FlyerTalker688786

First, 90% are once a year flyer is not a quote from BA, it is from another airline. You need to check your reference.

Second, even the once a year flyer has a choice when travel. They choose BA for many reasons. And BA needs to keep these once a year flyer as many as possible by offering as many reasons as possible. You will have to remember 50% of these flyer does not choose the cheapest fares. And I am very sure brand recognition is very high among these once a year flyer.

people tell airline surveys that they want cheaper fare because all consumer want to pay as little as possible. No one or very few will tell the seller that they will pay more if they can get it cheaper, it is like turkeys tell the farmer that they want thanksgiving coming more often. But ultimately people has to feel the brand speak for them in order to make the purchase decision within or broadly inline their expected budget. That is why we have people shop in Harold's, M&S and Waitrose although they know Aldi is so much cheaper.

Andriyko

First, I never said that I was quoting BA. So I am not sure what reference I need to check.

Second, I don't know where your 50% comes from. And what I don't understand even more is why people insist on comparing department stores and airlines. But if you must do so then shopping in different stores can be compared to flying in different classes of travel.

And about the brand... I guess FT will continue to disregard how people are actually voting with their wallets and will instead theorize how people will or should make their buying decisions.

PUCCI GALORE

Unlike many, others if he is correct, and I agree with him. However, where I do take issue his his assertion that BA lives on Corporate Deals. I don't keep the stats Dear, and neither does he. It cannot be proved one way or another.

As for adding you, it is a matter of utmost disinterest to me who does or does not fly with BA. I pay my own fares, not theirs. When I worked for them I was 100% loyal to them whatever I thought. Now I am a fare paying passenger like you and frankly, if people do not like the current situation they can and should go and bang their bucks elsewhere as nothing else will bring them to their senses. They have only to upset me, and I would. Lufthansa did once. Big Time. I will never set foot aboard again. Ever.

Globaliser

Still, that's not enough to make you money. SQ has been suffering significant financial stress. The main reasons are familiar, namely competition from the ME3 and low-fare airlines.

HMPS

I asked to be added thinking you collected and spoke with facts
ANyways a lot from BA can bring me back, courteous service, reasonable fares, charging comparable avios to miles in line with other airlines, stop the pay exrta for seat selection in premium cabins, forget the airline fees ( bring it in line with others) when using LHR for mileage redemptions, improve plans for handling snowmeggadon etc. After this is accomplished it can aspire to be world's premium airline and set its sights on overtaking the others ( e g ME3, SQ etc). Like you had a major upset with LH I di have one on BA F, thruout a R/T , paid with cash.

Nicoolio

Agree - it's a difficult position - how much can we cut in a market we know is always being tugged by downward pressure on fares. Financials suggest BA has room to be a bit less aggressive on the cost cutting but examples such as SQ show great service isn't enough alone. I would suggest SQ's FFP is pretty week compared to BAEC for example - but the proportion of airlines that have found success VIP services and caviar is significantly lower than those that advertise dirt low fares and then hit you with lots of fees.

PUCCI GALORE

Using "End of" in your post implies that you have actually presented something that is proven, when it clearly is not.

Why do people fly BA? I do not know and what is more I do not care. I can only answer for myself and as someone said with one exception in twelve months, the flight was heaving and the Club section was 6 - 8 rows full.

PUCCI GALORE

So like me with LH, BA won't be seeing you any time soon. Never mind, I doubt if either of us will be missed.

HMPS

True neither will miss ONE less. It only gets worse when they start losing 1 %.
However in my case I would return if BA fixes some of the points I made earlier. ( BOAC (remember Comet IV ? ) was my first love ..... Would be lovely to return in the arms of the first love. Hey. am an eternal optimist.

Sealink

And Cathay, who people here seem to adore, have just posted their first ever back to back losses.
There are things happening in aviation which we are not privy too, but clearly offering such amazing service as CX does, no longer translates to profits. (Yes, profits can be hit by other things too, but I think BA are walking a tightrope between the service they offer and making money from it.)

I still insist that AA, DL and UA (I really like AA) don't face the same competition in USA as the likes of BA here have. I don't see JetBlue and SouthWest being nearly as ruthless as Ryanair and easyJet. Not responding to it is not an option - because quite quickly you have easyJet and Ryanair suddenly flying to centrally located airports, and people buy on price. I was a travel agent for years. Ryanair open service to an airport in the middle of nowhere and people book it because it's cheap.
The ME3 (have flown EK First - terrible food and my free limo transfer vanished into thin air so had to take an Uber) have cloudy finances, so we don't really know if passengers are funding their largesse.
LH has fortress Frankfurt, have bought Austrian, Brussels Airlines, their own lo-co, and SWISS, but they charge a huge premium for leisure travellers in J and F. At least when I do fare searches.

I think my main issue with FT is that I get it. Some people don't like BA. The snide comments about Cruz etc. aren't half as funny as people think, and I note that Cruz has received no praise for the First Wing, Boston CH, Gatwick CH etc. which all happened on his watch. You don't like BOB? Me either. But I understand why they did it.

Nicoolio

I think the CX loss is entirely from making bad fuel hedges, however, even without that loss, they would have been marginally profitable, and downward trends.

DYKWIA

I think my main issue with FT is that I get it. Some people won't have a bad word said against BA.

subject2load

rapidex

The Cathay loss is entirely due to the gargantuan fuel hedging losses.Without those Cathay's profits over the last three years would be over Ł2 billion higher.The Cathay share price is currently rising as investors see the fuel hedging losses playing out over the next year and healthy profits returning.

PUCCI GALORE

Agreed!

Oh yes - I remember the Comet IV - although my first jet flight was on an Air France Caravelle. BEA was flying those Vanguards at the time in the days when they had (a little bit like the Eastern Block countries) buy British even if no one else did. The one aircraft that I regret never flying was the VC10. I just missed them at BCAL and then they were pretty much withdrawn.