Killian_S

Recently came back from New York on the jumbo, when I (and quite a few other passengers on the upper deck) had the pleasure of interacting with a very rude and aggressive Captain. He aggressively told one lady to "move now, I need to get to the flight deck" and another elderly gentleman who was having trouble placing his bag in the locker to "take your time and hold up the entire flight why don't you". I thought this unnecessary. Myself and a few others could scarcely believe what we were hearing (we continued to discuss when we landed) and indeed, the CSM did come after with an embarrassed look on her face (not an apology, which we were not expecting anyways). Cabin crew were great and the flight was thereafter uneventful.

My experience, albeit limited, with BA Captains is that they are charming, extremely polite and courteous, ultra-professional and always have a smile. I also find them far more open than flight crews from other airlines, except maybe the LCCs. This bloke clearly got out of the wrong side of bed that day and took it out on the two unfortunate passengers who got in his way.

Has anyone else had bad experiences with flight crews?

stu1985

No - not as bad as you describe. Are you intending on writing to BA about it? Sounds like he got out of bed the wrong side that day, however, in a role in which you interact with customers, I would expect better.

s0ssos

Captains rarely interact with passengers. Unless you fly on Southwest, which does not operate in the UK as far as I know.
Maybe a decade ago they would stand and greet you but you rarely see them. Most of the time they are in the cockpit before you get on the plane (depends on where you sit, obviously), and still in the cockpit when you get out. Some captains do not announce anything over the PA (Japanese captains routinely do) and just have other people announce it.

Why wouldn't you just want a captain who flies the plane well?

Airprox

You don't fly BA much do you?

FeedbirdNiner

Not really the point, this is not about a lack of interaction from a captain.

Just a thought @Killian_S, is there a chance that the captain was being humourous/sarcastic? British sarcasm can sometimes come across badly.

s0ssos

Not at all. I go out of my way to avoid them.

I do like the people on the BA forum though, and their sense of humor.

denhaagflyer

If you flew BA more you would have noticed that the captain on SH flights typically stands at the open cockpit door while passengers are disembarking to say good-bye. I have used this in a few occasions where there had been security issues on the flights and the captain always asked me to step aside to get detailed feedback.

TheFlyingCyclist

ScruttonStreet

Flexible preferences

I think that a captain in such a state of mind may have safety implications, and I would be surprised also.

gms

I'm not questioning the OP, but it just seems odd. The aisle on the upper deck is a lot wider than those on the lower deck. I don't think I would have any problem getting past another passenger (and I'm far from skinny!). It sounds like the crew member was going out of his way to be confrontational. Which is not a trait I have encountered in any other BA pilots. Maybe he was just having a very bad day, but that's still no excuse. No harm in feeding back to BA.

corporate-wage-slave

I better confine my comments here, I've a sneaky feeling I know who that pilot was. And flight crew are humans and consequently encompass quite a span of their qualities. Hopefully that doesn't come as too much of a shock. There are some flight crew who cabin crew know to avoid, or limit social interactions, and there are some CSDs and CSMs who try their best to ensure that certain flight crew have as little inter-action with customers as possible, other than via the squawk box. Pilots aren't primarily employed for their customer service skills. That in no way interferes with their professionalism as pilots, you will hear comments like "he's appalling with customers, but if there was real trouble he's the one I would want up front" - and in any case these are the exceptions, there are many flight crew members who are held in high esteem by the cabin crew. There again, we all have a bad day sometimes, and some passengers don't half dilly dally.

Still, I would feed back. If you get a Tell-BA survey, some of them ask about flight crew.

Killian_S

Yep good point, but I know "banter" when I see it, and this was definitely not it. Nothing humorous either as the two people on the receiving end were elderly and the old lady appeared shaken. I know other much younger people (perhaps even including me) who may have been a little shaken if a 4-striper came at me like that..

Swanhunter

Can I help you