BA Catering problems, who is flying with them?

I flew To Barcelona and back with BA last week, and consistent with previous experience of this arline, the food was the least of my worries. I declined their kind offer of a croissant for my lunch anyway.

First off, BA check-in staff. The snotty cow looks at the worn and slightly peeling edges of my ten-year passport that expires in December and asks me if I've allowed it to get wet. I just replied to the effect that it was rather old and had been well-used. It had certainly been like that for as long as I can remember, and I have tended to go abroad about 2 or 3 times a year on average over the last few years. She disappeared with it to consult a senior member of staff and returned some five minutes later to say that I'd be permitted to fly on this occasion, but that due to the fact that the edges had peeled away it would be possible for someone to have replaced the photo. She demonstrated this rather theoretical feasibility by peeling the corner back some more before stating that my passport was effectively invalid.

I really hated the way she call me "sir" in a tone of voice that really meant, "you little piece of turd stuck to the tread of my shoes." I'd expect that from a really officious copper and not some bint who's meant to take a cursory glance at my passport, ask a few security questions, weigh my bag, flutter her eyelashes, issue a boarding card tucked inside my passport before bidding me a pleasant flight.

I then called my mate who works for UK immigration and he described how one checks that passports haven't been tampered with. He just told me to give him a call at the other end if I encountered any problems with his Spanish counterparts . As if!

On the way back there were no such problems as the check-in staff were Spanish, working for Iberian. I boarded the plane with that little portion of the boarding card that remains when the woman on the gate has torn it in two, and handed it to the BA flight attendant before proceeding down the aisle to look for my seat.

"Mr. Toy you'll be needing this, Sir [piece of turd...]!" she bellowed curtly, holding the little piece of card, just as I was reaching row E. I turned back to collect it with the following reply in mind,

"Oh really! Is that for when the ticket inspector boards mid-flight at 33,000 feet and throws me off when I am unable to show a valid boarding card?"

I thought better of it, bit my tongue and collected my card meekly lest I be arrested for air rage.

I know a nice young lass who got rejected by an agency that recruits flight attendants for BA because she was "too nice." Why does that not surprise me?

I will say though that BA pilots are brilliant though. Always a nice smooth landing as opposed to dropping the plane on the runway.

Over the years I have flown to Norway many times and shipped on fewer occasions. (Fred Olsen and DFDS). I got fed up with BA years ago and always insisted on SAS, as at least the staff are polite if not exactly fulsomely friendly. A rather nice balance is struck between civility and friendliness, rather than downright ignorance on the UK carrier. The food is marginally better, but the nicest solution is shipping, where the whole atmosphere seems to suggest that the holiday starts with embarkation at Newcastle, and finishes as you drive off back here again. With air travel it really only starts when you get out of the airport at the other end! Though Fornebu used to be a very frindly little airport. The new one is huge, efficient and impersonal, rather like a modern version of a vast railway station...

Fredrik

I like Ryanair - cheap, very cheerful, and they use Boeing 737s instead of those bloody cramped and slow RJ100s used by BA for short-haul flights.

I recently flew to Montreal & back with BA.

On the outward flight, there were fullsome apologies about the "reduced" catering service "due to the current problems with our suppliers". The "reduction" actually translated into a restricted choice of beers, no spirits available at all, and a red wine that was rather better than normal. The food constituted one of the best in-flight meals I've ever had -- I was utterly astonished.

On the return flight, there were no apologies about the catering. What appeared was a full range of beers and spririts, a rough but still drinkable red wine, and food which was as dreadful as one generally expects on flights. I asked one of the cabin crew if the catering issues had been resolved -- "Oh yes, sir -- that's all over now". Figures.

Mark - Over the years I have thought that the food on BA flights returning to the UK from the US (OK I know Montreal is in Canada) has been less desirable than the food on the BA flights going to the US.

Steve - I wonder if you project a confrontational manner - in the main the BA checkin staff have been polite, helpful and cheerful. The cabin crew as well. You need to keep the check in stub in the cabin in the event of over booking and/or another passenger occupying your seat in error, or even you sitting in the wrong seat.

TO speed your checkin process use the electronic checkin at the kiosks in the UK and then go to the fast bag drop. This has revolutionised the aiport experience.

However you may need to do an online registration process so that you can use the electronic checkin process.

Actually come to think of it do I really want more people to use the kiosks as that would mean I might have to stand in a queue

quote:

Steve - I wonder if you project a confrontational manner - in the main the BA checkin staff have been polite, helpful and cheerful. The cabin crew as well. You need to keep the check in stub in the cabin in the event of over booking and/or another passenger occupying your seat in error, or even you sitting in the wrong seat.

I arrive at the front of the queue to check in. I hand over my passport and flight details (ticketless booking made via Expedia) and she starts. If I did project a confrontational manner I'd have problems with other airlines and in other situations, wouldn't I? I just feel with BA that they consider their customers to be potential air-ragers and therefore they take a rather authoritarian stance that could be expected from the police. This is totally inappropriate and arrogant way to deal with the general public. I don't treat my customers like that for the simple reason that I know it is counter-intuitive - people behave better when treated with respect. But the BA staff know that they can greatly inconvenience you by refusing to let you fly if they so wish, so their idea of respect is to call you "sir" in the same manner that a police officer would just before he issued you with a speeding ticket.

Moreover, my immigration officer friend who travels the world in his job - usually in Business or First Class, never flies with BA, even to the point that someone has booked him onto a BA flight he'll change the booking to fly with another airline.

Airline staff from any airline can prevent you from flying if they suspect that you are;
drunk,
will not be allowed into the destination country
suspected bad behavour

I have not experienced any of the problems you claim to have experience and I used BA quite a lot for several years.

While on board I have seen some poor customer behavour yet it was handled very professionally - and the staff apologised to me for the incovenience they perceived I might have suffered.

A case of YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Toy:
I like Ryanair - cheap, very cheerful, and they use Boeing 737s instead of those bloody cramped and slow RJ100s used by BA for short-haul flights.

I dislike Ryanair, not least because there's something very unsavory about the guy who runs it (not just his stance on that disabled access court case but also that ad campaign that used the london bombings).


regards,

tAm

quote:

Airline staff from any airline can prevent you from flying if they suspect that you are;
drunk,
will not be allowed into the destination country
suspected bad behavour

And you can take the above to extremes.

1) I don't drink on aeroplanes.

2) Nobody other than BA check-in staff could be bothered if my passport is a bit worn out.

3) I guess if you complained about their manner or service, even diplomatically they'd perhaps not let you fly.

The airline is responsible for returning the passenger to the home country if the passenger is refused admission - so they are very careful re the validity of the passport ad visa status.

It is in keeping with the role of the shipping clerk in the days of the great immigration to the US, the clerk was the first line of selection in determining whether a person would be allowed into the US. If he thought the pasenger would be bounced then the shipping line would have to bring the passenger home at the shipping lines expense. He protected the shipping line from bring the rejects back home.

Yes you can complain about the service - there are forms to fill in and a random questionaire handed out so there is plenty of opportunity of expressing disatistafaction if you wish to.

You will get a letter in response to your complaint as well.

You still haven't justified why BA staff are so different. I guess it's the British way of doing everything by the book and affording zero discretion (without you being meant to feel eternally grateful.)

I guess I was supposed to be grateful to the check-in bitch for not ruining my holiday.

I do not have to justify - BA staff are in the main the personification of good manners and politeness.

They've perfected the art of being utterly rude whilst using the polite tags like "sir."

With respect Steve, you may simply have been unlucky. I've never had any problem with rudeness from BA staff (although, in fairness, I don't fly that often these days). I do know several people who regularly fly with BA and don't seem to have any such problems.


regards,

Tam