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Two very different First flights.

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Old Oct 26, 2017, 11:02 am
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by Dicksbits
I find it hard to believe that BA staff eye rolled a First Class passenger who asked for another drink - esp when they'd made their own way to the galley.
Yes, must be a fabrication. I guess the OP was just telling lies for the hell of it.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 11:06 am
  #32  
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The range of service in BA F between extraordinary and welcoming through to lazy, poorly trained and at worst bad attitude has to be more than any other class of any other airline I've flown. Luckily the great and good flights far outweigh the bad ones, but there should never be flights in F which make you yearn for at least the kind of treatment you get on a good flight with EasyJet.

I get agitated when something I make a large (for me) investment in isn't delivered well so I don't take BA F very often any more, but I will say the service on my one BA F flight this year was much closer to perfect than to bad.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 11:18 am
  #33  
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Originally Posted by golfmad
Because it would be a ridiculous thing for a cabin crew member (especially one serving the F cabin) to do.
So obviously it would never happen then.

Crew are human beings like the rest of us and will inevitably have off days. We shouldn't hold that against them, and maybe we don't know if there is some reason in the background for it. But to be honest I find it equally tiresome to adopt a glib "I find it hard to believe" that basically insinuates that the poster to whom the reply was directed is lying.

Believe it, because it *does* - however rarely - happen.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 11:34 am
  #34  
 
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Originally Posted by EuropeanPete
The range of service in BA F between extraordinary and welcoming through to lazy, poorly trained and at worst bad attitude has to be more than any other class of any other airline I've flown.

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This !!

Originally Posted by Can I help you
You really don’t understand how many other duties the SCCM has onboard, why should you, but BA have made it that we are part of the service in CW and giving these customers my full attention is a priority, greeting to First and GCHs come second and third.
I always manage these on day flights but on night departures it can be very difficult.
Please don’t judge a crew on if you do or do not get a SCCM welcome.
Point taken and fair comment CIHY, ref the myriad of duties involved - and also the fact that the crew should not be judged solely on the welcome, or lack thereof.

The fact remains, however, that the fundamental characteristic of a first class airline cabin (much like any top level hotel, whether chain or individual) should be the warmth of welcome received upon boarding (or at reception).

From what you say, BA management have set out responsibilities for the SCCM in such a way that personal recognition of First and/or GCH's cannot always be your top priority - in contrast to the modus operandi of other carriers.

No escaping the point that it all comes back to inconsistency.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 11:56 am
  #35  
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Originally Posted by EuropeanPete
The range of service in BA F between extraordinary and welcoming through to lazy, poorly trained and at worst bad attitude has to be more than any other class of any other airline I've flown.
I've sometimes told the story of our LHR-JNB-LHR in First.

The LHR-JNB flight was dreadful. I think it may have been our first First. It was dismally disappointing.

The JNB-LHR flight, in constrast, was fantastic - right up there with the best First experiences that we've ever had. The crew couldn't have been lovelier and we couldn't have been looked after better on a night flight of that duration.

And yes, it had been a short-ish weekend in JNB. Two nights, when WW was still doing JNB. So yes, it was exactly the same crew on the way back as we'd had on the outbound.

I do remind myself of that sometimes when there's a flight that's really not so good.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 12:00 pm
  #36  
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Originally Posted by subject2load
This !!



Point taken and fair comment CIHY, ref the myriad of duties involved - and also the fact that the crew should not be judged solely on the welcome, or lack thereof.

The fact remains, however, that the fundamental characteristic of a first class airline cabin (much like any top level hotel, whether chain or individual) should be the warmth of welcome received upon boarding (or at reception).

From what you say, BA management have set out responsibilities for the SCCM in such a way that personal recognition of First and/or GCH's cannot always be your top priority - in contrast to the modus operandi of other carriers.

No escaping the point that it all comes back to inconsistency.
I totally agree but BA have taken off 2 crew members of the B744 and B777 and I have trouble keeping my balls in the air.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 12:06 pm
  #37  
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Originally Posted by Globaliser
The LHR-JNB flight was dreadful. I think it may have been our first First. It was dismally disappointing.

The JNB-LHR flight, in constrast, was fantastic - right up there with the best First experiences that we've ever had. The crew couldn't have been lovelier and we couldn't have been looked after better on a night flight of that duration.
My two worst BA F flights were on the JNB route (I can't remember which leg) a number of years ago. Part of it might be that a lot of the passengers there and on the UD are very regular flyers and mainly want to be left alone.

I used to do the ~600GBP upgrades from J from time to time when I wanted to enjoy some good food and drink as opposed to sleep on the route and it tended not to show BA at its best.

Last edited by EuropeanPete; Oct 26, 2017 at 1:03 pm
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 1:17 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Dicksbits
I find it hard to believe that BA staff eye rolled a First Class passenger who asked for another drink - esp when they'd made their own way to the galley.

Actually, when you quantify the whole flight and situation, her eye roll was appropriate for her general demeanor and the situation.

I'm not in the habit of making up stories, or scenarios, just for the sake of it. Thank you very much. However, your insinuation most definitely deserves your very own eye roll for that. Have a lovely evening. x

Last edited by London32; Oct 26, 2017 at 1:22 pm
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 2:09 pm
  #39  
 
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In my (relatively limited) experience, you get good crews and bad crews on all airlines. My own experience is that I have found less variance on BA than the airline I previously flew on very regularly, but that cuts both ways: I would get some totally lazy crews sometimes, and some really top class ones on other occasions. With BA I find I get fewer of both, and most sit somewhere in the middle.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 2:16 pm
  #40  
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Originally Posted by V10
So obviously it would never happen then.
I didn't say that and I was certainly not suggesting the OP made it up.

I find it hard to believe that a crew member would do it. I also find it hard to believe that two golfers in the same group each had a hole-in-one in consecutive shots but it happened.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 2:45 pm
  #41  
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Originally Posted by golfmad
I didn't say that and I was certainly not suggesting the OP made it up.

I find it hard to believe that a crew member would do it. I also find it hard to believe that two golfers in the same group each had a hole-in-one in consecutive shots but it happened.
Well no, but the suggestion that such a thing would be "ridiculous" was rather over-egging the pudding. Causing or worthy of derision, absurd, laughable or preposterous it certainly was not. And rather more likely in probability terms than the genuinely millions-to-one odds golfing event that you also find to be hard to believe.

In any case, the OP above apparently didn't much appreciate the sentiments either.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 2:52 pm
  #42  
 
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Hmm. Gotta love the wacky analogy

No great surprise that the double hole-in-one incident made the news - simply because it's so rare as to be virtually unheard of.

From the BBC report :

"The National Hole-In-One-Registry has calculated the odds of two players from the same foursome acing the same hole as 17 million to 1."

I'm pretty sure that most people (though perhaps not yourself, golfmad ....?) would deem the odds of witnessing a discourteous facial expression from a member of BA staff as somewhat shorter than 17 million to 1.
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 3:06 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by V10
Well no, but the suggestion that such a thing would be "ridiculous" was rather over-egging the pudding. Causing or worthy of derision, absurd, laughable or preposterous it certainly was not.
I must genuinely be missing something here. I said that it would be ridiculous for a crew member to make an eye-rolling gesture to a passenger in F who requested more service.

Such an act would be worthy of derision, absurd, preposterous and in some circumstances, laughable but wait, that's the definition of ridiculous you provided above
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 3:16 pm
  #44  
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Originally Posted by golfmad
I must genuinely be missing something here. I said that it would be ridiculous for a crew member to make an eye-rolling gesture to a passenger in F who requested more service.

Such an act would be worthy of derision, absurd, preposterous and in some circumstances, laughable but wait, that's the definition of ridiculous you provided above
I think so. Crew shouldn't do this, but it doesn't mean they wouldn't do it.

Suggesting that it's hard to believe risks conveying the message that somehow perhaps the OP got it wrong, made it up or otherwise embellished their account for theatrical effect. I think that's unfair, and it's an unfortunate aspect of this forum that some choose to adopt a position that if they haven't experienced it, then it can't possibly have happened.

Last edited by V10; Oct 26, 2017 at 4:53 pm Reason: grammar
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Old Oct 26, 2017, 4:46 pm
  #45  
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Originally Posted by golfmad
Because it would be a ridiculous thing for a cabin crew member (especially one serving the F cabin) to do.
But it happens... I posted years ago about the time I decided I was hungry and wanted lunch. I asked the guy who had been looking after me for a menu. He rolled his eyes and said "I was just going on my break".

BA F is extremely inconsistent.
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