I agree; there's a new COO coming, perhaps he'll bring some changes. And he'll be different from those coming before him.

Yeah, I didn't put my explanation through properly. Basically, the fact that T5 is supremely full is a compounding factor that leads to planes being stuck in a queue, in addition to faulty/non available equipment and short-staffing.

 

And right on cue here I sit on BA869 having just arrived, and now holding just short of T5A while we �Wait for someone to come and turn on the stand guidance system.�

We arrived 20 minutes early but that�s pretty much all been eaten up now.

It�s frustrating for passengers but I can�t imagine how frustrating it is for crews for this to happen day in and day out.

 

Flew on A320 G-GATK last week. Partner and I lucky enough to get extra legroom, over-wing emergency exit seats, 13A/C. Soon after take-off we noticed that the seat base (cushion) on 13C was loose; so much so that it slid onto the cabin floor. Partner moved to 13B which was free. Bearing in mind that this is an emergency exit row where there are supposed to be no loose objects I raised the problem with the service manager whose response was along the lines of “That’s not a problem. As long as someone is sitting on it and they have their seat belt on then it cannot go anywhere”. This is probably true but is this correct practice?

 

What is really unforgivable with BA is this has been going on for months now with BA at LHR. It happened to me frequently in April (3 times in one month) and 6 months later it's STILL happening.

What on earth is going on at this once proud airline....is 6 months not long enough to recruit, train and deploy new staff?

 

This was going on long before Covid, actually that made things better, this is a return to normal - sadly

 

I don't ever remember it happening before Covid....except if a plane landed too early, ie >20 minutes early. Then it was very credible that a gate / staff was not available given how congested LHR is. It's still incredible that 6 months on the issues still remain. Let's hope the ultra-low travel season (November 1st to mid-December) give BA and LHR the chance to finally get their act together.

 

You must've been fairly fortunate AC (ante Covid), for the issue of 'somebody's in our stand' or 'nobody's there to turn the guidance on' was a problem then too. The sad and ugly truth is that, at a fundamental level, this problem will never be eradicated, for two reasons.

First, staff shortages can and will happen on the day; I remember one particular morning when we had a double accident on the M25, another on the M4 and they were doing some works on the A4 just not to leave them out as well. Started the shift with a third of the staff missing.

The other reason is that the operation plans around arrival times. Heathrow Tower mentions limiting the early arrivals to 20', and for good reason: the manpower planning has some inherent flexibility, especially to absorb delays, but there comes a point when you can't accommodate too many delays, or to many earlies. Sure, you can increase staffing level, assuming you have the resources/funds, but then you hit another snag, which is a lot harder to fix, and that's stands. T5 shorthaul stands see a different plane come and go every hour or less, and they're operating at capacity. The buffers between when a stand has a plane on it and hasn't are very short, usually in the tens of minutes. For instance, say you have stand 518. There's BA123 pushing back at 10.00, then at 10.10 you have BA456 coming in. If BA456 is foreseen to arrive at 09.50 it's all fine and dandy for the Nigels onboard, but it's a problem for the ground staff. A new stand needs to be found. In isolation, this isn't a problem, but there's another 25/30 shorthaul stands, all with as many departures and arrivals, some of which will be late, some early, some on time. You see what happens.

I'd like to offer a bit of a reality check on this one. There isn't any ultra-low travel season; there's high, and normal. BA's LF is in the 90s over the summer, but it doesn't dip below 80 on average in Nov/Dec. And as for 'getting the act together'... Again, this is going to be a long, long, long, long slog. There's still a massive referencing backlog to get airside passes, and hiring in the post-Brexit world is hard. Airport jobs don't qualify, largely, for overseas visas and the indigenous pool is, how to say it, shallow.

 

Not to mention
1. Antisocial hours. Some shifts start at 0415 which means getting up in the middle of the night
2. Getting into work. For quite a lot of people it is a long drive
3. When you get in you have to park at a remote car park and be bussed in. You have to allow time for that.
4. When you get to the terminal you have to get through security. You have to allow time for that.
5. After security you have to get to your place of work. You have to etc.
6. After your shift you don’t just get into your car either

 

Do cabin staff appreciate a treat from passengers ie special chocolate etc ? Middle or end of flight so as not to give the impression I want something in return which can sometimes occur from those being the givers.

 

It is not expected this side of the pond.

 

It’s a lovely thought, but generally a heartfelt “Thank You” works just as well.

 

Depends how good they are surely?! 🤔

 

In the smaller cabins or if boarding early and flight attendants manning their stations ie rear of plane and i am sitting at the back, as long as I am not disturbing what needs to get done, I have had lovely chats with staff who may be new to my arrival location and appreciate being given points of interest for walks, restaurants, coffee shops so that they receive a better feel for the city they are about to visit rather than the typical tourist attractions. I find that BA flight attendants like what they do generally and are genuine in their wish to provide service. It is a job I could not do given the kinds of behavior I have observed during my travels. I very much appreciate the job they are doing.

 

I'm curious about the cabin lighting in PE on night sleeper flights. Why are the cabin lights switched back on after take off when they are left off in CW. Everyone has their own reading light? Similarly for arrival why would they be switched on 2hrs before landing? On a 6hr flight with a 1am local time departure this means having only 2.5hrs of cabin darkness. is the assumption that only business class passengers need to rest?

 

If the lights have been set to dark for takeoff they will be set to low in WT plus and WT during the bar and meal service because the crew need light when serving from a trolley, in CW the service elements are prepared in the galley which is lit and hand delivered. The lights should be switched on no earlier than 75 minutes before landing for a light breakfast, earlier for a full breakfast.