simons1

Its the profits they make from people like you that sustains them

Strawb

Flew SYD-SIN in Y last month. Not with BA even though I had access to QF F lounge, but with SQ. It was a one way flight costing $612. BA wanted slightly more, and I could have used Avios points for an Y redemption (no other cabins available) but with the YQ it doesn't make much sense. Award seats in QF in Y was available but I was looking for at least PE but they don't have it since they downgraded their 747s to A330s a few years ago.

One thing I do know when flying this route is which carrier to choose in Y. For the distance, just a few hundred miles further than LHR-JFK, you get a quality product in Y with all the trimmings (hot towels, menus, amenity kits), two (2!) hot meals and I'm not talking about a nasty folded pizza here for the 2nd meal - it's a proper main course - and fresh, clean, reguarly replenished toilets.

sunshinebob

After the sudden death of my father in law six hours before my wife & I were flying on a LH award ticket to Asia BA refunded our avios and fees without a quibble. There are some great staff at BA.

wb1969

The biggest surprise to me (and with great sadness to see) is how quickly a brand that once stood for so much - quality, innovation, pride, market leadership, can just throw in the towel.

Very sad to see and I fear they may never recover, because there is no desire to.

TonyHancock

Two things for me:

1. The lack of automation when it comes to tracking Jokers

2. The GGL team - some of the best airline customer service I have experienced

FlyerTalker39574

They have daytime flights from LHR to India, so no need to fly J class.

JJBe

How - in less than 10y time - they went from leading LH J to lagging..

JJBe

TyneTraveller

Yesterday the BA1318 LHR-ABZ aborted landing on visibility grounds and BA ops had it diverted to EDI. It transpires that they knew well in advance that this was most likely going to be the case but still requested to the captain that he checks it out anyway. Fair enough in itself, but when approaching EDI to be told they had nowhere to park and can't accept the divert hence being forwarded to GLA seemed somewhat bad operational planning. On a much better note after arriving in ABZ eventually I'm told that the new lounge will definitely be a BA branded job, and not just access to a third party lounge (although there will be one built). Arrangements are somewhat unclear during the transitional process but I imagine some agreement will be reached.

elitetraveler

The hope is that like UA, which was very profitable, and gave UA defenders cover to say everything must be great, the BoD finally realized Smisek was destroying the airline and fired him bringing in a board member (Munoz) as the new CEO.

While nobody can debate WW/AC do a good job keeping the books, they lack vision beyond producing shiny quarterly numbers.

I'm surprised somebody as smart as WW is willing to risk the brand often over pennies.

steadman

Surprising? How the public perception of the airline is just so low and that it was ever really allowed to get to that level.

roberto99

I'm surprised how during every phone call and flight on BA I get frustrated, angry, and/or disappointed.

No more BA for me....

ahmetdouas

I was surprised by how kind the check in BA agent in T5 was to me, and how sorry she was that she couldn't override the system to put me on an earlier flight as the cut off time was reached even though the plane was slightly delayed.

It wasn't her fault at all, so I told her don't worry about it I will wait!
My favourite part of BA; the calmness of some of the staff!

Paella747

Tonight I was about to purchase a business class flight from AMS to BKK. Went to select seats, and was surprised to find out that BA charges for seat reservations.
In Business Class?
No thank you.

catandmouse

The ability of BA at T5 to be taken by surprise by the arrival of a plane that took off from somewhere else 12 hours ago.

navylad

When thinking about what to put in this thread, I thought about making a standard FT statement- either extremely anti-BA or pro, I mean that people get so passionate about a form of transport that gets you from A to B (or iv C, D and E if your on a TP run), but actually this doesn't surprise me in reality; the phrase 1st world issues doesn't really cover what people really moan about with pleanty of real 1st world issues that actually matter, but I get its intention.

I think the only thing that has actually surprised me is the charity work that BA did with my hospital but without a single press release or twitter post; the kindness of staff at BA to give up their own time for a worthy cause is admirable, for the airline not trying to make economic gain from this is astonishing.