Does anybody else have an issue with this announcement that seems to have become standard on BA? Does anyone here who works in a customer-facing environment finish their day with this announcement made to all customers? What about the pilots - who thanks them?

It feels to me that BA is somehow trying to raise appreciation for the flight attendant job among passengers by aggressively adopting this announcement, but I don’t understand why. In my experience, 70% of BA crews do the bare minimum or less, and the majority hasn’t mastered the basics of customer service. The other 30% are simply doing their job, some of them very well, though it’s a rare experience for me and I fly BA every 1-2 weeks.

Just back from an overnight SFO-LHR in CW - crew aggressively instructed passengers to fill in their breakfast cards and forgot to collect them. Served dinner alright, although my less frequent travelling companion was rudely reprimanded by giving his starter choice (“I only need your choice of main, you’ll get all starters”). Spent the night loudly chatting and laughing away on the galley. Never offered ice with any drinks. Didn’t restock the Club Kitchen. When I asked if it would be possible to reduce the cabin temperature, I got a “does it really bother you that much? What if other passengers are feeling too cold?” Reprimanded my companion once again when they dared to give their hot breakfast choice. And that for me is a “normal” BA experience, nothing out of the ordinary. Hearing the above announcement at the end was like a slap in the face after paying the CW fee (albeit after using GUF2).

I think that you’d had a decidedly average experience, and that this final PA probably antagonised you somewhat. I don’t normally have an issue with this announcement, although I do think it is somewhat empty and cheesy - do the crew not have a quick debrief once all passengers are off in which the CSD / CSM can thank the team?
In the main, it’s a somewhat empty gesture announcement that doesn’t really achieve anything.

yes I’m largely the same. The message doesn’t offend me (and I don’t agree with the suggestion most crew do the bare minimum) but I find it slightly dumb and pointless and reminiscent of stereotyped management model (senior colleague is ‘team leader’, positive reinforcement, be motivational and aspirational and all those empty words some clown firms are paid millions by companies to regurgitate).

Ultimately the thank yous and positive reinforcement (or for that matter the critical feedback) should be channelled between staff and customers or between staff in debriefs from which customers are absent, not between staff and staff in the ear of the customer or between customer and customer in the ear of the staff.

So ‘crew thank you for your hard work’ in the PA system is just as out of place as ‘come on crew, get a grip, we need to serve that second meal faster’ would be on the same. It’s not offensive but it has the mildly embarrassing quality as overhearing something people said a bit too loud which wasn’t meant for you to catch.

I have no problem with it, CC do work hard and I suspect the reason isn’t about your conspiracy theories, but about flattening the hierarchy onboard and improving Human Factors.

To be honest, I think the BA crew are what often sets them apart from other airlines (I know there are always exceptions).

I have flown them a lot, from stag do’s in economy to family trips in first and find that they invariably pitch their service to your circumstances.

By no means the biggest fan of BA and will often choose other airlines but in my mind, there are other, far better reasons to slam BA than the crews.

In my experience most crews tend to be good. Sure, there's the occasional "not so great", but that mix of people is normal and happens in all industries. I do think BA make their crews work very hard - the service standard, especially on J short haul, is a lot more elaborate and detailed than on other airlines. To the point where I think it unnecessary.

In my experience, the thanking cabin crew for their hard work tends to happen on flights with a certain crew mindset. Usually starts with boarding without smiles, no banter, followed by mediocre service, and then frequently ends with the hard work thanks being mentioned. Maybe it is an attitude thing - if I think of my work as hard I'll enjoy it less.

Recently I heard that very announcement on a flight where I was the only passenger in F, there were 3 in CW and no more impressive figures in the remaining cabins. Frankly....? It seems that the announcement has become a standard formula like “welcoming in particular our Executive Club members”...

The CC are there to serve meals, drinks etc - yes. But they are primarily there for your safety - let’s all hope we never find this out the hard way, but their real job is to know what to do (and quickly) if something goes wrong. A large part of the CC role is safety.

When the flight crew make this announcement, yes it’s a bit cheesy but I take it to mean “hard work” around flight safety, securing the cabin for take-off and landing etc. That’s the hard work the pilots care about, and I suspect what they really have in mind when they say this.

I find this cringeworthy too. Triple cringe when they add on “and thanks for a great trip”

they cant be thanked after they have left as there’s no debrief as such (at LHR anyway). It’s every man for himself to get to the lift to immigration. And then either the car park or their onward commuter flights.

Well that could well be a personal thanks from the captain to one of the crew.