Even BA Staff say "Don't fly BA"!

[davidge]

Writing this lying on bed in Ibis Heathrow after long motorway drive and too much to eat at dinner! If I don't make much sense, I apologise now!

 

Dropping sister off to fly back to Brisbane. As BA don't fly there, she has to use Qantas for final leg. Caused all sorts of problems, despite it being a codeshare with BA!

 

She couldn't check-in online last night. She couldn't book and pre-pay for an extra bag.

They have those bloody silly self-check-in machines at Terminal 5. Took ages. It still wouldn't check her all the way to Brisbane nor give the onward Boarding Pass.

 

Then had to go to bag drop. Couldn't check bags to Brisbane. Then had to go to excess baggage and pay the higher 'at airport' excess baggage fee as she hadn't been allowed to do it online. They told her the charge covers all the way to Brisbane but, as she has to collect bags at Sydney, change Terminal, then check in again, there's not much she can do if they make her pay again!

 

Anyway, to finally get to the title of my thread :-) the BA 'greeter' at the terminal could see things were taking time so came over to ask me if there was a problem. I explained what was happening and had quite a long chat with him. He said my sister should just use Qantas next time. "BA is now just about money not about passengers".

 

I said I was using EVA business class to Bangkok in the Summer not BA, he told me EVA were very good.

I mentioned I wasn't keen to fly BA with Willie Walsh in charge and he smiled and said "you're not alone there".

 

I'll remind myself of the conversation IF I'm ever foolish enough to consider using BA.

[boxershrimp]

BA are okay in business class, and they provide pretty good lounges if you have a gold card. I sure as hell would not want to sit at the back of the bus with them, though.

[FROST MEDIC999]

Used to use them but stopped when I moved away from london and it meant connection flights from the North.

 

If honest never rated them as I always felt many of the Biz personnel resented me up front despite travelling smart Stupid stuck up cunts

 

just got off Emirates Biz and again was treated like a king and welcomed warmly at all points This just endorses my views of Asian and middle east airlines that the customer is just that a valued customer.

 

I have now used all my Avios points and booked the LK Ren and Dream hotel for this trip fuck ever spending them on BA.

 

And a point to note BA Biz really IMO does not compare to other Airlines for the hard product the sell n use. My advice give BA a swerve

 

 

 

Ghosty

[boxershrimp]

Well, sure, Qatar for instance have better hardware and much better service. But cost is about 20% more (for me), and seeing as how I mostly fly business to sleep, there's not that much difference while in the air.

 

BA works for me because I spend my transit time at LHR eating quite OK food and swilling free booze in the first class lounges, then I sleep pretty much all the way to BKK.

[davidge]

When I've checked prices, EVA have always been cheaper than BA, and still direct, and the seats in Business are 6 inches wider than BA.

 

EVA now have the 'pod' seats from LHR.

 

Agree with Ghosty that when I flew BA there was always something odd about the attitude of the staff.

 

First time with EVA next June. I'll report back!

[Cph]

The main problem with BA are the passengers :-)

[FROST MEDIC999]

When I've checked prices, EVA have always been cheaper than BA, and still direct, and the seats in Business are 6 inches wider than BA.

EVA now have the 'pod' seats from LHR.

Agree with Ghosty that when I flew BA there was always something odd about the attitude of the staff.

First time with EVA next June. I'll report back!

You will love Eva were it not for the fact I was up North I would still use them athe FF programme is great as is the product nd price and timmings

 

Enjoy you trip and make sure you join their program

 

 

Ghosty

[davidge]

Thanks Ghosty. Actually quite looking forward to the flight - never thought I'd say that!

I am a member of Star Alliance through Thai.

Thought I'd stick with that as I can then use the points for internal flights and hotels in Thailand. I'm not going to get enough points to get a free long haul anyway.

Looked into it, but can't see a strong reason to switch to EVA's own scheme instead???

[tps]

Try flying any American-based carrier and none of the airlines mentioned will seem so bad afterall.

[Agent09]

Flew BA from LHR to BKK many times over the years and got increasingly sick of the typical UK 'customer is a nuisance' attitude of the overweight middle aged stewardess crew and the mostly camp male staff...plus the food was rubbish and the overall customer attitude was either bossy, patronising or indifferent,. Switched to Emirates and was a positive delight compared to BA with the best food around even in economy and a totally different customer handling style. Have since moved on to EVA, flying ELITE (premium) and for the direct route this, to me is the best option now and would stick with it for future trips. Food is not as top notch as Emirates but absolutely beats tatty old BA in every respect and even the passenger mix is better. As someone already remarked, flying BA you are surrounded by Brits and usually the worst ones on holiday flights, whereas on EVA there was none of that 'football crowd' feel dominated by loud drunks.