Heathrow and BA a disgrace to the country

[Seehof]

Being 70 years old now I have seen BA going from bloody awful (BEA) to really quite good in the 80s and 90s to bloody awful again. Last flight, very recently from Munich, only 1 person to check everybody in (including Club). She took one from each queue in turn. This is not an isolated incident - my experience now is that they are good at Heathrow but hopeless at any foreign airport. They seem to have cut “staff” to the absolute minimum at foreign airports, many not being their own any more.

 

[jumble]

Recently we flew from Manchester to Chennai (India) and return. To minimise long airport transfers we flew out via Doha with Qatar and back with BA via Heathrow. What a mistake that was!

The Qatar flight was excellent, although the connecting plane to Chennai was considered a short-haul and didn't have entertainment. Good food, quality entertainment. Doha airport is huge and incredibly busy even in the early hours of the morning but once we'd been bussed to the terminal everything was smooth with minimal checks, just hand luggage being passed through a scanner. Very efficient. Chennai has a new airport and we passed through Indian customs with little queue or fuss.

Coming back, what a disaster! The BA plane offered us the worst airline food I've ever had (and we used to do cheapie longhauls with Monarch!) The entertainment package was terrible, all the music selections were of bands I've never heard of or cheap "live" sessions culled from the BBC. The films were hardly the latest either. Only minor positive was they came round with water and juice reasonably often.

Heathrow was an absolute nightmare; we had two hours connection to Manchester but barely made it due to all the transit passengers having to go through a full baggage check and search despite having this done at our initial airport. In the long snaking line for security there were some Americans desperate to catch a plane to the States, they were fast-tracked through and they were held up by idiots wanting to check their shoes! If our hand baggage had been flagged for checks we would probably have missed our Manchester flight but maybe not as it was 40 minutes late anyway. At the departure gates there were several crammed together all with flights due around the same time and inadequate seating and no refreshments except an extortionate drinks vending machine I wasn't going to pay £8.88 for a coke! WE couldn't have a drink on the Manchester leg becaaue some blockage in a tunnel at Heathrow meant that the catering hadn't been loaded. At least they hadn't lost our luggage.

Conclusions:

1) Anyone who actually wishes to travel from a regional airport to or from London via Heathrow must be mad. Get the train!
2) anyone who needs a transfer should not use a British airport if at all possible
3) anyone who has a choice of airline should always use the Middle East carriers if at all possible but certainly not BA. Never had ANY problem changing planes in the Middle East.
4) if you want to see third-world squalor, incompetence and ripping off, don't bother going to India, you can see all that at UK airports in abundance

My friend disagrees that Heathrow BA and are a disgrace
Last time they and their partner travelled from LHR to SFO they checked in in first wing, went through normal security and into the Millionaire Door to the Concorde Lounge
They had a thoroughly enjoyable breakfast
They then went to board the A380
They has their own jet bridge shared with only 10 other people
They then settled down to an excellent flight looked after by a Lady who had the wonderful skill of making them think they were the most important people on the flight
They enjoyed buddy dining ( a face to face meal ) and then a nice sleep in a full size bed
They were then first off the plane in SFGO and straight through immigration
They also found it highly amusing that having exited from the millionaires door and come back 15 minutes later they asked the reception staff if they could get downstairs via that entrance
The somewhat snooty receptionist said this is only for passengers holding first class tickets
My friend whipped out their boarding pass and said "What you mean people like me?" and watched the jaw drop

 

[philosopher]

My friend disagrees that Heathrow BA and are a disgrace
Last time they and their partner travelled from LHR to SFO they checked in in first wing, went through normal security and into the Millionaire Door to the Concorde Lounge
They had a thoroughly enjoyable breakfast
They then went to board the A380
They has their own jet bridge shared with only 10 other people
They then settled down to an excellent flight looked after by a Lady who had the wonderful skill of making them think they were the most important people on the flight
They enjoyed buddy dining ( a face to face meal ) and then a nice sleep in a full size bed
They were then first off the plane in SFGO and straight through immigration
They also found it highly amusing that having exited from the millionaires door and come back 15 minutes later they asked the reception staff if they could get downstairs via that entrance
The somewhat snooty receptionist said this is only for passengers holding first class tickets
My friend whipped out their boarding pass and said "What you mean people like me?" and watched the jaw drop

Had they travelled first class before though? I think most passengers who travel first or business class for the first time are going to think it is amazing regardless what airline they travel on due to the vast difference between long haul economy and business and first class airlines.

If they travelled first class on Emirates or Qatar on an A380, I think they would have likely had a their own private room with a proper bed which is quite a bit better than what BA provide in first class which from photos online does not look much better than business class in terms of seating.

 

[gabrielhj07]

That just shows how random and differing individuals' experiences can be then, because compared to my recent BA flights to/from Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth, which were very pleasant indeed (and I think their A380 World Traveller on top deck must be one of the best economy environments I've experienced)

I have to say I’m with you there. Of all my BA long haul flights this year, the 2 A380 ones were probably the most pleasant. In part because the cabins are so small, you forget how many other people there are.

 

[TravelDream]

Recently we flew from Manchester to Chennai (India) and return. To minimise long airport transfers we flew out via Doha with Qatar and back with BA via Heathrow. What a mistake that was!

The Qatar flight was excellent, although the connecting plane to Chennai was considered a short-haul and didn't have entertainment. Good food, quality entertainment. Doha airport is huge and incredibly busy even in the early hours of the morning but once we'd been bussed to the terminal everything was smooth with minimal checks, just hand luggage being passed through a scanner. Very efficient. Chennai has a new airport and we passed through Indian customs with little queue or fuss.

Coming back, what a disaster! The BA plane offered us the worst airline food I've ever had (and we used to do cheapie longhauls with Monarch!) The entertainment package was terrible, all the music selections were of bands I've never heard of or cheap "live" sessions culled from the BBC. The films were hardly the latest either. Only minor positive was they came round with water and juice reasonably often.

Heathrow was an absolute nightmare; we had two hours connection to Manchester but barely made it due to all the transit passengers having to go through a full baggage check and search despite having this done at our initial airport.

Hate to be a BA defender, but this post just misses the point.

Security:
- Qatar trusts UK security and doesn't trust Indian security. That means at Doha, passengers on flights from Britain walk straight into the departure hall. Passengers from India have to go through miles of corridors to the transit security point at Doha.
The UK doesn't trust security from anywhere so re-screens everyone. It just happens you flew through Doha from the UK, not India.

Transit:
- I actually find Heathrow not too bad if you are staying the one terminal. Two hours is pretty abnormal and points to some sort of meltdown in the system which, unfortunately, happens more often than it should.
Doha is just a single terminal so is 'easier', but it's also absolutely massive and you might have to walk for a while. They also do crazy things like having two late-night Heathrow departures leave at exactly the same time from opposite sides of the terminal (just checked and they've moved them five mins apart now).

Busyness:
- Doha is extremely banked. I can assure you (as someone who once had a 12 hour delay with Qatar), the airport will be dead after the bank of flights leaves. Heathrow is incredibly slot constrained so isn't banked. Flights are, relatively speaking, spread throughout the day on BA. Though some destination have peak times due to time differences etc.

Money:
- Qatar is state-owned vanity project. It's purpose isn't to make money - it's to promote brand Qatar and to make Qatar accessible from around the world. BA is a privately-owned profit-making (they hope) airline.

Entertainment:
- This is very plane dependent. If you go on a Qatar A320, the entertainment system is pretty poor in terms of what it offers and screen quality. Their 787-9s are absolutely fantastic.
BA is similar. Fly on one of their new A350s and the range of entertainment and quality of the equipment is better. I actually think HighLife (their IFE system) is one of BA's strengths.

Service:
- Definitely agree that Qatar provides, on the whole, better food and more attentive service. Though they certain things to their advantage like no discrimination laws and being able to fire and deport staff with zero consequence. BA can't fire someone for being in their 40s or being a bit podgy.

 

[camflyer]

Being 70 years old now I have seen BA going from bloody awful (BEA) to really quite good in the 80s and 90s to bloody awful again. Last flight, very recently from Munich, only 1 person to check everybody in (including Club). She took one from each queue in turn. This is not an isolated incident - my experience now is that they are good at Heathrow but hopeless at any foreign airport. They seem to have cut “staff” to the absolute minimum at foreign airports, many not being their own any more.

BA are also pretty good at Gatwick these days. Less of a choice of routes but for destinations they do serve it's a less stressful experience. The Club lounge at Gatwick is also far better than the Heathrow equivalents.

At most overseas airports they just use contract or partner airline staff as it's not worth having full time staff for what may be only one flight a day.

Standards are certainly slipping on board though. I recently flew a combination of BA Premium Economy and Qatar Economy and I must say that it was hard to tell the difference between the two and Qatar Cattle Class may have just shaded it.

 

[eoff]

One thing that is really bugging me about BA now though is that they require photo ID for hand-baggage domestic flights.

 

[yorksrob]

When I last used Heathrow, I was pleased to find that they had a branch of Our Price, so I could use up some WH Smith gift vouchers.

 

[AlastairFraser]

One thing that is really bugging me about BA now though is that they require photo ID for hand-baggage domestic flights.

Which airlines don't?

 

[Mojo]

The older crew with BA are excellent in my opinion. I’ve always found them to be very personable and easy to converse with, even in Economy. This compared to the staff of the Middle Eastern airlines whom I find a bit awkward.

Which airlines don't?

Whilst it was officially advised, in practice you didn’t need to show any ID prior to Sept.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Whilst it was officially advised, in practice you didn’t need to show any ID prior to Sept.

Ah, I've always had to show at least a photocard driving licence personally.

 

[Mojo]

Ah, I've always had to show at least a photocard driving licence personally.

Maybe on other airlines, but not BA

 

[AlastairFraser]

Maybe on other airlines, but not BA

I did in August 2020 Heathrow T5 to Glasgow, wasn't an intensive check, just for check in.

 

[eoff]

I did in August 2020 Heathrow T5 to Glasgow, wasn't an intensive check, just for check in.

A few years ago someone in T5 asked me for photo-id for a flight to Edinburgh and I said I didn't need to provide it. They relented and my EC card was enough. Not sure why I went to the desk as I had no hold baggage, maybe I was unable to get a boarding card.

 

[AlastairFraser]

A few years ago someone in T5 asked me for photo-id for a flight to Edinburgh and I said I didn't need to provide it. They relented and my EC card was enough. Not sure why I went to the desk as I had no hold baggage, maybe I was unable to get a boarding card.

See I'm more than happy to provide a license or anything government issue with a photo on it, something like that is reasonably priced and/or accessible. What I object to is a mandatory passport for flights within the CTA like Ryanair ask for. That is overkill

 

[miklcct]

Which airlines don't?

I travelled on an intra-Scandinavian (Sweden - Finland) flight back in 2019 on Finnair and there was no ID check.

 

[zero]

This is about ID at the gate for boarding domestic flights. For an unrevealed reason BA now wants you to show ID at the gate. - even though at Heathrow there are the biometrics (used to prove the person boarding is already physically in the UK without knowing who they are). At Gatwick the biometrics were not working since covid, so ID was required to prove the person has the right to be in the UK.

easyjet used to require ID but no longer does if you have no checked luggage.

 

[Butts]

This is about ID at the gate for boarding domestic flights. For an unrevealed reason BA now wants you to show ID at the gate. - even though at Heathrow there are the biometrics (used to prove the person boarding is already physically in the UK without knowing who they are). At Gatwick the biometrics were not working since covid, so ID was required to prove the person has the right to be in the UK.

easyjet used to require ID but no longer does if you have no checked luggage.

I've been asked for it on EDI-BHX sometimes with no "bun in the oven"

 

[AlastairFraser]

This is about ID at the gate for boarding domestic flights. For an unrevealed reason BA now wants you to show ID at the gate. - even though at Heathrow there are the biometrics (used to prove the person boarding is already physically in the UK without knowing who they are). At Gatwick the biometrics were not working since covid, so ID was required to prove the person has the right to be in the UK.

easyjet used to require ID but no longer does if you have no checked luggage.

Perhaps an incident with non-CTA residents slipping through?

I travelled on an intra-Scandinavian (Sweden - Finland) flight back in 2019 on Finnair and there was no ID check.

That's a flight within Schengen rather than the CTA, right?