Welcome On Board

Crewing levels have yet again been critical this week so flights have been going without Club Europe ‘top ups’ which is probably why they didn’t finish as they didn’t have the correct amount of crew.

chris87

I was on the 331 from NCE this morning. There were at least 12 rows of CE (I was in Row 1 and confess I don’t know how far back the cabin actually went, but both exit rows (on an A320) were in CE).

Everyone got fed, but it was basically chaos, and goes to show what a difference an experienced crew can make when the loads are like that. Our crew were, to be charitable, young and enthusiastic. But unfortunately that doesn’t translate into actually being able to provide a seamless service with a high load factor.

We had lots of running up and down the aisle, trolleys all over the place, a batch of breakfasts spilt on the galley floor, coffee spilt into my OH’s lap; and then - the pièce de resistance - the content of several full English breakfasts dripped down the aisle (for some reason, one of the crew decided to carry a big stack of breakfasts down the aisle by hand, wearing oven gloves). It’s fair to say that the CE cabin was not the most serene of places - it was more like a comedy sketch at times.

(Side note - the fact that the crew were loudly chatting to each other in Monty Python style French accents - which they found hilarious but some of my fellow (French) passengers understandably did not - didn’t do much to help the experience feel more premium, either! Pretty sure that wasn’t part of their “premium language” training, or whatever BA calls it these days).

cameramaker

Interesting. Good job that BA aren’t anywhere near BAU levels of flying otherwise they’d be in quite some predicament. Pretty pathetic situation tbh. Did Cruz enhance too many of them away?

londonba2014

That does sound bonkers!

Mentioned in a previous thread, but a LHR to IBZ flight a few days ago travelling in 1A - saw the crew take an age to get the meal service underway (well over central France before anything was served); whilst they were eating their heated meals in the front galley. No interaction in serving meals and then chaos to get the service wrapped up due to the late start and general faffing around.

Borderline impossible to get an additional drink (a request for tea was met with 'no hot water at the front', before the CC member walked off and proceeded with the service). I'm not one to use the call bell, as is usually not that hard to get the attention of the crew to request and additional drink. That said one of the crew members was able to find the time amongst the chaos to fill up two white bags (the ones used to deliver the Speedbird Cafe pre-orders) with miniatures and beer for some friends/BA colleagues a few rows back.

This was a CE cabin with about 8/9 rows and three crew members, so should be ample time to complete service on a sector of that length - but guess it all comes down to the crew..

Blenheim

As you say it depends on the crew. We flew to Palma on 1 September with 12 full rows of CE and it was a pretty calm experience. All meals served and cleared within about an hour. Drink top ups easy to obtain and the crew worked hard but seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Can I help you

It’s really embarrassing how BA are allowing inexperienced crew loose on their customers, it’s obvious they really do not care what sort of service they receive!

TraumaDoc

Some of the crew Instagram meme pages have indeed made reference to this over the past couple of days. It sounds like whoever has been planning the crewing levels hasn't done the greatest of jobs.

Looking forward to my 12 row CE LCA next Saturday!! (Which I've been praying will be swapped to a 788, but no luck as yet).

DYKWIA

I’ve only done CE once on that route. I was in the last row (6), and I got my drink just as the 10 minute bell chimed. I refused the second drink offer

To be fair, it was a bit blustery out of LHR, so the crew weren’t released as quickly as usual.

Scotflyer80

The seat map is out of date. The maximum capacity on a A321Neo is 56 (14 rows)

hydro001

BA is v short of crew at moment. No shorthaul top ups, longhaul not to full crew complements, and crew are asked to work days off and annual leave.

Can I help you

They are not short of crew they just haven’t unfurloughed enough crew, as usual it’s bad planning, I feel sorry for those online who cannot cope.

ermis177

No they do not and there is a very simple reason.

I flew to SKG a few weeks ago (return) and yesterday to Zurich. In all my flights the CE was 12 rows and pretty much full. As long as people keep buying this product BA does not care.

In comparison i flew to Romania via Frankfurt with LH and one more destination after that. In all 8 flights overall the business class cabin was no more than 5 to 6 rows.

BA is quite aggresive with selling upgrades at the moment and it looks like they do very well. When i flew to SKG i got bombarded 4 different times with an upgrade. One one the BA app ( upgrade for less), an email arrived a few days after, then when i went to buy a suitcase for my flight i got another notification telling me that to upgrade so i can have more luggage and during check in.

No wonder BA is managing to sell this sub product. As long as customers keep buying CE seats they will not care.

By the way i fly tomorrow from Zurich to London on 787 and it looked full in all classes...

Welcome On Board

It’s just down to poor planning and incompetence and has been happening for weeks. There are still 4 in 10 crew on furlough according to a management email this week yet BASSA have this evening agreed a £100 daily overtime payment from tomorrow until Thursday.

Go figure!

Oxon Flyer

For the curious then, how many is a full complement of crew to serve 9 rows of CE on a morning Manchester shuttle ? Is 36 passengers beyond the capabilities of 3 crew ?

PUCCI GALORE

Not if they are organised and experienced.