More inconsistency from BA FIRST: short trip report
#121
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,395
Once they accept that the current F on BA is significantly below that offered by other carriers, an initial step should be to remove the over-excited hype & meaningless marketing waffle about First which appears on ba.com
PS - perhaps ‘First-lite’ could work as an alternative term ....
#122
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,345
#126
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 28
May?
March?
I rest my case.
At least it goes with the title/theme of the thread.
#128
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,914
That is grossly unfair. CIHY has provided information in good faith, based on his recollection of product upgrades announced internally. There has been no formal public announcement of when changes to the First proposition will be introduced.
#129
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA GGLfL, WoH Lifetime Globalist, HH Diamond, SPG Gold
Posts: 711
A quick Google search produces a link to this recent article:
https://www.businesstraveller.com/fo...first-changes/
In First:
– Cabins on the 777s will be reduced to 8 seats, and all new deliveries will have no more than 8 seats in F to maintain a more intimate feel.
– New bedding, crockery and catering will launch in May, with an emphasis on small, ‘grassroots’ luxury British brands. I can’t remember what the brands were, unfortunately and I hadn’t heard of any of them. A big change will be the introduction of full size glassware, and more premium ingredients from local butchers, etc. I asked about the introduction of a caviar service such as Lufthansa, Emirates, Air France offer, apparently this has been considered, but isn’t coming as BA didn’t want to fit in with the crowd (read into that what you will!), but instead caviar will be worked into the canapés and appetisers in some way.
– The new First service has already been trialled on the San Jose route, whether the new service will roll out fully in May or only on selected routes, I alas don’t know.
– The ground product at Heathrow is also being looked at, with BA actually ‘benchmarking’ against Lufthansa and Air France, so hopefully there will be some positive improvements here.
Doc Copper
https://www.businesstraveller.com/fo...first-changes/
In First:
– Cabins on the 777s will be reduced to 8 seats, and all new deliveries will have no more than 8 seats in F to maintain a more intimate feel.
– New bedding, crockery and catering will launch in May, with an emphasis on small, ‘grassroots’ luxury British brands. I can’t remember what the brands were, unfortunately and I hadn’t heard of any of them. A big change will be the introduction of full size glassware, and more premium ingredients from local butchers, etc. I asked about the introduction of a caviar service such as Lufthansa, Emirates, Air France offer, apparently this has been considered, but isn’t coming as BA didn’t want to fit in with the crowd (read into that what you will!), but instead caviar will be worked into the canapés and appetisers in some way.
– The new First service has already been trialled on the San Jose route, whether the new service will roll out fully in May or only on selected routes, I alas don’t know.
– The ground product at Heathrow is also being looked at, with BA actually ‘benchmarking’ against Lufthansa and Air France, so hopefully there will be some positive improvements here.
Doc Copper
#130
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,104
#131
Join Date: May 2014
Location: BRU
Programs: BA GGL, TK E (*G), ITA exec
Posts: 4,072
#132
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: ORD
Programs: US Air, UA BA LH AI DELTA MARRIOTT CHOICE SGP
Posts: 9,883
You have all just re highlighted my point about staff and that is again and that is premium service sector employees in the UK is a dying breed and now don’t usually tend to be British these days. If you go into 5 star hotel, or high end Michelin restaurant or premium branded stores most if not all will have a higher ratio of non British nationals most of the time and in some cases none at all. So what now, replace crew Asian and Eastern European staff?
High calibre British service staff are hard to come by and most of all cost money and lots of it. Now how many of you would pay EXTRA and if so how much MORE to get it?
High calibre British service staff are hard to come by and most of all cost money and lots of it. Now how many of you would pay EXTRA and if so how much MORE to get it?
o
#133
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Argentina
Posts: 40,200
Your point of need for better staff, training,supervision, motivation etc has been brought up in manya such threads. Matter of fact yours truly faces heavy pushbacks when I used to highlight that CUSTOMERS are everything because some did not like being reminded of such glaring gaps in srvice level at BA.
o
#134
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BA, U2+, SK, AF/KL, IHG, Hilton, others gathering dust...
Posts: 2,552
All the same, whether you call it CW+, F-lite or just F, there is still no excuse for the level of inconsistency displayed in provision of product and service. Consistency should not be cabin or price-dependent, even if the expectation of it probably increases with the price. In that dozen or so BA F flights over the last year (fairly even mix of WW/MF crews), I haven't had any outright bad service, and much of it was very good, but many times one or more things which should be part of the F service has not been offered/delivered correctly, leaving aside a few hard product failures. I think this is the heart of the OP's comments, and I think it has some validity based on what I think is a reasonable sample size of F flights (less than some of course). It affects me less because I know what I expect / want and and am not afraid to ask for it. I probably pre-empt some possible disappointments (like being fed what I want, when I want), but that shouldn't be necessary.
BA's current CC recruitment policy isn't based on the service that could/should be delivered in F, which I rather suspect WW/AC view as a necessary evil rather than an aspiration.
That said, I don't really buy into the MF-bashing, overall my experience of service attitude from WW/MF is fairly even, the different style you sometimes experience based on the generational difference doesn't bother me. I've only noticed a difference when things go wrong, the longer experience of WW crews mean they may have more tricks up their sleeves to fix issues (normally hard product failures IME). That's not the fault of the MF crews, at least for me. Others' mileage, as always, may vary.
Last edited by Oaxaca; Feb 21, 2019 at 11:05 am
#135
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC Silver, IHG Diamond
Posts: 7,747
Someone getting their glass refilled whilst dining in the first hour or so of the flight sees that crew and flight as fantastic.
The next person finds that something that should be done by default, not just once in the first hour of the flight.
The baseline is so low here that anything above it is treated as amazing.
Take the comment about treating it as CW+ rather than First. That's the problem. It's sold as a first cabin so you expect something akin to that, not having to lower your expectations down to "I might get a drink, I might get my first or second choice, the crew might acknowledge me" etc.
F is hyped up here as some incredible experience and seems to often result in disappoint when expectations aren't met.
I won't generally pay for F. Say £2300 in F against £300 in Y for a potentially half decent crew and a bigger seat for a few hours just isn't justifiable. CW I may push to but even then, any length of flight in Y is survivable for me and at least there are no expectations of grandeur there that will dealt a swift blow to