A Few Takeaways From Last Night's [27 March 2017] GGL Event
 

I attended my first GGL event at Fortnum and Mason last night. Probably about 30-35 GGLs and a handful of BA senior staff (though Alex remained in hiding). I wasn't able to stay for long so wasn't able to get involved in much direct discussions with management as I had to leave early but Troy Wakefield gave a PPT and then opened it up for a Q&A that got rather combative rather quickly. A few key takeaways:

(1) They wish they could make the investment in product faster

(2) They realize that the fleet seems old vs. the US and ME carriers but it will take time

(3) There is no decision if/when to update the CW seat and it is clear they were trying to spin the focus to soft product improvements (and lounge improvements)

(4) They are proud of the LGW and BOS openings are pumped up renovations coming to JFK and SFO. Not sure if it was previously announced but the JFK Gold lounge will get pre-flight dining. A rather angry man piped up about lounges in JNB, DEL and the rest of the world. Troy said they did have a five year plan to go through every lounge but was relatively clear that high-revenue, high-frequency destinations were a higher priority.

(5) There was much said by the audience about the mess of the current boarding process. It appears to be something they are looking at - especially whether procedures are followed. That said there are "pros/cons" to U.S.-style zone boarding so that remained under consideration.

(6) The audience (which are generally not frequent Y flyers) didn't attack the fundamental principle of M&S but they did attack the fact nothing was free for GGL and how awful it was to send CSDs to do greetings and offer to help and then deny a request for water. Comparison to AA were pointed out.

(7) The soft product investment in CW is coming which will include new food presentation, duvet/pillow, and an attempt at 5 uninterrupted hours of sleep (Vs 2.5 hours now on JFK-LHR flights).

Overall I thought its a good thing for management to do and I think they were genuinely interested in feedback even if someone of it received a "we know best" type of response in between the lines. I don't think, however, they recognize the true extent of the gap with the competition, especially in hard product in J. And there was way too much emphasis on "premium experience" through "wine pouring" in CE and the like.

Translation for the over-hopefuls: move from two meals down to one on all flights up to 8 hours or so.

BA have no intention whatsoever to invest in product. That lie has been repeated over and again, but as proved again by the changed catering in CE which was supposed to be an improvement: any service change within class/route will be:

- either overall cost cutting (ie replace free food and drink by BoB, get rid of second meal on East Coast Y),

- or at best a zero sum game: ie you take away from some to give to others (e.g. improve catering on HEL and AGP by discontinuing lunches and dinners on NCE, MAD, and OSL where they are replaced by a sandwich or amuse bouche)

While BA will continue trumpeting any and everything as some luxury service differentiation and upgrade, the chances of the flying experience being overall improved on any BA market segment (short or long, Y or premium) is exactly zero.

This needs to be done soon because some... MF flights seem to be very slow with the service in club.

I had SJC-LHR in J recently and the diner service didn't finish until we were over upstate New York and the lights didn't go out until we were over the Atlantic.

What's stopping them?

They have a slew of brand new aircraft that they chose to fit a previous generation J seat in. Fitting the same seat to the A350 as they are considering will not change perception that the fleet "seems old."

These will be cuts.

They have no plans to roll out any further lounge refurbs.

They could fix priority boarding overnight if they wanted to. They have no financial incentive to do so, so it will remain broken.

They don't care.

The new food presentation will be a simplified service (i.e. no choice) and the portion sizes will be smaller. In short, the service will be cut further under the guise of allowing (forcing?) more sleep.

They don't care about competing. They've conceded most of the eastbound market to the ME3 and they have an almost unassailable monopoly on TATL.

I for one wish they would in fact go back to the original version of Sleeper there was not a full meal available in J. Maybe a tray service with enough substance to count as dinner. But all attempts should be made to get people to eat in the lounge. The difference between Sleeper Service flights when the 747 UD is loaded with business travelers vs. holiday times is massive.

Based on the discussion, JFK and SFO are on he books and slated with JFK to be completed by 2018 (not sure if a SFO date was mentioned)

100% agree with you on priority boarding. I pointed out that of all the things being discussed, this one cost them no money.

Alex Cruz: customer wants priority boarding? How much it cost?
BA staff: probably none.
Alex Cruz: how much will each passenger pay for priority boarding?
BA staff: not directly I am afraid. Those passengers pay a high revenue and entitle to priority boarding. They generate a lot of cash flow.
Alex Cruz: if no one is paying it is not worth fixing. If these passengers are willing to pay for a better boarding process then we talk about it.
BA staff: but sir...

My hypothesis is that they will go down to one meal on all flights under 8 hours. Not sleeper flights, not night flights, just all flights under 8 hours or so.

Or maybe they will replace the meal by 'hot sandwich or cold salad' to maximise rest/work time. Sounds familiar? ;)

I thought the biggest revelation was the graph showing Percy Pigs weren't the biggest seller on board in the confectionary section.

(the graph they showed was small and hard to read but I was at the front)

Sadly accurate, I suspect. The continued belief that they can fool enough of the people all of the time. Maybe they are right, but corporate history would suggest otherwise.

Is this the same Troy Warfield reported from the last GGL event as flatly denying the GGL call centre had been moved to India out of hours?

Basically no improvement (they're good as they are), and just a rearrangement here and there to make it look as they are changing things for the best (while shrinking what on offer)? Nice view...

OP: Thanks for posting your review of last night's GGL event. This is helpful bakcground info. for those that are able to attend the next two GGL gatherings at Fortnum's on 24 April and 17 May. Regretfully, I am unable to attend either of these as I shall be out of the UK. Doc Copper

Is Pinocchi the plural of Pinocchio? :)

Priority boarding
 

Sounds plausible to me :-)

​​​​​​​Even if BA wanted to fix boarding, they'd still have to face the #1 issue. AA, for example, now has countless boarding groups and in my experience meticulously calls them in order. But the path to the gate is inevitably physically blocked by crowds of huffing and puffing DYKWIAs who have placed themselves right in front of the gate 45 mins ago and are loudly complaining how stupid this boarding process is and that it is them who should be boarding first.

Regretfully the OH and I (both GGL/CCR) are unable to attend the next two (or the recent one) events as we have not been invited!:(