Last Night’s BA54 - Poor G-XLEA TLC
#1
formerly Christopher Sutton
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 212
Last Night’s BA54 - Poor G-XLEA TLC
Flew back from JNB last night on G-XLEA in J. Was originally booked with partner in 53J&K but at check-in found I had been moved from 53J to 58E, my partner remaining in 53K. I had a friend booked in 53F linked to our booking so was surprised I hadn’t been seated next to her given 53D & E were both free. Anyway moved myself to 53D and partner to E.
At check-in I asked about 53J and turns out the seat was faulty so can understand the move though not logic to new seat. I did suspect this would be the case when I saw our ride was on LEA,
Reason for the post, turns out my new seat 53D was also faulty - so much so mid flight the crew had to manually retract the seat down to bed mode (my seat control panel was half hanging away from the panel) As the as the flight progressed it became apparent of so many other issues with fellow passenger’s seats - with multiple crew members on the floor or at the back of seats manually adjusting them or seats which too were blocked at check-in as being non usable.
I made a comment to the crew member saying “gosh there will be more seats out of service than in at this rate!” which they replied and explained that unless the seat physically can’t be moved and adjusted then BA class it as operationally ‘good’.
I was disappointed to hear this. Surely so many issues haven’t occurred since starting up from covid and relaunch of A380 service. From a customer perspective if the crew’s comments are correct, it’s really poor of BA to not be ensuring seat issues are resolved in a timely manner as a customer should surely be able to expect a reclining chair as a basic standard of a business class seat? Wondered what others thought…?
On a separate note, the new JNB lounge is lovely. I used the showers last night which were excellent as well as the overall food and service.
At check-in I asked about 53J and turns out the seat was faulty so can understand the move though not logic to new seat. I did suspect this would be the case when I saw our ride was on LEA,
Reason for the post, turns out my new seat 53D was also faulty - so much so mid flight the crew had to manually retract the seat down to bed mode (my seat control panel was half hanging away from the panel) As the as the flight progressed it became apparent of so many other issues with fellow passenger’s seats - with multiple crew members on the floor or at the back of seats manually adjusting them or seats which too were blocked at check-in as being non usable.
I made a comment to the crew member saying “gosh there will be more seats out of service than in at this rate!” which they replied and explained that unless the seat physically can’t be moved and adjusted then BA class it as operationally ‘good’.
I was disappointed to hear this. Surely so many issues haven’t occurred since starting up from covid and relaunch of A380 service. From a customer perspective if the crew’s comments are correct, it’s really poor of BA to not be ensuring seat issues are resolved in a timely manner as a customer should surely be able to expect a reclining chair as a basic standard of a business class seat? Wondered what others thought…?
On a separate note, the new JNB lounge is lovely. I used the showers last night which were excellent as well as the overall food and service.
#2
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 68
Remember these aircraft haven’t flown for a couple years so until all 97 seats are used vigorously I’m sure these issues aren’t picked up until back in service. Agreed though it’s not the best look or experience
#3
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 495
That's incorrect. The crew should report such seat defects for engineering colleagues to fix asap, seats should then be blocked if they can't be fixed before the next flght.
Last edited by JFX1764; Feb 13, 2022 at 8:19 am Reason: spelling
#4
formerly Christopher Sutton
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 212
To clarify, they were reporting my fault but they said in reality they only get repaired if they are totally unusable!
#5
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: clue is in the nym
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#6
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: London N8
Programs: BA (LTG), Miles&More (whatever the lowest level is), Oyster card (zones 1-2)
Posts: 885
These A380s seem to be in a terrible way at the moment. They also currently seem to have a very poor on-time performance too. Hopefully the bugs will all be ironed out soon, but no sign of that yet.
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: SE1, London
Posts: 23,407
We flew back on LEI a couple of weeks ago. The in-operable APU made for a very unpleasant cabin at boarding. Certainly feels like they have been given the bare minimum required to get back in the air.
#9
formerly Christopher Sutton
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 212
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Last night’s blocked seats!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...066675f055.png
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...066675f055.png
#11
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Posts: 63,710
#12
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: clue is in the nym
Programs: BA Gold, TP Gold, VS Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 826
This is, of course, not very mature or admirable behaviour in retrospect but, to purloin a phrase "it was acceptable in the 80's"
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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#15
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Singapore
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