Tag: British Airways

British Airways Executive Club: BA introduces “status hold” for members taking maternity, paternity and adoption leave

British Airways Lounge - London Gatwick South Terminal
British Airways Lounge – London Gatwick South Terminal (Credit: British Airways)

British Airways announced two major changes to its Executive Club frequent flyer programme today.

The first is the introduction of the option for members to put their account “on hold” for up to a year if they take maternity, paternity or adoption leave.

What this means is that if a member has Bronze, Silver or Gold status they do not need to earn the requisite number of tier points (eg 300, 600, or 1,500 tier points) in their membership year in order to renew their status for another year. However, tier points and Avios will still be earned if flights are taken whilst the account is on hold.
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British Airways upgrades its smartphone apps to include automatic rebooking during disruption

British Airways iPad App
British Airways iPad App

One of the many perennial criticisms of British Airways is its handling of disruption at its hub at London Heathrow.  The airport is full, so when there is severe weather, the airline is forced to cancel flights, with short-haul flights always bearing the brunt.  What usually follows is long queues at ticketing desks to be rebooked.

BA announced at the annual Capital Markets Day of its parent company International Airlines Group last year that it was working on automatic rebooking tools during disruption.

BA has today released an update for its smartphone app which includes the option to rebook on to alternative flights during disruption. However, this will initially only be for selected customers. We presume this is for testing purposes.

In addition, most if not all customers should now have a “timeline” feature for each booking on the app which provides a countdown for future bookings and services that are available in connection with that booking.

If you haven’t already done so, we do recommend that all travelers (whether a frequent or once a year BA flyer) download the BA smartphone app. It is the easiest way to keep track of flights both before the day of travel and at the airport. From experience we find it is often ahead of other sources for learning of delays.

It is also an easy way to keep on track of fixed price upgrade offers for existing bookings and being able to book flights without tripping over adverts for hotels and car hire as you do on ba.com!

We also recommend that for security reasons software updates for apps are downloaded as soon as they become available.

British Airways unveils initial images of its planned redevelopment of New York JFK Terminal 7

Late last year, British Airways unveiled a planned $60million dollar revamp of its home at New York JFK Terminal 7.

Today, the airline has provided further information of what, and what isn’t, happening with the planned development of the terminal which is to be completed over the next two years.

BA has confirmed that the development will include redeveloped general check-in areas, a new premium check-in area, a new food court post security, redeveloped First and Club World lounges and pre-flight dining facilities, and refurbished gate areas.

Passengers of other airlines which also use JFK Terminal 7, such as ANA, Icelandair, and Qantas, will also benefit from many of these improvements.

The Concorde Room which is for use by passengers travelling in First Class and Concorde Room Cardholders will receive, to use BA lexicon, a “refresh” after being refurbished a few years ago.

The airline has today issued images of the planned check-in and post security areas, but not the new lounges. A cynic might wonder whether BA has rushed out this announcement in order to maintain momentum after a recent PR event for its new London Gatwick lounges and First Wing at London Heathrow Terminal 5.

There is also no mention of redeveloping the immigration hall which can become extremely congested and is ill-suited to manage queues for both self-service kiosks and manned immigration desks.

It is also has to be said that the development is less ambitious in some respects than what was originally planned for JFK Terminal 7 before the 2008 financial crisis. Gone are proposals to create a “drive through” check-in for First Class and Gold Executive Club cardholders.
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British Airways website ba.com suffers major outage – Tuesday 11 April 2017

ba.com Error Message – Tuesday 11 April 2017

If you have tried to visit the BA website ba.com at any point today, you will have no doubt received the error message above.

The BA website has been down all day today.  No reason has been given for this, other than “technical issues”.  Whatever the issue is it must be very substantial.  As BA.com is BA’s main selling channel, you can be confident there is a lot of pressure to get the website back up and running.

It is also not possible to check bookings via the BA smartphone app.  However, live flight information appears to be available on the app.

In light of the fact that online check-in is not available you are strongly advised to allow plenty of time to check-in at the airport.

Given the nature of the issue is unknown, when the website is back up it is worth checking your Executive Club account and any future bookings to confirm everything is in order.

If you are travelling today you can also check live flight information on the websites of Gatwick, Heathrow and London City airports.

Edit: The website appears to be up and running at 20:00 BST.

Is British Airways going to scrap free meals in long-haul economy?

Is British Airways really going to scrap free hot meals in long-haul economy? In short, no.

British Airways Economy Catering (Pre-Paid Gourmet Meal)
British Airways Economy Catering (Pre-Paid Gourmet Meal)

Another week, another BA headline in the Sunday papers!

This weekend, BA is charged with plotting to scrap free meals in long-haul economy.

Step forward The Sunday Times which notes:

The airline could start charging long-distance flyers for a menu drawn from the aisles of Mark & Spencer, Alex Cruz, BA’s boss, has revealed. The move will spark fresh claims that penny-pinching is reducing BA to “a budget airline”.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Cruz said that after “a rough start” customers now welcomed the chance to pay for M&S food on European flights. The airline’s buy-on-board system, which replaced free food on short flights in January, is “a perfect decision”, he said.

“It’s going great. Customers say to us: ‘Finally, I have good choices. No more chicken or beef’.” The service could be extended to long-haul economy. “We might do it,” he said.

But is that what is really going on?

Not quite.
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British Airways officially opens its new “First Wing” check-in area at London Heathrow Terminal 5

British Airways First Wing London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Credit: British Airways)
British Airways First Wing London Heathrow Terminal 5 (Credit: British Airways)

Next year, BA will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opening of London Heathrow Terminal 5. The opening itself is a day BA would rather forget. Ever since Terminal 5 opened a perennial complaint has been the fact that in spite of the fact that three of its lounges in the South of the terminal (Galleries Club, Galleries First and The Concorde Room) are located immediately adjacent to the South security screening area, passengers are forced to take a circuitous route down a crowded escalator and past numerous shops and restaurants and back up a set of escalators to access the lounges.

The one exception is those who have access to the Concorde Room by virtue of flying First Class or holding a Concorde Room Card can enter the lounge via a special door next to the South Security screening area, which at opening was rumoured to have cost BA many millions of pounds.

All that has now changed, for some passengers at least. If you have passed through the South end of Terminal 5 over the past few months you could not have failed to have noticed a large construction area near to the Club check-in area. This is the new BA First Wing.

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BA’s lounge refurbishment programme for London Heathrow and airports in the UK, Europe, USA & South Africa

British Airways Lounge - London Gatwick South Terminal
British Airways Lounge – London Gatwick South Terminal (Credit: British Airways)

BA held a press event yesterday for a select number of travel journalists and bloggers (though someone at The Daily Telegraph clearly did not get an invitation).

Under the curious title of “#BAInvesting4U” journalists were ferried from London Gatwick to London Heathrow via a three and a half four flight on a brand new Boeing 787-900.

The whole event was something of a rearguard action in response to negative press coverage and a narrative of cut backs and service failures.

In truth much of what was announced today is known already: BA has opened new lounges at Gatwick, a new security channel for First Class passengers and BA Executive Club Gold Cardholders at London Heathrow, it’s adding WiFi and revamping its Club World service with a new seat to come with the Airbus A350 in 2019.

You can read BA’s take on yesterday’s announcements at ba.com

One point that did catch our attention is BA’s new lounge refurbishment programme.

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British Airways plans new food & beverage and in flight amenities for its Club World long-haul business class

A typical British Airways Club World meal tray

Any one who has flown British Airways’ Club World long-haul business class on more than a handful of occasions will be more than familiar with the in flight service.

It begins with the offer of pre-take off drinks of champagne, orange juice and water. The hot towels, amenity kits and bottles of water are dispatched. There is a bar and main meal service, with one choice of coffee to follow. A widely varying offer of snacks are available in the self-service Club Kitchen. Before landing there is a second meal service, typically Afternoon Tea or a light breakfast, depending on the direction of travel.

Over the years the catering budget has gone up and down, depending on external and internal financial pressures. There have been small initiatives, such as the Heston Blumenthal inspired “Height Cuisine”, changes to the presentation of meals and the ability to pre-order a main course. The Club Kitchen gets periodically gutted and restocked. The quantity of sandwiches and cake for Afternoon Tea has been forever tweaked with. However, the service has fundamentally remained the same.

Today, BA has unveiled planned changes to its Club World business class with specific changes to catering and the in-flight service.  This was first announced at its parent company’s (IAG) Capital Markets Day late last year.

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What’s the latest on British Airways’ plans to replace and refurbish its short & long-haul fleet?

The latest on BA’s plans to replace and refurbish its short-haul and long-haul fleet.

We receive a lot of enquiries regarding BA’s plans to replace and refurbish its short and long-haul fleet.

We suspect this is, in part, due to the wide variation in the condition of many of its long-haul aircraft in particular!

BA has a conservative approach to fleet expansion and refurbishment. This is unlikely to ever change. Here’s a run through of recent and forthcoming deliveries and refurbishments by aircraft type:

Airbus A380
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Is British Airways “losing the plot”? Why is BA getting so much negative press coverage?

Why has British Airways been receiving so much negative press coverage in 2017?

British Airways Club World Boeing 747 (Picture by: Stuart Bailey / British Airways)

Poor Alex Cruz, CEO of British Airways, is having a hard time of late.

Barely a week goes by without a negative news article or comment piece in the British press (the latest from Victoria Coren-Mitchell in Sunday’s Observer) lamenting service cut backs on British Airways.

Alex Cruz, who arrived at the airline last year from Barcelona based low cost carrier Vueling, has become a lightening rod for criticism that the airline is hell bent on becoming no different to Ryanair.

The catalyst for this was the introduction of Buy on Board catering (with significant teething problems) on short-haul flights earlier this year.

This was one of the first decisions made by Alex Cruz (though it had been considered many times before his arrival).  After grumblings online a number of newspapers have picked up on other service cut backs and there is now a clear PR narrative of cut backs and decline.

On long-haul it’s also been criticised for service cut backs (such the offer of a single solitary chocolate bar as the second meal service on long-haul economy and premium economy flights to the East Coast of the USA) and for doggedly sticking to its 2006 Club World business class seat whilst other airlines which were once light years behind BA (notably American Airlines, Delta and United whose products former BA CEO Willie Walsh once dismissed as “frankly crap”) have leapfrogged BA.  The airline is also due to switch from 9 to 10 across seating in economy on many of its Boeing 777s.

This isn’t the first time BA has made cut backs to its service. After the events of 11 September 2001 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers which triggered the global financial crisis, BA reduced cabin crew numbers on flights and made substantial cut backs to in flight catering and amenities.

But BA is not losing money. It’s profitable. Last year it made a record operating profit in excess of £1.4bn.  It’s also expanding, carrying 44.5m passengers last year.

So what’s going on?
Continue reading “Is British Airways “losing the plot”? Why is BA getting so much negative press coverage?”