Helsinki
 

Took the crew 1 hour and 47 minutes of our 2 hr 34 minute flight to complete bob. Flight about 80% full and they had run out of ready salted crisps by row 10. Payment seemed very slow still. The CSd came and said hello during the flight and told us to contact customer services and ask for a free g and t for golds!

Yes that is the concept of Lidl, low prices but minimum staffing and service. I actually like the model.

But Lidl doesn't pretend to be a premium brand, does it ? Unlike BA...

well I took the plunge GIB-LHR and had a warm focaccia and a coke. Helped that I can re-charge as I was on business.

Service was very smooth, although it took a bit of time. I was in 12F. I think if I was at the back it would have been different.

Still don't agree with this - especially having to pay for Coffee/Tea/soft drinks but it was OK.

Lidl's motto is basically the same quality for less! So what FR is doing now.

BA's current motto is less quality for a higher price = )

Originally posted by Tinseltown:

Although I'm trying not to generalize here, as someone who grew up in Germany, I can definitely say that Germans value the bottom line more than the service they get. Here in the UK, people expect service even at Sainsbury's - not so in Germany, where you can be a nuisance to the cashier at times, and they will let you know. A colleague once went to a supermarket in Germany and was appalled at the grumpy 'service' he got.

Yes, I know how Germany can be. But I find if you can just work a tiny bit on these people they often open up and become amazingly helpful and friendly. Of course, it helps being able to speak German.

I have often thought that Germans expect and sort of demand better service on their flights, that's why the low cost thing has been quite slow to take off in Germany. I've seen people be very loud and demanding of airberlin ticket counter staff when things have gone wrong. Last October, AB became totally BoB, and ticket counter staff I have spoken to say that they have received a lot of negative feedback about it. Some felt it really wasn't a necessary move to make.

My feeling is that the more you reduce service, jam more seats in and make the flying experience more miserable than it already is, the more likely there's going to be air rage incidents or other upsets in the future. I am, in fact, thinking about the recent UA forcible passenger offloading incident here just as an example of how low the experience has become. I think these huge corporations, I mean airlines, have to watch out because they are approaching the limit to how bad they can make things before that has a knock on effect of creating more unnecessary problems.

I just did LHR - DUB with MsG50 and she was horrified at how slow the service was. 4 rows took 10 minutes because there were several goldies paying by avios. I was embarrassed for the staff who have quite clearly been given a complete lemon of a system by their managers. If you won't accept cash then the alternative has to be slick.

I strongly suspect that there is a large cadre of middle managers in BA who are utterly clueless when it comes to ergonomics.

You've basically described Ryanair. They squeezed people, and made them pay, And treated them mean, then finally realised that they can make money by being nice. 2-3 years ago flying Ryanair was like a battle. Nowadays it's actually quite acceptable, especially when you can fly to the other side of Europe for price of a sandwich.

I think you are making a very good point, which I've noticed in the us in recent years. When service declines, airlines lose the passengers' respect and good will. A natural inclination for cooperation is replaced by an atmosphere of hostility where passengers feel that they need to protect every remaining thing they have (including their seat on board!) with tooth and nail and against the airline if need be. Tensions flare up fast and if passengers do not intuitively recognise the legitimacy of the airline's personnel authority (regardless of law) a lot of time, energy, and peace is lost for good.

I suspect that this is only the beginning...

Cash
 

I would imagine it's not too common , I have three older relatives that still fly but don't have credit or debit cards! They are still very cash and cheque based. I wonder how they manage, but they seem to. It would be embarrassing all round if you ordered then could only provide cash , although I can see other fellow passengers helping out.

almost 3 weeks since I flew and bought a sarnie and coffee - card machine wasn't working so the crew were hand writing the credit card slip - this still hasn't posted to my card.

is this common that they take so long to post the charge!

How do they book flights without a card?

Flew OSL-LHR the other day, sitting in row 14. We were just passing Amsterdam when the BoB trolley made it to us.

The main issue seemed to be that the two CC weren't using their time effectively. CC1 was taking orders, sorting half the order and taking payment, while CC2 just sorted half of the order. So while CC1 was busy doing lots, CC2 just stood there looking utterly bored instead of starting the next order, for example. "10 minutes to landing" was announced when they were serving the back row.

easyJet does this well, with both CC taking orders and both having control of the payment device. Surely that would be a much better solution.

LHR - BLQ yesterday, girl in front missed the service as she was asleep, asked for a sandwich and crisps which were brought for her. Unfortunately her card didn't want to work and she didn't have another one so had to hand back the food. Felt uncomfortable for her and the FA judging by expressions

Think i would have chomped into the sandwich in the time it took. Would they have still asked for it back?

The police would meet you on arrival and the crew will accuse you of stealing