Your choice of airline

gallygirl

Nobjocki wrote: »

I try to use any airline except British Airways whenever possible.

Arrogant staff, poor levels of service and total contempt for the customer as evidenced by their constant threats to strike at peak times inconveniencing the public all in pursuit of maintaining their already generous conditions of employment at whatever cost to the company.

I'm with you on that - if I was going longhaul I wouldn't trust them to not strike or lose my luggage.

elstimpo wrote: »

Never set foot on Ryan Air and never will.

I use Monarch and Easyjet for most short trips

Why reject something you've never tried?

I work out who's cheapest & book for Europe, simple as that. I don't want to pay extra to choose my seat, but I do want to choose it, so would sooner go Ryanair and get on early.

I like the way a lot of their planes have built in steps so going to a small airport, and just carrying hand luggage, makes it v quick. 17 mins from touchdown to leaving Almeria Airport in hire car :T, with Monarch I'd still be queuing up to get off :rotfl:.

I'm more concerned about airports - I won't do Stansted unless desperate - can't stand the passport queue and long stay car park in Kent or Sussex or somewhere :mad:. Has taken 75 minutes to get onto M11 before :eek:, and that was with hand luggage.

Just booked with Monarch for New Year, but likely to use BMI (3 times) and Sleazyjet (once) next year. Will swap to Ryanair if their flights go on sale before I crack & book

Nobjocki

malkie76 wrote: »

I've never, ever seen BA staff act like that. Which cabin do you usually travel in?

Should it matter ?

Oliver_Zarmy

I'm more or less forced to avoid London Airways (sometimes amusingly referred to as BA) ever since they stopped flying to every destination except one from my local aerodrome many moons ago.

malkie76

Nobjocki wrote: »

Should it matter ?

No, I've just never experienced it in business or first. Had your experiences been somewhere else that might explain the difference in experience.

Tojo_Ralph

malkie76 wrote: »

No, I've just never experienced it in business or first. Had your experiences been somewhere else that might explain the difference in experience.

I love these threads where you can watch folk strain at the leash to start kn0b waving, then soil themselves.

Tojo_Ralph

Nobjocki wrote: »

After the trolley run it's hard to see what BA FA's do to earn their industry-leading salaries on a long-haul flight as I hardly ever see them working the aisles.

Penny Carter sums it all up beautifully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGNa1ir6dt0

moonrakerz

Oliver_Zarmy wrote: »

from my local aerodrome many moons ago.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/dictionary-consigns-aerodrome-to-history-2341650.html

............keep up the good work Sir !

unsure

I think the general rule would be for short haul price and convenience (airport, flight times, direct or indirect flights) are likely to be the determining factors whereas for long haul comfort, cateirng and entertainment start to become significant too. And there's obviously the question of loyalty schemes.
I think the level of service offered beetween national carriers (like BA) and "low cost" operators (ryanair, easyjet et al) is getting ever closer. BA even claims to offer cheaper fares on many routes when the low cost operators additional charges are included and is obviously trying to play them at their own game to some degree.
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/value-calculator/public/en_gb?link=main_nav

The one airline (well two, kind of) I will never use again is BMI and BMIbaby. After a funeral they stranded me in Dublin with ever-lengthening delays, then, when the competitive Ryanir flights had left they finally admitted the plane wouldn't be flying at all that night. They referred me to "no relation" BMI who charged me a £200 walk up fare and claimed to be unable to help in any other way as they were entirely unrelated to Bmibaby. I tried to follow up with customer service and the phone line did not work, they did not answer emails or even acknowledge a recorded delivery ( same address for both airlines curiously!) letter which i know to have been received. I think you judge a company by how they deal with matters when things go wrong. BMI/Bmibaby were dreadful and their customer service was non-existent. If they were giving flights away I wouldn't trust them enough to take one!

manrow

I totally agree, the emerging airlines notably from the Middle East leave BA absolutely standing.

elstimpo

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Glad to see you know what your talking about then :question:

That doesn't make any sense.