GodAtum

With all the chaos going on at the moment and the news it could last for months, I've made the very difficult decision to cancel my family's Easter holiday to the Maldives on BA and got a FTV. I'm hoping things might improve by autumn.

HarryHolden68

When w Will things improve?

Corrected the title for you. My question comes first.

Things will not get better until IAG release the chains from the shareholder dividend pile and start to invest real money into the problem of not trying to run a business with zero redundancy and flexibility so that if a cloud sneezes, mass cancellations are the only option. Everything else until then are just words and wishful thinking.

johan rebel

If everybody else followed your example there would be no more BA, which by would be an improvement by definition.

kingcole974

I think you've overreacted. The vast majority of the issues have affected short haul. Long haul is performing much better. A headache for some on long haul has been the baggage situation but MLE has to be one of the easiest destinations to pack HBO for.

I had a flawless trip across the pond last week, arriving into LHR at 0700 on Saturday morning and am looking forward to an extra long Easter weekend in Vegas. If you're looking for an excuse not to travel, you have it, but for me, it's not a reason not to travel.

Pilot37

While it has not been BA's finest few months, cancelling a trip to the Maldives just because of the news reports (which like to predict doom and gloom!) seems a bit extreme. Are you travelling from a regional airport to connect at Heathrow or starting your journey at Heathrow because it has been made pretty clear on a lot of threads that BA are sacrificing short-haul flights and consolidating flights which have multiple frequencies a day to keep some semblance of a route structure going. If you were faced with the unlikely annoyance of a cancellation on that particular route, you can ask to be re-routed with Qatar to MLE via Doha - so I would see this as an over reaction to the current situation. There is no guarantee we won't be in a similar position next winter when the next variant sees weekly positive cases through 5 million, and looking at the current daily / weekly stats - I would expect May to be a lot better then things are now / and even the 2nd half of April will be less stressful (like mid-January / February were post the December wave which hit the airlines / airports hard with staff sickness).

Pilot37

babyg_wc

Personally you can get unlucky at anytime (especially with BA and IT), so that's quite the reaction (he says quickly checking seatspy to see if there are some reward seats released)..

T8191

2024.

Too many financial, staffing and Covid hoops generally to jump through.

I hope to still be around then, and able to get Travel Insurance. 😎

jayjaygee

I sympathise with cancelling the family's holiday to the Maldives because BA have cancelled some flights. The headlight bulb went on my car so I had it scrapped.

gcuk

Wow, cancelling a trip to the Maldives because of the predominantly short haul cancellations.
Not sure I’d be doing that even having been caught up in two rounds of cancellations with the IT at end of February and this last weekend.
Sure it’s frustrating when it happens but I’d rather get to the Maldives a day late than not go at all.

Krisz

I have a bad news for you. BA IT is not going to be fixed by the autumn so basically anytime can be a problem. BA is working hard to prevent any future issues however I don’t think they have the resources and systems in place to avoid issues so I can imagine a few IT issues. Will those cause always major issues I don’t know. The latest issue was not just the main system failed but the backup too.
BA is hiring and already hired many thousands of cabin crews for example but there is not enough trainers for example. LHR (and many others) have issues with staff similar to BA. A simple security check takes ages at the moment on any new hires.
so cancelling a holiday because you might have your flight cancelled or you might have to wait at the airport for 45 min is a bit of overreacting in my opinion. I fly almost weekly with BA at the moment and I still manage it without major issues.
So your best bet is flying with other airlines, generally Middle East based has no major staffing issues as they always had many more. Though even those not immune issues at the airports. I’m sure Emirates impacted the same way as others at MAN for example.
so things will get better but it will be a long time before normality comes back. BA had pilot training issues before the pandemic too we must not forget.

Ladyfliestheredwhiteandblues

I sympathise with the OP. What we are seeing reported in the press and on here is more than usually chaotic. If I were currently holding tickets to the Maldives I’d probably still go but each to their own.
I know I’ve had the entire relaxation benefit of a great holiday *almost* counteracted by a terrible return journey experience and everybody has to assess their own appetite for the risk of major disruption.
I have flown once (return) only since March 2020 and would probably only book anything new for the same purpose which was not a holiday. I do miss “abroad” and really hope to get there again soon but as things are I just really can’t be bothered. It’s quite nice here.
Many will be happy to risk disruption to get away and I have sympathy with that viewpoint too.

FlyingNowhere

It's an interesting question - because the question would be "how do you handle staffing"
(Leaving aside the shortage of staff because they just can't recruit/pay enough to get people to work there)
What is the future of covid? Are we just going to go round in endless re-infections?
In which case if you are in a role where you meet a lot of people (unlike say a truck driver) the chance of you getting covid is quite high. Which is many front line staff at airports.
In which case is "the new normal" a world where a lot more people call in sick, so you need 25% extra staff just to cover for endless covid sickness. I imagine that changes the business model some what.
Or maybe people will build up more immunity to covid and sickess rates will drop?
I don't think anyone really knows the answer yet.

Jagboi

The OP said he was going with his family. You don't know their appetite for stress or disruption, i could see that if you have small children being stranded in an airport perhaps over night or at least for many hours is not a nice experience and may wipe out any "relaxing" elements of the trip.

I can certainly see the "not worth the effort" calculation coming into play.

lcylocal

It is hard to tell, I suspect BA would love to be able to firmly predict.

Two things in play in my view, on the one hand staffing levels should improve somewhat as sickness levels go down and new and returning staff hit the front line. At the same time though the current approach of cancelling flights to manage the situation will rub up against slot rules as the summer goes on.

davidcamp6

One of my observations from my recent travel with BA ( six sectors this year) is that the flights themselves are fine. The need for PCR's ( always for my destinations), the anxiety as to whether you will be able to travel, the issues at arrivals and departures have all impacted the enjoyment.
Yes some matters are within BA's control, others are not.
Although I have not travelled for a holiday I always found some sense of enjoyment from flying for work. Now I only get that enjoyment once I am ensconced in my seat, and yet this too is tempered by the need to have a PCR upon landing at TLV and awaiting that result too.
The ground experience used to be part of the fun, but the cancellations, delays, and the fact that I have become used to distancing, means that an airport with its indoor hustle and bustle is, in a way, unfamiliar. There was an unreal sense of type of order during lockdown, returning to normal and people acting differently can make one pause before you remember this should be the norm.
I still find it weird when people encroach on my space, something that I never would have felt prior to the pandemic.
The recent issues with BA may have had a disproportionate impact on our psyche than they would have had when they occurred pre Covid.That is not to in any way minimise them, just add another perspective.