I fly BA for the experience. I know a lot of you who fly more often than me see a lot of variation in service. But I have travelled in WT and Club World in the past, and I have to tell you, even in WT you get treated pretty darn well. I have also found the staff to be very friendly. Maybe that's because they just spent 2-3 days in San francisco...but they always seem extremely nice on the flight.

Also,

you can't beat the upgrade with miles to Club World from WT+ from the US. It's just sick how good a deal that is.

Thirdly,

I guess Traveling BA is just part of the experience for me of visiting Britain. It's like I've arrived in Britain from the moment I step aboard.

And Last...

Last year, I was hurt quite badly while serving as a volunteer firefighter. I had to go in for back surgury 2 days before my flight. My flight was a no refund flight. BA waved that rule for me, and gave me credit that I have since booked a new flight with. They didn't have to this for me..and I'll be damned if I am going to walk away from that kind of customer service. I'll always be willing to tell whoever asks me what good experiences I have had.

Cheers,

kings_29

Besides the fact I've been very happy with BA, my alternative to them is AC. :eek:

We had the same last year when we were forced to land at Frankfurt at the start of the strikes last summer. The captain came into the cabin to explain the situation. It really defused the situation.

Great post by the OP ^ ;)

As somebody flying out of a soon to be abandoned regional airport (BHX), all I can say is that I abandoned BA some time ago for anything other that long haul flights over 10 hours for which it might be worth traipsing down to LHR and burning some miles on a MFU.

In many ways I like BA, but I know I am in a minority here in saying that London is not the centre of my universe! I have no compunction against using KL or LH etc if it suits me better.

Ahh... but notice you've chosen other european based airlines. I respectfully suggest you're not desperate enough to fly on long haul, economy class on NWA !!! :D

To expand, I have no compunction against taking CO direct across the Atlantic from BHX to EWR (in Y no less)! But I did put in a 10 hour get out clause ;) :D

I only fly BA if I absolutely need to. That is mostly driven by flight times, i.e., if only BA is offering a connection at exactly the times I need.

What I like:
+ The truely flat bed in C (not the slightly tilted version of most other airlines)
+ Their frequent flyer "bribes" every once in a while (e.g., just earned 50K bonus miles for an India round-trip)
+ The positive passenger crowd on board: BA passengers are somehow a different mix of people from many other airlines. More international? More relaxed? I do not really know.

What I do not like about BA:
- Their London hub: LHR is a mess for connecting passengers. Transferring from T1 to T4 is a nightmare in itself, with incompetently organized security checks along the way.
- Their inability to deliver checked luggage (no other airline is delaying my luggage more often -- I do not check luggage anymore)
- Their old and worn airplanes (e.g., on my flight to Mumbai a few days ago I tried to lower the blinds on one of the windows, and the whole inner part of the window fell off; the plane looked worn all over)
- The "experienced" flight crews (many of them with the Mom-attitude: "... this is your third glass of champagne ...")
- Their inflexibility when it comes to terms and conditions. Example: On my recent flight from MUC via LHR to Mumbai I arrived early at MUC and could have caught the earlier connecting flight to LHR. Plenty of business seats were available, but only in J class (my ticket was C). The BA ground staff would not offer me the earlier connecting flight sticking to the rules that no C-class seats were available, although it would have saved me some stress at LHR. What a lack of service attitude -- it would have cost them nothing to take me on the earlier flight, and I was obviously not trying to play any tricks on them. It would have been no issue with competitors like LH, AF or KL.
- The fact that BA seems to be "targeted" since 9/11. I perceive a much higher risk than on other carriers.

So for me it is LH, AF, KL, or LX, whenever possible. Still made it to BA silver status with the few flights I have on them.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

If you’re talking about the “liquid alert” last August, that was focused on US carriers out of the UK. AA, UA & CO I beleive were the carriers involved, I don't recall BA being mentioned.

Not saying of course that they're not or wouldn’t be a target. But the same goes for any of the European carriers you mentioned, or for that matter any airline in the world. :(

Whilst accepting that competitors have no issue, I guess an answer to this point is that if you want flexibility, pay for it. If you choose to buy a non-flexible ticket, then by all means try to blag a change but if you don't succeed, I'm not sure how fair it is to say that it's the airline's fault! All IMO of course. :)

For my flying pattern, rather easy to get and retain top-tier status; and the status benefits related to lounge access serve me well, even when not flying BA.

Daddy Air.

Fair enough, but IMO beside the point. As a customer, I certainly know and accept that I have a C-ticket with somehow limited flexibility. But there obviously is a huge difference between asking for, e.g., a date change or just asking for an earlier connecting flight. Taking a strict position on the latter, in a competitive environment where other airlines have no issues with it, is just plain dumb. You should not operate a service business with the rule book in your hands (see for example the discussion on the DL-board relating to their "no waivers, no favors" approach introduced some years ago - it is set to alienate your best customers)!

BA was mentioned. But you're right its not like they are more of a target than others, every airline could be.

Unfortunately, you do not recall correctly, kered, I just looked it up again. There are a handful of carriers I personally feel carry a significantly higher risk than others. I try to avoid them.

For me, availability of WT+ to a wide range of long-haul destinations combined with Oneworld service/network got me hooked in the first place (around 2002) and I racked up enough TPs to get myself to Gold and stay there for a few years, even though I was based in North America. I was impressed with the flexible and professional service with BAEC out of North America. RBC British Airways Visa's readily available free companion tickets for WT+ and Club were great.

Then I moved to France and my travel patterns changed dramatically. Although the TP thresholds are much lower, BAEC/Europe service is abysmal. Some unexpected emergency trips home enabled me to hang onto Gold for another year, and then we'll see. I am impressed with the professionalism of BA staff, and do like flying with them.

However, I'm also watching with interest how many *Alliance carriers are adding premium economy-type cabins. If only AC would add this to their fleet, I would seriously consider switching allegiance. AC provided me with incredibly compassionate service this year when I needed it, and BA didn't, so this will be a factor in my decision-making over the next year.