JFK ... staff issues - just a one off ?
Nov 18, 2018, 2:03 am
#16
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,596
Apologies for the lack of detail — I have no wish to get staff disciplined for poor attitude when we’ve all had bad days. Its also not been my regular experience at JFK but this was a noticeable difference from previous visits from 3 separate staff / conversations.
An example would be this very flat response - and by no means the worst...
Me: “ no smiles today? “
Dead pan and reply “ why woiuld I smile, I work for BA”
If it was just my experience then I’ll leave it be - and if it happens again, I’ll escalate - I just wondered if anyone else felf the same change in attitude I have experienced.
Cabin crew on the flight were fantastic.
An example would be this very flat response - and by no means the worst...
Me: “ no smiles today? “
Dead pan and reply “ why woiuld I smile, I work for BA”
If it was just my experience then I’ll leave it be - and if it happens again, I’ll escalate - I just wondered if anyone else felf the same change in attitude I have experienced.
Cabin crew on the flight were fantastic.
Nov 18, 2018, 2:45 am
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Cambridgeshire
Programs: BA Gold, VS Gold, UA Silver, Marriott LTP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 233
Thanks for the insights - just to clarify a few assumptions being made..
1. I should have been clearer - this was not an opening line, but part of a conversation.
2. It was a male and someone I have spoken to on prior occasions.
3. No-one has commented on his response - I guess you had to be there to realise the tone and way it was delivered.
4. As far as escalating - I mentioned this was one of three interactions from 3 different people.
5. I fly back and forth to the US ( NYC alone around 5 times a year) as mentioned multiple times a year and have been doing so for 30 years, lived there and am aware of cultural differences. So, I have a basis for comparison.
6. Attitude - as mentioned in my post - wasnt solely directed at me.
Given that none of the recent posters have commented on their T7 interactions recently changing - which was the ask of the orginal post - I’ll see how my next trip goes in a couple of weeks time.
Thanks all
1. I should have been clearer - this was not an opening line, but part of a conversation.
2. It was a male and someone I have spoken to on prior occasions.
3. No-one has commented on his response - I guess you had to be there to realise the tone and way it was delivered.
4. As far as escalating - I mentioned this was one of three interactions from 3 different people.
5. I fly back and forth to the US ( NYC alone around 5 times a year) as mentioned multiple times a year and have been doing so for 30 years, lived there and am aware of cultural differences. So, I have a basis for comparison.
6. Attitude - as mentioned in my post - wasnt solely directed at me.
Given that none of the recent posters have commented on their T7 interactions recently changing - which was the ask of the orginal post - I’ll see how my next trip goes in a couple of weeks time.
Thanks all
Nov 18, 2018, 3:07 am
#20
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
No excuse for poor attitude however sometimes what we consider a sociable comment can get a bit dull if the agent gets it several times a day.
Just chalk it down to experience and move on. Otherwise expect to get a canned reply from CS which will wind you up even more.
Just chalk it down to experience and move on. Otherwise expect to get a canned reply from CS which will wind you up even more.
Nov 18, 2018, 5:18 am
#21
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 1,577
If someone that you're apparently familiar enough with to ask "No smiles today?" isn't smiling, a more human approach might have been, "How're you doing?" or "How's it going?" or, at the more intrusive end of the spectrum without being rude, "Everything alright?"
This is, assuming that your motivation was to find out why this person wasn't smiling, and not merely demanding your customer service-mandated BA-brand smile from the crew.
This is, assuming that your motivation was to find out why this person wasn't smiling, and not merely demanding your customer service-mandated BA-brand smile from the crew.
Nov 29, 2018, 4:23 pm
#22
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London
Programs: Qantas Platinum, United Premier 1K, HSBC Premier, AVIS President's Club, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 100
Apologies for the lack of detail — I have no wish to get staff disciplined for poor attitude when we’ve all had bad days. Its also not been my regular experience at JFK but this was a noticeable difference from previous visits from 3 separate staff / conversations.
An example would be this very flat response - and by no means the worst...
Me: “ no smiles today? “
Dead pan and reply “ why woiuld I smile, I work for BA”
If it was just my experience then I’ll leave it be - and if it happens again, I’ll escalate - I just wondered if anyone else felf the same change in attitude I have experienced.
Cabin crew on the flight were fantastic.
An example would be this very flat response - and by no means the worst...
Me: “ no smiles today? “
Dead pan and reply “ why woiuld I smile, I work for BA”
If it was just my experience then I’ll leave it be - and if it happens again, I’ll escalate - I just wondered if anyone else felf the same change in attitude I have experienced.
Cabin crew on the flight were fantastic.
Nov 29, 2018, 4:57 pm
#24
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,426
Completely agree, those are the kind of interactions I love with BA staff, not the robotic smile and customer is always right bs I get from QR...
Nov 29, 2018, 6:35 pm
#25
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London/NYC
Programs: BA GFL/GGL/CCR, SPG Plat for Life, HHDiamond, xG Aegean, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 26
I too have noticed a sad abatement in the manner of dealing with the passengers by the BA staff (outsourced or otherwise) at JFK T7.
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
Nov 29, 2018, 10:05 pm
#26
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Scotland
Posts: 377
I too have noticed a sad abatement in the manner of dealing with the passengers by the BA staff (outsourced or otherwise) at JFK T7.
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
Nov 29, 2018, 11:17 pm
#27
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
I too have noticed a sad abatement in the manner of dealing with the passengers by the BA staff (outsourced or otherwise) at JFK T7.
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
Nov 30, 2018, 12:12 am
#28
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 6,349
I too have noticed a sad abatement in the manner of dealing with the passengers by the BA staff (outsourced or otherwise) at JFK T7.
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
For those of us travelling on the JFK-LHR route regularly, it was positively reassuring to spot recognisable faces and to be welcomed with warmth and familiarity.
On a recent visit, I had a likewise unpleasant exchange with a check-in agent at the F section at JFK T7.
All I was asking of the agent was to print a traditional boarding pass (the BA electronic passes do not display "TSA Pre-Check").
The agent then started to ask me some unusual security questions, apparently due to the fact that I was seated in 63A.
I said I had already answered those questions electronically when checking in on-line.
Apparently I had to be asked them in person or my boarding pass would not be issued.
Well, I said that I already had the boarding pass issued in my phone. Had I not wanted the Pre-Check-valid paper boarding pass, I wouldn't have even stopped by the check-in desk.
The agent persevered. A colleague of theirs was (a trainee?) by their side. I was very much aware of the fact that the agent was making some sort of a point in front of him.
The agent didn't know I was on the Gold Guest List and she didn't know I had access to the Concorde Room.
I refrained from making an entitled remark about it in front of a trainee (?); I thought it was BA T7 management's fault, not necessarily that of an undertrained agent, to have failed to spot these.
I am very self-conscious when it comes to exuding any semblance of a DYKWIA moment. Or at least I think I am.
However, at the end of this unpleasant "re-check-in process", I said to the agent, as amicably as I could , how lovely it used to be to go through the T7 check-in when you were greeted like an old friend.
The agent's reply was: "I've been working for BA for 30 years and I don't know you".
I said "thank you" and walked away.
The new security queue for J/F is hopelessly mismanaged. You're supposed to push in through in between the Y passengers who have queued in the regular queue for God knows how long.
The TSA agent could not tell me what the rules of joining the queue were.
"Just push in" he said. It felt wrong to be doing it and it appeared rather thoughtless of BA to be putting their "valued customers" in such a position.
The F lounge was a zoo, with lots of Iberia and JAL status passengers awaiting their respective flights. The temporary dining room was even more chaotic than the F lounge itself.
I spotted one BA JFK old-timer at the CCR. There were also familiar faces among the waiting staff there who were probably the loveliest people I met at T7 that evening.
Everyone else was new; they made it acutely, if inadvertently, obvious that they couldn't not care less.
I felt somewhat embarrassed by the former fine bastion of British hospitality now
being stripped off of its grace, cordiality and poise.
All in all, it left me with a depressing feeling of a not-so-gradual decline.
I am not looking forward to passing through there again tomorrow night. I bet BA have not Pre-Check enabled their electronic boarding passes yet. Quelle surprise!
Most staff with any experience have long since gone (probably as they can do better elsewhere) and you are left with minimum wage, entry level staff who are just there to follow a process. So tbh I'm not surprised they couldn't care less about the customer experience.
On the other hand I did see that airport workers in NY now have a minimum wage of $15 which is the highest anywhere in US.....
Nov 30, 2018, 12:50 am
#29
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London/NYC
Programs: BA GFL/GGL/CCR, SPG Plat for Life, HHDiamond, xG Aegean, Avis President's Circle
Posts: 26
As a frequent traveller you should know that, in virtually any interaction with check-in staff, you'll be asked for your passport and some security questions. The fact that you've already answered these online doesn't make a difference (and also suggests that they were not 'unusual' questions.) Arguing with, or pointing out logical flaws to, these staff members is successful roughly zero percent of the time. Sometimes we are all a bit more DYKWIA than we (like to think we) are.
It’s a sad state of affairs if an expression of surprise is perceived as a DYKWIA fit. In the future I’ll just act as I would if I were flying Aeroflot in the 1970’s, which, toutes proportions gardées, says it all.