A look at British Airways’ advertising over the past 50 years, as BA introduces its first long-haul business class cabin and trains its staff in “Putting People First”.
To the 1980s with BA’s first long-haul business class cabin, revamped visual identity and its “Putting People First” training programme.
“Super Club”
Which airline was responsible for the introduction of long-haul business class depends on who you ask.
Both Qantas and British Caledonian Airways claim credit. In the late 1970s, BA introduced its own “Club” cabin on Boeing 747 aircraft for full fare economy passengers. This was effectively a curtained-off section of economy.
This would soon evolve into “Super Club”, the airline’s first dedicated business class cabin, introduced on transatlantic routes in 1981.
These were expanding seats in a 2-2-2 configuration with a folding table in the middle of each seat pair. BA claimed this was the widest airline seat in existence with 24 inches between arm rests.
British Airways Super Club Advert (USA)
The “Super Club” seat was extended to all long-haul routes worldwide, as illustrated by the 1984 advert below where the aircraft had to be opened up to fit the seat in it.
This was one of Saatchi & Saatchi’s earliest TV adverts for BA and you can see the cinematic influence. This was also one of, if not the, first uses of “The Flower Duet” by Léo Delibes from the opera Lakmé. This has been the effective theme of BA.
“Putting People First”
“Putting People First” was a training programme designed by Danish Firm Time Manager International for over 20,000 front-line BA employees.
The aim was to motivate staff “to enjoy giving good customer service to the airline’s customers, dealing with stress and difficulties, and how to make the most effective contact with people”.
It also had the aim of “enabling different groups of employees to appreciate and understand their interdependence upon one another for a congenial ‘people orientated environment’ which in turn forms the basis for focusing the airline’s attention on the customer and meeting his or her needs.”
It is widely credited with helping turn around BA’s image in the 1980s.
In some ways it tells the story of bygone era. The budgets for big blockbuster TV advertising campaigns have gone. Digital marketing and distribution channels allow for much more targeted advertising.
As well as telling the story of the development of aviation and business and social change, they do provide an insight into how airlines respond to industry crises.
When the time is right, we’ll no doubt see airlines using some the ideas featured to encourage passengers to fly again.
The Hard Sell
BA was formed in 1974 following the merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA).
BA’s advertising in its early years was the very definition of a hard sell. Using jingles and slogans such as “Fly The Flag” they were direct and forceful.
Here are two TV advertisements for BA’s turn and go “Shuttle” service and its “Super Club” long-haul business class:
Rosalind Hanby
Rosalind “Roz” Hanby was the face of BA throughout much of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Roz joined BOAC as cabin crew in the early 1970s and worked for BOAC and BA on the Boeing 707 and VC10 aircraft, as well as Concorde, before taking up a full time role promoting the airline.
Roz appeared in print and TV advertisements all over the world, including a BA billboard that featured in the James Bond film “Moonraker”. Roz left BA in 1982 to pursue a career in television.
Chutzpah & Chutzpah – BA & Saatchi
In 1983, everything changed. As part a radical plan to turn around the airline’s fortunes, Saatchi & Saatchi secured the British Airways advertising account.
Businesses can learn a lot from magicians. And from their earliest days Saatchi & Saatchi understood and exploited the power of illusion to create a desired reality in the minds of clients, potential clients, suppliers, potential high talent employees and the media.
The “Manhattan” advert from 1983 was a radical departure.
This was the first major TV advertising campaigns Saatchi & Saatchi made for BA bearing the slogan “The World’s Favourite Airline”.
British Airways “The World’s Favourite Airline”, 1983
It was a quantum leap in ambition and production values. The whole campaign accounted for half of BA’s £25m annual advertising budget.
In a cinematic advert, directed by Richard Loncraine and produced by James Garrett & Partners, to the surprise of onlookers, the island of Manhattan is seen flying over suburban London as it is directed to land at London Heathrow Airport.
BA used the fact that the volume of passengers it flew across the Atlantic each year was greater than the population of Manhattan. By Saatchi & Saatchi’s own admission, they did not want to use shots of BA aircraft or cabin interiors.
Every year more people choose to fly with British Airways to more countries than with any other airline. In fact, every year we bring more people across The Atlantic than the entire population of Manhattan.
British Airways Coat Of Arms (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to continue to operate a limited schedule until August 2020 at the earliest.
If your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund. However, you will need to call BA to obtain a refund as this cannot be done on the website.
All passengers due to travel up to 31 August 2020 have the flexibility to change their booking free of charge or exchange the value of their ticket for a voucher. This can be used as payment towards a new booking for travel up to and including 30 April 2022. More details of this policy are at ba.com
Passengers can check the status of their bookings using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com
Here are the main changes up to the end of July. These are subject to change at short notice. Any destination not yet operating with a given start date should be intepreted on an “at the earliest” basis. Realistically, it’s not possible to have firm visibility more than two weeks’ ahead.
BA is likely to confirm plans for August from mid-July. Also note that some cancelled flights are still showing an airport websites. BA is also operating a number of cargo-only flights which may show up on some websites under their regular flight numbers.
London Heathrow
All BA flights are operating from Terminal 5.
Due to the temporary closure of Terminals 3 and 4, BA’s Oneworld alliance and partner airlines, except for American Airlines and Iberia, have relocated to Terminal 2.
Year-round routes not yet returning in July include:
Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Lyon, Milan Linate, Moscow Domodedovo, Stuttgart
Summer seasonal routes not yet returning in July include:
Bastia, Bodrum, Brindisi, Figari Sud-Corse Corsica, Kefalonia, Ljubljana, Pula
BA has suspended summer seasonal routes to Montpellier, Nantes, Perugia, and Podgorica until 2021.
BA has permanently suspended flights to Beirut and Moscow Sheremetyevo.
Due to local requirements, temperature checks are in place for all passengers flying to Italy. A health declaration must also be completed at check-in.
London Heathrow – Long-Haul
Long-haul routes operating with reduced frequencies are Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Singapore, Tokyo Haneda and Washington Dulles.
BA plans to resume the following long-haul routes in July:
Dallas Fort Worth – Thursday 16 July Dubai – Friday 17 July Seattle – Thursday 23 July Toronto – Thursday 16 July
BA has also suspended summer seasonal routes to Calgary and Charleston until 2021.
Buenos Aires has been suspended until Tuesday 1 September at the earliest.
The launch of Portland has also been postponed until Wednesday 2 September at the earliest.
Flights are being operated with Airbus A350-1000, Boeing 787, Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A380 aircraft are not operating scheduled passenger flights.
London Gatwick – Long Haul
BA currently plans to resume the following long-haul destinations at Gatwick from July:
Barbados – Saturday 18 July Bermuda – Monday 20 July Kingston – Monday 20 July St Lucia – Saturday 25 July Antigua – Saturday 1 August Punta Cana – Sunday 2 August Cancun – Monday 3 August
New York JFK is suspended until Sunday 25 October. Lima and Toronto will not return until summer 2021.
London Gatwick – Short-Haul
Short-haul flights will not resume at London Gatwick until September 2020 at the earliest.
BA has transferred many short-haul routes from Gatwick to Heathrow for July and August 2020 including:
Flights on overlapping routes such as Dalaman, Faro, Ibiza, Palma and Rhodes have also transferred to Heathrow.
Some short-haul routes have not transferred to Heathrow. Flights to Gran Canaria and Milan Bergamo have been suspended until late October 2020. Flights from Gatwick to Antalya will not resume until summer 2021. Almeria has been permanently suspended.
At present, only the North Terminal at Gatwick is open. The South Terminal, where BA normally operates, is closed.
London City
BA’s service to the Isle of Man, operated by Loganair, resumed on Sunday 21 June.
BA will shortly resume a limited route network from London City. Flights to Florence, Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca resume from Friday 10 July. Flights to Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh resume from Monday 20 July.
BA has suspended London City – New York JFK until 1 September 2020 at the earliest.
British Airways has temporarily suspended all flights at London Gatwick airport.
All BA flights at Gatwick are suspended until Saturday 1 August 2020 at the earliest.
BA has temporarily transferred flights to Jersey to London Heathrow during July 2020. Flights will operate daily from Wednesday 1 July 2020.
Flight operations at Gatwick have already reduced significantly. Norwegian has temporarily suspended all flights. Virgin Atlantic has transferred its Gatwick flights to Heathrow. Both of these moves could become permanent.
Given there is huge uncertainty as to the medium to long-term impact of COVID-19 on air travel and the economy, it is plausible that BA may also look to consolidate operations at London Heathrow.
BA passengers can check the status of their bookings using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com and should contact BA or their travel agent to secure a refund or a rebooking.
British Airways Airbus A350-1000 Club World Service (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways has made changes to in-flight catering on short and long-haul flights in response to Coronavirus.
Some of the changes are quite vague in their description, but part of the aim seems to be to avoid the need to prepare food on board aircraft and to reduce contact between cabin crew and passengers.
This will mean substantially less, and ambient only, food will be available on flights. These changes will be particularly noticeable in Club World and First Class.
All Flights
BA will no longer cater for any special dietary requirements or allergies.
So passengers who would ordinarily order special meals will have to make their own provisions.
Short-Haul Flights
In short-haul economy, M&S Buy On Board has been withdrawn.
Buy On Board will be replaced with a light refreshment, water and, on request, hot drinks.
Long-Haul Flights
Hot and soft drinks will continue to be offered as well as a light refreshment.
Meals will be prepared and packaged before each flight. So dishes will not be plated on board the aircraft as they usually are in First Class and Club World.
Pre-paid meals will not be offered in World Traveller.
Passengers can bring their own food on their flights, provided it does not need to be chilled or heated on board the aircraft.
The overall message seems to be expect less food and make your own provisions if possible.
As airlines are now operating an extremely limited schedule and are only carrying passengers who are returning to home, this arrangement is likely to continue until the situation with Coronavirus returns to normal.
Pre-Flight Dining
In terms of pre-flight dining options, all lounges operated by BA in the UK and around the world are closed.
Third party lounges are also closed. At London Heathrow, all restaurant and retail outlets, apart from Boots and WH Smith, are also closed.
For the latest information on lounges check the Oneworld alliance website before your flight.
British Airways is to temporarily transfer all short and long-haul flights currently scheduled to operate from London Heathrow Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 from Sunday 29 March 2020.
London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Image Credit: Heathrow)
British Airways is to temporarily transfer all short and long-haul flights currently scheduled to operate from London Heathrow Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 from Sunday 29 March 2020.
This follows a substantial reduction in BA’s schedules during April and May.
The transfer will take effect until mid-April at the earliest.
Given disruption to air travel from Coronavirus is likely to continue into the autumn, the transfer may well become prolonged, if not permanent.
Passengers with connections to / from BA and its partner airlines should bear in mind that the Minimum Connection Times for intra and inter-terminal transfers are different.
The Minimum Connection Time for T3-T5 connections is 90 minutes and for T5-T5 connections is 60 minutes.
These changes are showing on ba.com as of Monday 23 March. Passengers with connections should check their bookings to see they are compliant. There may also be some slight changes to flight times.
British Airways Embraer E170, Airbus A318 aircraft, London City airport (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to temporarily suspended operations at London City airport.
BA has previously suspended its all business class service to New York JFK until September 2020.
The airline has also suspended all short-haul flights operated by its subsidiary BA CityFlyer from Monday 23 March until mid July 2020 at the earliest.
Passengers whose flights have been cancelled will be re-accommodated on alternative services from London Heathrow.
Passengers should receive an e-mail to advise that they have been automatically rebooked.
In theory, passengers are also entitled to a refund as their original flight has been cancelled. However, if you try to do this on ba.com you will be offered a voucher for redemption against a future booking.
Passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com. If you need to contact BA, telephone numbers are on this page of ba.com
All airlines are asking passengers not to contact them unless they are due to travel within the next 72 hours.
A very large number of BA short-haul flights have been cancelled outside of the dates above, and this is likely to continue until August at the earliest.
Given how fast moving events are with Coronavirus, further cancellations, and indeed airport closures, are possible.
British Airways is to operate a substantially reduced schedule from London to the United States following an extension of a travel ban to the UK & Ireland.
British Airways Coat Of Arms (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways is to temporarily cut the number of transatlantic routes and flights it operates from London Gatwick and Heathrow to the US.
This follows the decision by the US Government to ban foreign nationals from entering the US if they have been in the UK in the past 14 days. The Foreign Office has also advised against non-essential travel to the US.
US citizens and lawful US permanent residents may still travel from the UK to the US. However, they must do so through a designated airport. At the time of publication, these are:
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta (ATL)
Boston Logan (BOS)
Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
Detroit Metropolitan (DTW)
Daniel K Inouye International Airport, Honolulu (HNL)
Los Angeles (LAX)
Miami (MIA)
New York John F Kennedy (JFK)
Newark Liberty (EWR)
San Francisco International (SFO)
Seattle Tacoma (SEA)
Washington Dulles (IAD)
The ban takes effect in respect of flights departing for the US from 00:00 ET / 04:00 GMT Tuesday 17 March 2020.
As a consequence of this, the following routes are now suspended from Tuesday 17 March:
London Gatwick: Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa
London Heathrow: Austin, Baltimore, Charleston, Denver, Houston, Nashville, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Jose
London City – New York JFK has already been suspended.
At the time of publication, flights to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas / Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York JFK, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington Dulles are showing as operating, but with some frequency reductions.
This may change imminently. It is implausible that BA will maintain its current schedules as demand falls. The status of aviation all over the world is also changing very rapidly and BA’s parent company IAG plans to reduce capacity by in excess of 75% in April and May.
Flights to Canada are currently expected to operate as scheduled.
If your flight is cancelled you are entitled to a full refund. You are also eligible to be rerouted via an alternative US airport, connecting to / from BA’s transatlantic joint-business partner American Airlines. If you are travelling to the US, you must of course be able to comply with its entry restrictions.
If your flight is still operating, you are still allowed to either change the date of your flight or use the ticket value of your flight towards a future booking. There are more details of this policy at ba.com
You can also choose an alternative departure / arrival airport. However, any consequential costs such as ground transportation will be at your expense.
British Airways Boeing 747 Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow)
British Airways has filed a one way fare for travel to / from the United States up to Sunday 22 March 2020.
This is intended for anyone who needs to travel urgently to / from the United States.
It applies to the World Traveller economy cabin only. It’s not a deeply discounted fare, but it is relatively low for booking this close the date of travel.
A one-way economy flight to Boston or New York up to Sunday 22 March 2020 will cost approximately £500. By contrast, it would cost £1,500 to book an economy ticket to Dubai this close to departure.
From Monday 23 March 2020, BA is only selling full fares to / from the US. This is likely due to the imminent extension by the US Government of restrictions on travel to the US on foreign nationals who have been in the UK within the previous 14 days.
London Heathrow Terminal 5 Check-In Concourse (Image Credit: British Airways)
British Airways, has from approximately 16:00 GMT Friday 13 March 2020, extended its flexible rebooking policy following the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19)
To date, BA has only agreed to waive change fees for new bookings made from Tuesday 3 March to Monday 31 March 2020.
Bookings made prior to this date are subject to existing fare rules, unless BA has put in place special policies for certain regions such as Italy,India and the USA.
BA has now updated its guidance on its website to include all existing bookings for travel up to Sunday 31 May 2020 which now advises:
You can now change your travel dates and destination without incurring a charge. If you’re travelling with us between 14 March to 31 May, you can change your plans and receive a voucher of the same value.
Full details of how to obtain a “voucher” (this is not a physical voucher), including terms and conditions, are on this page of ba.com. It is strongly recommended that you fully appraise yourself of these terms and conditions before selecting this option.
Note, this guidance may also be rescinded at any time.
It is also clear given the gravity of the situation now facing airlines, and the relaxation of “use it or lose it” airport slot rules until 30 June 2020, that there will be very substantial reductions to BA schedules in April and May. If your flight is cancelled you will be entitled to a full refund.
Also, given the very high volume of calls to BA’s call centres, if you are not due to travel within the next few days, it may be best to wait and see how the situation unfolds.
Passengers can check the status of their booking using the Manage My Booking tool on ba.com. If you need to contact BA, telephone numbers are on this page of ba.com
Following the decision by the Trump Administration to extend restrictions on travel from the Schengen area to the US to the UK & Ireland from 00:00 ET / 04:00 GMT on Tuesday 17 March, BA is allowing passengers who are mid-journey and want to return home early to rebook. You can contact BA by telephone to rebook. However, your chances of getting through on the phone are very slim.
