Jan 11, 2017, 7:42 am
Last edit by: KARFA
This thread focuses on experiences and reactions for the implementation of buy on board for shorthaul, mainly led by impressions taken from flying on board British Airways' shorthaul services.
An information thread exists for your questions, particularly if they are on factual matters, here:
Buy on board: Information guide for BA shorthaul economy services
If you have an opinion about the concept of Buy on Board, the right thread is:
Buy on board: Implemented on BA short haul - opinions on the concept
Photos of current BoB menu (September 2018) post #125 in information thread
An information thread exists for your questions, particularly if they are on factual matters, here:
Buy on board: Information guide for BA shorthaul economy services
If you have an opinion about the concept of Buy on Board, the right thread is:
Buy on board: Implemented on BA short haul - opinions on the concept
Photos of current BoB menu (September 2018) post #125 in information thread
Buy on board: Experiences and reactions from BA's shorthaul economy service
Jan 11, 2017, 9:50 am
#76
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Berkshire
Programs: BAEC GGL/CCR/LTG
Posts: 684
announced onboard that no food was loaded, so offered everybody free drinks!
Jan 11, 2017, 9:55 am
#77
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,812
Jan 11, 2017, 9:56 am
#78
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: London
Posts: 489
"it's not just any potable water, it's BA potable water"
Jan 11, 2017, 10:01 am
#79
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,399
Ideal scenario for me. Will be Bringing on Board my own food anyway (if seated in PP) so that, combined with FOC drinks served by crew, would be just perfect
Jan 11, 2017, 10:19 am
#80
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Seattle
Programs: BA GGL & LTG, EK Silver, HHonors Lifetime Diamond; Proudly Mucci Free - total nonsense
Posts: 862
On an afternoon flight from ATH today, the whole experience was very very poor and pretty sad to watch.
Was sat in exit row 11, 5 rows behind the back of CE. The machines seemed to be playing up and lots of questions from passengers, meaning it took 45 minutes to process the first 5 rows.
By the time they got to me there was no sandwiches or chicken salad left. The person in front of me bought the last sandwich, and then their card got declined as the machine was not working. The crew took the sandwich off the passenger who then went a bit crazy. Then another passenger piped up saying it was disgraceful. Poor cabin crew looked mortified. The crew told the annoyed passengers to email Willy Walsh or Alex Cruz to which one passenger laughed and said that would be about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
I bought some water and this resulted in the payment device having to go to me for pin then back to crew. I waited for payment to be approved before opening the water in case I had to give it back 😕
By 2.5 hours into the flight the crew had only got to row 13. The CSD made an announcement that there was a new system in place and it had teethingnissues and asking for everyone's patience and understanding.
By the time we were crossing the coast of France the crew had got to row 20.
Throughout the flight nobody in Y could get to the toilet at the back of the plane resulting in everyone using the CE toilet. So a knock on effect for the folks in club as a result of buy on board.
Towards the end of the flight the CSD came on the speakers again and apologised for the problems, clarified she had not been given authority to do any service recovery, but advised customers to go to BA.com and log a call with customer relations if they felt that their expectations were not met on the flight. At the end of the flight the captain apologised also and made similar announcement.
My takeaways:
- stock management is poor. Running out of sandwiches 4 rows into a 4 hour flight is bad. Yes I know it is day 1 but surely people have been working on planning stock needed? Is hardly rocket science and easyJet and other airlines have this working for years
- the payment technology hasn't been tested. Why not use contactless or just swipe as per in flights in the US. Having my to enter pin and hand the device over to each passenger will take ages. Also it seems 1 machine broke down but there was no spare. Basic stuff to fix here.
- crew morale will be impacted even more than already. The crew looked like stooges basically
All up, it's a bad idea poorly implemented. As a minimum, this should have been piloted in small scale to fix the technology issues.
Am so glad I work at a company where the management are pretty competent and not making the dumb decisions BA managers are!! These guys are running the airline into the depths of bad quality experience on every level. Hardly what you would expect from 'the worlds favourite airline'.
Will write to CR on this one. Expecting zero response but this is the worst situation I've ever seen crew have to put up with. Feel so bad for them.
Mr Cruz, please go away and find another job somewhere.
Was sat in exit row 11, 5 rows behind the back of CE. The machines seemed to be playing up and lots of questions from passengers, meaning it took 45 minutes to process the first 5 rows.
By the time they got to me there was no sandwiches or chicken salad left. The person in front of me bought the last sandwich, and then their card got declined as the machine was not working. The crew took the sandwich off the passenger who then went a bit crazy. Then another passenger piped up saying it was disgraceful. Poor cabin crew looked mortified. The crew told the annoyed passengers to email Willy Walsh or Alex Cruz to which one passenger laughed and said that would be about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
I bought some water and this resulted in the payment device having to go to me for pin then back to crew. I waited for payment to be approved before opening the water in case I had to give it back 😕
By 2.5 hours into the flight the crew had only got to row 13. The CSD made an announcement that there was a new system in place and it had teethingnissues and asking for everyone's patience and understanding.
By the time we were crossing the coast of France the crew had got to row 20.
Throughout the flight nobody in Y could get to the toilet at the back of the plane resulting in everyone using the CE toilet. So a knock on effect for the folks in club as a result of buy on board.
Towards the end of the flight the CSD came on the speakers again and apologised for the problems, clarified she had not been given authority to do any service recovery, but advised customers to go to BA.com and log a call with customer relations if they felt that their expectations were not met on the flight. At the end of the flight the captain apologised also and made similar announcement.
My takeaways:
- stock management is poor. Running out of sandwiches 4 rows into a 4 hour flight is bad. Yes I know it is day 1 but surely people have been working on planning stock needed? Is hardly rocket science and easyJet and other airlines have this working for years
- the payment technology hasn't been tested. Why not use contactless or just swipe as per in flights in the US. Having my to enter pin and hand the device over to each passenger will take ages. Also it seems 1 machine broke down but there was no spare. Basic stuff to fix here.
- crew morale will be impacted even more than already. The crew looked like stooges basically
All up, it's a bad idea poorly implemented. As a minimum, this should have been piloted in small scale to fix the technology issues.
Am so glad I work at a company where the management are pretty competent and not making the dumb decisions BA managers are!! These guys are running the airline into the depths of bad quality experience on every level. Hardly what you would expect from 'the worlds favourite airline'.
Will write to CR on this one. Expecting zero response but this is the worst situation I've ever seen crew have to put up with. Feel so bad for them.
Mr Cruz, please go away and find another job somewhere.
Jan 11, 2017, 10:22 am
#82
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: LON, ACK, BOS..... (Not necessarily in that order)
Programs: **Mucci Diamond Hairbrush** - compared to that nothing else matters (+BA Bronze)
Posts: 15,132
At BA, we only uplift potable water from downroute airports that have had their water tested by our staff. Some airlines may well pick up water from untested sources or be based at airports that we deem to have unsuitable potable water.
All potable water used by BA is safe to drink and to use for tea and coffee. Certain airports on our shorthaul and longhaul network are not used to uplift water at. The Captain and SCCMs are aware where we cannot pick water up from.
All potable water used by BA is safe to drink and to use for tea and coffee. Certain airports on our shorthaul and longhaul network are not used to uplift water at. The Captain and SCCMs are aware where we cannot pick water up from.
Jan 11, 2017, 10:25 am
#84
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LHR/ATH
Programs: Amex Platinum, LH SEN (Gold), BA Bronze
Posts: 4,489
Jan 11, 2017, 10:40 am
#85
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,399
@ahmetdouas - I do think it would be appreciated by many FT-ers (including this one !) if you could please make an effort to refrain, where possible, from re-quoting entire lengthy posts before adding your own comment. It can be quite tiresome.
In this case the post concerned was just above your own, so would almost certainly have been seen already by anyone following the thread.
Thanks ^
In this case the post concerned was just above your own, so would almost certainly have been seen already by anyone following the thread.
Thanks ^
Jan 11, 2017, 10:45 am
#86
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,536
Same here! I hope the SCM does not get in trouble for that excellent initiative! What were the drinks offered for free? Not the full trolley I presume?
Jan 11, 2017, 10:47 am
#87
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,536
On the plus side, I think it is clever of BA to mess things up at that particular time of year which is low for travel so that hopefully, the technical side of things has been sorted out by the start of the busier summer season (notwithstanding my thoughts on BoB in and by itself).
Jan 11, 2017, 10:53 am
#88
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LHR/ATH
Programs: Amex Platinum, LH SEN (Gold), BA Bronze
Posts: 4,489
Indeed, the account would be funny if it weren't so sad. I am awaiting further reports in the coming few days with interest.
On the plus side, I think it is clever of BA to mess things up at that particular time of year which is low for travel so that hopefully, the technical side of things has been sorted out by the start of the busier summer season (notwithstanding my thoughts on BoB in and by itself).
On the plus side, I think it is clever of BA to mess things up at that particular time of year which is low for travel so that hopefully, the technical side of things has been sorted out by the start of the busier summer season (notwithstanding my thoughts on BoB in and by itself).
Jan 11, 2017, 10:53 am
#89
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: LHR/ATH
Programs: Amex Platinum, LH SEN (Gold), BA Bronze
Posts: 4,489
@ahmetdouas - I do think it would be appreciated by many FT-ers (including this one !) if you could please make an effort to refrain, where possible, from re-quoting entire lengthy posts before adding your own comment. It can be quite tiresome.
In this case the post concerned was just above your own, so would almost certainly have been seen already by anyone following the thread.
Thanks ^
In this case the post concerned was just above your own, so would almost certainly have been seen already by anyone following the thread.
Thanks ^