Something Fishy Going On at Terminal 5

 

British Airways passengers left "baffled" after crates of frozen fish arrived instead of their luggage 🐟🐟🐟https://t.co/IrROzAFlJU

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 3, 2021

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA IT Crash

The BBC reports that BA is suffering an IT crash.

Customers at UK airports have taken to social media to complain about long queues, flight delays and the app crashing.

At Heathrow, 81 flights have been cancelled while BA have cancelled 10 Gatwick flights.
BA said it is reverting to manual systems for check-in at airports.

More than 200 flights have been delayed across the UK, with the airline advising customers to allow extra time at airports.

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA Düsseldorf Flight Ends Up In Edinburgh

A British Airways flight destined for Düsseldorf in Germany has landed in Edinburgh by mistake, after the flight paperwork was submitted incorrectly. 

The passengers only realised the error when the plane landed and the "welcome to Edinburgh" announcement was made.

The plane, which started at London's City Airport, was then redirected and landed in Düsseldorf. WDL Aviation ran the BA flight through a leasing deal.

BA said it was working with WDL to find out why it filed the wrong flight plan.

"We have apologised to customers for this interruption to their journey and will be contacting them all individually," BA said in a statement.

Not very impressive!

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

Tight Sniffing BA Stewardess Dismissed

British Airways flight attendant suspended for posting video w - The Independent https://t.co/SFZgxqbMA6

— British Airways News (@BA_Headlines) August 20, 2018

Apparently there is a "healthy" market online for used cabin crew tights etc!

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA's GDPR Fail

#Doh #GDPR #Fail | British Airways shows everyone how not to GDPR 🤦‍♂https://t.co/XaGbQwjhxZ

— Duo48 WordPress Development (@Duo_48) July 23, 2018

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA Seeks To Emulate Govia

British Airways causes chaos at London Heathrow after cancelle - The Independent https://t.co/uAtJCcBMuY

— British Airways News (@BA_Headlines) July 19, 2018

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

Size Matters - BA Looking For Shrinkage

Hapless British Airways passengers will be squeezed into narrower seats, after the airline said it will add an extra passenger space into economy rows on some aircraft.

The World Traveller section will now contain 10 seats per row, instead of nine, moving from a 3-3-3 formation to a 3-4-3 design, which according to industry experts, will bring the size of long haul seats down by 1.5 inches.

Good luck to all who have to fly BA!

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA Systems Crash Again!

London Loves Business reports that British Airways systems crashed again this morning leading to long delays and ‘total chaos’ at Heathrow and Gatwick.

Passengers described ‘total chaos’ at Heathrow and problems were also reported at Gatwick after the check-in systems crashed.

The airline said the fault was resolved at about 9am BST and the system was now operating normally and apologised for the ‘temporary’ problem.

A spokesman for BA said: “We are sorry for the temporary check-in problems which caused some delays for our customers first thing this morning.

“This issue is now resolved and our staff are working flat out to help customers get away on their holidays.”

This comes in the wake of the shambolic IT meltdown in May.

BA seem intent on destroying their brand and what remains of their customers' loyalty!

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA Needs To Deploy The Chaos Monkey

The best explanation of the British Airways debacle by Gene Callahan.#Antifragile pic.twitter.com/yWA3l4cVGh

— NassimNicholasTaleb (@nntaleb) June 4, 2017

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA Blames Contractor For Power Outage

As per Reuters, a contractor doing maintenance work at a British Airways data center inadvertently switched off the power supply, knocking out the airline's computer systems and leaving 75,000 people stranded last weekend.

The Times quoting a BA source, said the power supply unit that sparked the I.T. failure was working perfectly but was accidentally shut down by a worker. An investigation into the power outage is likely to focus on human error rather than any equipment failure, it said. 


www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA To Charge For Long Haul Food

Customers of British Airways on their long haul flights may one day have to buy their own food and drink, Alex Cruz the airline’s chairman has disclosed.

BA may widen out its short flight policy of scrapping free food and instead offering passengers the option to buy Marks & Spencer sandwiches.

Alex Cruz is gung-ho about it, seemingly passengers welcome the opportunity to pay for M&S snacks on European short haul flights.

He told the Sunday Times:

“It's going great. Customers say to us: 'Finally, I have good choices. No more chicken or beef'."

Asked if the service could be extended to long-haul economy, he said: "We might do it".

What a load of bollocks, of course people don't want to pay more for their flights.

The answer is simple, don't fly BA!

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA's Race To The Bottom - Except On Prices!

The Telegraph reports that British Airways is racing to the bottom, wrt inflight etxras etc.

Disgruntled cabin crew have provided a list to BA management of recent changes they say are diminishing the carrier’s reputation, the Sunday Times reported, including the loss of first-class perks, such as free amuse-bouches with customers’ first drink, no more fresh flowers in the first class toilets, and the downsizing of complimentary washbags.

One cabin crew employee, who has been with the airline for 12 years, told the newspaper staff were “embarrassed by the state of the product. The only thing not being cut is the prices”.

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA To Offer less Legroom Than Ryanair

British Airways, in an attempt to take on the budget airlines, is cutting the amount of legroom for economy passengers by squeezing two more rows of seats onto its Airbus aircraft.

BA will reduce the gap between seats from 30 inches to 29 inches on the A320 and A321 planes in its fleet, meaning it will offer the same legroom as easyJet.

However, Ryanair offers its passengers 30 inches of legroom.

Cue the next Ryanair advert!

BA claim this move is in the interests of its customers, in that it will be able to offer lower fares.

Whether that is true or not, only time will tell. However, unless people start slimming down, less legroom makes for a very uncomfortable journey!


www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA Cabin Crew Vote To Strike

ALERT British Airways crew vote for Heathrow strike https://t.co/CZFGhawDKA pic.twitter.com/6LmhUBFe9D

— AIRLIVE.net (@airlivenet) December 14, 2016

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

Communications Problems

 

I raised a query (via email) with BA Executive Club three days ago concerning a long haul flight that I am taking today, and got this automated response at the time:

"Thank you for contacting your British Airways Executive Club Service Centre. 

Please be assured that your email is important to us and will be responded to as soon as possible. 

We thank you for your patience."

However, I have since heard nothing back from them!

Wakey wakey!

BA Changes Avios Rewards Programme

BA are changing their Avios rewards programme. Whilst there are some improvements for those who collect/use Avios (eg more seats available to "buy" with Avios), there are also some significant downsides eg:

- less Avios earned in economy
- Avios price increases for those seeking to use Avios for Club World and First
- Domestic connections will have to be paid for

Here is the full text of the email sent by BA explaining the changes:

"On 28 April, we’ll be making some changes to the Executive Club that will mean you’ll notice a difference to the way you earn and spend Avios with us. We’re making these changes to provide more opportunities for you to spend Avios on reward flights as well as to ensure that the Executive Club continues to deliver a competitive and rewarding loyalty programme for the future.

9 million reward seats will be available this year.

From 28 April we guarantee that more than 9 million reward seats will be available on our flights, with a minimum of two Club World/Club Europe and four World Traveller/Euro Traveller reward seats on all British Airways operated flights that are offered for sale on ba.com. This change will create over half a million extra reward seats including many to our popular destinations, which are available to book from today.

To do this we have needed to restructure the programme and you will find a summary of all the changes below. If you’d like more details on all the changes, you can find further information here. All bookings made before 28 April will not be affected by these changes.

Changes to how you earn your Avios.

We’ll make earning Avios on flights more aligned to the cabin you fly in and the different types of fares within that cabin. In practice this means that if you pay for a flexible ticket you will earn more Avios than the lowest priced ticket in the same cabin.

Our lowest priced tickets in Euro Traveller and World Traveller will award a minimum Avios of 25% per mile flown instead of 100%. In Club World/Club Europe and our First cabins the Avios you earn will either remain the same as it is now or increase up to 300% per mile flown depending on the cabin and type of ticket.

Changes to Silver Tier Bonus.

Silver Members’ Tier Bonus will change from 100% to 50%. Gold Members’ Tier Bonus will stay at 100%. Bronze Members’ bonus will stay at 25%.

Changes to the number of Tier Points.

The lowest priced World Traveller and Euro Traveller seats will now collect 25% of Tier Points rather than 50%.

Changes to the price of reward flights depending on the time of year.

From 28 April we will introduce different Avios pricing for reward seats depending on the time of the year, the cabin and zone. At busy times of the year we will have a standard Avios price and for less busy times less Avios will be needed.

So for two thirds of the year you will require less Avios than now to fly on reward seats in Euro Traveller and World Traveller. In Club World and First the Avios price will increase, the amount will vary depending on the time of the year. To see our Avios prices in more detail click here.

Reward flights with our airline partners will be one price all year round, with the exception of Iberia who will also offer seasonal pricing.

Changes to UK domestic connecting reward flights.

To bring the UK in line with the rest of the world, you will now be required to pay for any UK domestic connecting reward flights to and from your final European destination. This does not apply to connecting reward flights on long haul, which will remain included.

Changes to how we handle your Avios.

As part of an IAG group reorganisation involving British Airways Plc and Avios Group (AGL) Limited, British Airways has agreed that AGL will be responsible for issuing your Avios points. As a result, AGL will receive, store and process your data in connection with administering aspects of the Executive Club. This will be done with, but legally independently of, British Airways. Each will have their own responsibilities for separate aspects of the data processing involved in administering the Executive Club. We will continue to be in control of the operation and management of the Club and these particular changes will have no direct impact to you as a Member and your relationship with the Club as it is today.

More opportunities to upgrade.

By the end of the year, you will be able to upgrade using Avios from World Traveller and Euro Traveller commercial bookings, except the very lowest priced seats. That means there will be more opportunities to upgrade than ever before.

Combined together, all of these changes will allow us to continue offering a competitive rewards programme to our Members, improving the availability of reward seats across our entire network many of which will require less Avios than today.

Thank you for taking the time to read about these changes. If you still have questions, you can find many answers and additional details on ba.com."

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

Advice To BA Re Your Inflight Entertainment System

The system is less likely to crash if you remember to turn it off between flights.

Once crashed, much like many other computer based systems, turning off and turning it on again is probably the best way to reboot it.

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

Punch Up On BA Plane

The Independent reports that there was a punch up and vomiting on one of their Heathrow bound flights after a series of technical faults caused delays and an unpleasant stop over in Riyadh.

BA has apologised to Heathrow-bound customers who twice had to return to a baking-hot Saudi Arabian airport due to a faulty plane.

There were reports of passengers being sick and of fights breaking out as one BA worker tried to deal with more than 300 passengers back at Riyadh airport.

Boeing 747 first had to turn back to Riyadh on Wednesday due to a problem with the wing flaps. Then when the same plane took off yesterday following repairs the same problem reoccurred and the aircraft had to fly back to Riyadh.

One passenger, Dean Jones, told the online Daily Mail that in the terminal at Riyadh there was “mayhem” as just one BA worker tried to deal with more than 300 passengers while other ground crew “hid' in a back office.

He went on: “Fights broke out and the military turned up.

“We were furious they put us back up in the plane when they knew there was a serious problem. BA customer relations have been useless.”

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

BA's Refugee Camp

Whilst BA and BAA argue with each other over who is to blame for the chaos at Heathrow caused by the current snowy conditions, BA have set up a "refugee camp" for stranded/delayed passengers.
 
www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.

Branson Accepts Walsh's Bet

Richard Branson has just accepted Willie Walsh's bet of a "knee in the groin".

As per Branson's blog:

"Glad to see Willie Walsh's rather childish response to my bet proposal: rather than the losing company giving the winner's staff £1 million, he wants the loser to receive a knee in the groin.

It seems a very painful and foolish thing for Willie Walsh to propose; but I would be happy to accept. We've got used to BA hitting below the belt over the years, but I'm confident it would be the other way around on this occasion.

The terms of the bet (if he doesn't agree to them, let that be the end of it): if, as Willie Walsh predicted, the Virgin brand is gone from our airline in five years' time, then I lose the bet. If it's still there, he loses the bet.

The losing airline should also donate £1 million to a worthwhile charity of the winner's choice to ensure some good comes out of this bit of fun.

And let's agree the place this will happen is the HQ of the winner's airline. Look forward to Willie's visit in December 2017."

Cricket boxes all round!

www.baisshite.com the latest news and views on British Airways, the world's "favourite" airline.