Our 1st First was not that great.
Apr 8, 2018, 11:46 am
#17
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Glasgow / London
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 3,457
sounds like mixed fleet. Keen but untrained or miserable and hopeless.
Dont let it put you off BA but it’s really best only to bother with F on worldwide fleet routes. Save you money or avios and avoid mixed fleet F - for the most part it’s like clueless school kids and just best avoided.
Apr 8, 2018, 12:25 pm
#18
formerly Christopher Sutton
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 214
Couldn’t agree more on the customer front, have shared a cabin with some right horrors!
Apr 8, 2018, 12:28 pm
#19
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: South Glos, UK
Programs: BAEC Silver/OW Sapphire
Posts: 1,157
Stories of inconsistent service occur al most daily.
Do airlines not employ mystery passengers that report back management. Would have thought if cabin crew knew they existed, it might just keep the cabin crew on their toes.
Do airlines not employ mystery passengers that report back management. Would have thought if cabin crew knew they existed, it might just keep the cabin crew on their toes.
Apr 8, 2018, 1:43 pm
#20
Join Date: May 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 5,380
Interesting question. My hunch is they don't, they get so much feedback they can see the trends on that, but I may be wrong. Perhaps they should do though...
Apr 8, 2018, 2:26 pm
#21
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
Now there's a thought.
Apr 8, 2018, 3:45 pm
#22
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 26
We flew F there & back from SFO over Easter on a redemption using a 2-4-1 and had a similar experience on our return flight; outward flight was great.
On boarding, the crew member checked our tickets, made no move to show us to our seats & said something along the lines of "you probably know yourself where 2A & K are".
Arriving at our seats, a crew member was talking to the couple in 1A & K, standing in front of my seat, she glanced at me, turned away and made no attempt to move to allow me access to my seat until I said "excuse me"; not sure where else she thought I was headed?
Many others who arrived in the cabin long after us were offered boarding drinks long before we were; husband not offered nor given the warmed nuts snack.
Although the crew were aware we were travelling together and we both said we wanted to eat as soon as possible so we could go to sleep, our meals were not served in sync at all; I had finished my starter a good 5-10 minutes before my husband's arrived (we ordered the same starter);he was not offered a roll with his starter; same with our mains (we ordered the same main).
However, my husband had then been offered & eaten dessert and had his bed made up before my empty plate had been cleared; my empty plate stayed on my table for 25 minutes.
My crew member on arriving to remove my plate asked "do you want anything else?" to which I replied "no, but I'd like my bed made up please".
I stood up to give him room to make my bed and then waited whilst he walked to & from the galley a few times to offer top ups to others whilst ignoring me; he then had a little chat with colleagues in the galley before glancing at me and opening a cupboard to get a mattress & duvet.
On waking, he asked if I wanted breakfast and I told him my choice; his response "I'll see what's left", he came back with my choice and "lucky you, you got the last one". Husband was offered a smoothie; I was not. Neither of us were offered pastries; others in the cabin were.
I'm not sure what went wrong; I was polite, said my please & thank you's etc, had 2 glasses of fizz with dinner & went to sleep!
The F crew were all on the mature side; silver haired; no younger crew members.
I was disappointed with the service on this flight; if I had been paying full price I would have been fuming; makes me wonder if our redemption status on this flight or that we are only Silvers was the issue?
Not impressed and not made to feel special or welcome.
On boarding, the crew member checked our tickets, made no move to show us to our seats & said something along the lines of "you probably know yourself where 2A & K are".
Arriving at our seats, a crew member was talking to the couple in 1A & K, standing in front of my seat, she glanced at me, turned away and made no attempt to move to allow me access to my seat until I said "excuse me"; not sure where else she thought I was headed?
Many others who arrived in the cabin long after us were offered boarding drinks long before we were; husband not offered nor given the warmed nuts snack.
Although the crew were aware we were travelling together and we both said we wanted to eat as soon as possible so we could go to sleep, our meals were not served in sync at all; I had finished my starter a good 5-10 minutes before my husband's arrived (we ordered the same starter);he was not offered a roll with his starter; same with our mains (we ordered the same main).
However, my husband had then been offered & eaten dessert and had his bed made up before my empty plate had been cleared; my empty plate stayed on my table for 25 minutes.
My crew member on arriving to remove my plate asked "do you want anything else?" to which I replied "no, but I'd like my bed made up please".
I stood up to give him room to make my bed and then waited whilst he walked to & from the galley a few times to offer top ups to others whilst ignoring me; he then had a little chat with colleagues in the galley before glancing at me and opening a cupboard to get a mattress & duvet.
On waking, he asked if I wanted breakfast and I told him my choice; his response "I'll see what's left", he came back with my choice and "lucky you, you got the last one". Husband was offered a smoothie; I was not. Neither of us were offered pastries; others in the cabin were.
I'm not sure what went wrong; I was polite, said my please & thank you's etc, had 2 glasses of fizz with dinner & went to sleep!
The F crew were all on the mature side; silver haired; no younger crew members.
I was disappointed with the service on this flight; if I had been paying full price I would have been fuming; makes me wonder if our redemption status on this flight or that we are only Silvers was the issue?
Not impressed and not made to feel special or welcome.
Last edited by scooby99; Apr 8, 2018 at 3:59 pm
Apr 8, 2018, 4:45 pm
#24
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 2,447
The F cabin sticks a little too stringently to its left/right service divide imo. Whenever I've done E&F seats as a pair it's apparent how different service can be - much like you describe it.
Also goes to show that a big chunk of the F experience, imo, is made up by the crew.
Hope the next one is better. I've had some great F experiences, but it's typically good crew that makes it.
Also goes to show that a big chunk of the F experience, imo, is made up by the crew.
Hope the next one is better. I've had some great F experiences, but it's typically good crew that makes it.
Apr 8, 2018, 8:42 pm
#27
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Bristol
Programs: BA Silver, Hilton Gold, Caesars Diamond
Posts: 921
Always wondered why there isn't some way of reviewing cabin crew, it wouldn't take long for BA to see who does a decent job and who is slacking, and provide a sense of accountability.
Apr 8, 2018, 10:53 pm
#28
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYZ/MGA
Programs: AA 1MM Lifetime Gold, AA Platinum, WS Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 7,607
Apr 8, 2018, 11:01 pm
#29
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: London
Programs: plenty - ggl, ccr, etc, etc.
Posts: 1,704
No saying about it - rather experience of consistently inconsistent and often poor slow clueless service in F from mixed fleet.
Its often willingly but woefully under trained and lacking in experience. The ultimate was when the passengers on a CPT had to show the crew where the bedding was stored for F. That followed a clueless meal service too laughable to repeat here.
But since MF can’t handle criticism and management are nt aware then this issue will never get better. Hence the advice to the OP - avoid MF premium cabins where possible. We all have a choice of where to spend our $$$s.
In a few years time with F shrinking to 8 seats and removed from much of the network this issue may solve itself.
Its often willingly but woefully under trained and lacking in experience. The ultimate was when the passengers on a CPT had to show the crew where the bedding was stored for F. That followed a clueless meal service too laughable to repeat here.
But since MF can’t handle criticism and management are nt aware then this issue will never get better. Hence the advice to the OP - avoid MF premium cabins where possible. We all have a choice of where to spend our $$$s.
In a few years time with F shrinking to 8 seats and removed from much of the network this issue may solve itself.
Apr 9, 2018, 1:26 am
#30
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: OSL
Programs: BA Gold | SK Gold | A3 Gold
Posts: 4,553
If I was in your place, I would have complained (fairly soon) while on board. This isn't exclusive to BA, I guess. Flew to South Africa last year with Qatar, and on one of the sectors the service was so bad I had to complain to the purser, only to find out the crew member on my side was on her second ever flight in C!
Have had one too many experiences on LH/ LX F as well, basically having to tell the purser they will need to find some other crew member to do the service in the cabin because of how bad it was.
Have had one too many experiences on LH/ LX F as well, basically having to tell the purser they will need to find some other crew member to do the service in the cabin because of how bad it was.