msm2000uk

Haha I'd forgotten about that comment!

The above response was after I asked about CCR holders, and what improvements we could expect.

M

msm2000uk

Nothing other than the WiFi comment, discussion about new routes, and the new lounge in Rome.

M

tedcruz

I spoke to Cruz for 25 minutes on the train after breakfast. Got allot of info out of him....

ringingup

And...

msm2000uk

One other to add, was that AC is an HfP reader....and indeed he made reference to the BA article published today.

Well done Raffles!

M

rockflyertalk

I think BA have done a fair paced job with all the refurbed aircraft. Credit where it’s due. There must be a good 25+ refurbed aircraft in the last 2-3 years.

So if this anything to go by I can’t see why the same pace can be achieved for a new CW seat on existing aircraft. With just one cabin to fit, rather than the whole aircraft this can’t take more than 30 days each, can it? how long does it take QR to fit their QSuites on each aircraft?

Thank you for all the info

I’d be keen to hear about the train chat with Senor Cruz...

Physci

Not sure that Raffles will want to put an "As read by Alex Cruz" banner on his site though .....

tedcruz

Post the event, I walked with Cruz to the tube station where we got on the same train. He told me about why it's hard to get the new Club catering out onto all routes and he did say that he hopes by the end of the year all routes will have the new bedding.
Onto lounges. He said that the reason why the Rome lounge was different to the usual Galleries style, is due to the lack of resources. He said that the new lounge in Aberdeen (ABZ) will be the normal/new style lounge.
Group boarding. I told him about biometric boarding being a good idea but it doesn't really help with group boarding as any one can stand in Group one and board. I also questioned the fact that Groups 2-3 and 4-5 are mixed together. He said that the technology to start specifying the biometrics to group number is complicated. But he said that BA will introduce a member of staff standing by the gate directing you to your selected groups lane. Due to space, they can't split groups 2-3 and 4-5.
US pre clearance will not be introduced at T5.
The BIGGEST piece of news I got was about the new NEOs. When I questioned why BA chose to remove the Club table he was shocked. He said that wasn't his decision and he will investigate why it was removed. He told me he will do his best to get it back as he knows how important it is.
There was more about the new Club World seat....

sxc

That sounds like a strange rationale for the Rome design. And sad because the Rome design looks nicer?

LondonElite

Interesting. He didn't know about the tables? Bizarre.

The preclearance thing really is nowhere near his remit, and we've had the discussion here before about this not happening at LHR for many reasons.

Tiger_lily

ringingup

He's not that good a reader of @Raffles' HfP after all.

LondonElite

Nice!

Raffles

That wasn't clear to be fair. He said that he'd read about the First Class changes in an article published this morning but he didn't - in the talk - specifically say it was on HFP. Did he separately mention that offline?

We exchanged pleasantries as he headed out but that was all. Amusingly Natasha from the Press Office was with him and, when she saw me, stopped for a chat. Alex carried on out of the door. About a minute later Alex walks back into the venue, says 'we have to go!' and off they went..

sts603

A few questions:

(1) Why is it so hard to get the catering rolled out?
(2) Did he address the service time issues?
(3) The above implies that while bedding may be fully available by year's end, catering may not be?
(4) Are you going to tell us about the seat??