our_kid

LUX - LHR tonight too for this - coffee and sparkling water for me Great crew too, arrived LHR 35 mins early!

rockflyertalk

It’s amazing what a free drink can do for customer loyalty and experience ... oh wait...pot...kettle black

TPRun

orbitmic

Quote:

Originally Posted by Littlegirl

There is rather a lot of misinformation going on in this thread.

But unfortunately, that was predictable - as all current studies of fake news show, lack of transparency in information always creates strong opportunities for misinformation. BA does not explain yet people want to know, so they will try to piece together bits and pieces of information of highly heterogeneous nature - some people who experienced the genuine thing, some people who may have experienced something completely unrelated but think it is related, some people who heard that x or saw that y etc. In the absence of transparent information, all this is given equal weight and the misinformation bubble starts.

On the other hand...

Well, this explains the lack of transparent information: it seems that there is effectively no simple system to explain, that instead the modus operandi is relative and a little bit ad hoc. Again, I do think that the initiative is very positive and welcome but in a way it is a shame that BA put themselves in a position where they are actually in an impossibility to communicate about their own effort.

And to go back to a point c-w-s made earlier, I'm still a bit puzzled by this paradox in criteria. In my experience, routes such as GVA and LIN (alongside NCE, BRU, AMS, EDI, GLA, etc) are amongst the most elite heavy routes in the BA European network. BA chooses two of those routes but then adds an additional criterion that this will only be implemented on flights where the number of gold and silver passengers is small enough.

It seems to me that there is an inherent contradiction between the two choices. If you want the implementation to be easy, why not choose some routes which are low-status? Or if you are testing whether it is doable why not choose the elite-heavy routes that you have but try it in all cases to truly put your piloted initiative to the test, figure out where the limit comes and what needs to be changed to processes should this be implemented for network wide? Doing a bit of both, however, strikes me as a little paradoxical.

BABenchley

Like I've said before this is being trailed on a number of routes with varying loads and not just two elite heavy routes. I understand it's frustrating when you can't benefit, know or understand the logic of each route selection from management. That's the BA way but rest assured the feedback from flyers has been warmly received. Like anything, it will take some time. Hopefully for the better.

orbitmic

Sounds good but then, genuine question, do you feel that the free drinks pilot is just an unnecessary mistake?

It seems to me that if what you say is true fleetwide and that indeed, regular passengers are flocking to BA's European network despite BoB, HBO, etc, then that strategy is being vindicated and that there is no need to offer anything for free. Those of us who do not like BoB are just a negligible minority which should probably be ignored and accepted as a necessary loss compared to the many more who think that the new product ideally suits their preferences and purposes.

As they say: if it ain't broke...

rossmacd

Replying to chongcao - there is not other choice of airline on LHR-GLA, so it is a rather status heavy route.

orbitmic

That's actually a very good point: routes like LHR-NCE, LHR-EDI, LHR-GLA are also very elite-heavy but with no competitors (all competitors are from other London airports) so maybe that is why LHR-GVA and LHR-LIN (both with a mainline competitor) were chosen in the original pilot as opposed to those other routes?

rapidex

Flybe flies 4 times daily LHR-EDI

orbitmic

Ah thanks, I didn't know!

FlyerTalker688786

I agree. Except not everyone wants to fly all the time, and not everyone wants to go through LHR all the time...

crazyanglaisy

A very well received 3 tanquerays and tonics on LHR-MAD yesterday, particularly as we ended up with a routing almost over the mid-Atlantic due to the French ATC strike. Together with a seat in PE on a refurbed 777 and an excellent crew, it made for a very comfortable flight. Just a shame that they don't turn the IFE on when these long haul planes run on short haul routes.

TPRun

Agreed. They’ll do this next, but just for gold and silver card holders.

Littlegirl

I’m not privy to any of the decisions with regard to this trial/Easter Surprise.
My understanding is though that they wanted to reach a lot of Golds and Silvers so chose the high card holder routes but then decided that some flights had too many card holders on for the crew to be able to get the service finished as the process is similar to doing an actual sale and of course the crew still have to have time to process all the orders of those customers that want to buy food and drink too.

frandrake

You don't. (tap) water by the glass is given free of charge.