binman

I live just off the departures flight path and by some margin BA aircraft are easily the noisiest at LHR. The clapped out 747 fleet in particular are noticeable when sitting in the garden but it is the evening BA247 which is, by some margin, the worst offender.

Deltus

Why is that any louder than any other 77W?

icegirl

Walsh has been around from the beginning of IAG and spearheaded it conception and Cruz has been at BA for coming up to 5 years now. If the investors and shareholders had any grave concerns I am sure we would have seen changes faster.

krispy84

icegirl

On my last one, we had a recall for a minor issue which was promptly dealt with so no car was required. They served some nice coffee and had a nice assortment of magazines which were not just automotive but also had a copy of Country Life buried amongst them as well as other travel and lifestyle ones. They also have staff at your beck and call and can never do enough for you including the branch manager who was concerned when he saw me sitting alone for a few mins. Otherwise, I have only had a courtesy car on its routine annual service so three.

Howard Long

What you say is largely true, but it comes with potentially deep societal problems.

(a) All too frequently now there is little clarity between what is an opinion piece, and what is factual news.

(b) A piece that might be "factual" is often framed in a way to put forward an opinion, by deliberate avoidance of giving a balanced view with all the facts and context. It can be as simple as presenting the story with a cherry picked and unrepresentative headline.

(c) There is fierce competition and greed for clicks, and outrage "news" drives clicks. You'll gain clicks from supporters of all sides to see what the fuss is about. It doesn't even matter if what's written is factual or not, the click has paid off.

(d) Lazy and cheap "news" is increasingly driven by social media, particularly Twitter, which has become a cacophony of festering hyperbole, opinion and disinformation. It encourages tribalism and echo chambers, and is unrepresentative of society as a whole, encouraging the most extreme comments which are rewarded with likes, retweets and commentary, whether good or bad. Whoever shouts loudest wins the day. I'm amazed at how many stories from supposed reputable sources, such as the Beeb, frequently use Twitter either to create a story, or to pad a story with supposedly representative but heavily curated quotes.

The above pretty much encapsulates the fake news and so-called post-truth culture, with people quick to polarise and become tribal, picking a side with minimal information. Changing people's initial perceptions is a very hard task. This can have a devastating effect on individuals, it's become the modern day equivalent to stocks and witch burning. Once the damage and smears have happened, it's nigh on impossible to undo them, the story will have happened, and the reputations will have been lost.

Jagboi

I hate to disappoint you, but I use a 20 year old Saab for the Canadian winters and a 53 year old Jaguar in the summer. So far they have been totally reliable, it's simply down to maintenance.

If all you do is put fuel in them and drive them until something breaks and leaves you stranded that's one thing, but actually following the maintenance schedule and attending to funny noises results in a car that is reliable. Airplanes are no different, things get replaced on a schedule, they don't just fly them and hope for the best.

aidy

your 2019 car has had 3 annual services???

'andad

Current car 15.5 yrs and no intention to change it, previous car retired at 21 yrs and that was only because of scrappage scheme incentive plus too large for Mrs to park easily, previous car killed at 16 yrs by a lorry but had a second life in local technical college. All different manufacturers.
All very reliable, choose your brand on quality and nothing wrong with old cars.

alex67500

I wonder if Alex Cruz will get a courtesy car to drive to the job centre... No more news on this topic by the way, should we consider it fake news and close the thread?

mikem004

Let's face it. The old planes and cars look better.
They have style.

Prospero

BA's monopoly of LHR allowed it to install Subari Impreza exhaust systems without impunity is my guess

crisdean

Forgive me this long post. This is what I experienced myself during my flights with BA. I used to fly to Cairo a lot and once the cabin crew in front of my face was talking about other staff and that the new ones were screwed because of their tarrifs and that they wouldn't earn money when not flying.

The way they discussed matters left a bit of a bitter taste. Also rolling eyes behind passengers who in their eyes acted funny was a bit of a bitter taste. This whole pay for everything feels like EasyJet and not the BA I came to love. I'm by all means no frequent flier such as the most of you but the flair and respect got lost in the last few years.

If BA stops behaving like EasyJet and uses their USP to go back to old days I'd be a good start in my opinion. The whole change of we need to compete with EasyJet is unnecessary I think.

I hope that things will get better. Does anyone want to add something or correct me?

T8191

Might I suggest “Dominant Position”.

icegirl

I was referring to my old one which I had for 3 years.