Trippelone

We all know about the main issues BA is facing : IT outage, baggage handling, poor catering, staff shortage, short haul network breakdown....

After my last flight from Vegas to LHR in CW I would like to add some secondary but important issues BA has to address related to non BA staff at outstations, lounges at outstations, club seats, flying crew, delays at LHR.

BA departs from T3 terminal at LAS. There is a strict check in procedure. I arrived at 8 pm for the 9:30 pm flight. CW class passengers have to wait at some 15m from the check in desk. They are allowed to approach one by one after the previous customer has left and after the check in agent waves. This has nothing to do with covid, it is just the local procedure, only for CW passengers. The check in agent confirmed that the flight was on time. The flight was actually 2 hours late arriving and departing.

Not one restaurant in T3 is open after 8 pm. The LAS club lounge is open and available for BA business passengers until 9pm. At 8:30pm all food in the lounge was gone.

The A350 aircraft has a large business class cabin in front (44 seats). Club suites. The door of my suite did not close due to a technical issue. The club bed has an extremely hard surface. Very uncomfortable seat to sleep. The area at the footrest is not high enough for tall people.

We took off around 11:30 pm. 90 minutes later, the crew had not yet taken any food or drink orders. I decided not to wait for dining and to rest. 60 minutes before landing hell broke loose with 4 crew members rushing through the aisles with breakfast trays. They did not manage to serve all passengers before landing.

No member of crew did recognize my GGL status (no welcome, no greeting, …). I had the impression to be completely invisible for them.

We landed 90 minutes late and we waited an extra 40 minutes on the ground before a gate became available. The crew warned passengers several times that they had to remain seated until their row number was called, otherwise disembarkation would not start.

Price tag: £ 6.600 return in club.

Conclusion: BA has some more work to do after solving the main issues.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi
Ouch!

Sounds like a very poor flight to me

I would write in and complain especially about the onboard service. I would have thought they would have kept the lounge open for the delayed flight ( but it is a third party lounge)

If you have an Amex Charge card you could use the shuttle to the D gates and use the Amex centurion lounge

Regards

TBS

krispy84

Sounds a poor airport and onboard experience.

gms

Conclusion No. 2: You need to find a better deal for your Club flights

godfreyb

I have never experienced 'flight attendants rushing up and down the aisle to serve everyone' as often as I do on BA flights. It is as if they have suddenly been transported back from a time warp and suddenly realize what time it is.

Dave_C

I'm not sure these are secondary issues. I mean in business class, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the seat to be functioning and to get some food. Call me picky and demanding, I dunno 🤷‍♂️

Duck1981

Run down by Senior Executives over several years, combine it with a global pandemic and subsequent staff shortages, and it takes 5+ years to recover.

Flew recently several times with LH Group, they seem to manage the pandemic aftermath much better, likely they weren't so run down in the first place.

Cw novice

Surely on a LH flight barring any operational circumstances that the timings for what happens when should be laid out in advance.

Do BA use secret shoppers to judge service and feedback to crew as well?

Whilst staffing is an issue I also wonder if there's an element of Cabin Crew not being "match fit". In terms of working longhauls and the demands these place on them.

Tobias-UK

Would you please clarify, has the The Club at LAS (opposite Gate E2) now reopened or did you take the transit to The Club at LAS near Gate D33?

fastflyer

FWIW, my business cabin flights transatlantic on AA this year have been drama-free. Mostly departing from satellite B at Heathrow Terminal 5, they have been on-time and sufficiently catered, You can also collect Avios with all AA flights, not just the code shares.

Steve in Olympia

And this is a problem because..........?

James Russell

My thoughts exactly. Must have been a very last minute and absolutely critical booking surely?

James Russell

[QUOTE=Trippelone;34141575

Not one restaurant in T3 is open after 8 pm.[/QUOTE]

that isn't a BA decision or problem to solve.

JD1905

Plenty of better options available for that price range. I don’t think much of this should be a surprise by now. BA is very much at the lower end when it comes to premium.

I’ll only fly BA premium LH if I can book a reward flight, or if my company are paying and it’s cheapest (rare). Even then, if i’m booking a reward flight it would have to be Club Suites, otherwise i’d rather fork out for a revenue ticket on another airline.

Geordie405

Looking at the Amex app it looks as if The Club at LAS opposite the Gate E2 is now open again, and from looking at the arrivals info for LAS it seems as if BA flights are once again using the E gates. Today's BA275 / BA274 is shown as gate E1 in T3. Last time I flew into LAS it was D22 at which we arrived.