I wonder what percentage of BA customers actually read the Telegraph?

No idea. Ages ago BA removed most of the newspapers in their lounge due to cost cutting. During/after covid they removed all of them. There was a period that you could find The Sun in the lounge but not FT. I mean the newspaper choices represent perfectly the airlines reputation :D

This is a general survey and the vast majority will fly economy so those comparing flat seats are I think wide if the mark.

To someone looking on objectively they will see

- an airline with multiple crippling it failures
- an airline that cancelled vast quantities of summer flights last year
- an airline that fired staff going into Covid and could not then replace them
- an airline if they have used it that is relatively likely to have delays or last minute cancellations
- an airline that is totally based on London
- an airline that take the mickey on price. Try looking at London Palma over half term. £500 one way economy / £1000 club. EasyJet a third of the price. Same tube between to cities

what do I like ? Avios. Where do I get them ? Credit card spend. To get club suites at a large discount suits me fine.

I suspect the airline is choosing whichever newspaper marketing dept will pay them the most to place their publication in lounges ;)

Goodness – I must’ve just been incredibly unlucky in the last few years to have never had a perfect flight with British Airways. In fact, I don’t think I’ve had a return flight where both sectors have been on time, or not cancelled.

by contrast – my experience with the middle eastern airlines, and Lufthansa, have been way above my expectations.
Just look at social media feeds, every day you will see hundreds of passengers woth what one imagines are genuine complaints about their experience of British Airways, the vast majority of which are of a very serious nature.

The survey might have some merit after all? it should at least be aspirational for airline management.

Well, you only have to go to social media feeds, type British Airways into the search box, and every day you will see hundreds and hundreds of passengers, with what appear to be really serious complaints about being stranded, their luggage damaged, or missing, disabled people abandoned, financial irregularities with their fares, cancellations, et ceteraAnd then, presumably there are lots of people having issues who don’t have, or don’t wish to post their details on social media. I fear the trouble is widespread.

Presumably all the caveats people are adding in BAs defence also apply to all the other airlines? 'I don't agree with the survey so it must be wrong' is an interesting conclusion. Hopefully BA management are a bit smarter in how they look at these things, although the last few years suggests they have been applying similar arrogance in their strategy. Of course if BA came top here the same people would be very quick to point a finger at BAs detractors and say they were wrong.

BA has been in decline for years as is obvious to anyone who has been anywhere near it. I personally simply will not book with them now or for the foreseeable future as the chance of my flight being cancelled is far too high, if in only going somewhere for a weekend BAs reliability is an absolute deal breaker. Anyone who is flying with them I think would have to be genuinely insane to check a bag if if can possibly be avoided.

The CEO himself has admitted all this. It's not really a debatable point any more. The very same thing I saw some insightful minds here say was where the strategy was heading some years ago in a perfectly reasonsble manner, only to be very aggressively piled on by the usual suspects in a rather ugly manner. The courtroom style interrogation often given to anyone not on brand would be hilarious in its pretentiousness and how out of place it is on an internet forum, if it wasn't so detrimental to open conversation on the forum. We saw it again recently because someone dated to say that flying business and 3 out of 4 people not getting their meals, not getting bags delivered, and being kicked out of your selected seat isn't really good enough. Perfectly reasonable points, but again a massive pile on with all kinds of personal attacks on the ops credibility.

Same thing for Ruinair, easyJet, etc.; especially when you search in the native language of the airline concerned.
Dwarfed by the tens of thousands of people daily who had a tolerable or better flight but didn't see the need to post about it on socials.

Well except for the rather too frequent days when no-one had a tolerable or better flight because BAs IT went kaput.

This ranking seems to broadly reflect the lay of the land on average. If anything is unrepresentative it is the experience of a very small group of frequent flyers strongly tied to BA, many of whom seem to have a very strong personal attachment and respond to criticism as if their own child is being smeared.

Are people really suggesting they think BA should be higher on the list? I doubt it. So as usual it's just throwing mud at the source hoping to somehow detract from its conclusion. It's a perfectly valid data point given the number of people surveyed, and the consistency in how Jet 2 performs for example says to me the stats are fairly solid.

Maybe they were a little ahead of themselves but I seem to recall BA releasing the PressReader service to replace the hardcopy so people can read the ‘paper’ of their choice on their phones, tablets or laptop. Is this service no longer available?

Yes, very well said – it’s a case of, we don’t like what the survey has concluded so we are going to try and rubbish the whole survey. Even if the number of serious complaints on social media were just 10% of what the level is currently, I think it would show that the airline has a serious customer service crisis on its hands. The fact that the levels are where they are – it’s just mind blowing.

What would you say is the percentage chance of a cancellation? And what would be an acceptable percentage?

In one sense a survey like this is pointless, but only because it confirms what anyone who has flown on BA in the last couple of years knows. For those who haven't though, and are thinking of trying BA, this sort of survey is bad news.

I regard BA these days as a purely functional airline - lounges, hard and soft premium products - it's all meh. With an absolutely dire website and a barely existent means of making contact by phone. It wasn't always like that.

The extent of BA's network is impressive, even now. But its pricing is currently verging on mad. As if it's trying to make up lost covid revenue in the shortest possible time.

The reality is that it cannot compete with airlines like Emirates, and would be well advised not to try. But trying to offer a low cost-type service on SH routes, and then being hideously undercut on price by EasyJet is a hopeless strategy, and cost/service cutting on LH routes whilst keeping prices buoyant isn't going to work either.

I think that we all knew where everything was headed and I do think that these days I am uncertain quite what is a perfect flight. For my part, it is often the flight that is the part that works best. I have done several short haul and two long haul flights this month. For a short haul flight to depart on time from Heathrow is now remarkable. Usually there are delays for all sorts of reasons. Lots but not all are caused by ATC which is quite beyond the control of any airline, This is now a problem within Canada and in parts of the US. Weather is another important factor and this seems to be coming more and more recurrent. High winds at Heathrow throws more than one spanner into the works. Please understand me. I am not defending BA's infuriating side but I am trying to be fair. The pilots seethe at waiting for tugs to push way out on a remote stand (which other airport in Europe drags Long Haul passengers out to a remote stand? Is it not beyond the wit of anyone to move the aircraft to a stand with a jetway when they become available so at least you do not have to climb a set of stairs at boarding). Our return was to a remote stand where we were informed that we would have to wait 30 minutes for buses. In fact we did not wait more than three, but we were in J on a 787-10 so I have no idea how long others had to wait. The same applies to the guidance system being turned on when you do arrive at a stand. This is particularly noticeable since Covid as I would imagine that loads were laid off.

However, when this nonsense is done and the aircraft is actually off the runway, the crews that I have had have been second to none. I note that little by little the trimmings are returning although I do wonder why they (hot towels come to mind) can be removed overnight and take months to return. I can understand why these surveys give low marks but they do not seem terribly objective to me. I fly Ryanair and Easyjet as they are the only two airlines relaying where I have a house in Brittany and London. They are a pair of sharks, their service is laughable but for 1 hour I do not care. The one airline that after witnessing a screaming match between a dispatcher and a Captain of an A321 at LGW; I decided that after a two hour delay to Orly that they could do without me very well.

I have to say that it does surprise me how people do defend "their pet airline" but you read that on every airline Forum on this board. Attack at your perill - but I think the same of the practically zealous adoration of football clubs. Try telling a Hammers fan that they are rubbish (I just brought them to mind - I have no opinion as I'd rather watch the varnish on my nails dry); and see how you will be congratulated.

I would like to say that BA - as was said on many a School Report of mine in the fascinating subject of mathematics "Mediocre but trying hard" Whether Sister Magdalene meant that I was trying as in effort or her patience I still do not know.

At present it is a 100% chance that every day flights will be cancelled. As long as it is an operational requirement to cancel flights because BA don't have the equipment to operate the schedule they are selling, that is too high a risk for me.

Then there are the days the IT system goes down and the entire schedule gets wiped. The numerous days bags aren't loaded onto planes. Fairly simple decision for me not to fly with an airline that happens multiple times a year when I have other options it doesn't happen to. British airways factual average delay is also higher than any of their competitors except wizz air, who I also won't fly.

Others may consider the risk acceptable, especially where more business than leisure focussed and a cancelled flight doesn't ruin a long planned holiday. Fair enough, it's all a personal judgement to make, and to be honest I don't have to provide mathematical evidence to justify my personal travel decisions - though the objective evidence is easily available for those interested. All that matters is from the evidence available I have come to the conclusion flying BA is too risky for me personally.