Tobias-UK

Oh come on, you should know better - the collective noun on FT for a gathering of GGL is not a bunch but an importance of GGL!

nallison

At these events does anyone ever dare mention that maybe BA could treat all its loyal and ludicrously underpaid staff better, that are the only thing left driving loyalty to the airline, and, perhaps not slag them of publicly?

Or does everyone just quaff the free champagne, engage in a healthy dose of sycophancy and then come on here and defend their friends in BA management because they are sucked in by a do every now and again....it's very notable the regulars who are quick to defend BA management decisions, but never defend BA staff on strike or their general apaling treatment when it's raised. Says a lot if you ask me, but nice you all look out for each other and make sure even complete incompetents like AC can keep their job while hundreds lose theirs for his cost saving.

smokie36

The shaving kit issue is MUCH more important.

Besides who wants to talk about common people after a few glasses of fine champagne?

Porky Speedpig

I wasn't there so I didn't get chance to quaff any free champagne but I work with many different airlines in UK/Europe/Asia and I am not sure many folk there would agree that BA staff are ludicrously underpaid.

TravellerFrequently

A very well presented evening, where a lot of time and effort had been made.

As mentioned above the new Club World elements do look good and the White Company products will be introduced across the whole network by mid next year, IIRC.

Lots of senior staff making an effort to talk to the attendees, which is not always the care IME.

Several selfish guests decided to monopolise Alex Cruz's time, as mentioned above, and he seemed unable to work out how to politely disengage to talk to others.

I tried on several occasions, but was unable to raise my concern/question that high staff engagement is a contributor to a successful company and happy customers.

Well done to all at BA and F&M who made the event a success. I do hope that BA will consider the constructive feedback that was given last night by many regular customers.

Good to see chris1979.

ThatT1Feeling

Of course there is some of this, but don't forget that many, if not most, of the guests are also experienced senior leaders or business owners themselves - so are used to exactly these kinds of conversations in their normal business lives - suppliers overpromising, staff not being 100% honest etc. so I guess many of the guests were sceptical as we see the reality of Cruz's leadership in the service we receive.

I saw no sycophantic behaviour (why would there be?), but did see (and engaged in) some robust conversation whilst not being rude to the hosts, as I hope would be usual in any such situation.

Raffles

Most GGL members I know now refuse to go to these events for the exact reasons above.

You go once, you make your points (the same points everyone else makes) and then 2 weeks later something else gets cut. Or, in Troy Warfield's case, the person in charge of making it happen gets cut.

Most do not go a 2nd time, and why would you bother?

I mean, we're talking about a group of people who want a YEAR to replace some bedding.

LondonCanuck

I thought it was a very well organised event! Did not manage to speak to AC, since at least 10 people hovering around him at any one given time and at around 9pm he made a beeline for the exit surrounded by his 4 BA "body guards". Saw him scribbling notes like mad, which was good to see, let's just see if anyone of them are read and implemented. Had some great chats with other senior management though. Think it seems like they genuinely care, but time will tell...

Great to see brentford77, Filthy Monkey, and DanielBKK as well. Tried to find Chris1979 but too many people in grey blazers :-)

pianotraveller

Do you know who those guests were? Perhaps they were planted by BA to prevent AC talking to others.

TabTraveller

Really? Seems odd. I've been to a number of GGL events and recognised quite a few people from previous occasions so I guess many don't take your line on this.

I guess if you show up with a mentality of "making your points" then you'll probably be disappointed. It isn't a shareholders meeting or a paxman-style grilling of BA execs. It is a summer drinks party.

BA hosted a lovely event as something nice to do for BA's customers. It also gave an opportunity to speak with some senior BA staff who were actually enthuiastic about their area of the business and I found to be very engaging.

Thankfully, most guests I spoke to at the event, as some of BA's most frequent customers, did not have the same cynical and twisted views that are often trotted out here on BAFT. How refreshing.

ThatT1Feeling

That was my experience too. I think it's just fine for BA to have a summer party for some of its customers with some nice food and drink. Many organisations do just that for some of their customers.

I was pleased to have 2-3 minutes 1:1 with the big boss and also to spend time chatting to some of the other managers who, as TabTraveller says, were engaging, human and fun. I certainly wasn't there to resolve a whole list of issues with BA which would be like trying to boil the ocean, but I do believe that it was also worth my time having a targetted conversation on one single point with Alex Cruz. For me, the balance was good.

There was one guy who seemed to take a lot of AC's time, but then the guy before me had maybe 2 minutes, I had maybe 2-3 minutes and then another couple had a couple of minutes. I was impressed that AC stayed to the end of the event.

Irish lad

I was also there last night. It was an impressive event with some money thrown at it (although found the room rather hot). I chatted to a couple of senior staff (one of whom tried to get AC over but he was about to give his speech so unavailable). As mentioned above management are aware of the issues (BoB feedback, Club World falling behind, inconsistent onboard service, lousy customer service, persistent cutbacks despite record profits) which does raise the question of why they are not being dealt with.

A specific question I asked was around the persistent inability to book late notice Cathay flights with Avios. I was promised a reply addressing this so let's see.

PS How many of you discovered the "Tasting Room" which offered a wide choice of lovely F&M wines to quaff? The Chateauneuf du Pape 2013 was particularly nice.

OnslowSW7

I too thought it was a lovely event, and it was great to see so many BA execs. There were a few people monopolising AC's time, and he seemed to be getting quite a hard time over the course of the evening.

The new White Company bedding is certainly a good step in the right direction, and whilst I was talking with the White Company guys AC joined us and chatted for around 20 minutes. We covered everything from hard product to lack of pyjamas in club, staff engagement and new aircraft coming online. Whilst he did acknowledge there has been strong feedback about a number of the cuts, he says that BA have a good plan to improve in a number of areas and their challenge is speed. He knows that a number of frequent flyers are voting with their feet...

brentford77

Fascinating to find somebody with such a detailed grasp of my personality and others without ever having met me! I take my hat off to you sir / ma'am

Fitch

I attended last night and was pretty impressed actually.

Senior BA people were making a genuine effort to mingle and elicit feedback: I spoke to the COO, the guy that runs Eurofleet, a lady who runs (some or all) of the cabin crew operation, a fantastically nice lady who runs the onboard catering plus one of the development chefs. There may have been more, but as my blood alcohol spiked my ability to remember fell in proportion

BA clearly put in enormous effort to make this event a success, and I was really feeling the love !