satish_ny

...something like:
1. Take a hammer in your right hand
2. Put the palm of your left hand on top of the bench
3. Hit the fingers of your left hand as hard as you can
4. Repeat (3.) till your right hand gets tired.

Why? Because it feels so good when you stop!

DocS

Perhaps a little bit of an exaggeration...I've flown economy class plenty of times in the past and as such a business class (or even F) product is new and exciting, a treat even. Flying in WT may not be supremely comfortable but hey, it's not really like hitting yourself with a hammer

Rambuster

No offence taken !

However, I do like the following things about CX and SQ:

- being addressed by name every time on CX F and SQ F (..not just Sir)
- I do like caviar and enjoy having this as a starter on CX and SQ (...the only time ever I got caviar on BA was a tiny portion on Concorde)
- AVOD: CX and SQ entertainment is great. SQ being better than CX (...OK, I haven't been on a dusked BA 767 to Baltimore or Detroit, or whereever that plane with AVOD is going?)
- Turn down service with a matress being rolled out on your seat on CX and SQ
- Less F seats on the 747 compared to BA. 14 F seats in the nose of the plane is just too many.


Granted: at leat ex Germany BA F is far far cheaper than both CX F or SQ F.
Recently HKG was over € 1.500 cheaper on BA than CX. With SIN the difference to SQ was even higher.

I will now no longer pay for BA F. Op-Ups however are always appreciated.
I have paid (and will continue to pay) for quite a few CX F or SQ F flights.

I wonder if with the relaunch of Club World, First class pax will be requesting a downgrade to Club ?

whmere

That reminds me: missing from my rant about CX 10 days ago was that I had to hunt down cabin crew and ask for the mattress/duvet, and then all they did is give it to me, not set it up. I was getting paranoid that they had me down on their manifest as an opup or something....

whmere

Believe me, I've thought about this one. Somehow just can't seem to bring myself to do it...

Plus I do get to do the odd short haul in Y. That's reminder enough!

number_6

BA F was superb until 2004, then they got caught in a perfect storm. A convergence of a need to cut costs, labour troubles, aging fleet, improving competition and mis-management in the responses to these problems. Leading to year after year of decline in the service aspects of the airline (I believe the technical operations are still superb, 3-engined 744 flights not withstanding). Overall BA remains firmly in the top 10 airlines in the world; so still well above average, and the same applies to the FIRST service. But it is not what it once was, and it clearly will never again be what it once was. How ironic as BA pioneered the concept (first with suites, etc.) and really inspired the competition to revamp their F products to be at a much higher level. Now it seems BA simply cannot keep up, or rather is relying on T5 to be the basis for a service relaunch.

To be fair to the BA FAs, the F staffing level was based on F not being full most of the time (and in fact it was rare to be half full until a few years ago) and this allowed more time per pax for service. It also perhaps conspired to create inefficient procedures and a lack of investment in outfitting the galleys properly, etc (I like to look at airline galleys and it is amazing how much diversity there is, with some such as CX and LH having completely different galleys -- for the better). Now that BA is often selling J with F seating on some routes and corporate contracts, F is always full, and they really need an extra FA or more efficient procedures. If they want the service level restored, that is. Unfortunately their competition does.

whmere

What makes you say that?

Remember the concrete seats? I do.

number_6

BA has changed the marketing model and the business model; the high-end F pax have defected to fractional jet ownership; new entrants such as EK and even LH are targeting the BA F pax base ... lots of other factors. A lot has changed since BA shook up the industry with the FIRST suites and service.

starlight

I know I sound like a spoilt brat, but it's not so much contempt as the fact that BA are happy to charge the fares but they are not delivering the advertised product.

I also remain of the opinion that BA has totally abandoned the notion of customer service - just look at what a hard time we all have when we 'phone the exec club and ask for some help. I know they have rules, etc. but please, a bit of common sense and a bit of old fashioned help wouldn't go amiss.

Maybe that's the problem, I'm too old fashioned and not business minded enough...

Q Shoe Guy

You have obviously never had an "experience" on UA First.....Now that is a First rate experience....not!

adrianjc32

I don't think it's that, but maybe you are looking back with slightly rose tinted glasses? I rarely hear complaints now that I didn't hear five to ten years ago from First customers. I think it is very true what you say about crew making all of the difference in the cabin experience, and it is a pity that some of them don't realise the impact they have (or don't care). I am not totally sure about the new contract point though. New contracts have been around for almost a decade now and many wonderful people have joined BA in the last ten years. Money in itself is not a true motivator for most staff in a service roll (and trust me, if we wanted to be rich beyond our wildest dreams we would be working elsewhere). Things like respect and recognition are the things that really motivate, rather than just satisfy. Of course those need to come from colleagues, managers and even clients. Clearly there have been cuts in certain areas, and the market palce does change, but if BA were truely so far behind other carriers they would be struggling to fill those flat beds. Even those big corporate contracts would walk and individual travellers are rarely loyal in the true sense.

goap

I agree with this. After 18 months of BA the novelty of CW was wearing off a bit, and having had good service, when it was bad I knew what I was missing.

But a couple of weeks ago I was on UA trip LHR-ORD-YWG (only because UA are one of few who fly to YWG), and the quality of service ("would like this tray in you face sir?"), cabin fit out (2-5-2..?? are they mad?), seat (in economy +, but no seat power and less width than WT+), IFE (you think BA is bad), were all eye openers. All this despite being A* Gold (which at least got me into E+ and got my bags off the plane first).

The only thing better was being able to listen to air traffic control on channel 9. It was so engrosing, especially around ORD and LHR, I listened to it all the way back. Wish BA had that.

But I went running back to BA (literally- 3 hours after landing at LHR I was in a CW seat out of LGW bound for sunny ANU. Mines a G&T please!).

elitetraveler

Being US based I travel about 30 percent within the US and about 70 percent outside so once you get de-sensitized to expecting anything from the US airlines perhaps everything else seems terrific.

CX and BA are my favorites. I appreciate the CX caviar service, but beyond that I normally order fruit plates so I cant really comment on quality of food except I have yet to see pizza, melted mystery meat sandwiches that could be from Burger King and Otis Spunkmeyer cookies being passes as haute cuisine.

I find the overall cabin service on both airlines in F to be anywhere from fine to really good.

The biggest problem flying BA these days is the carry-on restrictions ex-LHR and terminal transits on the bus. Those fold down seats must be made for David Bandar as i would take at least 1.5 and usually just end up standing as I would end up offering them to the assortment of more needy that are crammed aboard.

BA would be well advised to put some serious thought into how to make the airport experience better for their F pax - other than that I can tell you the major meal enhancement on AA is offering "smoked cheese in oil" as a healthy alternative to warm nuts. Maybe BA isnt that bad...

PUCCI GALORE

Beloved. How is HI coping? How is Lady McCarthy coping?

Be not concerned - remember that Love Conquers Everything. Have you told your wife yet.

To the others - please don't mind us.

virtualtroy

Glad someone chipped in with this. Both UA and AA set a new benchmark for how truly dreadful F can be.