BA 9 LHR-BKK. Is it getting worse ?
Feb 1, 2019, 5:05 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Jakarta
Programs: BA GGL, GA PLAT, SQ Gold
Posts: 527
BA 9 LHR-BKK. Is it getting worse ?
Flew from London- Bangkok couple of days ago, from previous comments i wasn't expecting anything special but seriously it was worse then i was expecting....
Crew although very chatty, they seriously didn't have a clue about the service order which became clear later when 2 CC mentioned they had only finished Club World training last Saturday.
Meal Service took 3.5 hours from take off too Completion, drinks didn't appear until 45 mins after ordering, no drinks trolley, it was a complete organised chaos.
Menus given out, when it came to ordering , what was displayed was actually half not available and chicken and pork dishes added to the menu , it was a complete mess and confusion.
Breakfast cards given out, i didn't complete mine as the last thing on my mind was breakfast at 3.30pm , i was told i MUST complete if i wanted any breakfast, i declined and just had coffee the next morning, one comment about breakfast most of the passengers didn't have a clue when asked "are you ready for your HOT" wouldn't it be easier and more clear to say " Hot Breakfast or English Breakfast"
AVOD -i wasn't expecting anything special but it was pretty poor and needed re starting twice.
On the plus side Flight was smooth and arrived on time, Crew polite but very inexperienced.
Crew although very chatty, they seriously didn't have a clue about the service order which became clear later when 2 CC mentioned they had only finished Club World training last Saturday.
Meal Service took 3.5 hours from take off too Completion, drinks didn't appear until 45 mins after ordering, no drinks trolley, it was a complete organised chaos.
Menus given out, when it came to ordering , what was displayed was actually half not available and chicken and pork dishes added to the menu , it was a complete mess and confusion.
Breakfast cards given out, i didn't complete mine as the last thing on my mind was breakfast at 3.30pm , i was told i MUST complete if i wanted any breakfast, i declined and just had coffee the next morning, one comment about breakfast most of the passengers didn't have a clue when asked "are you ready for your HOT" wouldn't it be easier and more clear to say " Hot Breakfast or English Breakfast"
AVOD -i wasn't expecting anything special but it was pretty poor and needed re starting twice.
On the plus side Flight was smooth and arrived on time, Crew polite but very inexperienced.
Feb 1, 2019, 5:34 am
#2
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Newcastle/London & Worldwide
Programs: BAEC Gold, Virgin Flying Club Silver
Posts: 818
I don’t think that particular flight is getting worse - I know to expect poor IFE and take my iPad fully loaded - the rest of the experience is standard CW. To your point though what I have experienced is a number of recent awful experiences with Mixed Fleet - don’t know if I’m just unlucky but the lack of experience, focus and service delivery seems worse than ever in F and J.
Feb 1, 2019, 6:17 am
#3
Join Date: May 2011
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 174
Surely it is known by BA that the BA09 flight is poor? It seems it's only good value if you are starting ex-AMS. It's an old plane, about the worst quality AVOD/IFE that BA has on any long haul flight. Then there is the numerous reports of mixed fleet performance.
I know it's largely a leisure destination but because improvements have not been made over in recent years there is a stigma attached to this route. Many of the more savvy travellers would fly Qatar or Cathy or even MH and change rather than take the BA direct flight. After years of flying this route both in Club and Economy I doubt I'd ever consider it again and would hunt for better value flights with Qatar or Cathy or even MH.
If I decide I need the Tier Points or Avios or the BA metal flights for renewing BAEC status I'd just fly to KUL or HKG or SIN and transfer from there up to BKK.
I know it's largely a leisure destination but because improvements have not been made over in recent years there is a stigma attached to this route. Many of the more savvy travellers would fly Qatar or Cathy or even MH and change rather than take the BA direct flight. After years of flying this route both in Club and Economy I doubt I'd ever consider it again and would hunt for better value flights with Qatar or Cathy or even MH.
If I decide I need the Tier Points or Avios or the BA metal flights for renewing BAEC status I'd just fly to KUL or HKG or SIN and transfer from there up to BKK.
Feb 1, 2019, 6:21 am
#4
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 150
Crew aren’t Club World trained until they’ve been online for six months so it’s disappointing that the service you received was sub standard especially as they were fresh out of training. Although we don’t actually take a drinks trolley out in Club anymore and it’s been this way for quite a while.
The crew asking if you’re ready for your HOT makes me die a bit inside!! Premium language is a big focus for Mixed Fleet at the moment as it’s something we are certainly lacking.
When you’re not happy with the service please ask for the CSM/CSD as they’ll be able to feed it back to the crew.
The crew asking if you’re ready for your HOT makes me die a bit inside!! Premium language is a big focus for Mixed Fleet at the moment as it’s something we are certainly lacking.
When you’re not happy with the service please ask for the CSM/CSD as they’ll be able to feed it back to the crew.
Feb 1, 2019, 7:05 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Jakarta
Programs: BA GGL, GA PLAT, SQ Gold
Posts: 527
Surely it is known by BA that the BA09 flight is poor? It seems it's only good value if you are starting ex-AMS. It's an old plane, about the worst quality AVOD/IFE that BA has on any long haul flight. Then there is the numerous reports of mixed fleet performance.
I know it's largely a leisure destination but because improvements have not been made over in recent years there is a stigma attached to this route. Many of the more savvy travellers would fly Qatar or Cathy or even MH and change rather than take the BA direct flight. After years of flying this route both in Club and Economy I doubt I'd ever consider it again and would hunt for better value flights with Qatar or Cathy or even MH.
If I decide I need the Tier Points or Avios or the BA metal flights for renewing BAEC status I'd just fly to KUL or HKG or SIN and transfer from there up to BKK.
I know it's largely a leisure destination but because improvements have not been made over in recent years there is a stigma attached to this route. Many of the more savvy travellers would fly Qatar or Cathy or even MH and change rather than take the BA direct flight. After years of flying this route both in Club and Economy I doubt I'd ever consider it again and would hunt for better value flights with Qatar or Cathy or even MH.
If I decide I need the Tier Points or Avios or the BA metal flights for renewing BAEC status I'd just fly to KUL or HKG or SIN and transfer from there up to BKK.
Feb 1, 2019, 7:09 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Jakarta
Programs: BA GGL, GA PLAT, SQ Gold
Posts: 527
Crew aren’t Club World trained until they’ve been online for six months so it’s disappointing that the service you received was sub standard especially as they were fresh out of training. Although we don’t actually take a drinks trolley out in Club anymore and it’s been this way for quite a while.
The crew asking if you’re ready for your HOT makes me die a bit inside!! Premium language is a big focus for Mixed Fleet at the moment as it’s something we are certainly lacking.
When you’re not happy with the service please ask for the CSM/CSD as they’ll be able to feed it back to the crew.
The crew asking if you’re ready for your HOT makes me die a bit inside!! Premium language is a big focus for Mixed Fleet at the moment as it’s something we are certainly lacking.
When you’re not happy with the service please ask for the CSM/CSD as they’ll be able to feed it back to the crew.
I think the Premium Language would be a decent idea, the CW cabin i would say 65% of the passengers where over 60 and had no idea what HOT meant.
Feb 1, 2019, 7:25 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,399
I do think - as mentioned above - that it’s important to speak to the CSD in these situations. Otherwise, a poorly-performing crew might never be inclined to improve (much depends, on course, on having a service-focussed CSD to begin with).
Never having flown out of Bangkok with BA, I can’t comment from personal experience ; but judging purely from OP’s less than flattering report, this particular sector doesn’t sound the best illustration of perceived values and heritage evoked by the 100th anniversary advert released today.
Paloma Faith and Olivia Colman are seemingly big BA aficionados, although I’m guessing that BKK-LHR on BA9 is maybe not amongst their regular routes.
Never having flown out of Bangkok with BA, I can’t comment from personal experience ; but judging purely from OP’s less than flattering report, this particular sector doesn’t sound the best illustration of perceived values and heritage evoked by the 100th anniversary advert released today.
Paloma Faith and Olivia Colman are seemingly big BA aficionados, although I’m guessing that BKK-LHR on BA9 is maybe not amongst their regular routes.
Feb 1, 2019, 7:41 am
#12
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: AMS / DUS / DXB
Programs: BAEC Silver | Flying Blue Gold | Accor Gold
Posts: 107
I haven't flown this route for the past half year. But the last time I took it I was very happy I routed myself via HKG on the way back and promised myself to not fly the route again.
- My chair stopped working - making it so I couldn't put it up myself. Made for some great acrobatics for a 6'4 fairly overweight individual to get out of it. (got 100k avios refund for that though)
- Meals being unavailable happened to me almost all the time on BA9, where it seldom happened on to me on my other long haul routes in CW.
- They forgot to give landingcards to club world passengers?? When I asked for one the CC told me they'd bring it three times before sheepishly admitting they didn't had enough on board.
- Lastly, and this one stings quite a bit. I'm fairly hearing impaired - but if people look me directly in the face I've little trouble grasping what they are saying. I usually explain that to the CC in charge of my aisle and I've usually been met with a lot of understanding. On this flight I had one lady flatout tell me I should read the menu and point out what i'd like from it to "save us both the hassle". Complaints where made to the CSD, and got profoundly appologized. But it still really ticked me off, apparently it was a hassle to speak a little bit slower while looking me in the face.
/rantover
While I'm usually very very forgiving on BA (and actually quite like their service usually!) and fly them on 99% of my routes - this really tilted me (especially the last thing). The flight back via HKG was lovely though and I've always been treated with the utmost respect on my CW flights to TLV/JFK/HKG.
- My chair stopped working - making it so I couldn't put it up myself. Made for some great acrobatics for a 6'4 fairly overweight individual to get out of it. (got 100k avios refund for that though)
- Meals being unavailable happened to me almost all the time on BA9, where it seldom happened on to me on my other long haul routes in CW.
- They forgot to give landingcards to club world passengers?? When I asked for one the CC told me they'd bring it three times before sheepishly admitting they didn't had enough on board.
- Lastly, and this one stings quite a bit. I'm fairly hearing impaired - but if people look me directly in the face I've little trouble grasping what they are saying. I usually explain that to the CC in charge of my aisle and I've usually been met with a lot of understanding. On this flight I had one lady flatout tell me I should read the menu and point out what i'd like from it to "save us both the hassle". Complaints where made to the CSD, and got profoundly appologized. But it still really ticked me off, apparently it was a hassle to speak a little bit slower while looking me in the face.
/rantover
While I'm usually very very forgiving on BA (and actually quite like their service usually!) and fly them on 99% of my routes - this really tilted me (especially the last thing). The flight back via HKG was lovely though and I've always been treated with the utmost respect on my CW flights to TLV/JFK/HKG.
Feb 1, 2019, 8:27 am
#14
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Hertfordshire
Programs: BA Gold, Accor Diamond, IHG Diamond
Posts: 553
I hate the non use of the trolleys for drinks and meals. It is SO inefficient! It really does grind my gears watching the crew to and fro to the galleys taking ages to serve drinks and food.
Feb 1, 2019, 8:41 am
#15
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Jakarta
Programs: BA GGL, GA PLAT, SQ Gold
Posts: 527