BA in the media 2019

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Sep 6, 2019, 9:06 am

#151

rockflyertalk

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Andriyko

It's a great (and honest) look at BA and Alex Cruz. Thank you for sharing this!

We need more of his line of thinking here - 'But to paint an actual picture, a statistical, logical picture – you must remove your emotion and look at facts and figures for a brief moment.'

This article slightly annoys me and yes let’s look at facts and figures, I quote from the article...

Quote:

I am happier with British Airways now than I was two years ago when Alex Cruz took the job.

Alex Cruz took the position 3 years 6 months ago.

So we all know BA was possibly at it’s worst 2 years ago, but anyone coming in who decided it was about putting cost cutting into the culture and DNA (as AC said himself), tearing the fabric apart within the airline and then reinvesting from an extremely low level of standards that they got to by cost cutting. Well, I have to say, any average CEO or graduate could probably make a company look better after reaching the lows that BA got to from 2 years ago. The flower example is a bit of red herring, yes you can find more reasonable priced flowers but BA didn’t. How do we know AC didn’t say get rid of them for several months?! Along with all the other cuts that added up to some nice savings yet caused possibly more negatives for customers than the savings were really worth.

The only part I do think is honest and favourable about AC is his evangelist approach to technology and getting to BA to adopt better or more tech.

ermis177 likes this.

Sep 6, 2019, 9:36 am

#152

opus99

Join Date: Jan 2019

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rockflyertalk

This article slightly annoys me and yes let’s look at facts and figures, I quote from the article...

Alex Cruz took the position 3 years 6 months ago.

let’s not also forget that Cruz in many ways is conflicted. he has a boss who is VERY profit driven and if he didn’t deliver that profit the company was looking for in the first few years he was probably going to be axed. Cruz has done the best anyone can do from pleasing both sides. He made the cuts and brought the profit and then went back and said okay it’s actually time to invest in customer products. But you see it’s first impressions that last. Cruz came in as a cut costs person in our eyes and he’s trying to change that and he’s doing a good job at it but that’s not what we know him for because our impression has already been tainted by his first few decisions. BA is really better than it has been the past 5 years. I will go on BA now and 98% of the time I’d have a good flight. And they’re also financially strong as well.

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Sep 6, 2019, 10:19 am

#153

Andriyko

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rockflyertalk

The last thing I took from this article is that it talked about some standards. I don't know what's BA at its worst or at its best as it's the same airline for me that it was 2, 5, 10 or 20 years ago (bar the fact that I now need to pay if I want to have a bite and a drink in ET, but that does not even register with me as it's a complete irrelevancy, and that it's significantly cheaper). What I liked about the article and what I agree with is that if one strips out emotions and looks at metrics that matter, things look very differently. I see no point in discussing the 'worst-ness' of an airline when omitting things like passengers keep coming back to it, the airline being in good financial health etc. And he made some good points such as people not really wanting to pay more for a G&T and basically getting what they want to pay for - things that we've discussed to death here (but still don't agree on

). And the article was honest in that BA should get criticism when it is warranted (like the IT failures and BA not being transparent with passengers about it or not being better in dealing with them, although I must say that sending 100,000 passengers to their destinations quickly can be a challenge for any airline when things break down as it's not that that many available seats exist on other airlines). I think the article gave a sober-ish look at BA and Alex Cruz's leadership.

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Last edited by Andriyko; Sep 6, 2019 at 10:24 am

Sep 6, 2019, 11:15 am

#154

OGG flyer

Join Date: Jun 2018

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The Gaurdian today: "Why are British Airways pilots going on strike for the first time?"

https://www.theguardian.com/business...-pilot-walkout

Interesting read: "A cost-cutting regime has reduced the quality of the service pilots want to give to the customers, as well as affecting themselves. The cumulative effect is a serious groundswell of bad feeling.”"

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Sep 6, 2019, 2:43 pm

#155

T8191

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Quote:

Originally Posted by OGG flyer

https://www.theguardian.com/business...-pilot-walkout

Interesting read: "A cost-cutting regime has reduced the quality of the service pilots want to give to the customers, as well as affecting themselves. The cumulative effect is a serious groundswell of bad feeling.”"

The quality of service customers want from the pilots is safe and punctual flight operations. The rest is someone else’s responsibility (i.e. cabin crew, catering contractors). I know the Captain is in overall charge, but this seems to me like that individual trying to jump on every bandwagon going to justify his claims.

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Sep 7, 2019, 3:58 pm

#156

johnaalex

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More bad press for BA

OK - I know it's the Daily Hatemail, but...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-rankings.html

Sep 7, 2019, 4:05 pm

#157

MSPeconomist

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Which airlines were ranked at the top, and which ones (ten or so of them) were ranked worse than BA?

T8191 likes this.

Sep 7, 2019, 4:17 pm

#158

DYKWIA

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I may be missing something (PUTI), but I can't see any link to the actual report? Normally they would at least say who'd produced the report.

Sep 7, 2019, 4:23 pm

#159

nancypants

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DYKWIA

I may be missing something (PUTI), but I can't see any link to the actual report? Normally they would at least say who'd produced the report.

seems to be an organisation called Alva, never heard of them. It’s early so my google-fu is off but I can’t find anything on their website and just a bunch of media links about the same alleged report

Sep 7, 2019, 4:25 pm

#160

MSPeconomist

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DYKWIA

I may be missing something (PUTI), but I can't see any link to the actual report? Normally they would at least say who'd produced the report.

That's why I'm asking. I wonder whether it's only available for sale or to executives in the commercial aviation industry. I'm also curious about who did the poll and exactly how the survey questions were phrased.