DFB_london

offtothehills

It's not necessarily passive aggressive to say nothing at the time at all. Some folks may feel intimidated, esp if it's their first time in F. And by the sound of it, the staff don't seem to be of the "receptive of comments" type, as it were. I understand how the OP may have felt, it's not always easy to say it as it is, esp with non verbal/passive aggressive communication from CC.
Give the OP some slack, they didn't feel valued nor cared for. They should have.

mapleg

Huh?? I am a Russian bot for suggesting that someone dissatisfied with service complain at the time rather than later?

Sorry, I don't manage to mix political discourse into everyday life like this. Enjoy.

rickg523

Or maybe they went to this webpage while they were deciding whether or not to spring for F.
Flying First Class on BA

If you're going to flog it, and charge for it, you better be prepared to hear complaints if you don't deliver it.

Oaxaca

ckx2

The usual question is "Mr/Ms XXX, will you join us for lunch/dinner/supper today?". I agree it does not really indicate, that you could have your options at any given time.

travelwithross

A bargain for bottom of the barrel F...

Tobias-UK

-in You see Ross, I am a very easy going chap. I'm a glass half-full type, who always tries to look for the best in people. I enjoy people, I appreciate those who serve me, I acknowledge them as a person and treat them with the same respect as I would a colleague or friend. I appreciate them for who they are and for their efforts in providing me with a service. I have had crew comment to me how pleasant and friendly I am and that they wish more passengers were like me.

What I don't understand about the BA part of FlyerTalk is the amount of venom in some replies. Some are downright rude when referring to crew, whilst others see complaining as a sport. I see a lot of anger when reading some posts, especially from those who pile-in when someone posts a complaint (or a compliment in many cases). Much of it, of course, is hyperbole.

There are of course occasions when BA get it wrong. There are occasions when crew or other staff don't do their jobs as well as we expect them to, but after all they are only human and we all have off days, and so service suffers. It shouldn't suffer, but it does and when the service or product falls short a complaint is justified. It may surprise you to know that I have made 5 or 6 complaints to BA over the last year about their failings.

So whilst some come on here and complain, and others pile-in ad nauseum (usually the same group people) and tell us how crap BA are, I fly away merily, relaxed, feeling lucky and sit back enjoying my journey ... and if the hot towel is not hot enough, or too hot, or too thin I don'y let it bother me. If the meal I ordered isn't to my tate, I order an alternative ... life is just to short to be grumpy and unhappy.

BA is not the best airline around, but it is an airline I enjoy flying despite its faults. You have your airines of choice, and I have my airlines of choice - but it is very, very tiring to be constantly told my choice is wrong and I should chose someone else's preferred airline.

EDIT: You have edited and removed a significant portion your post since I started to type this reply, but nonetheless the sentiment stands.

PrimaVista

^ Post of the week.

simons1

To be honest in 25 years of business travel I have never yet come across an airline that gets it right all the time (even those I prefer to use). It's all a matter of preference and I tend to disregard opinions at the extreme - those who always find fault and those who always find it great - as being equally unbelievable.

Over time you can also see the trends - new products are always coming and there will always be airlines that are on the way up and others on the way down.

This is also an internet chat room where things need to be taken with a pinch of salt. There will always be opinions, so if you are one of those who find it "very, very tiring to be constantly told my choice is wrong" then I would suggest a thread headed 'our 1st First was not that great' might be one to give a miss to. To my knowledge no-one is forced to read any particular content on here.

Tobias-UK

I was about to 'like' your post, that was until I got to your final paragraph. Why should I (or anyone) need to not read any topic on FlyerTalk? FlyerTalk is an inclusive community where we should all feel at ease to share our experiences. You see, people come to the BA Forum to find and share information on BA, not ANOther airline. I have received a number of PMs after the sender had read topics where I had been ganged up on because I have shared a positive First experience where they too wanted to say how much they had enjoyed their flight, but they felt uneasy about sharing their experience for fear of also being set upon. That should never happen, but sadly it does because some take a rather aggressive tone in dismissing those who have enjoyed their experience.

simons1

Well I can only speak personally, I have no problems with anyone sharing a positive first experience. However I do know that generally an unhappy client will tell about 4x as many people as a happy one so that may explain the balance of threads. Personally I don't bother with the PM routine, the only way to redress the balance will be changed is for people to openly share experiences rather than telling someone else in a PM.

The 'dismissing' bit comes on both sides, I can recall plenty of threads where a negative experience has immediately been countered by posts designed to make it appear the OP is at fault.

As for the question of not reading the post, well of course you are free to read whatever you want. All I am saying is that based on my own experience if I am fed up with reading negative comments about say Mixed Fleet then I might not bother reading a thread about 'why are mixed fleet so bad' and then complain about it.

As I said before on another thread you have to take any forum with a pinch of salt, many regular posters have agendas either way, and many of the 'stories' are clearly more fiction than fact. It happens in most chatrooms really.

Ancient Observer

simons1
It is at least 4! I seem to remember that when I studied bizness, for Consumer purchases, the unhappy person tells 14 people. More than 4 anyway!

simons1

Indeed you are right....what I meant is they would tell 4x as many people. So if you had a satisfied and dis-satisfied customer, the first might tell 3 people, the second might tell 12. I only make the point as if people posting on FT are in the same proportion you would clearly have a negative skew.

On the other hand I also recall that over 90% of unhappy customers never complain, so it could be a lot worse.

HIDDY

Heads are bound to be turned when you can earn Oneworld Emerald status so easily by flying a state run airline where profit making is of minor importance. Then again the forum is more geared for status earning rather than for Joe Public who doesn't mind flying BA down the back.