Enigma368

LHR-YVR - June 2016

I can't be bothered with an airline that allows its staff to get away with not only actively ignoring the call bell in business class but allows them to deliberately turn it off and ignore it, just because I was interrupting their conversation. And BTW I am not some demanding passenger who uses the call bell often or who had used it previously in this flight. I just thought that it would be nice to have some wine with my meal since they had forgotten to offer me and several other pax any. "To Fly, To Serve" - yeah right!

Can I help you

That certainly isn't good enough but I thought your flight was more recent then that.

IAN-UK

I agree with the sentiment you express. But I'm just not sure about the suggestion there may be grades of outrage, depending on the cabin where the call button is ignored.

Tant pis in economy through to heads must roll in first ?

HMPS

Two points 1 Onsuch long haul the crew get a defined rest period so the argument that it was a long flight cannot be accepted for poor service.
That should not be the reason such poor service could / should be tolerated. Grant you most omplains get an innane reply not worth the space / time it took to write or read. But how will it ever change unless some manager does wake up someday and change it ?

SUre, blame the poster with assumptions. OP your reply was apropos ^

You were lucky ! I specifically ordered Indian Veg meal, the starter appeared to be some sort of shriveled up egg roll looking thing. A polite enquiry to make sure it was veg. met with a stiff " I don't know".

You of course delivered the best recourse. It is a pity that the senior managers do not believe such desertions will not affect them materially. Time will prove them wrong.

HIDDY

I'm sure he's doing the right thing by giving another airline his money but lets not get carried away. Such desertions have taken place amongst Flyertalkers since the beginning of the century as have the predictions that the airline was bound to go bust as a consequence.
Yet years later it's never been financially healthier.

Nuster

To be more accurate, it was most complaints being met on here with the mantra of "BA is profitable". And you yourself played a large part in the chorus of ahbutters.

You have to question why is the airline improving food, service, bedding and even seating. Surely it's profitable anyway so why spend more? Perhaps it is because it could be more profitable or that management realizes it is damaging the brand? Or both?

Ah but......😩

HIDDY

It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion.

HMPS

+ 100
The recent "improvements" are a belated effort to catch up with the competitors... many forget while BA is playing catch up, others are innovating ! Witness the Q suites at QR.

There are multiple posts similar to yours, many by you elsewhere. For one who admittedly does not fly BA that often nor does care about most major reasons important to FF in choosing an airlines, you do have a remarkable loyalty to BA.
BA prospers due to Good Service & Great food is news to most discerning flyers. One often wonders what is the impact of the drumbeat of "enhancements" to its bottom line.
Yes for now there are many fliers whose premium and Y fares are paid by companies who have contracted with BA for favourable terms or its quasi monopoly at LHR etc. Let the economy tighten and we will see .....Would you agree over the last two years, deserting BA posts have increased ?

Cap'n Benj

Its not just the extra hours it's also the interupted sleep, getting on and off twice etc...

I can see why many would happily forgo better food and a bit more room in order to save time and inconvenience, I can also see why others would be more than happy to travel the extra mile to see what they percieve to be better value.

I probably skip between both channels of thought. As plane nerds I suspect we're more likely to accept the connecting route than the majority

GlasgowCyclops

I agree with the OP. To be fair to the person that wrote about the "high maintenance", they have came on and explained the comment and their reply clarifies it was to be intended in another way from what some initially thought. They were really genuine and sincere.



Now I'm about to book hotel in Bengaluru (Bangalore). So what has this got to do with this thread? Well, it is about price/expectations or price/performance ratio.


so tonight .....
I go to hotels.com and click on 4* and 5* so I get the 4.5's and the 5's. I'll trade a 4 or 4.5 for closeness to the venue.

Nice hotel comes up Taj at the airport (stayed there before and it is great but a bit of a drive every morning) so weigh up the nice price vs the BLR traffic. :-)

Then compare the exceptional modern quality of the Shangri-la and Oberoi vs the charm of the Taj west end or ITC Windsor. The Windsor is getting old but I like the staff and the "banter" in the bar. So I weigh up quality vs the international sterility. verses PRICE. I discount the Windsor because it is just getting too shabby (this is the BA of hotels, used to be a contender).

Brand wise? Choose an Accor in India (hell no) or a radisson (probably not) or an ITC (maybe) or a Taj (absolutely).

So back to flights. OP pays for flights and books a premium flight at a premium price (hence the price performance analogy). They have chosen a premium brand (hence the brand expectation above).

Imagine in a top brand hotel and being in the premier restaurant and having to ask (and be ignored a few times) for service etc etc etc. Would you put up with that in a hotel. Absolutely not.

In the cheaper hotels you may. but in a 5* hotel then NO. And before anyone says BA is not 5*, it charge those prices in CW.

So the OP should expect and be delivered better service of a cash CW seat.

I fly Y LH so I'm just glad the plane is on time :-)

lotus918

FWIW the CW food on 283 yesterday was atrocious, but service excellent and arrival early.

Blueboys999

TBH where I am located I have very limited options for direct flights so it's usually a choice between different connecting routes rather than a straight direct/indirect decision. Usually that comes to down to whether I want 2 medium length flights or a short hop and then a much longer flight or vice versa.

London_traveller

This is a significant factor (alongside the others regarding service, experience, quality, etc). For my flights to BKK later this year I had many choices, and went for EY (in J) at a price that was literally half that of BA. It was a no-brainer. (FWIW, the ex-EU BA prices were still a lot more than the EY price).

HMPS

+1

Bolding mine.
Your comparisons are spot on.

You are correct in that BA is not a 5 star airline ( was once, hope it returns). Unfortunately the aura of prior glory years & loyalist have mislead the public .
I would go farther than the "cash price"....after paying 270000 avios BA lightens your wallet to the tune of $ 1100 +. Add the less than good seats, food, service & LHR hassles, it ain't no three star airline!

Nuster

A jocular answer which attempts to cover up the lack of response to the substantive issues raised.If one constantly tries to goad those making constructive criticism at least have the depth to answer the issues raised beyond the usual "fly somewhere else" critical analytic.