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19 reasons to fly with British Airways in 2019

BA's Media Centre has put this out today, and it's likely to get some coverage elsewhere.

British Airways’ new year’s resolution is to provide its customers with even more quality and choice in every cabin on every route - with a £6.5bn investment and 19 great reasons to look forward to flying with the airline in 2019.

Here are some of the reasons to fly with British Airways this year:

The January sale – on now. Bag a bargain to dozens of top global destinations. Do it now, before everyone else does.
New routes. Customers can try out the airline’s new routes to Charleston y’all, with Pittsburgh, Osaka, Kos and Corsica, Ljubljana, Montpellier, among others. It’s the airline’s most extensive route network in more than a decade.
New aircraft. Customers can fly on one of the carrier’s 15 plush new aircraft being delivered this year – including four fabulous A350 aircraft.
A brand-new Club World seat, featuring on the new A350 aircraft, and two 777 aircraft by the end of the year.
WiFi. The best, live streaming WiFi on all short-haul flights and the vast majority of long-haul flights so customers can sit back and enjoy films and TV shows from their favourite streaming service.
A new look for First. New first-class dining, bedding and amenity kits from one of the UK’s best-loved designers.
An industry-leading makeover for World Traveller Plus. Look out for new bedding and new dining in this intimate and exclusive cabin.
New lounges for customers to relax and enjoy ahead of their flight, in San Francisco, Johannesburg, Geneva and JFK.
An extended partnership with premium dining supremo Do&Co, the airline’s new in-flight caterer from Heathrow and already providing meals in Club Europe.
A new ba.com homepage, making booking with British Airways even easier and more intuitive.
New partners for the British Airways Executive Club, offering even more ways to collect and spend Avios.
Digital bag tags. A UK airline first. Sync your personal baggage tag with the BA app, drop your luggage at the airport, and fly.
Self-service baggage drops at Heathrow T3 offering customers the same service as T5.
Facial recognition technology. More biometric technology at Heathrow, London City and Gatwick, New York JFK, Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami and many more. The system makes boarding faster and more convenient, helping British Airways depart flights on, or ahead of time.
New emissions-free, remote-controlled pushback vehicles for long-haul aircraft to continue to improve punctuality. Short-haul versions reduced pushback delays by more than 70 per cent.
New winter equipment – helping British Airways safely de-ice its fleet of almost 300 aircraft quicker than ever during the frosty winter months.
Hotel reservations. Investment in new technology will see rooms automatically booked for customers who miss their flights due to disruption.
Enhanced customer service. Almost 30,000 staff will receive the airline’s all-new customer service training. At T5 – more airport hosts than ever before are being re-trained to manage any customer issue, from re-booking to upgrades, lounge access, baggage and transfer queries and flight information.
And last but not least – look out for British Airways’ Centenary celebrations. It’s going to be 100 years’ old this year, and will be celebrating in style, sharing its heritage and looking at what to expect from flying in the future

There isn't any straightforward new items in this list below, I think all of them have be mentioned in this forum at some point. But one or two things are slightly more defined, such as the soft benefit improvements to First and World Traveller Plus. The one exception - at least I didn't know it - is the auto-booking of hotels during irrops, which hopefully will involve an App interface. easyJet has that too, though their system has quite a few limitations as was seen during the LGW drone-inspired incident. I'm taking the new Executive Club partners to be Fiji and perhaps Aer Lingus in due course.

Number 10 is badly needed, it barely even functions at times. Absolutely pathetic.

Yes, 1. gets my vote. The rest is either personally irrelevant or fluff.

[isn't/aren't ;)]

Rumour has it there were originally 20 reasons, but Cruz and his army of evil bean-counters enhanced it down to 19.

Well, don't knock improvements that benefit others but not you. Think collectively not individually.

Feel free to knock the changes that benefit no-one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackcarr (Post 30600638)

Number 10 is badly needed, it barely even functions at times. Absolutely pathetic.

Concur ... I was looking for flights, clicked the "go" button, and had to input everything again. Beta testing is sooo 20th Century. :mad:

Just show us the bloody CW seat already!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackcarr (Post 30600638)

Number 10 is badly needed, it barely even functions at times. Absolutely pathetic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by T8191 (Post 30600695)

Concur ... I was looking for flights, clicked the "go" button, and had to input everything again. Beta testing is sooo 20th Century. :mad:

I thought this was the new booking engine we were using!

It is awful and does need improving in the basic functions not just a makeover of the look and feel.

flight + hotel is very bad with it not recognising airport or city codes and having to confirm separately a change to the number of passengers and a change in cabin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackcarr (Post 30600638)

Number 10 is badly needed, it barely even functions at times. Absolutely pathetic.

I usually have a few snacks at the ready when trying to use the BA website :D
You may or may not be able to log in
You may or may not be able to search for a flight
You may or may not be able to price said flight
You may or may not be able to pay
BA may or may not be careless with your payment and personal details
You may or may not be able to see your bookings, or your details, or do anything really

I have 2 reasons for flying BA:
1) RFS!
2) From LCY there's not always a choice of airlines to a specific destination

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKtravelbear (Post 30600732)

I thought this was the new booking engine we were using!

Quite. The way I read it this is a list of "accomplishments" as well as upcoming plans.

Given BA only recently rolled out the redesign I'd be surprised if they're willing to admit defeat on it already, regardless of how necessary many might feel it is!

Quote:

Originally Posted by eugegall (Post 30600722)

Just show us the bloody CW seat already!!

Crew member on Monday’s flight said she hadn’t seen it, but it’s apparently just like AAs...

Good to read. I’m keen on seeing WTP improvements and the lounge at JFK.

And yes, show us the new CW seat...has an A350 seat map not appeared in the wild yet?

Not much in there for economy passengers, so I suppose they're not really bothered if you fly steerage with BA over anyone else. Not unexpected, but a little disappointing nonetheless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeyfly (Post 30600777)

Crew member on Monday’s flight said she hadn’t seen it, but it’s apparently just like AAs...

You should have asked which version of the AA seat. As she hasn't seen it (and won't until it's made public) then she's just guessing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by V10 (Post 30600868)

Not much in there for economy passengers, so I suppose they're not really bothered if you fly steerage with BA over anyone else. Not unexpected, but a little disappointing nonetheless.

2018 already had decent Y enhancements; the catering is generous now with magnums and snacks back in the galley as well as pre dinner snack and drinks, I though it was quite good flying Y in November