:D!

Cheques to travel agency, cash to their children who book on their BAPP, etc

Can any FR/U2 flyers report how common cash payments are over card? I think they take both GBP and EUR cash, is that right?

headingwest

Spit it out

schrodingerdog

and CHF in U2 routes from Switzerland.

I'd say more people pay with cash than with card.

DYKWIA

Not sure, but on U2, they sometimes announce that only the exact amount is allowed, as they have no change.

MBDublin

For comparison and in my estimation on EI it is well over 50% who pay with cash. On a flight this week it was 100% cash as the POS machines were non functional. Payments could be made in €,$ or £.

rapidex

My local parking meters accept over payment,no change given.AC is missing a trick here.

Temps

Imagine being charged with grand theft bacon buttie!

BA6948

BA says that it is still early days when it comes to the m&s roll out.

headingwest

In the last week I had 2 flights with BA, one was a redemption from TXL and the other, to VIE, was booked before the introduction of BoB.

Although the first flight was rather lightly loaded the service seemed to be very slow. This was despite the fact that one of the crew from the CE cabin was taking orders from the back of the aircraft and collecting the products from the galley there. The service certainly wasn't helped by passengers needing to go to the toilet. They did complete but this flight was probably about 60% full (only 2 of us in row 12 for example). I had flown into Berlin from Bratislava on an 8 EUR Ryanair ticket and couldn't help thinking that with the BA flight I'd been ripped off.

The second flight, to VIE, I would say had a more experienced crew. One of the female crew members told me that she usually does longhaul and the others all seemed to be very relaxed whilst doing their duties. I was sat in 12A and a family of 4 had the rest of row 12. The CSM announced that 2 of the sandwich items from the menu were not available but had been substituted with something else. The service got off to a reasonable start but then the transactions seemed to slow them down. I nodded off for a while but was woken by the family adjacent opening and closing the overhead lockers several times while rummaging around for their food that they'd bought before boarding. With that and all the paper and packaging rustling I couldn't fall asleep. I don't begrudge them for bringing their food, but this is exactly why I hate BoB. Before, the crew would effortlessly go through the cabin, everybody ate at the same time, rubbish was cleared, and you could doze off for an hour or so.

There was an issue with an order on the other side of the cabin. It looked like a passenger had ordered a hot item from the menu. There was a tray taken to the passenger's seat but when they tried to collect the payment her card wasn't accepted. Then they took the tray away! It then looked like another passenger in that row had offered to pay using her card...that too was not accepted. By the time all this happened we were somewhere between Prague and Brno and minutes away from descent. What a shambles.

I was against BoB in principal anyway, but I thought it would have bedded in by now. 3 months later it's still a complete mess and I can't help but thinking that they must be upsetting people now on every flight.

Incidentally, the cabins were not without issue either. On the TXL flight the overhead monitor kept opening and shutting - even during the safety briefing. On the VIE flight the 'mood lighting' at the front of the cabin kept flickering, thank goodness nobody had an epileptic seizure. That, together with the BoB service, and I kept thinking for a British Airways Holiday booking Faulty Towers would be well suited!

paul4040

My most recent flight was HAM-LHR, and I was, as usual, ensconced in 23F on the A319 - empty row and no ugly wing in the way of the view, you see.

Anyway we were over Walton-on-the-Naze before I was met by the trolley! Chap serving was very polite. I'd resolved long ago to spend precisely £0 with BA on BoB, so declined service. Got the Gold welcome. He was sincere but I vented about the direction BA is going. He sympathised.

And so, it is resolved - that's it. I'm not going to book a single flight more with BA; they're dumped. I'll take my upcoming premium flights for the rest of 2017, then with the Avios earned, splurge on a CX F redemption.

Star Alliance and budget airlines beckon.

Flexible preferences

That's a shame, I've watched your youtubes and enjoyed your view of BA flights. Is it just about BoB?

Joshm300

To build on this the sinic in me thinks that this could be another way to encourage passengers to buy (the now more expensive) ET seats at the front of the plane if they want to get served!

paul4040

Well, I'm not going to go postal and slam the door on the way out; I think this board has seen enough toys out the pram lately.

There are a few reasons.

Selfish:

1) I'm a bit bored.
2) I don't want viewers to get bored of the same old stuff.

Non-selfish (and altogether carrying far more weight):

1) BoB is not a bad concept in and of itself. But it's poorly executed. I won't ever buy anything on board an airline; I'd rather self-cater. The execution is the latest in a long line of poorly-executed rollouts which make me think BA isn't too concerned about quality at a corporate level. BoB does however place me at the same level as a LCC customer. Why can't I even get a bottle of water? AA managed to give me some Pringles and a Coke last year in Y. I'm not BA's most valuable customer but equally I'm not counting every penny per Tier Point. (I've a CIV of 76 doncha know? )
2) BAEC has lost a considerable amount of shine over the last few years. Gold extra Y redemption availability is a very good perk, but apart from that, what does my Gold status actually mean? Not much, in the grand scheme of things. I value the lounge access most, because it gives me a place to charge my gear and chill out, so PriorityPass here I come. £200 for a year seems fine.
3) I can foresee the withdrawal of F in the next 5-10 years on BA - just a feeling in my bones.
4) Continued evisceration of Club Europe on short routes makes it unviable (though a recent trip from AGP - a longer route - was very pleasant).
5) Just a general feel of a lack of quality across the operation. There's really only two things I think BA are market leaders in, and that's their app, and their internal CRM. It's hard to quantify, but it's kind of like closing the boot of a new car and hearing it makes a funny sound - it works, and the whole car is still there and working, but it belies a lack of quality.
6) Insincere communications. The dreaded "enhancement" is insulting to regular customers. Honestly, I can handle bad news, and I dare say most of BA's GCHs will be able to understand a business sometimes needs to make tough decisions. But don't dress up obvious downgrades as enhancements. PS: I want my amuse bouche back when I travel in July.

So, it's not a poison pen letter to Cruz. He is ultimately fulfilling the brief given to him by Walsh.

I wish BA good luck in their mission to reinvent themselves as a pseudo-LCC, pseudo-premium carrier. I think that's a tricky game. But, they have lost me as a customer. Perhaps they will gain new customers from the LCCs.

FlyerTalker688786

I feel sorry for you paul4040. You were truly a BA warrior and one of the 'core' of BA universe. Sad to see someone like you leave the BA travels. But I understand your pain. I have drastically reduced my travel on BA last year. I had wonderful experiences on AA, A3, SK and even Air China besides the other oneworld carriers. I especially like my try on Ryanair which is surprisingly good. Although I would avoid Stansted.

BA should have chosen the middle road of BOB: that is the SK way of free water, coffee and tea. Everything else pay. That would be more friendly and may get better feedback. But they decide to go for the Vueling way. I hope them good luck.

Now I book BA purely on price in order to requalify my AA elite membership.

bhbloke

Very amusing CC announcement on my return from Jersey on Sunday, welcoming us onboard this flying Marks & Spencer

Then proceeded to tell us all as we'd landed that the First Officer had just been voted dishiest BA staff member and would be off on a photoshoot to model M&S swimming trunks in the summer. The poor FO was at the door cringing as we disembarked, but the ladies were paying him particular attention.

(PS I was in CE so have no comment on the BoB, other than the CC put out a call in the climb that if anyone wanted anything they should press their call bell and they'd endeavour to get around to everyone on the short flight.)