Nikki Spoiler

Ok I am not a frequent flyer because of business trips but I do take 3 - 4 return trips a year in business class on BA flights with my family of 4 and sometimes extended family. I don't travel with BA because its cheap, it' never been the budget choice. I travel with BA because of my faith in the brand, I felt it was a better class of product. On my most recent trip from LHR to LCA, not only had my mini champagne bottles gone, but I was greeted with one lonely prawn on my rather odd peppered melon ! Tea served in mugs I felt like the extra perks I pay for had been removed, but I was still paying the higher price. Now that the cost cutting measures has effected both the enjoyment of the flight and faith in the brand I will not be travelling again with BA. This IT failure being a direct result of cost cutting makes me wonder what other cost cutting measure's could have a serious impact on my next flight. BA had a well established brand, which invoked thoughts of safety, British, class, quality. Its taken a few bad decisions by those on top to quickly diminish my faith in BA.

florens

Pardon my ignorance, but what is wrong with that?

fife

Meh, for UK/EU travel, all airlines are much the same these days.

I am not loyal to anyone - I use Priority Pass and pay for Fast Track where available. Legacy airlines regularly prove that they don't look after you any more competently than budget airlines, so just maintain excellent travel insurance, and pay for any irregular operations with your credit card and deal with the mess yourself, later.

South London Bon Viveur

Agree with the OP, save I like having my tea in a mug. I am not abandoning BA because it still offers a broadly competitive product, so at the right price they will still (for the time being) get my business, but they are much further down the pecking order than before. On my regular European routes I now make more use of KL and OS.

WorldLux

^. That said, I can't resist a dirt-cheap HBO fare. I snatched a 30£ return to LHR via an OTA. Status gives me everything I need and I can survive the 1/2h without an air meal.

KenJohn

Its not about the Op wants. It is about where the market is. Sadly, the market is all about the fare and not about the quality. Folks complain about quality all the time but they still go for the lowest fare.

Sadly most corporates all are driven by budgets, not quality. Most business traveller do not get to pick and choose airlines by loyalty scheme anymore. The company goes with the cheapest fare.

BA does not have a much of choice if it wants to maintain its share of the market.

For me, I want to fly business/first and I want keep my BA or OW status until I get Gold For Life. So I fly American or Qatar long-haul and BA short haul. The one area where BA remains unsurpassed is the quality of strong tea that they serve.

Flying from London City Airport, there is no different ground experience difference between flying BA or Flybe. Joke is that with Flybe, I can pay for private lounge access and get driven to the plane. I cannot pay for that service with BA.

Dan72

Completely agree. The arguments that people will pay for more/better is not supported by the hard facts. I think BA, by most metrics, is the most profitable of the large European carriers. We may see some refinement of its approach (eg seat fees on HBO fares for GCH etc), but I don't expect any significant change in approach. If BA's profitability continues, I would expect to see others following it's approach.

LTN Phobia

It indeed appears that way. I guess paying less is 'better' when it comes to transportation for many people.

It is somewhat easy to forget that flying is a form of transportation to get from A to B and many people just want a flight to meet that requirement do not want to pay for frills. Especially for short haul where the period of discomfort or deprivation (so to speak!) is limited by its nature.

Of course, most people want frills but whether they all want to pay for it is another matter.

Having said that, if you paid more because you expected more, then it's natural to expect to get more, although whether the expectations are met or not is another matter.

MeanwhileBackAtFAI

Cite your source.

nufnuf77

I used to really like those CE little cups with various designs! What happened to all the stock BA had, wouldn't mind buying six of those for personal collection

simonrp84

.....

florens

I liked their design but I found them not very practical to drink from.

CaroFos

Try ebay... a couple of different ones there. But you might be buying stolen goods !

Nikki Spoiler

Pay peanuts get monkeys....


I only fly to and from Lhr to Lca but these issues are enough to make me swap over to Aegean. As I am always flying with my children safety is my priority, and making sure my children have an enjoyable flight, with BA I justified the extra expence because I found the flight a more comfortable experience and trusted the brand, but now I feel these cost cutting measures are having a impact on the safety and the extra perks removed its Aegean for me that is now offering a better overall experience for the same price, so its a easy choice to make.

mikebg

The problem is that it is short term profitability, but it is definitely going to impact the long term. We are already seeing this with the recent debacle.