quite giddy
he's not beeen online
for quite a long time
we all miss him being witty

Andriyko

It is not about being in favour or against. Some people are realists. Others seem to live in a bubble and want for things to be in a certain way regardless whether or not it is feasible. Replace BA with AF, LH, LX or any other airline and the same truths will apply - the market has changed, the consumer has changed, most people do not fly for the experience but rather to get from A to B. etc. A person does not have to fly BA much to understand certain things.

Well, nor is it fair that HIDDY was treated badly for daring to speak his mind. I don't have a problem with the fact that people who no longer fly BA still come here and repeat over and over how they're only flying AA or whatever now - I mean, that adds nothing to the forum (unless, of course, they want to convert us, the uneducated and stupid who continue to fly BA). But some people seem to have a problem with him. It is a public forum. Unless some qualification criteria are introduced (one must fly X number of segments on BA to post), I don't see how anyone's opinion is more valuable.

1010101

Treat others how you wish to be treated yourself. I don't think he really has a problem with it does he? I always got the impression he enjoys ruffling a few feathers.

destere

Airlines don't have to run at a loss in order to tighten their belts. Again, we have evidence of that happening - why can't some people acknowledge that? Because they won't be able to rant about BA and BA only? EK is making product cuts and issuing profit warnings. Off the top of my head CX and SQ are too. AF is still in a bad condition. LH is issuing big profit warnings. These companies have more to cut than BA - and it will happen.

IAG is certainly one of the most financially robust operators out there. Amazing considering the couple of basket cases that BA and IB once were. I never said BA was perfect, and certainly there are a few habits that could be picked up from IB and even EI.

I never did. There we go again. You've exemplified the issue yet again: anyone that doesn't despise the airline quite to the extent that you do is apparently living in cloud cuckoo land. It's like there can be no middle ground.

Technically you did question it. Why point it out? Why did it matter? In context, it looks like it.

Phil the Flyer

+1. Why would somebody write an average of almost 10 posts per day for the past 10 years on a website that advertises itself as The world's most popular frequent flyer community if they don't fly that much? He must have an awful lot of spare time on his hands. I suspect that some view the FT BAEC forum as a way for expats to keep in touch with fellow Brits - I know I used to enjoy the British banter on this forum.

elitetraveler

CX, SQ, new AF J and EK380 J are miles ahead of BA in hard J product.
CX, SQ, AF, LH, EK F are miles ahead of BA in hard and soft F product.
CX continues to refresh and invest in their lounges - They definitely haven't let them fall into the same level as the showers at T5, and the cuts in food didn't mirror the level of the Baxter Story glop.

You can cut with a surgical knife or swing an ax, BA IMO seems more to the latter.

All of the airlines you mention, perhaps save EK, have been on cost cutting missions for years - however, they seem to take a different approach to BA in terms of how much they are willing to cut that is visible to pax and certainly for premium cabins.

In fact BA has said they have too many F seats and the F cabin on too many routes - so in fact, BA is probably behind the companies you mentioned in terms of actually matching a seat plan to true demand.


Actually, I said quite the reverse. I said if BA works for you - you're happy w on-time performance, you find your seat clean, and you're happy about the experience - power to you.

For me, BA has slid to where I have gone from CCR/GGL to Bronze.

I simply responded to your comments which proposed that groundless, blustery posts were making out BA to be worse than it is, and basically all airlines have similar issues.

I don't believe that's the case. I believe BA is on a downward path that continues to the point more people are noticing, hence more complaints, and those who tolerated some issues, are becoming disillussioned by BA's tighter policy on compensation when BA mucks things up.

In fact, BA insiders even have said top management is aware they have issues keeping their planes clean so really quite far from what you were proposing.

YMMV.

offtothehills

This.

Because they can, until FT is wholly exclusive.
People go on FT for many different reasons, probably as many reasons as there are members. It's also useful to have points of view from different folks, whatever they do. As long as they are not trolling, then fine. I truly don't think that we should judge others, especially how much and what they are doing in their spare time! I for one, enjoy a bit of dry wit, esp from a fellow Scot!

Let's lighten up, please.

Worcester

Definitely in the Hiddy fan club, every forum needs a diversity of views otherwise it gets very boring. I actually fly more often on TK these days than BA but rarely frequent the TK forum as it's dull as ditchwater except when another bomb/coup/assassination/rise in the price of simit happens.


From Hiddy's profile page http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/hiddy.html

Andriyko

For the same reason that people who only fly AA hang out on the BAEC forum rather than the AA one (with the Gold/Silver card being the only connection). They are not sharing their experience or help fellow travellers with advice over there. I fail to see a difference. If you want to check people's credentials and entitlement to post here then you need to be fair and question other people as well.

corporate-wage-slave

I'm also in the HIDDY fan club. On the very rare occasion he needles me it's a useful pin-prick on any pomposity I've accumulated. So I hope he's back soon.

He hasn't made any secret of his flying habits, there again he has flown BA and IB more than some other posters on this forum. I don't recognise a lot of the hyperbole and negativity about BA put here of late, my recent flying experiences tend to be in the positive to very positive area. I've had to do a wodge of Lufthansa flying recently and I'm so glad that's drawing to a close, some pretty crummy experiences from them recently, very crummy actually, thanks in part to their strikes. These LH and 4U flights were topped/tailed by BA and they were far better. HIDDY's commitment to this forum is great, and in some ways he is closer to my actual experiences on the ground, he's just got more bottle than some of us.

offtothehills

^

If there's no one to do any stirring, it would become a very boring pot!

I always enjoy boarding a BA flight when I've been away from home for a while, and the crew really make the flight for me, rarely do I have a negative experience. I think it all depends on what the expectation bar is with them..

henkybaby

I miss him too.

I have no reasoning behind it. I just enjoyed his presence. It is a little duller without him.

krispy84

I've always wondered how C-W-S manages to stay on such an even keel despite the buffets of this forum, now we know.

Come back HIDDY!!!