:D!

Jersey may not be in the UK but it is British. I wonder if the OP really meant "why can't BA use items made in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland" as opposed to "why can't BA use British items"


In this vein, why bother branding the airline as British at all, why not just make it a Generic International Airline, the only thing that matters is that it's "good" right?

Dave Noble

It has been called British Airways for a long time - before being a private company iirc - no reason to change it

If it was being set up now, would someone founding it be likely to call it British Airways?

Providing a high quality product, regardless of source of items, is important imo - it is a shame that BA doesn't feel that way

Globaliser

Is it? I thought Elemis was a brand of the World Floating Spa Domination Company (an American company aka Steiner Leisure Limited), which may itself now be owned by some American private equity conglomerate.

orbitmic

I have no idea bout ownership (neither for Elemis nor for Molton Brown, but then at that rate, many of the greatest Bordeaux wines and vineyards now belong to Japanese and Chinese owners. I'd still personally consider them as French wines), but Elemis's ads, including at the LHR spa keep repeating that they are the 'no 1 luxury British skincare brand' or something to that effect. Is that claim nationally incorrect?

RockyRobin

Seconded. What an outmoded joke of a concept

HIDDY

Number 1 seller more like.

Anyway, until BA is subsidised by the British taxpayer they can buy what the heck they want. I personally would like to see them source only British made goods as long as they weren't those overrated and overpriced brand names.

HMPS

Made in ? BTW what / who is a ned ?

In its previous existence it was called British Overseas Aviation Corporation ?
Easier to keep the continuity and also it used to be "Veddy British" !

BRITINJAPAN3

Well not quite, BA was a merger of BOAC and BEA, Cambrian and Northeast in 1974, since it began, no name changes

simons1

You don't work in marketing or branding, clearly.

The company name has brand value, recognition, awareness etc. Its nothing to do with where they source blankets and similar items from.

aceman

I actually wonder if this is true, as I see no way quantifiably measure this at all. Ask anyone in a survey " do you support british brands?" and I'm sure they'll glibly prattle on about how important it is to them. But if you asked them "when you're parting with your hard earned cash do you care more about where an item is made or its quality?" and I'm sure the answer is somewhat different. You couldnt even run an experiment with the same product with one from one country and one from another side by side as we all have our own views on country X making product Y better.

Of course, I suspect the location v quality argument is a bit of a moot point since BA treats amenity kits as the equivalent of a christmas stocking stuffer 'lets just bloody well get something in there to bulk it out!' as opposed to caring about EITHER the quality or the provenance message.

lost_in_translation

Well, some interesting responses here (and some amusing ones!)

To those who have said 'why does it matter where something is made?', part of enjoying a product is surely psychological, so yes, to some people it matters. Does it also not matter what brands BA uses by extension? Personally I don't understand why someone would care what brand is used but not also where it's made, but (maybe) I'm just weird. To get slightly philosophical, do you think a computer will be able to create great works of art before too long?

As others have already observed, there is often also a quite material correlation between where something is made and the quality (I'm not saying you can't buy very high quality Chinese-made goods).

I think with food items BA already do a reasonable job of showcasing British produce (and I actually don't hate the English sparkling wine as long as it's not the only choice, it's not as good as Chapel Down or Nyetimber IMO but it's not terrible, it's perhaps more appropriate for J than F, though). My only suggestion is I would like them to try to extend that to other areas of the product more.

simons1

On the same principle you might say that to some people it might be important for BA to support British jobs (for the sake of avoiding knicker twisting I mean jobs in Britain).

Instead the airline has gradually offshored as much as it can.

So one might conclude that such psychological factors are unimportant in the BA world?

Jagboi

How about if the quality is perceived as somewhat similar? When it came time to buy a set of China I bought Royal Crown Derby and spent approximately 3X what a Wedgwood service would have cost because RCD was made in England (in Derby!) and Wedgwood is now made in Thailand.

LCY8737

A brand gives me assurance about what to expect. I go to Starbucks, it mostly tastes the same, irrespective of in Canada or Australia. I don't really care which country they source the beans from.

If I fly first, I'm expecting a decent service standard that is suitable to international travelers. There might be some local "home player eccentricity" on the menu, but if it consists solely of toad in a hole, spotted dick, English sparkling and Yorkshire tea, then I'd rather be on another airline.

Let's face it, there is a reason why every other village on the planet has a Chinese and an Italian restaurant, but the only places with English pubs (never restaurants!) are the ones with a large number of British expats and tourists.

I don't know enough about fine toiletries or wool blankets to comment on those...

orbitmic

Hmm... no, that isn't their claim. I just checked on their website and they make a case of their 'Britishness' over and again on every single page.