First class seat disappointment
#33
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
I'm really torn on this post.
I've flown BA F a few times, and had great experiences every time with both the hard and soft product.
I agree with those who say that taking a seat out of service for this minor problem is ridiculous.
And I agree that the 787 issue is a problem that is outside BA's control.
However, I agree with others who say that this should not happen in an F cabin, and aircraft issues aren't an excuse to fail to deliver on the advertised experience. This isn't Air Mauritania (if they even have an airline). It's BA, and they should deliver on what they promise. How they make that happen is not the customer's problem. I also acknowledge it may have happened on the last flight, but again, it's their responsibility to deliver on what they promise. If they have to pay overtime to maintenance personnel then so be it. If it's a problem with the design (as another poster showed a photo of the same issue) then they should contemplate that contractually with the interior supplier, and work it out there.
I've flown BA F a few times, and had great experiences every time with both the hard and soft product.
I agree with those who say that taking a seat out of service for this minor problem is ridiculous.
And I agree that the 787 issue is a problem that is outside BA's control.
However, I agree with others who say that this should not happen in an F cabin, and aircraft issues aren't an excuse to fail to deliver on the advertised experience. This isn't Air Mauritania (if they even have an airline). It's BA, and they should deliver on what they promise. How they make that happen is not the customer's problem. I also acknowledge it may have happened on the last flight, but again, it's their responsibility to deliver on what they promise. If they have to pay overtime to maintenance personnel then so be it. If it's a problem with the design (as another poster showed a photo of the same issue) then they should contemplate that contractually with the interior supplier, and work it out there.
Personally I think likening it to Air Mauritania due to a few scuffs is a bit hysterical but there we are.
#34
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,383
Suffice to say that every aspect of its hard and soft product was significantly below the standard of anything offered by BA.
#38
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 498
Poor F experience
Just complete F return to PVG outbound an excellent experience all round but the 777 RR powered bird was tatty to say the least. Return same issue although seat in good condition G-YMMK toilets were clapped out with ingrained dirt and could not be further from first class. Crew were also hopeless, 3 of them for 10 pax, lots of disappearing in the galley and not sure what they were up to, no hot towels at all, no offer to make bed, wrong drink served, came to talk to me about wine when the request was from the opposite pax less than 2 mins ago???, CSM had to come and rescue them and started basically doing everything. To be fair catering was very good though and got first choices each time. Not a very premium experience after the outbound.
LHR first wing is excellent
LHR first wing is excellent
#40
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2017
Location: UK
Programs: Deliveroo Plus
Posts: 179
I imagine that you do not frequently pay cash tickets for F then so you may not understand. If I purchase high ticket items I expect the service and product as advertised to come with it.
"I'm very sorry to learn there was damage to the fabric at your seat when you travelled from London on 30 May. The observed damage will have been logged via the seat number, to make our Engineering team aware with the necessary repairs undertaken on landing, or as soon as possible thereafter. It isn't possible to submit photographs to us, but we appreciate you observing and reporting these issues in our First cabin.
Whilst I appreciate your reason for asking, compensation is not something we offer in this situation. I'm sorry to disappoint you. "
#41
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 756
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,642
BA could not have done that without taking measures that were utterly unreasonable in the context of a purely cosmetic defect - particularly as the specific aircraft's allocation to a specific flight takes place only about 3 days before the flight itself, and even then only on a provisional basis which is subject to change up to a couple of hours before departure.
If you think that there were reasonable ways in which BA could have done this to satisfy your demands, perhaps you could explain how that could have been achieved? Generic suggestions like "the seat should have been blocked" or "the seat should not have been sold" don't even begin to address the mechanics and consequences of doing so, some of which have been pointed out to you.
It seems to me that the only ways of doing so would be never to take more than 7 reservations for the F cabin on any flight which this aircraft might potentially operate, or to keep the seat empty by downgrading someone from F to CW simply to avoid them having to experience the utter horror of looking at this defect during the flight. Both seem utterly unreasonable and over the top for a cosmetic defect.
If you think that there were reasonable ways in which BA could have done this to satisfy your demands, perhaps you could explain how that could have been achieved? Generic suggestions like "the seat should have been blocked" or "the seat should not have been sold" don't even begin to address the mechanics and consequences of doing so, some of which have been pointed out to you.
It seems to me that the only ways of doing so would be never to take more than 7 reservations for the F cabin on any flight which this aircraft might potentially operate, or to keep the seat empty by downgrading someone from F to CW simply to avoid them having to experience the utter horror of looking at this defect during the flight. Both seem utterly unreasonable and over the top for a cosmetic defect.
#43
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2017
Location: UK
Programs: Deliveroo Plus
Posts: 179
BA could not have done that without taking measures that were utterly unreasonable in the context of a purely cosmetic defect - particularly as the specific aircraft's allocation to a specific flight takes place only about 3 days before the flight itself, and even then only on a provisional basis which is subject to change up to a couple of hours before departure.
If you think that there were reasonable ways in which BA could have done this to satisfy your demands, perhaps you could explain how that could have been achieved? Generic suggestions like "the seat should have been blocked" or "the seat should not have been sold" don't even begin to address the mechanics and consequences of doing so, some of which have been pointed out to you.
It seems to me that the only ways of doing so would be never to take more than 7 reservations for the F cabin on any flight which this aircraft might potentially operate, or to keep the seat empty by downgrading someone from F to CW simply to avoid them having to experience the utter horror of looking at this defect during the flight. Both seem utterly unreasonable and over the top for a cosmetic defect.
If you think that there were reasonable ways in which BA could have done this to satisfy your demands, perhaps you could explain how that could have been achieved? Generic suggestions like "the seat should have been blocked" or "the seat should not have been sold" don't even begin to address the mechanics and consequences of doing so, some of which have been pointed out to you.
It seems to me that the only ways of doing so would be never to take more than 7 reservations for the F cabin on any flight which this aircraft might potentially operate, or to keep the seat empty by downgrading someone from F to CW simply to avoid them having to experience the utter horror of looking at this defect during the flight. Both seem utterly unreasonable and over the top for a cosmetic defect.
As one member quoted above:
"I watched that exact same documentary just last night! yes, she was complaining because there was a 1cm long hairline scratch in one of the fittings and saying everything must be perfection in F, our customers notice details like that.
How reality differs!"
BA should proactively be checking every seat, especially in first where there are not many seats, please do not tell me this should be expected and if it is the case that I have no basis of some kind of complaint or it does not warrant me to feel annoyed? I really don't feel I am being unreasonable, and for those that are asking obviously I would not prefer to seat in a CW seat in such a scenario.
edit- I do agree that to say the seat should not be used may perhaps probably be unreasonable, but is it reasonable to sell a F seat like this is the question to be asked on the flip side, & begs again the question of why BA are not at all proactive as this seems to be a fairly common issue going by members responses.
Last edited by yb90; Jun 8, 2018 at 6:04 am
#44
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,713
By all means bring it to the attention of those who need to know, that's the right thing to do. But to expect compensation or to have the seat (in some way) left unused for something as insignificant as this? Yes, you pat the s and you expect perfection. However in the real world this is not possible. If looking at the scuffed mark is that offensive, I hear the eye masks in F are very good.
#45
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2017
Location: UK
Programs: Deliveroo Plus
Posts: 179
By all means bring it to the attention of those who need to know, that's the right thing to do. But to expect compensation or to have the seat (in some way) left unused for something as insignificant as this? Yes, you pat the s and you expect perfection. However in the real world this is not possible. If looking at the scuffed mark is that offensive, I hear the eye masks in F are very good.
BA should proactively be checking every seat, especially in first where there are not many seats, please do not tell me this should be expected and if it is the case that I have no basis of some kind of complaint or it does not warrant me to feel annoyed? I really don't feel I am being unreasonable, and for those that are asking obviously I would not prefer to seat in a CW seat in such a scenario.
edit- I do agree that to say the seat should not be used may perhaps probably be unreasonable, but is it reasonable to sell a F seat like this is the question to be asked on the flip side, & begs again the question of why BA are not at all proactive as this seems to be a fairly common issue going by members responses.
edit- I do agree that to say the seat should not be used may perhaps probably be unreasonable, but is it reasonable to sell a F seat like this is the question to be asked on the flip side, & begs again the question of why BA are not at all proactive as this seems to be a fairly common issue going by members responses.