Trippelone

Flight from LAX to LHR (A380) was cancelled. I called the GGL line and I was rebooked on an earlier flight, last seat in Club. From First into Club, no compensation as I accepted to be rebooked on the earlier flight which did not have First. New flight left late. Reason : crew arrived late due to heavy road traffic. The contractor who picks up the crew does that at a fixed time, independently of the traffic. Latest crew member (first officer) arrived loaded with 4 cups of coffee at the time the flight was supposed to leave.
as a result, we were at the gate at LHR one hour late. Lots of people missed their connection.
Boarding at LAX was a mess. They let most club pax board through door 1L and then the rest had to use door 2L. Door to 1L was closed just before me, so we waited until last to board through 2L. FA told me: you are late, you will no longer find a place for your bags in the bins. Since the flight was full, they had allowed economy passenger to put their bags in the club overhead bins.
My pillow was on my lap and the FA insisted that I had to put it on the ground under the footrest for take off. The pillow was not protected by any cover and it was dirty when I recovered it. I then asked for a clean pillow, in vain, no extra pillows were available.
Food orders were taken before take off. 2 hours into the flight there was no still sign of any food being served, so I decided to go to sleep, without pillow. I woke up an hour before landing. Just before landing the FA came to inspect my seat. She commented that in future I should not order food if I plan to rest.
At no point during the above events I made any comment, I just underwent the experience.
At no point I was recognised nor greeted as a repeat GGL customer, not at LAX, where I have always been greeted by a member of the SS team before covid, not during boarding, not on board.
The contracted non BA staff at the CCR were outstanding as always. They know what hospitality means.
My conclusion is that, in my opinion, BA had huge issues: the reliability of their A380 fleet is poor, the punctuality of their flights is poor, the motivation of their staff is generally poor. As a GGL I receive better recognition (upgrades, waitlist clearings, boarding with CK’s) and service (free drinks and food in economy) when flying AA than when flying BA.
Not all negative though: the GGL line staff and the CCR staff are excellent.

crazy8534

I’d count that as a bad crew experience to be honest, and I am not sure I would have been as reticent as you were about telling them “who you are”, as it were. No excuse for waiting 2 hrs to get food when it is a night flight and I’d complain about that and if I had received a “telling-off” from a member of crew for falling asleep whilst waiting I certainly wouldn’t have let the matter rest! In terms of the pillow, I would have just stuffed it at my back or behind my head for take off, instead of on the floor.

To be honest, I’d be unhappy with the aspects you have highlighted whether blue or GGL, and as you have said being GGL did allow you to change your flight perhaps more easily than another would have, and enjoy the CCR. One problem of GGL, and it applies to bronze, silver and gold too, is that it does tend to raise an expectation that everything will be smooth sailing all of the time and that you can click your fingers to get any problem solved; rarely, if ever, IMO!

Cymro

It was an involuntary rebooking - I'd suggest that the downgrade to Club was still a compensation event, even if it is only fare difference rather than the 75% mandated for a downgrade initiated by the airline.

Trippelone

I accepted the rebooking when the flight was still delayed (by 3 hours). Only shortly after my rebooking, the flight got cancelled. Hence, I will not seek compensation.

msm2000uk

Most of these sound like onboard issues, so I presume you spoke to the IFM to have them addressed?

M

Trippelone

Most important issues were the cancellation of the A380 flight (systematic issue) and the late departure of the new flight due to bad organisation of the crew transportation. The IFL did not come to greet me and I did not look for her. In the first hours of the flight she had enough trouble with the resetting of the IFE and the DC power not working. The pilot announced that he would call London to address and solve this problem but I did not hear back from him.

PAL62V

With regards to the onboard issues - I would have approached the IFM at some stage towards the end of the flight and complained about the issues with overhead lockers, lack of food service in under 2 hours, the comments about the pillow and especially the comment regarding sleeping instead of eating. Venting on here is one thing, but to get any real resolve one must also be prepared to speak firmly but pleasantly to those responsible.

Trippelone

The on board issues are just illustrating the fact that BA has work to do to motivate its crews. I would probably have touched the issues with the IFM if she would have come to greet me. My points are: BA has some reliability issues with some of its planes. BA has an issue with on time performance especially at LHR. BA has an issue with crew motivation or with ‘bad’ crews. In comparison with other airlines, BA could do better with recognition of its very frequent flyers.

timlewis808

I'd definitely complain to BA, just so that they are aware of the issues. State that you aren't looking for compensation (though please take any if they offer it). There could be consistent issues on that flight that needs resolving or at least increasing awareness. I'm a terrible (though often productive) complainer to airlines about poor service. Occasionally praise good service as well though.

Finland Station

Being ticked off for ordering food and going to sleep when it doesn't arrive after 2 hours is classic BA. Although in moments like that one is often rendered speechless, I hope that I would have the presence of mind to pass on a little feedback both as to the failure in delivery of the meal in the first place and then for the unwelcome (and inappropriate) suggestion that I was somehow in the wrong.

BRITINJAPAN4

As explained in other threads, there is a seemingly not well know feature on ALL commercial planes , know as a a call button to ask for something or to speak with a senior crew member,

It is available to all

DXB2745

Just to comment on the crew arriving late point. I always find this strange that the crew are picked up at a certain time regardless of traffic etc. it would be wiser to leave earlier and get to the airport, obviously. EWR (not in your case I know) is renowned for its traffic but I’ve heard the “crew late due to traffic” reason for lateness on more than one occasion from there. Pick them up earlier then?

the passengers all managed to make the gate on time and so should the crew?

FlyingScientist

Oh, this was LAX, wasn't it?

South London Bon Viveur

What a rubbish sounding crew. Woeful.

ISTFlyer

I have flown this route on a heavily delayed departure this week on an A380 and guess what, yes, the incoming aircraft was late and BA communicated us that before via text and e-mail, however, there was about an hour between when the first crew and the last crew boarded as apparently some of them were pretty busy shopping at the duty free or grabbing a drink from Starbucks which has a 25-30 customer line.

In addition to what the OP mentioned, I got nothing onboard as a GGL greeting as well as nothing on the ground by anyone at BA and boarding was a disaster where we boarded 30 minutes later than the boarding time on the gate boards, Group 1 and 2 were held 20 minutes between the boarding pass / facial recognition scanners and the jet bridges and boarding didn't end for a long time. The only positive aspect of LAX was the QF First Lounge but BA not communicating the departure time to the lounge and the lounge FIDS managed by QF not having the updated boarding and departure time, caused many people unnecessarily to leave the lounge early and queue up at the gate.

While the crew didn't have any negative onboard, they simply did their job, was nice and calm towards passengers worried about their allergies and missed connections ( they just told most of them to go to Heathrow T5A flight connections ).