B.A - British Airways - Bad Attitude.

Ems*Honie

We fly longhaul with BA. 2 Small children, OH and very claustrophobic me BA flag up my claustophobia when we book, serve my kids their dinner before the grownups so I can settle them to dinner then eat in peace. We sit next to the galley every flight so the kids have easy loo access and I can grab a FA should any of us need anything.

Despite being difficult PAX in the sense of small kids and terrified women, we have always recieved fantastic service (Lufthanza were pretty good the one time we flew with them too) My kids have been fussed, pampered and preened by BA staff, my son even got taken to the !!!! pit to meet the captain when we landed (He even sat in the captains seat and got to wear the hat! A reward for good behaviour on the 10 hr flight) They have bought the kids sneaky chocolate, given them a tour of the plane and regulary check up on me to make sue I'm happy and if I need some time out in the galley with them for some space. (all through this hubby watches films,, tut)

Despite all this brilliant service I wouldn't insist that every BA flight crew were fantastic, there are bound to be a few bad staff, like any company. Your issue is labeling the entire BA flight crew as bad, because you waited for a drink from one? In your quoted, polite, question you insist you asked the FA, where do you mention to them that the drink is for a child?

SoozyJ22

I was on a BA flight once where a fire alarm went off and we had to make an emergency landing. The crew were excellent throughout - while some were investigating the potential fire and others were communicating with the pilot the others were lovely and reassuring those of us who were sat watching everything , even though they were obviously shocked themselves too. After we landed and got to the terminal building the crew stayed with us and made arrangements for us to get food and drink (there weren't any BA ground crew at the airport we landed at) and the captain even walked around chatting to us all after he'd done whatever he needed to do. Really, we couldn't have asked for more.

Oh, and all that was after the original flight left 2 days late because of technical problems and then a major plane crash at the airport we were leaving from. Throughout all that BA put us all up in fancy hotels and made sure we were always fed (I had so many free food vouchers I ended up bringing food home with me). Even when the entire airport closed after the crash and the demand for hotel rooms was enormous, they still managed to find rooms for us all and even laid on coaches to take us to the hotels and bring us back the next day.

Then we each got given a free return flight anywhere in the world as compensation.

As I've said, I couldn't have asked for more throughout and BA will be my first choice airline for years to come.

Yes, you had a bad experience, but you can't tar everyone in the company with the same brush when you've had an experience with one person.

Sssssss

superflygal wrote: »

Precisely Claz.

Cabin crew undergo 6 weeks training prior to starting their flying jobs. They then undertake on the job training. 'Airheads' do NOT make the grade.

had to be asked 3 times, makes her as 'airhead' in my book
if the staff can't be trusted with a simple task of serving a customer a drink, the last thing I'd want is them to be incharge of my safety.

superflygal

She could have been doing 1001 other things at the same time, in fairness.

When I am at work, I am often asked for several things at the same time by several people, whilst simultaneously having to take care of the flight crew and carry out safety checks at 20min intervals.

Hardly fair to assume the poor girl is an 'airhead' is it?

I would love the people [EMAIL="sl@gging"]sl@gging[/EMAIL] off cabin crew to try working in that role for the day. I bet your opinions would soon alter when you see how hard they work!

SFG x

thatsfabulous

Totally agree Superflygal. Yes they sure would!

To 'Sssssss" shouldnt you be more concerned if the crew were infact paying more attention to getting people glasses of water instead of making safety related things priority? e.g checking on the flight deck

If that sounds silly in your books then fine but to me thats just common sense I want my safety and the safety of others to come first.

Sssssss

no I'd expect them to be doing both because that's what they are trained and paid for. If they can't then they are understaffed, again a serious safety issue.

also in this case they weren't doin safey checks but fetching beer!

uktim29

Sssssss wrote: »

no I'd expect them to be doing both because that's what they are trained and paid for. If they can't then they are understaffed, again a serious safety issue

They may well have been understaffed, so does that make the staff who are working 'airheads' because they may be doing the work of several people?

Guapa1

Tozer wrote: »

Agreed. Has to be said in respect of the BA 777 which crash landed at BA, I have heard nothing but praise for the flight and cabin crew.

Thank you. On the safety front we are so well trained it's amazing. In fact my training saved me from breaking my neck in a near fatal car crash a few years ago when my car rolled and went straight into my crew brace position, stabilising my neck and protecting my face from the glass shards.

I'm crew and will hold my hands up to occasionally forgetting the odd drink. Many times I walk into the galley with about 20 ad hoc drink requests and yes I'll forget one or two, as soon as I go back out though I get reminded and go straight back in. Sometimes I'll forget who asked for what and will roam through the cabin saying Jack and Coke, until I find the owner! However sometimes I'll be on the M25 on the way home and go 'dammit, 25K asked me for a coke'.

Like SFG said, sometimes we have security checks every 20 minutes as well as serving an average of about 60 passengers each in economy on long haul. I will also hold my hands up and say I have worked with some rude crew, however we are not all like that and I am proud of the majority of the people I work with. OP, I am sorry for your experience.

thatsfabulous

Sssssss wrote: »

no I'd expect them to be doing both because that's what they are trained and paid for. If they can't then they are understaffed, again a serious safety issue.

also in this case they weren't doin safey checks but fetching beer!

I dout very much they were serving beer the whole time, do you?!
Well i dont know how long your arms are? coz theres no way i could be on the phone to the flight deck in the galley to check they are ok & then with my otherarm stretch it row 30 to give someone a glass of water. If someone could do that ( both at once) i'd love to meet them!

Also i dont think its about being under staffed but about time management, you can not have 1 crew member for each passenger and so thats why sometimes just sometimes a crew member may forget a drink order or to bring someone a pillow.

gouldilocks

I'm not disputing the fact that some of the crew are rude, but look at any company, there are always going to be the odd ones that give the company a bad name with their attitude.

I am a member of ground staff, yes some people are very rude unfortunately but there are others that more than make up for them and will always go that extra mile, I have been on flights where some members of crew are not particularly helpful and you tend to find that if the CSD is not very nice then it rubs off on the crew.

I personally don't like going to the galley because I feel I am bothering the crew, maybe thats how the OP felt, but equally if I'd been waiting that long for a drink I would have gone up, I always take on my own water as I get so dehydrated, it is annoying not being able to take liquids through security but imagine how even more annoying it is when you work there and have to pay the extortionate prices everyday.