I see and you thought you’d prove them wrong by doing a random search. I think we can all apply a little intelligence and not take everything literally in discussions, but sure if you wish to be pedant fill your boots.

As I said good for him if he’s finding BA cheaper, good for you if your not, will it affect how I choose my flight, no, but you never know you might inspire someone to use a search engine rather than just booking direct without considering alternatives, and you do also make BAs point for the with reference to SH, most travellers are internet savvy, use price comparisons websites and purchase based on price, Prices shown on such sites often don’t include luggage, meals etc. so you BA has adapted to the market as much as I’m sure you and I dislike some of the changes.

Air travel seems cyclical. I used to travel BA and on the whole was generally happy. Couple of minor glitches meant that I switched to KLM/NW based in SOU was perfect on their waves to AMS to connect mostly to the USA.

Sometimes I’d travel AA domestically but once I had a servicing issue with them and following an overnight devaluation and this is pre Internet day it’s when you used to get your Advantage magazine through the post quarterly I ‘boycotted them’ even though a Boston to Dallas journey now meant an aircraft change at a US Airways hub adding hours to the journey.

We we had a complimentary Diamond Club Silver Card at work so travel switched again.. a fairly generous FF scheme with not too bad availability. I could credit VS to BD and for around 30 000 miles plus a co payment of around £500got a couple of J redemptions on various carriers to the US and Oman. Availability not too shabby with different Star Alliance carriers.

Come full circle that BA take over BD and AA and US merge. Status matched T3 and T5 lounges not bad . I find thst actuslly AA aren’t that bad domestically now. Indeed in an irrop and lost baggage AA handled both issued impeccably to the extent I thought I’d try them across the pond again, To my surprise I had a couple of the best flights with them.

Perfectly happy attain8ng Silver each year until this place lured me into Gold which I am really loving.

Club Europe isn’t the best but ithe new offerings aren’t thst bad, crew pretty good, legroom not brilliant but overall a pleasant way to travel in a bit of comfort on short hops around Europe.

Club World.. wasn’t the best apart from CWLCY but not tried the new service..predominantly put off by seat and lack of direct aisle access will see what happens next year.

Have just started my second year as Gold. I enjoy The First Wing check in and security, extra Avios redemptions on reward flight saver, great crews, being recognised by the lounge hosts at Galleries First even though I only travel once a month on average through T5, I also like double Avios and free seat assignments.

I also like BA holidays and their ability to pay a token deposit up,to a year in advance securing premium class travel and hotels with the balance due now just 5 weeks before travel, This has been the single most valuable tool to attaining status as I would never have been able to afford to pay for 3x J class tickets outright at once but I have been able,to pay the deposits and balances plus a great list,of future bookings looks good on the app and in your account.

For these reasons I won’t even look outside Oneworld to keep these benefits that I enjoy and make my leisure travel comfortable. People keep saying to me why haven’t you tried Etihad or Emirates or Turkish and part of me wants to but I don’t want to,lose what I’ve got.

Plus BA have been amazing to my family twice in extreme medical situations on both times doing something thst they were not obliged to do... that also buys a lot of goodwill over a mediocre afternoon tea or sticky tray table or delayed baggage or being inconvenienced by having to get new bank cards...

i certainly wouldn’t agree that the range of food, or indeed quality, of the upstairss restaurant is better than GFL, although I do enjoy the Beef Sandwich on Rye in the downstairs restaurant, although unfortunately that was closed during my east bound transit earlier this week.

Hotel transit is a good feature, but is only available if your transit is greater than 12 hours and there was no early connection (irrespective of if there was any availability on the earlier flight at the time of booking). When this is not available, the lounge really does become rather boring.

QR certainly value the clinliness of their cabins above BA, which is mostly a positive but rarely can be a negative (when the entire J cabin wish to use the fasciitis after the Captain’s 10 minutes to landing call, a few are using that as the time to get changed and CC insight on you waiting for them to make the toilet beautiful before you can use it. Equally, I think BA could look after their cabins a little better (since were talking toilets, the practice of ditching the tea does tend to leave unsightly stains for example).

QRs catering has improved recently IMHO, BA’s continues to meet my expectations and I enjoy both, others may well disagree and I’m not a fussy eater.

Where QR wins hands down is non-alcoholic drink options for those of us who don’t drink; I do enjoy a glass of So Jennie or a Mocktail and, whisky accepting demographic differences between the customer bases, this is certainly an area that BA could improve upon at little expense.

i personally prefer BAs current seat to QR’s and disappointed BA will be switching to the same seat; I did find on today’s flight that the coffin footwell is slightly better on 1A/K on the QR Dreamliner so that is a small mercy at least. I do like BA’s new J bedding.

I find those destinations with good connections using QR are better served by P2P connections from LON, but QR does provide some great destinations not served directly by P2P allbeit with often lengthy connections and erksome checked luggage policy for layovers. Thanks to government subsidy QR sometimes presents good value for money and is a good way to maximise TPs on a trip. Mostly this is at the expense of convience and experience (even if flying from a non-LON UK destination). It was fantastic for flights to MEL, for example, with a nice lengthy flight to get some kip, but splitting your moderate long-haul into 2 short long-hauls often comes at the expense of decent sleep.

having not experienced significant IRROPS on QR myself disappointing to learn there not great in this thread and one should also remember the inbound flight will also not be covered by our favourite EC directive.

My airline choice will continue to be dictated by a number of factors (value including added value, convience, experience generally in that order) and I will continue to enjoy flights with BA as well as other airlines and will continue to remain non-judgemental of others decisions and choices taken to suit their needs.

Some good points articulated well in this thread.

Travelling often to SYD, MEL and AKL; and living half way between BHX and CWL - Qatar is often most convenient for me (as is EK on a QF code from BHX...) - and these are usually my first option. Going to Australasia I won’t even look at BA as the schedule is weak and there is the relative hassle of getting to LHR.

However, there are times when BA also makes sense. When spending time at our offices in SIN or HKG - then BA suddenly becomes viable. Boarding at c 11pm on a Friday evening after a draining week, I can get a good 8 hour kip, a shower and a decent breakfast at LHR, and home for a weekend with the kids by 9am on Saturday. Yes, the hard product isn’t as glossy but you know what? Sometimes all you want is to get your head down.

As ever, horses for courses.

Your quite right, just checked the QR website, my apologies.