Brussels run

Exactly.
It is a real shame. Good call centre staff (Which BA have in abundance) are a real resource. Once you head to the bottom by outsourcing then the churn and staff loyalty to the company drop like a stone, the customer experience drops and brand loyalty dies.
But hey ho, the management "team" get nice bonuses so trebles all round and everybody is happy. Except for those who matter. The Staff, customers, and shareholders.

DaveS

Capita can merge the 2 call centres to save some money. And they will only need one UPS for the critical systems. What could go wrong with that.

Ldnn1

dylanks

So after this change BA will have zero actual employees available by phone that can solve customer service issues? This seems like a completely self-destructive path to rely on a contracted outsourcer for one of the most important functions they offer.

I would still argue that they would get better value by improving their phone system technology like AA has to help handle the simpler half of all calls automatically than to go down this route.

Sad days indeed for the outstanding BA staff.

T8191

Seconded!

I've had superb service over the last 10 years on both the Silver and Gold numbers, and even have the email of a specially helpful Agent at NCL. For me, they've done complex multi-sector bookings on AA as well as BA, when the computer says "No". I've had some very cheerful and helpful contacts up there, who really know which buttons to press.

Another nail in BA's coffin, and I'm so sad for the people there who are fleeing Capita. What a bloody shame.

Yorkshire Traveller

No - was discontinued after the trial finished.

sofasurfer

I've only had a handful of dealings with the NCL call centre - but was always impressed as a zero-status peon with a couple of issues that would have been relatively easy to patronize away without my family having a leg to stand on.

As it was, the people there really went above and beyond to help my Mum out and exercising some discretion in what, as I recall, could have been borderline in terms of her losing out due to an illness (and then bereavement) related issue of a very close friend (but not in terms of what I think fine print could have drawn a line under).

I, too, fear that outsourcing (particularly to Crapita) will not be good for anyone.

Hope the good folks at NCL can find rewarding new pastures elsewhere, and continue their good work for an employer worthy of their abilities.

gtomlinson

Is all of NCL going over including the Customer Relations Team or just support? I recall it being very heavy with line trainers and middle management.

I know of a few people who work there who sit on £15,500, work Xmas and awful shifts and accept it because of the travel perks, once they are gone, experienced call centre staff won't be short of work in the North East and at much better pay.

747lover

The review affects everyone in both contact centres.

EuropeanPete

As another person not intimately familiar with BA's support structure, I have noticed that almost whenever I've successfully had a tricky issue solved it's almost always been someone with a signature that happens to have a Newcastle address. The team obviously had a lot of really talented people and I wish them all the best.

One of my jobs over the years has been in centralising call centres in an effort to save costs and improve customer service through consistency and speed in the meantime. In theory there could definitely be an opportunity to improve BA's service levels through standardization and outsourcing, but as someone who has been through quite a few of these, I would say there is no chance that BA could successfully capture all the micro deviations vs. procedure which make service acceptable while transferring to someone like Capita. Capita themselves have incredibly deep experience, but I doubt in their most optimistic sales pitch to BA they ever made such a claim.

dinbangkok

Looks like it's happened already. I made a call the other day on the dedicated silver card number to clear up the slight overlap on my silver re-qualification and the person who answered the call had NO idea as to even the basic mechanics of BAEC... "I see you have silver status but only 35 tier points" (tier point year had just restarted). On the plus side the call centre representative quickly palmed me off back to someone in the UK somehow.

londonba2014

Anything Capita is involved in goes to pot...

orbitmic

So very dumb, and so very sad...

Flexible preferences

I only had one contact with the Newcastle call centre and it was a very disappointing one, trying to add a return journey from CPT to a 241 (by calling the USA number at midnight, which gets routed through to Newcastle). At first I was fobbed off, being told to call the Bronze line, then, on calling back my request was refused and I was told I had to call the UK number at 6am, despite my protests that the CW seats would have gone by then. Eventually, and in bad grace, the agent processed it, taking over 30 minutes and refusing to assign seats when I wanted to pay to assign them on the Upper Deck. Eventually it wasn't ticketed, and I had to call in yet again to give the amex details all over again (although no idea if this last part is linked to the NCL agent's actions). Just one small data point, but that is my experience of NCL.

ahmetdouas

Wow 15,500 GBP? You make more working in Starbucks or Mcdonalds!