British Airways: The World’s Favourite (Discount) Airline

The first time I flew across the Atlantic, I did it in style. I had a generous benefactor who enabled me not to do a 3-hop bucket shop flight. Rather, she allowed me to fly with British Airways. I was beside myself. British Airways was “The World’s Favourite Airline”.

And it was the world’s favorite airline for a reason. It was the last bastion of air travel being an experience to be embraced rather than something tolerated. The flight attendants understood customer service, even if you were flying in coach. You were constantly fed, the alcohol poured in coach as copiously as it did in business or first class, even if the vintage of wine was not as fine as the rarified air of BA’s first class service. You were given an pillow and blanket if you wanted to sleep, along with blinders, ear plugs, and socks. Multiple channels of movies did not incur a surcharge and the seats actually felt like you were leaning back when they reclined. You felt like you were being cared for.

Over the years, service seems to have declined. It seems as if more flight attendants havebeen shifted to more expensive classes of service. Food on BA now tastes just like food on Delta. Blankets seem thinner and the complementary toiletry bags--well I don’t think it was even provided the last time I flew BA. Now, Flight attendants look at you funny if you ask for your bloody mary to be refilled.

Getting ready to fly BA again in tge new year, I’ve been reading ip on them. I’ve noticed three signs of the times that seems to have spelled the end of BA as I first experienced.

First, British Airways joined the band wagon for charging for luggage as well as charging for over weight bags. I remember when I came home after working in the UK for a year, all three of my bags were seriously over weight. While an orange tag was attached, no fees were charged. No more. When my sister-in-law moved to the UK, she was left with the options of paying more or digging, at the check-in desk, through her luggage so she could leave behind enough clothes to get her bags under weight,

Additionally, BA has started charging for reserving your seat when you purchase your ticket. I always enjoyed the fact that being 6’5″, BA usually went out of their way to place me in an exit row, bulkhead row, or at very least an aisle seat. For the privilege, I’m going to have to pay. And so will you, unless you qualify for a few small categories. I’ll go ahead an apologize to the guy who has my knees in his back. Don’t blame me. Blame the airline.

Lastly, BA was known for being the gold standard when it came to ratio of flight attendants to passengers. With the new contract BA is offering, they are laying off people. Management justifies this by lowering the ratio of attendants to passengers. This will surely lower the quality of service for passengers.

With all these changes, I wonder if its still worth the small premium it seems people pay to fly BA. With all the changes to BA, they seem less like the hallmark of luxury and more like the transatlantic service for Ryanair.