Email on BA’s future direction from Sean Doyle
Jan 31, 2022, 2:15 am
#76
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Spitalfields, London
Programs: BA Gold, KFC 'The Colonel's Club' Palladium tier, Mucci des Visions Célestes du Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Posts: 2,318
Jan 31, 2022, 3:32 am
#77
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Sussex
Programs: BA; IHG; LHW; Hilton
Posts: 783
Toilets?
I am not sure when you were last in the CCR or called up the GGL line, but I almost feel you have got these two the wrong way around 
Recently it's been long waits to get through on the phone. And no I wouldn't want QR codes in the CCR, the service in there is still the best thing about that lounge.
I would like them to remove the stupid sleep pods though which no one asked for, and give us a proper work space back in the boardroom. And maybe a printer. Simple things, which any BA person could see are wrong but which they fail to fix.
Recently it's been long waits to get through on the phone. And no I wouldn't want QR codes in the CCR, the service in there is still the best thing about that lounge.
I would like them to remove the stupid sleep pods though which no one asked for, and give us a proper work space back in the boardroom. And maybe a printer. Simple things, which any BA person could see are wrong but which they fail to fix.
Jan 31, 2022, 4:22 am
#78
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: OSL
Posts: 2,643
Didn't receive e-mail; don't feel very slighted... But the e-mail reeks of insincerity; using direct dialogue when medium is anything but.
To me it just reminds me of this email from AC: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29274823-post1.html
Which repeated old facts and aimed at being genuine.
To me it just reminds me of this email from AC: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29274823-post1.html
Which repeated old facts and aimed at being genuine.
Jan 31, 2022, 5:08 am
#80
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Geneva
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GFL, Iberia Plus Platino, Accor Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 59
Jan 31, 2022, 5:14 am
#81
Fontaine d'honneur du Flyertalk
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Morbihan, France
Programs: Reine des Muccis de Pucci; Foreign Elitist (according to others)
Posts: 19,172
Your route (PUJ, IIRC?) is an outlier. There are actually very few BA routes on which there is no comparable alternative. So while there are some people who have to stick with BA for that reason, it's a small proportion. And even you have a choice between BA and IB.
One thing that's happened to me over the last couple of months, because of trying to get a family member out to Hong Kong and then trying to get them back to the UK, is looking at other airlines' boards (FT and elsewhere) rather more than I have ever done, both within and outside oneworld. It's been an eye-opener, if only to see similar complaints about other airlines to those I regularly read here. That's not to say that all other airlines have dropped the ball in the same ways or as badly as BA, but it's not like the hassles we have with BA are unique to BA.
I hesitate ever to not fully agree with PUCCI, but I think that there are some other reasons why some people constantly whinge about BA yet never seem to make good on their threats to leave and fly anyone else.
One is TTmex's point: some people find it easier to earn status on BA than on some other airlines.
Another is that many of us have found cheaper and practicable ways of flying more comfortably with BA than we could with other airlines. Definitas mentions some of these: stacks of Avios and BA companion vouchers. Others include ex-EU trips, sometimes at fares that are on a par with economy fares ex-London. That's an obvious pull factor towards BA, and no wonder people stick with BA in what would otherwise be an irrational choice given their hatred of what BA provides. We may deride Alex Cruz for having said that BA's cost-cutting is in the company's DNA, but let's face it - the truth is that our own personal cost-cutting is pretty much FT's raison d'etre and splashed around in a very large proportion of threads on the board. So we pay peanuts for what we get, and then some of us lose all sense of perspective about that and whinge that the company isn't spending very much money on us.
(On a related note, look at all the people who have no hesitation in dropping four-figure sums a couple of times a year on air tickets, but won't splurge $100 a year for an ExpertFlyer subscription because they can repeatedly scrounge for the data for free.)
And then there's the bunch who seem to have a deep-seated need for the airline's love, work hard to climb the reward scheme's tiers while convincing themselves that they are showing reciprocable "loyalty" to the business, and then complain when they don't get the additional attention and affection that they think that they are due in return over and above the contractual benefits that the business has actually promised them and actually usually delivers.
One thing that's happened to me over the last couple of months, because of trying to get a family member out to Hong Kong and then trying to get them back to the UK, is looking at other airlines' boards (FT and elsewhere) rather more than I have ever done, both within and outside oneworld. It's been an eye-opener, if only to see similar complaints about other airlines to those I regularly read here. That's not to say that all other airlines have dropped the ball in the same ways or as badly as BA, but it's not like the hassles we have with BA are unique to BA.
I hesitate ever to not fully agree with PUCCI, but I think that there are some other reasons why some people constantly whinge about BA yet never seem to make good on their threats to leave and fly anyone else.
One is TTmex's point: some people find it easier to earn status on BA than on some other airlines.
Another is that many of us have found cheaper and practicable ways of flying more comfortably with BA than we could with other airlines. Definitas mentions some of these: stacks of Avios and BA companion vouchers. Others include ex-EU trips, sometimes at fares that are on a par with economy fares ex-London. That's an obvious pull factor towards BA, and no wonder people stick with BA in what would otherwise be an irrational choice given their hatred of what BA provides. We may deride Alex Cruz for having said that BA's cost-cutting is in the company's DNA, but let's face it - the truth is that our own personal cost-cutting is pretty much FT's raison d'etre and splashed around in a very large proportion of threads on the board. So we pay peanuts for what we get, and then some of us lose all sense of perspective about that and whinge that the company isn't spending very much money on us.
(On a related note, look at all the people who have no hesitation in dropping four-figure sums a couple of times a year on air tickets, but won't splurge $100 a year for an ExpertFlyer subscription because they can repeatedly scrounge for the data for free.)
And then there's the bunch who seem to have a deep-seated need for the airline's love, work hard to climb the reward scheme's tiers while convincing themselves that they are showing reciprocable "loyalty" to the business, and then complain when they don't get the additional attention and affection that they think that they are due in return over and above the contractual benefits that the business has actually promised them and actually usually delivers.
I had not thought of people sitting on stacks of Avios. I use mine as my rainy day found when prices go mad in summer. Often I reduce the fares a bit by using them to reduce a fare. Those of us vowed to poverty are thus obliged.
im not a GGL so that fate falls beneath my interest span. I’m intrigued though, Love, that people fall over themselves to gain status that brings them benefits about which they then complain. I’d let them stick their benefits on the wall and go off to Air France (who also fly to PUJ I might add) basking in the ITA status match and go and sozzle Champagne in another Lounge and then complain about them for good measure.
Ultimately I do not need an airline to recognise me and make me feel good about myself. I have a husband and friends to do that and I hope that I reciprocate in equal part. I regard an airline as a business to get me from there to here and return as easily, quickly, and pleasantly as possible. BA are not doing that terribly well at the moment when one has got that far after torture by telephone. That is way overdue to be addressed. I’d shut down all the farmed out IT and bring it in-house as it is the glue that holds the whole thing together. As for people not getting their own tools such as Expertflyer or especially Fee Matrix. The Lord helps those who help themselves and people here are so generous helping the more tentative such as me.
i wait to see what happens. I remember BA before Lord King and Colin Marshall. Things can change in the right hands.
Jan 31, 2022, 5:20 am
#82
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: London, England
Programs: OW Emerald (BA), UA*G, Marriott Plat, IC RA, Various others
Posts: 1,009
It'll be some time to turn AI around. In the meantime, Vistara is up and running and is very good with excellent service. I particularly liked the pre-departure video demonstrating yoga for inflight use helping to invigorate and relax the body. Charming.
Jan 31, 2022, 5:25 am
#83
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Argentina
Posts: 40,208
Jan 31, 2022, 5:45 am
#84
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LHR / LAS
Programs: BA GfL, GGL/CCR
Posts: 2,409
Things can change, maybe not as dramatic as then, but I'm always positive. At least BA recognise there's an issue, let's see.
For me though, BA still is the best fit for our travels, even with all post covid issues.
I concur though with KARFA , can they get rid of the stupid pods and bring the printer back in the lounges.😃
Jan 31, 2022, 5:49 am
#85
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: Executive Club
Posts: 1,115
Oh PUCCI you always brighten up any thread thanks. I had thought about AF to PUJ, but they fly the oldest tattiest aircraft they have on that route, which has "Angled lie-flat" seats in Business, which basically means they aren't flat. Probably has outside loos it's so old. Looks ghastly. And my brother's wife is French Parisian and I would spend the entire flight being reminded how much I hate her. So no AF for me tant pis. Now that BA has also abandoned PUJ for most of the year and confined us to being an add-on to ANU from April - November, the final nail has been put into my BA coffin so I've decided to go Iberia to SDQ for most of my flying. Iberia's decent in J and they do actually answer the phone.
Jan 31, 2022, 6:36 am
#87
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London, ARN, HEL, ..... or MAN
Programs: BA GGL / GFL, Mucci Diamond!, HH Diamond, Radisson Premium, IHG Gold, Hertz Gold
Posts: 5,893
Jan 31, 2022, 6:44 am
#88
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 574
'Turning Left For Less' reported that not everyone has received it yet, suggesting the email send out might be in phases.
Jan 31, 2022, 6:44 am
#89
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: WAW ✈ LHR ✈ GLA
Programs: BA GfL/GGL/CCR, HH Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,499
With the new system I was hoping for something like Priceline - that it would recognise me by my phone number and connect me to the right person. Or to be able to enter my EC number, my pin and that's data protection done... but so far it's only the card security number I can enter - the bit I worry the least!
Jan 31, 2022, 6:44 am
#90
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,556
I got it twice, so I have a spare if anyone needs a copy? Let me know and I'll print it off and pop it on my carrier pigeon...