MANCHESTER

Morning All,

I took a flight yesterday on a 787 with the 8 seats in F. Once boarded, a lovely FA popped over to tell us she was serving the whole cabin alone due to the strikes. She was lovely and I could not fault her, but needless to say she could not give the service you'd expect due to 6/8 seats being taken. Is the view that this is acceptable or should I ask for any compensation as it really was not up the scratch!

Many thanks

Tafflyer

This is the way BA is managing to operate flights despite the strikes. Did you get what you paid for? No. Should you complain? Yes. Will anything come out of it rather than either a #sorry or perhaps even blaming the unions? No.

Flexible preferences

I am a little confused here, are you saying she was preparing the meals in addition to serving the cabin?

The normal crew amount for the 787 in F is 2 members - one in the galley preparing the food and the other serving in the cabin. If you are saying she was preparing the food as well as serving it then that would be terrible service, although I have to say it is hard to envisage how this would be possible.

marbles dad

better to have one engaging FA in first than 2 indifferent ones. the latter unfortunately has been my experience on BA F .

corporate-wage-slave

It's very difficult to make a call on this given the lack of detail. For example, if you had to wait a few minutes longer for your meal, or for the bed to be made up, then it's not much of a devaluation on the First concept in my view. If there were huge waits between service, it took a long time between drink refills, you had to make up the bed yourself, then that plainly isn't the First service you would have expected. I guess the acid test is would you have paid or redeemed into First had you known you would have got that level of service, or not?

The point I often make about this situation is that there are two sides that decide what is appropriate to fixing customer service issues: BA and the customer. If BA doesn't offer the appropriate remedy - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't - you, as the customer remain free to set you own remedy and then use the several channels open to you to pursue it.

NA-Flyer

Ask for a compensation showing how greatly you were disappointed at the service due to lack of cabin crew @:-) You don't have anything to lose

windowontheAside

I'd say it was worth reporting. If BA are doing this regularly during the strike, and no-one is complaining, it could be considered a future enhancement...

travelwithross

I've flown F 4 times in the past month between AUH-LHR and yes, this has been the norm during the strikes on the 789 aircraft. On our last flight LHR-AUH we couldn't fault the crew for their enthusiasm however we did wait over 2 1/2 hours for our starter from wheels up. The loads on 72/73 are usually light during the summer so I think with a cabin 7/8 full this exacerbated the delay.

Crew members were very forthcoming that they hadn't worked in F for years.

Cymro

As I'm feelng generous I'll write the customer service reply for them.

lost_in_translation

I assume this was actually on a MF route?

Agree that it's difficult to say without being there, but I think BA possibly did this because the cabin was 6/8. If the cabin were 8/8 I can't imagine how it wouldn't materially affect the service. If you feel the service wasn't up to the standard you've experienced in BA F previously I think you should absolutely complain, making clear you aren't criticising the crew member who did their best in the circumstances (but don't expect it to necessarily lead to anything in return).

1 crew member is definitely pushing it for F, possibly too far. BA is already in the less attentive service tier with 2 crew members for 8 (the likes of JL and GA staff 3 for 8 seat F cabins).

Paralytic

I agree with others that if the lack of crew materially affected your flight, then you should complain, but if it did not really impact your experience, you don't have grounds for complaining.

If you do complain, and want to expedite matters, you should go via BA's twitter team for a more prompt #SorryNotSorry response.

cuspidor

Please complain, copy in the CEO.
The BA hierarchy are spouting off that the dispute is having no effect. It obviously is with crewing levels on flights.

fleagle

I was on my much anticipated in CW on BA093 from LHR to YYZ on a 789 and the first announcement they made was service would be slow due to reduced staff numbers. Then a rather weird sort of unscripted apology. Not knowing how fast service should be or attentive they should be I found the service rather underwhelming. Yes I got what I paid for well I think I did��

710 77345

Totally not acceptable, this is staff cutbacks by BA due to the strike action. I would have hoped they'd be acting like they did when they flying with the older cabins, and having the onboard staff offer generous compensation.

Complain loudly, and don't take a fob off as an answer.

mikeyfly

I'm in F on the BA33 next week to KUL which I understand has recently changed to MF. EF tells me there are 7 sold seats (F seat Map confirms this) I'd be really annoyed (and also sympathetic to the one) if it turns out there is only one member of cabin crew working F.

My plan is to eat in the CCR and not much on board - other than a lot of LPGS so hopefully this won't be dragged out too long.