GRUflyer

Hello FTers,

I used to be a very regular BA flyer, but jumped the ship a few years ago as BA was falling far behind the competition in J Class - specially the old Club World seats.

With the roll out of Club Suites I decided to give BA another go…. And oh boy, was it an eventful flight.

Flew BA246 GRU-LHR yesterday and I was sat on 10K - second to last row in the forward business class cabin.

Shortly after take off the Crew serving my aisle came by and took drinks, starter and main course order.

Around 2 hours (!) after departure I still had not got any drink at all, so I decided to pop to the galley and inquire about it. The crew was busy laughing and chatting, and then the FA serving me freaked out and said “OMG! I delivered your order to someone else!”. Annoying, but it happens, so she got me my drink and brought my starter as well.

At this point I asked her if she could also unlock the Suite door for me, to which she said “I will do it after the service is done, otherwise I will have to keep opening it up to serve you”.

Anyway, I smell the main courses being delivered, and I think to myself the crew is making sure I have plenty of time to eat the two slices of pastrami of my starter at my own pace and that they will get back to me soon.

Around 3h20min after departure another Cabin Crew passing by asks if he can get me any coffee or tea. I say “Whaaat?” at which point the crew realizes what is going on and calls over the FA that was actually suppose to serve me.

She comes up with all sorts of possibilities and tries to blame me “You must have gone to the restroom while we were serving” to which I reply I never did leave my seat, except to ask for my drink in the first place.

Not in the mood to flog a dead horse, I decided to have a chat with the CSD - who I think got more shocked at the refusal to unlock the suite door then the meal fiasco - and go to sleep.

In the morning I realize they have swapped the FAs and now I have a lovely lady taking care of me. CSD stops by to apologize one more time and fill in an online form.

I go on my way and head to my LIN connection - only to find the clumsy FA seating in the row behind me.

Club Suites is nice, and I am aware that airplane food is no fine affair, but this is one very poor showing on BA’s part. No cart and personalized service only works if you actually deliver it.

corporate-wage-slave

One of the perils of Club Suites is that a lot of crew interactions with humans gets replaced by a sea of boxes. We are wired up to process faces, less so with bulkheads. It's bit easier for taller members of staff but I can see how it could have happened. It looks like the IFM (previously CSD) seems to have taken the matter seriously, and it may be worth a complaint on the Portal to get some Avios for the events. It should not have happened once, but when bad things happen then sometimes it doesn't stop!

GRUflyer

Thanks for the feedback c-w-s!

I did get an automated email from BA claiming that a file case has been opened - I believe with the information of the IFM.

Should I also make a separate complain? Will that one actually be answered?

corporate-wage-slave

That sounds like the IFM did raise a complaint on your behalf. These sometimes get lost in BA's machinery but if you have an incident number then you can either leave it, or use the Portal to put your version in as well, by way of the amendment option rather than raising a fresh complaint. Anything you say should be very concise, just a few sentences ideally. Otherwise you can leave it and only react if BA doesn't offer anything to you after a few weeks.

The door unlocking - that makes me think it was a new crew member who had forgotten one of the basics of CS service - the Suite should be locked into the open position when you board and through to take off, then the door should be unlocked and made available to you a few minutes after the captain has sent out the ding after take off, typically within 10 minutes of take off. Then one crew member should go up each aisle and release the doors to all suites, one after the other - it only takes a minute or two to do the whole cabin. The door is part of the CS product, it's your choice whether they stay open or closed, not for the crew's convenience. That said, a closed door during the main service may indicate someone who has decided not to eat and sleep instead, so if you do want a meal it does help that it is open.

tattikat2

I was forgotten 2 twice as well on last flight to SFO-LHR flight (in CW but not CWS.)

I guess we're just special

subject2load

OP, “oh boy was it an eventful flight” you say ! And sadly, for all the wrong reasons ………

Being ignored by CC once is a poor show ; but twice really is grim.

If in your shoes, I think what would have probably annoyed me more than the inefficiency itself would be the CC’s blatant attempt to shift blame with her disingenuous comment that “you must have gone to the restroom while we were serving”

Your seemingly saint-like patience in the face of such shoddy service (not least amidst the galley laughter and chat !) is admirable.

Here’s hoping that the manner of BA’s eventual response provides some reassurance that your complaint has been taken seriously - especially in the context of a very pricey biz class fare !

RetiredATLATC

My last CW BA (DXB-LHR) flight I received my after take-off drink and the next interaction was did I want dessert.

I had pre-ordered my fillet, the cabin was half full and between DXB-LHR I saw cabin crew 2 times, even with using the call button.

This happened on more than one occasion (flight).

I reached Gold, from zero, in less than a year and haven't been back since.

Possibly BA used to be a world class airline, but most have other options.

PUCCI GALORE

Sorry, bu what do you mean by pre-ordered? I thought that BA had stopped pre-ordering except for special meals?

RetiredATLATC

Not sure when they stopped, however this was either 2016 or 2017 when I was returning from Iraq.

ttama

Terrible. Repeated omissions, then trying to blame you. I'd have been furious.

I didn't get my amenity kit, pyjamas or welcome drink when flying F earlier this year - after a brief chat, which I took advantage of to explain my allergy situation, the crew member moved on - and that was it until I started ringing the call bell. And there were only 8 seats (well, 7 until they moved someone up). And they served the wrong food and wine to me ("it must have been for the other female passenger").

It seems some crew are just there to have a nice time and a gossip amongst themselves, with the occasional brief foray out to do some "passenger stuff". And yet on some CE flights recently they've worked their socks off from start to finish, and deserve a medal.

Maybe it's not seen as cool, amongst long haul crew, to provide a decent service. The culture has definitely changed.

eta, these were NOT suites, just normal first class seats that were visible to crew. So I don't think the earlier explanation about how difficult it is to serve suites is all that's going on. Would it be that difficult for BA to use checklists, per seat ? There seem to be systems failures going on (I know it's easy to blame crew - and I often do), and to address that you need a systems thinking approach. Surely BA need to make things easier for everyone by having a system.

xenole

If I had a Ł for every time BA needed a system, to follow policy, procedures or whatever, I'd be living a care free life of luxury on a Caribbean Island......

MrALIG

I have noticed an ongoing trend in the last few years that when interacting with businesses and people who have made mistakes, rather than apologising, fixing it and moving on, they outright lie about what happened.

The crew member lied to you twice - about why you were missed and not being able to unlock your door.

I will forgive almost any mistake, being lied to my face really gets my back up.

KingCanute

Please welcome Richard Branson to flyertalk

MaxFlyer

Being missed my cabin crew happened to me a few time when seated in 64A/K on the 747 UD.

GRUflyer

THAT!

As a friend of mine who works at CEO level in a hotel chain once told me “You can recover from almost any situation, except a lie. If the bare minimum of trust is not there, there is no way out”.