As part of my job, I have to do a fair bit of travelling. 2 years ago I did 5 continents! Last year wasn’t too good, as most of my travel was driving in Europe. Anyway this year I have had to do rather a lot of work in various places, so I have quite a lot of return flights around Europe. I now feel pretty well placed to write an op on British Airways, having probably made over 200 flights with them all round the world (I would say over 95% of them with BA).
This op will really concentrate on the latest flights I have been on, and my experience of BA on these flights.
** Who are British Airways? **
They are basically the national airline for the UK (although Richard Branson might have something to say about that!). BA fly to most destinations around the world, in a range of aircraft from small propeller driven aircraft right up to the largest 747 Jumbo’s They also have the dubious honour of taking Concorde out of service (big mistake as far as I’m concerned!)
So the flights that I have been on in the last month!
Gatwick to Amsterdam £ 380 Heathrow to Stockholm £560.80 Gatwick to Aberdeen £358 Heathrow to Madrid £599.90 Bristol to Dublin £282.80
These costs are for fully flexible fights, and include all the various airport fees, taxes and charges.
So! To some the ticket price may seem to be very high, but I booked flexible tickets. The reason being that I was working on Friday night/Saturday morning, if I had problem, then I could quite easily change my flight to a later one (or earlier if I finished early!), if you have a fixed ticket it is next to impossible to change the flights.
** Check in **
BA are trying to speed up the process of check in for flights, they now have “self-service” terminals at all airports. These are easy to use, you either insert your BA Executive club card, or a credit card (you’re not charged anything) This then opens up an interface, where you can check-in (luggage has to be taken to a “quick drop off desk” Using the terminals is really easy. There is always someone from BA there to help you if you get stuck. Anyway from this terminal you confirm your flight, you can change your allocated seat (I always try to get a window). It then prints your boarding card. This is idea if you don’t have hold luggage, as you can just get your ticket, and go through to the departure lounge.
Gatwick
I needed to get my big box checked in, so didn’t use the terminal for this flight, I went straight to the check in desk, checked in, I had to take my box to a different area to go through the X-ray machines, but that wasn’t really a problem.
The staff were really helpful, and all seemed to have a smile! They dealt with me very quickly, so the whole check in process only took about 5 minutes.
Heathrow
How the check in staff can work in a place like this I’ll never know!! I wouldn’t want to do it. Anyway, I used the terminal to get my ticket, I then had to queue for the quick drop off desk, which to me seemed to defeat the object of the terminals to get your boarding card! There were a number of staff around, so people who hadn’t used the quick check in could get instruction in using the terminals. I queued for about 20 minutes to get to the desk. I then had to take my box to another area to be scanned.
Bristol
Again I used the terminal to get my ticket, it allowed me to change my seat. Once I had this I went to the luggage check in, took my box, answered the security questions. The lady on the desk informed me that the flight was to be delayed by 30 minutes! I then had to take my box to a large item clearance desk.
While waiting for the flight, the departure staff offered me newspapers. They also made an announcement that the flight was actually going to be on time.
Boarding time came, and I went forward, I was expecting a mad rush as you normally get but no just me!! I went to the desk, and was lead outside to wait. During this time I had really nice chat with the girl taking us to the flight – eventually a couple of others turned up and we walked to the plane. As there were so few people on the flight, it felt like having my own executive jet!!
Amsterdam
I was in a rush,, I had to drop a hire car off, and check in. If you’ve ever been to Schipol, you might know that the car rental is at one end of the airport, and the BA desks are at the other, so take your running shoes! Anyway I got there about 5 minute before they closed the flight. All of the staff were really helpful (maybe they didn’t want a Brit projectile sweating over their desks, anyway they checked me in and got me through passport control in record time.
Stockholm
I was on a later flight, so I had to go to the ticket desk, to confirm my flight had been changed, which it had. There was a member of the check in team showing people how to use the check in terminals. I used this, then took my box to a baggage check in. (see the luggage problems section)
Madrid
This was a flight I needed to change, snow in Madrid – I ask you! The staff here again were really helpful, got checked in with no problems.
Aberdeen
Again used the terminal to self check in, got my seat sorted. This flight I only had my laptop case with me, so no luggage to worry about, this is what the “self check in system” was really designed for!
Dublin
There is a BA check in desk, but this is run by staff from the Irish airport company. So BA really didn’t seem to have a presence at this airport, only the flight and cabin crew.** Luggage Problems!! **
As part of the work I was doing, I had to carry a large metal box, with about £25,000 worth of circuit boards in. There was no way it was going as carry on (I had my laptop case too) So in the hold it had to go. I got back to Heathrow from Stockholm, waited by the baggage carousel for said box. It came out with not quite as many rivets as it went in with, also there were parts of the outer casing broken.
Near the carousel is a BA desk, where you go for baggage problems. I went there, reported it, got a reference number (this is very important if you want to claim) I then had to ring customer services when they opened to lodge my claim, which is still being dealt with. I’ll update this op when I find out more! Anyway the customer service people were really helpful, they told me the correct procedure to follow.
One thing I will say is that it takes ages to get through to customer service. There doesn’t seem to be a good time to ring.
** Changing Flight times **
When I was in Aberdeen, I was only meant to be there for one day, but some problems on site meant that I had to change my flight. I contacted the local BA desk, explained the situation, and was told to just arrive when I wanted to travel, as none of the flights were full.
The same happened on my flight from Stockholm, I had to delay my leaving, so I rang BA, explained the situation, and changed my flight.
My Madrid flight, I’d purposely arranged a late flight home on the Saturday, as I’d never been to Madrid before, I thought I might get some time to look around. So I finished work at 4am, went back to my hotel. Had a couple of hours sleep, woke up and looked out of the window – it was snowing! I don’t mind the cold, but I wanted to have a look round, I decide in the end to leave early. So I rang BA, found out when the next flight was, and changed my ticket!!
** The flights **
Ok so I’ve spent a fair bit of this op talking about ground operations, but what about the flight crew?
The aircraft I flew in on these trips were either Boeing 737, Airbus 319 or in the case of the Dublin flight an Embraer 145 (small jet), there is not a lot really to chose between them, one has one thing that is good, the other has something different! The insides of all aircraft were pretty good, they were clean, there didn’t appear to any bits hanging off!
The overhead lockers were adequate, but how some of the travellers can justify what they carry as hand luggage I’ll never know. One thing that does get me is that at every airport there is a template for hand luggage – if it fits in here you can bring it on, if it doesn’t it goes in the hold! I’ve never seen anyone use one of these! These cases with wheels on are about the worst thing ever for putting in an overhead locker, they take up so much room.
BA now have a stand just before you get in the aircraft, where you can pick up a newspaper, they generally have a broadsheet, and the Mail or Express, also depending which country you are in, they will have the local papers as well.
All the flights seem to have leather type seats, which are actually really comfortable.
Pilots – Always useful to have! The BA pilots always seem to have the time to inform the passengers what is going on. All the flights I have been on with BA, they welcome you on board, explain what is happening how long till we take off. They also make a point of updating you throughout the flight as to the estimated time of arrival, if there are going to be delays, and what the weather conditions are expected to be at the far end.
Cabin Crew – This is a job I would hate!! OK the travel might be nice, but the abuse they get from other passengers! People seem to treat them like something that is on the bottom of their shoe!! What they forget is these people are responsible for your and the planes safety while we are flying! They all look really smart (not too sure about the “new” designer uniforms!) and carry on their work with a smile, ok it may be through gritted teeth sometimes. You are welcomed onto the plane, they check your boarding card (to make sure you are on the correct flight) They then point you in the direction of your seat. They are responsible for your safety while on the flight. On a couple of my flights on the 737 and the Embraer 145 I was sat in a row by the wing emergency exit. One of the crew came to me, and said by law she had to tell me how to use the door, now I was responsible for the exit did I still want to sit there. I was fine with that. The cabin crew then give a safety brief , which is finely honed and choreographed routine telling you how to do up the seat belts, how to use the Oxygen (if needed!) how to get out and so on. It is always worth watching, as sometimes things change, so you really want to be ready.
Soon after take-off the cabin crew are round offering you something to eat and drink. What BA now do on the short flights is something called “The All Day Deli” which consists of a Pannini of your choice, some fruit, a cake, and maybe some chocolate! That said my early morning flight to Aberdeen we had full English breakfast! They always have a wide selection of drinks, beers, wines, spirits, and of course soft drinks. I personally never drink alcohol on a flight, so generally always have water, and maybe tea. All you need to do is ask, and they will give you more. I have seen people on a 2 hour flight have about 5 bottles of wine! Ok they are small bottles, but 5!!
On my flight to Dublin, it was on Good Friday, so in the food pack was a Hot Cross Bun, which I thought was a nice touch.
I have never really had a problem with airline food, and generally find it to be of good quality, and enough to keep you going.
BA also have an “in flight” magazine called “High Life” this is a really good read. There are always very interesting articles to read. They have a section of the BA aircraft fleet, and “pilot of the month” where a certain aircraft is discussed. There are some useful maps, to show the route you are flying. Also a great section on well-being in the air, this gives you some do’s and don’ts about air travel, and some exercises you can do. The magazine also has information about the “in-flight” entertainment (this is for the long haul travel, as European flights generally don’t have video or radio)
I always look forward to flying BA, if only to read the High life magazine.
** Customer Service **
When I went to Stockholm, it was on Friday 19th March, which if anyone can remember was a day of very strong wind. Funnily enough aircraft don’t like wind; it tends to throw them around at bit when landing! (The flight home was fun I can tell you!) So my flight out was from Heathrow, what happened was that they increase the distance both in time, and actually mileage between landing flights in strong wind conditions (just in case of accidents!) This has the effect of delaying all outgoing flights. Needless to say my flight was delayed by over an hour. As I was on a tight schedule, I needed to know what was going on, in case I needed to let my contacts at the other end know I was going to be late. I explained my situation to the Customer Service desk at Heathrow. They couldn’t have been more helpful, they kept me and all the other passengers informed, and updated to the latest situation.** The Executive Club **
So why do I use BA all the time, well when you’ve been out of the country for a long time, you step onto a BA flight, it is like you are nearly home. A happy smiling face to welcome you, and an English newspaper! Also BA run a scheme called the Executive Club, basically this gives you BA miles (similar to airmiles) for each flight you take, save them up, then go wherever you want. Also if you are at Silver or Gold levels you can use the BA lounges around the World (Washington Dulles is my favourite, you get really good meals there!) However you have to get so many points in a year to maintain your level ( I lost my Silver last year, so am now at Blue!)
So my general thoughts are that BA are a really good company, based on my experience they look after their customers really well. I think they are trained very well, especially in customer care skills. How some of the staff don’t loose their temper at some of the general public I’ll never know! So remember if you are on BA flight, be nice to the staff, they’ll look after you much better!
Thanks for reading this, sorry it has gone on for so long, but I have tried to cover every element of the BA network that I have had dealings with in the last month and a half.
Larry
More details
Class flown most frequently
Economy
How often do you travel with this airline
All the time
Where did you book
Other
Safety
Very safe
How well does it cater for disabled people
Very well
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