PUCCI GALORE

Actually you have to put me in the love GB class. Heaven for me would be for GB to take over most short haul BA flights and let the excellent Eurofleet crew do Long Haul full time as opposed to mixing as they will from October

Bukhara

One person's heaven is another person's hell on earth! I suggest you look at the BA Intranet just to remind yourself of how shoddy GB's schedules are.

I shudder to think at the amount of commercial policies that would have to be issued if they took over shorthaul! Without any degree of hyperbole, bookings would simply become unserviceable.

Smirnoff

GB = okay
BMed = ^ ^ ^

Bukhara

Oh no.....don't get me started on BMED too!

- No bassinets!

- No ticketing facilities at their airports, but pax have to schlep off to the town office for revalidations/reissues! Please get a move on in bringing e-tix to Amman (especially), Tashkent, Damascus etc!

- No flat bed in Club!

- Inconvenient stop overs in Alexandria, Yerevan, Ekaterinburg etc!

But on the whole, I like BMED. Fairly solid and reliable. And their destinations are more my style of tourism. You can keep your BGI, MRU, CPT etc. Far too boring and mainstream. Wandering around countires like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Ethiopia is much more rewarding.

Smirnoff

Good. No screamers then.


And let me see. BA do e-tix to places like LUX ?


I think it would be better to fix the abysmal uncomfortable and cramped seating in the mainline "mid-hauls" to DME, LCA, IST first. I am sure these receive far more complaints that OCW seats on KJ.

BMed's seat to BEY (2153 miles) is 100 times better than BA's to LCA ( a mere stones throw away at 2028 miles).


Exactly. I think they are great.

Bukhara

The difference is that BA have a ticket desk at the airport. BMED have nothing. Particularly frustrating as the town offices keep normal business hours. Amman receives most complaints as there is a large number of people who arrive from Iraq and anticipate getting their ticket re-issued in the airport. Instead, they have to make their way into the city and do everything there. This can add a day on to a weary oil worker's transit. This is my only grumble about BMED. Otherwise, a decent company.

smashmouth

BMED are fabulous... I especially love that they manage to make a substantial turnover from flying to some of the dodgiest places there are!

Even funnier when you cross-reference their destination list with the BA destination guide and virtually all of them start with "The Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all non-essential travel to XXX"

Plus they do things with an A320 that not even Airbus dreamed of - i.e: won an award for flying them as far as possible!

smashmouth

PUCCI - I don't think you're thinking clearly... what could be better than a day return to Antigua followed by a week crew break in Tblisi... you'll love the former soviet republic of Georgia!

Smirnoff

Point taken. Sounds a right pain in the bum. And why wouldn't BMed have a ticket desk at the airport?

But, to be fair, similar problems can be encountered with BA. You cannot buy a BA ticket or have a BA ticket changed at HEL, because they have shut their ticket office at the airport, claiming AY do everything for them. Well AY can't or won't. So you would have to go into town there too.

bealine

I love GB for two reasons:

1. I don't think Gatwick would have had any future for British Airways after 09/11 if GB Airways hadn't kept us going!!! Rod Eddington (allegedly) was prepared to pull everything BA away from Gatwick until GB's directors pointed out that an important part of the Franchise Agreement was to provide connecting services to BA mainline at Gatwick!!!

So, my job, and a few hundred others at BA LGW were saved by "Gibraltar Airways"!!! ^

2. The services standards, catering, cabin cleanliness etc are without fault - a bloody professional outfit!!! ^

Now, to the negatives and to fight GB's corner:

1. "Route Changes For Commercial Reasons" - Michael Caine Department ("Not A Lot Of People Know That!) - The "Long Tom" Airbusses within the GB Fleet (180 seaters) have been found sadly lacking in the range they can fly with a full load!!! The extent of this problem was not forseen early enough and has curtailed GB's ambitious plans for North Africa and Cyprus in particular! For this reason, GB have been presented with an absolute operational planning nightmare because the Summer 2006 schedule was already planned before this situation came to light!!!

2. GB have a very modern aircraft fleet - all Airbusses. Unfortunately, these have been dogged by all manner of technical teething troubles since their introduction and GB does not have spare aircraft kicking around the hangars with no work to do!!! Consequently, if an aircraft goes "missing" for a few days for the men with spanners to fix something, delays throughout the GB schedule ensue!

I hope this helps you to understand GB!!! I know how disappointing and frustrating schedule changes are, but they're not done for devilment!!!

Good On Yer, little GB friend!!! (Can I have my second helping of Chocolate Sponge Cake Now Please???)

Globaliser

IIRC, it's been particularly bad over the last few months. I don't remember anything quite like this before. And now that there's been a bad spell, my money would be on the warning shot over the bows being listened to, internal lessons learned (it must have been hell working inside GT during this period too) etc. etc. - and this particular round of stupidity will now blow over.

PUCCI GALORE

Hear Hear!

Forgive me if I don't give one hoot let alone two for what happens in scheduling. As an outfit GB are superb. ^ . That does not mean that they without fault. Still they are running routes that mainline jacked in years ago.

Smashmouth - I have not thought clearly for years. Would I be coming to play on Flyertalk if I did?

MEH

Too right..! The current MD clearly has no idea what he is doing to a once great airline, and has totally lost control of it. Morale is at an all time low, people are leaving in droves (even the most senior people that have been there for 15+ years) and that is not helped by him always telling us how badly we are performing at every occasion. Fingers crossed, when the new MD arrives later this year, he will really take control and turn it all around again, and fire everyone from the Commercial Department which do make some monumentally bad decisions at times.

Swanhunter

Totally agree - BMED's schedule is loads of fun. Looking forward to my week in EVN this summer! They also have the plus of being the first planes in the BA network to have AVOD.

After a roundtrip on GB this week the difference in onboard service from mainline was palpable. The missus even commented - without prompting. Imagine a world with no Monopole, drinkable red wine and interesting food served by a crew who clearly do give a monkies. The 1am arrival was pretty cruddy though.

Smirnoff

1am . Lost in Tenerife ??