BA complaint

[Deleted User]

Whatever the veracity of the OP's complaint stories about BA's attitude never surprise me.
I've flown countless times with them over the years and watched a once great airline steadily decline to such an extent that I go out of my way to avoid them whenever possible.
The staff are impossibly rude and arrogant and treat customers as an inconvenience rather than the people paying their wages.
Service is kept to the absolute bare minimum so FA can congregate at the back to natter away about their social lives and treat any encroachment through the drawn curtains as a huge incovenience.
I'm not sure American airlines are much better.
But all are infinitely worse than Asian and Middle-Eastern airlines who - rather like Lidl and Aldi in the supermarker world - have made great strides doing the simple things that BA once used to do so well.
Such as regularly walking through the cabin to make themselves available to serve passengers rather than putting their feet up as long as possible.

marsman802

I really don't have the same experiences as some of you. I'm honestly not making this up but I've had really pleasant flights all the time.

I've had people let me use business class checkin when I'm running late, I've had help for my mother in law whenever I needed it and I've even had FAs show me where all the food and drink is in the galley and let me and my mates help ourselves - in doing so we even got to congregate at the back of the plane and enjoy a bit of standing up room.

I'm really sorry you have had some terrible experiences but the worst I've ever had on BA is a 10-min delay on a flight and I've flown multiple long and even more short haul flights over the last 3/4 yrs.

Voyager2002

growler834 wrote: »

Their staff are surly and arrogant and that is why BA will never be in my top 10 choice of airline to travel with.

Arrogant rather than surly... I think the issue is that they believe that they are socially superior to the bulk of their passengers: if using them, the trick is to convince them that you are their equal, and then the charm flows. Thus on my most recent BA flight everyone, from the check-in desk onwards, was polite and helpful: perhaps because I was using an 'Award' ticket and so had perhaps been identified as a frequent flyer.

jpsartre

Fly with BA regularly and have yet to encounter a rude or arrogant member of staff. I'm sure there are some around but either I've been incredibly lucky or the majority are perfectly nice and helpful.

jackieblack

marsman802 wrote: »

I really don't have the same experiences as some of you. I'm honestly not making this up but I've had really pleasant flights all the time.

I've had people let me use business class checkin when I'm running late, I've had help for my mother in law whenever I needed it and I've even had FAs show me where all the food and drink is in the galley and let me and my mates help ourselves - in doing so we even got to congregate at the back of the plane and enjoy a bit of standing up room.

I'm really sorry you have had some terrible experiences but the worst I've ever had on BA is a 10-min delay on a flight and I've flown multiple long and even more short haul flights over the last 3/4 yrs.

Same here, we used to always fly Virgin Atlantic to the USA, but found quality slipped steadily over several years. Next trip we booked BA, with some trepidation having heard stories about rude staff/ bad service, but there wasn't much choice for that particular destination so we decided to take a chance and were very pleasantly surprised. BA has been our first choice airline ever since and we have never experienced less than pleasant helpful service from staff.

What the OP and others has described is so far from our experience that it sounds like a totally different airline!

marsman802

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Arrogant rather than surly... I think the issue is that they believe that they are socially superior to the bulk of their passengers: if using them, the trick is to convince them that you are their equal, and then the charm flows. Thus on my most recent BA flight everyone, from the check-in desk onwards, was polite and helpful: perhaps because I was using an 'Award' ticket and so had perhaps been identified as a frequent flyer.

You have put into words exactly what I was thinking but didn't know how to write down.

Easyjet and Virgin are what I would see as "fun" airlines. I've never flown Virgin but I imagine the experience is about being different, lighter atmosphere and generally more of a cool vibe going on. e.g. the club lounge etc.

BA certainly has a stuffier approach - in fact the best comparison I can draw is the flight times back from MCO to LGW in the past. The virgin and BA flight is 30mins apart on departure but the type of demographics at the gates are so different. BA has an older average age and none of them are wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Virgin cater really well for the younger crowd.

As Voyager points out and has put it perfectly the trick is to blend in, go with the flow and strike up an understanding. A smile, a greeting, light conversation, acting like you belong to a "great British institution" and it works wonderfully.

Doshwaster

jpsartre wrote: »

Fly with BA regularly and have yet to encounter a rude or arrogant member of staff. I'm sure there are some around but either I've been incredibly lucky or the majority are perfectly nice and helpful.

Same here and I must fly with BA at least 10 times a year and have done so over the last 15 years. I'm struggling to remember a single instance of seeing rude service, even when they've had a "difficult" customer to deal with - and over the years I have seen many rude, arrogant and disruptive passengers.

Maybe BA staff do have a more "formal" attitude than the likes of Ryanair, Easyjet or the holiday charters - and some people may consider that to be "snobbish" or "stuffier". I'd consider that a good thing and it's down to the way they were trained. I don't want to be entertained on board, I want a good professional service.

Ganga

The poster said that she only found out about the holiday the night before when BA phoned the wrong person!
The conversation the next day from her mother would have been interesting.
" Have you got 10 days spare?,have you got a suitcase full of holiday clothes handy ?, have you got any US dollars? look out for a taxi pulling up outsde !:rotfl::rotfl:

jackieblack

jpsartre wrote: »

Fly with BA regularly and have yet to encounter a rude or arrogant member of staff. I'm sure there are some around but either I've been incredibly lucky or the majority are perfectly nice and helpful.

In my experience, if you are polite and friendly other people are generally polite and friendly back

jackieblack

marsman802 wrote: »

Easyjet and Virgin are what I would see as "fun" airlines. I've never flown Virgin but I imagine the experience is about being different, lighter atmosphere and generally more of a cool vibe going on. e.g. the club lounge etc

Well, that is certainly what their advertising would have you believe. :cool:

The VS flight from LGW to LAS has frequently been described as the 'chaviest' flight on Virgin's schedule