frank_poulankh

I'm a little nervous about starting a new thread, but here goes... (If there's a thread to which this needs merging or I'm going over old ground, please forgive me.)

With all the recent talk of re-nationalising the British railways and all the attacks on BA for being "a Spanish/Qatari airline", I've started to wonder what BA was really like before it was privatised. I certainly flew BA when it was nationalised but I was young enough when I did so that I can't really remember anything much about it these days. I certainly can't remember enough to compare it to today's BA.

I wonder therefore if anyone here has any recollections of the nationalised BA that they'd be prepared to share. What was the service like? How did BA compare to other airlines of the time? What was it like working for BA back then? Were strikes more common? How does it compare to the BA we all fly today?

Many thanks for any thoughts and/or memories you're willing to share and, again, apologies if this belongs somewhere else.

FrancisA

The most obvious comparison with today's BA would be the fares. They would be astronomical at today's prices. This is not to do with nationalised vs privatised per se, but the ending of restrictions on route operators, for instance with open skies in Europe. Competition has then reduced prices, even where some carriers remain effectively nationalised.

The other obvious difference would be seating. Even F was not a flat bed and the current CW seat would have been way ahead of anything back then.

Food and wine were better then, if you like heavy faux French cuisine and good but unimaginative wines.

All in all, I would much rather have today's BA.

Ancient Observer

It was privatised in early 87. By the time that I got my first Gold card - 89/90, not much had changed in terms of Service. Real prime beef and really good wine in 1st class. (Ch. Lynch Bages is one I remember).
Prices were steep, and the main users were the big corporates, who were globalising, travelling more and more to offices around the world.

Nowadays it is not even a full service airline. You need to fly with Aegean and others to experience that.

Back in the mid 70s, BA launched the "Shuttle". You got a full meal service on the London to Manchester flight from about the early 80s!!!!

UKtravelbear

Although it was state owned it did actually operate with a lot of commercial freedom.

Ministers wern't deciding on routes or whether there was a rose in the lav or not.

Skipcool3

Some good some bad..... better leg room in economy.

DrBernardo

It was said that in the old days of pre-privatisation, BA stood for Bl**dy Awful. The transformations in the run up to privatisation, and post privatisation initiatives like the internal "Putting People First Again" programme transformed it into Bl**dy Awesome in the eyes of some (especially some insiders - personally I always thought that a little hyperbolic!)

I'd say that, since staffing numbers were higher, and business efficiency was a little lower, personalised customer service might have been a little better back then - certainly staff had more time to interact with and help you.

Product was worse technically (IFE screen in the ceiling at the front of the cabin, seat comfort) but probably better in terms of personal space. And I certainly remember a fair few inedible economy meals on shorthaul in the '70s and '80s.

And in addition to relative fare levels being alot higher, they were much less innovative too. Recall that the Saturday night stay rule only disappeared on shorthaul in the 2000's. Revenue management also got a great deal more smart/ruthless at the same time, resulting in higher load factors. So more empty seats in the old days too.

On balance, I prefer it now, though I'd blend in a little of the customer care of the old days...

HIDDY

Great airline to work for but for the passenger it wasn't as great as some on here would have you believe. You're getting far more for your pound spent today than you got back then.

Crampedin13A

My recollection of the old BA was terrible on time performance. Lost my bags a few times to boot. If you disregard IFE I think longhaul Y was a much more humane experience but that can be said of most airlines 30+ years on

frank_poulankh

Thanks to you all for the replies thus far. They've made for very interesting reading. The points regarding ticket price are certainly enlightening. It would appear that the fascination BA held for my younger self was due in some way to its lack of affordability to my parents. Neither DanAir nor Orion really had that same allure

elitetraveler

There are really two aspects of BA before its privatization.

The "Bloody Awful" period which was after the merger of BOAC/BEA until King/Marshall came onboard, and then the period where King/Marshall whipped BA into shape in advance of the privatization.

The Bloody Awful period speaks to the rivalry between BOAC and BEA staffs, bloated staffing and a civil servant approach to customer service - not so much in flight but in terms of on the ground, trying to get complaints resolved and so forth.

The inflight product was similar to other airlines of the time - TW and PA were both top market players - believe it or not, other top airlines included airlines like AI and RG (Varig) as well as SQ, JL, CX (although it was more of a regional player), QF, etc.

During the period first class seating was more like you might find U.S. carriers in their narrowbody domestic cabins although there was the start of the first sleeper seats (loungers). Most of the airlines had lounges on the upper decks of their 747-100s and 200s. Seating was all pretty similar, both in first and economy class. PL for awhile instead of having a lounge upstairs had bunk beds. I think SQ might have done the same for a bit.

The Lord/Marshall era started with lots of redundancies and ridding BA of its bureacracy. Front line staff were empowered via a program called Putting People First where the basis to give frontliners the ability to bend rules to make passengers happy. As TW/PA fell into financial straits, the new BA updated its image and marketing - and also started to give branding to its various cabins - i.e. - Club World, Club Europe, First, World Traveler, etc.

BA became a financial powerhouse and launched a number of innovations - the first flat beds in F and J - preflight dining, arrivals lounges with showers. The marketing and product leadership elevated BA to the top of the league mentioned alongside SR, SQ and other top airlines of the day.

Obviously today, BA is doing well financially - compared to the Bloody Awful days when it set records for most money lost by an airline in a single year.

In terms of where it is today in terms of a customer perspective - it is probably a few notches below the Bloody Awful days.

Talking about fares today vs. the 70s or 80s is red herring since it was the same for all airlines that were around then and now - From a consumer point of veiw, BA is probably competitively at one of the lower points in its history.

Ancient Observer

In my memory, it was Laker airways that showed us that BA was a rip off.

BA settled out of court for its alleged dirty tricks to bankrupt Laker.

frank_poulankh

Thanks to all who took the time to share their recollections. Much appreciated.

crazyarmadillo

I worked at the airline just after privatization for about 7 years.

I joined as a young kid of 18 years old.

My comments are solely based on working there, not as a customer.

But couple keys things stand out - safety and security was paramount throughout all at the airline of all employees whatever they did. It was before the first gulf war. So as you can imagine safety and security even more so now. One big happy family tbh.

But, for office based employees (the majority) lunchtimes were long and boozy. There were a couple of bars that employees could access at Hatton Cross that BA owned - who knows they may still be there. One was called the Concorde Club, if I recall, where managers could put wine on expenses no problem. Cor blimey, even I did as well!

Breakfast lunch and dinner were heavily subsidised.

Lunches come Friday were a couple of hours at least for even the likes of little me.

After privatisation the company transformed itself into a professional robust and world leader in commercial airline travel. Safety was always paramount still but the long boozy lunches finished.

Putting all the recent gripes about current management, BA is a much better airline since privatisation, by a mile.

DrGee

Sounds like any number of organisations I worked at back in the 70s/80s, private or nationalised. That was pretty much the work culture back then but we still seemed to get things done in good order.

missdimeaner

My first flight with BA was 1978 to ORD, our starting point was Victoria where we checked in - I would love to do that now !
I seem to recall we got sent a magazine and joined a club called 'friends and family overseas' - we got paged at the airport (T3 airside) and met a representative from the club, BA employee I think, who gave us 'tips' about the US.
It was a very naive time for leisure travellers going long haul, so much has changed since that time - it would be assumed you know what you are doing nowadays.