Can I help you

Well said stevie, I would cop on as well if I knew what it meant.

stevie

Sorry an Irish expression

Ber2dca

I never directly accused him of being a shill. I think the OP is in some parts thinly disguised BA propaganda, but you can spread propaganda without being paid to do so. It might just be that your opinion significantly overlaps with the company's PR.

There have been a lot of negative posts about BA recently and not all of them were fair. But there have also been a good number of passive aggressive threads where posters pretended to be 'above the fray' only to dismiss all criticism. As if there weren't many legitimate issues that people could be critical of. Not to say there aren't also good aspects but dismissing criticism just as uncalled for negativity doesn't look like a fair appraisal coming from an even-handed observer.

Now as mentioned I can't prove nor am I suggesting that such threads are 'paid for' propaganda as there's many other potential motivations, but they are certainly as one-sided and biased as they accuse BA critics of being.

HMPS

Well said.
My "anecdotal {unscientific} memory" reminds me that if a negative experience is described, there are several posts doubting it . Soon it descends into "he said, you said" debate with personal slings and arrows. Then at times the thread is closed.

Perhaps we need to all get along and let people express what they know, feel, have learnt / experienced without personal rancor ?

DYKWIA

The following thread sums up what annoys me about the BA forum these days.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post28115884

A very interesting post (IMO) gets sidetracked by sniping and insinuation.

itsmeitisss

Don't you think that your first sentence is mutually exclusive from the second? The OP has said he is not employed by BA. So you're calling him a liar too.

Anyway, we have been asked by a Mod to cease the meta discussion, so I will withdraw here. I would suggest you do likewise.

IAN-UK

I'm sure it had others scouring AirBNB listings for Bognor

IAN-UK

I have no idea what professional hat you are wearing today, but the poster's position seems completely reasonable.

If someone finds interaction with anonymous strangers in the virtual world distressing, then it might be better to remain a passive observer or withdraw entirely; rather than, Canute-like, attempt to change behaviour on the internet.

Ned1968

I'm happy to support Navylad's viewpoint on this. We're not talking about interaction in general - we're talking about abusive, aggressive, offensive, belittling, sarcastic, bullying, or overly insensitive interactions.

The "virtual world" encourages and empowers free speech and opinions by removing the social constraints that most people abide by in face to face interactions, but it's not a parallel universe populated by aliens.

This board is populated by real people (with real feelings) and a mutual interest in (and mutual frustration with at times!) airline travel and BA/BAEC. Let's all try to be more respectful, more helpful, and more understanding. We're not fighting the laws of physics like Canute - we can all change our behaviour to be a little more CWS like

nallison

I think we could all get on board with being more civil, it is a strange thing about the internet and reveals something slightly ugly about human nature the way people will talk to someone they've never met on here, that they never would face to face. I guess it's like, for example here in Colombia, a culture deeply rooted in being poilite and civil and not causing embarrassment, but as soon as people are in a car they vent all their frustraition through the horn!

I would say though, and I won't mention any names to avoid being guilty of what this thread wants to avoid. But there are some very earnest contributions to this thread about how awful others have been to them, from individuals who I've observed being some of the worst offenders. It's interesting the lack of self awareness. One for example who loves to contribute to threads for no reason other than to tell other show boring they are, regularly posts in a condescending manner, and never apologises when it later emerges they were wrong and vented at someone for no reason.

I think all could reflect on their behavour. And the forum should be open to all opinions, positive and negative that are stated reasonably. The OP does suggest that negative opinions are somehow less welcome and less valid because it doesn't match with their experience. It seems to me that this is exactly the problem, dismissal of other people's experiences. It's great the OP is happy with BA, but many do not have a choice due to work policies, or maybe are an infrequent flyer and simply relay their disappointment compared to expectations.

Just because someone has negative experience does not mean they should be on another airline forum. Nor should they be put down, and they are perfectly welcome to post here. See the quotes below, which basically dismiss the experience of anyone who doesn't agree with the OP. I'm not sure how helpful this is an approach to the forum, unless you want it to be the BA fanclub? Plenty of people with negative experiences are perfectly civil. And BA is going through a change of strategy that will inevitiably lead to comment which I wold think all are interested in. It's like when a chocolate company reduces the size of it's bars and doesn't change the price. Yes, there are alternatives, but people had an attachement to a brand and obviously are sad because either way they have a less desirable choice: either use a product they previously preferred not to, or continue to use a product that now offers less for the same price. Remember when cadbury changed the creme egg?!

'Some posters seem to hate everything about BA yet continue to post here regularly telling everyone how awful it all is. Surely they just need to use other carriers and maybe comment on their forums?'

When I fly BA I continue to see full aircraft in most classes, receive similar friendly treatment from crew and yes actually like the greater choice of what I want to eat or drink when flying ET in Europe. Most passengers seem to be ok about what they experience. The airline is profitable too. Am I missing something here?

layz

Unlike some, I've never had any abusive PMs, all friendly and I even had one from c-w-s when I suddenly disappeared off the forum for a while to see if I was OK which I thought was nice.

I do know some people do get upset by others, I know we've had various contributors (including BA staff) leave over the years because they found it too upsetting.

I agree with this, if someone (doesn't have to be a mod) found my comments to be inappropriate or looked like I may be giving someone a hard time I'd be happy if they drew my attention to it. I'd hope people would be able to directly tell me if I crossed a line but some people are worried in case they get an abusive response back. It's hard to know sometimes but I do try and be fair and reasonable.

Then again there's also faux outrage and so if we tried to think of possible ways people could get upset we'd have a very sterile and boring forum, I think the most important thing is avoiding personal attacks.

HIDDY

Ironically I think BAEC giving away status too easily has instigated much of the negative comment you see on this forum.
Now you have BA Golds who don't fly BA at all.

Crampedin13A

But surely that would make them less impacted by the cuts than Golds like myself who fly 100% BA when flying OW. I know what you are saying though. The QR/AA Golds really only need to do their 4 flights of purgatory

KARFA

This has been said before but I will note it again - you do not need to ever step on a BA plane to earn status. Your four eligible flights can be

- on a BA codeshare operated by anyone else (EI is an obvious example where standalone BA codeshares can be booked)
- on IB operated and marketed flights

which I think goes back to the point above.

elitetraveler

Does it matter?

The forum is about accumulating and using Avios as well. Even a 4-4-Gold means that person is accumulating Avios, so is impacted by policies that change earning miles, and same on using them.

I don't see how actual fliers - regardless of status - posting about broken seats, dirty planes, poor service or experiences, unsatisfactory responses from BA and BAEC status has anything to do with instigating "much of the negative comment?" @:-)