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.

Walsh Offers Branson A Knee In The Groin

Willie Walsh (CEO of International Airlines Group, the parent company of BA and Iberia) has responded to Richard Branson's public offer yesterday of a £1M bet, by instead offering a knee in the groin.

Walsh is quoted by the BBC:

"I don't have £1m, so a knee in the groin, maybe - that would be as painful to him as it might be to me."

Maybe a mollification of hostilites in the run up to Christmas is in order?

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

Branson Challenges BA

Sir Richard Branson has laid down a public challenge to BA over rumours that he is to give up control of Virgin, and that the Virgin brand will disappear.

Branson has publicly bet £1M that the brand will not disappear in the next five years.

As per Sir Richard's blog:

"Rumours have been spread in the press that I am planning to give up control of Virgin Atlantic and, according to Willie Walsh - who runs BA - that our brand will soon disappear.

This is wishful thinking and totally misguided. Will BA never learn? Let's see how much they believe this. Let them put their money where their mouth is.

The last time BA had to make a settlement to me for damages (in part for spreading not dissimilar false rumours) I split the money amongst our staff. Rather than suing them on this occasion, I will pay £1 million to their staff if Virgin Atlantic disappears within say five years. If not, BA pays our staff £1 million.

Virgin Atlantic was my baby 28 years ago when we set up with just one plane. Like all children, they never really stop being your babies and Virgin Atlantic is still much cherished. It has grown into a wonderful airline which has punched above its weight for almost three decades, giving much larger airlines a real run for their money.

We intend to carry on doing so for many years to come and, contrary to Mr Walsh's hopes, we have no plans to disappear. But since they are so confident, will BA accept our challenge?"

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

Ongoing Problems?

Virgin claim that there are still ongoing problems at BA's T5, BA claim there aren't.

What's the real story?

Feel free to contact me privately if you have a recent story about BA.

Refunds For Overcharging

Passengers who were overcharged during their flight from the United Kingdom to the United States, between 2004 to 2006, are entitled to claim refunds totaling to $139M.

The refunds are due to passengers who flew the Atlantic via BA or Virgin, between August 2004 and March 2006. Passengers were overcharged by the two airlines, when they conspired on fixing fuel surcharges on transatlantic flights.

The refunds range from $2 and $22.50 for each ticket bought in the UK or US. The deadline for submitting a claim is December 31 2012.

It is estimated that around 5.6 million people flew during this period.

Claims may be processed online at www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk.

Traveller's Tale

My thanks to CH, who sent me this tale of woe relating to his experience of flying BA via Terminal 5.

Based on this, and the countless other tales in the media, my personal advice to Walsh:

"For all the good that you have done, it would have been better that you had done nothing at all.

In the name of God,

GO!"

CH's tale:

"Just another story about BA and lost luggage.

We were at a 5 day conference in Miami last week and many of the participants had their luggage mislaid by BA in the T5 disaster. Some people were on transfer flights from Africa so they had no chance of luggage.

Despite assurances that they could 'buy what they needed' some of the people on the conference have now been told that they can only claim £35 for essentials!

They had resorted to having their clothes, the only sets they had, cleaned by the hotel overnight, sometimes they were reduced to drying things with a hairdryer in the morning. I wonder if they will get the cost of the cleaning back?

They had telephone calls to say the luggage had arrived in Miami and two of the girls were so desperate that they even took a trip out to Miami airport, of course they didn't find any luggage. The tracking system was a joke, even with a tracking number they had no chance of finding where their luggage was. Having returned home they still don't know where, or when, they might see their luggage.

These were at least 30 business class customers, with a large multinational company which has BA as it's preferred supplier. I wonder how long this arrangement will last for.

PS I elected to fly with Virgin.... like you I think BA is shite!"

Oops!

I have always said that Virgin's lounges are better than BA's, it would seem that judging from this story BA executives agree with me:

"Virgin Atlantic opened its new clubhouse at Boston Airport at the weekend. To ensure the launch went off without a hitch, the airline held a dress rehearsal the day before. Representatives of other airlines were invited to sample the posh grub and comfy chairs.

The ploy seems to have worked well. My mole tells me two British Airways airport managers stayed a touch too long: they turned up late to the opening of their own lounge, to be met by a group of angry customers."

Source The Telegraph.

£10 Refunds

Here's an interesting story on the BBC site:

People who flew with British Airways or Virgin Atlantic between 11 August 2004 and 23March 2006 may be entitled to a refund of £10 per flight.

The law firm Cohen Milstein expects to sign an agreement later on Friday in a class action suit with BA and Virgin.

BA was fined by US and UK authorities for price-fixing on fuel surcharges while Virgin also admitted breaching US and UK law but escaped the fines.

BA declined to comment while Virgin could not immediately be reached.

The settlement would cover customers in the UK and the US.

Cohen Milstein estimates that the settlement will be worth about $200m (£100m), £73.5m of which will be set aside to pay claims by passengers who bought tickets in the UK in pounds sterling.

Passengers and businesses that bought tickets would be eligible for refunds of up to £10 for each leg of a journey.

BA was fined £121.5m by the Office of Fair Trading and $300m (£150m) by the US Department of Justice for colluding with Virgin on the level of fuel surcharges that would be added to their ticket prices.

Virgin escaped the fines because it had informed the authorities that the breaches had happened.

Michael Winner Loses His Card

Martin Waller of The Times reports today that Michael Winner and BA have fallen out with each other in a big way.

BA seemingly will not be renewing Mr Winner's gold card, when it expires in 2009, as a result of some rather acerbic comments he made about them in the Times recently.

Even this site would not use the phrase "toilet fodder".

I have always been of the view that Virgin is superior to BA wrt service and amenities, if only they flew to all the destinations that BA does!

Spectacular Scottish Collapse

The Scotsman puts the boot into BA's reputation wrt its worsening punctuality in Scotland, calling it a "rapid and spectacular collapse".

It goes on to say that passengers would be better off flying with BMI or Easyjet, or even using the train. Then, for good measure, it castigates BA for being bottom of the league for lost baggage:

"Already among Britain's least punctual carriers, BA is being trounced by its rivals on every single route between Scotland and London. It is significantly worse than its competitors at every airport, on every route and in each direction.

A business traveller in Scotland wanting to be in a meeting in London is much more likely to arrive on time with BMI at Heathrow, EasyJet at Gatwick or ScotAirways at London City. The most reliable option of all is travelling by train, where 87.5 per cent of GNER trains between Edinburgh and London Kings Cross were on time in the first six months of this year, with a similar number for Virgin West Coast services between Glasgow and London Euston.

And even when BA passengers eventually reach their destination, they are less likely to arrive with their baggage - BA is bottom of the European league tables for lost luggage, according to data from the Air Transport Users Council.

Remember that mountain of 20,000 bags that built up at Heathrow in July?

Some of them still haven't been delivered to their owners."

Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, has even tabled a motion in the House of Commons calling on management to restore levels of service in Scotland.

When will BA realise that they neglect their customers at their peril.

BA To Be Sued?

An American law firm is encouraging consumers in the UK to claim compensation from companies found guilty of breaking competition rules.

The company's UK branch is looking to sue British Airways and Virgin for hundreds of millions of pounds after they were found guilty of colluding over fuel surcharges.

It's just been given permission to go ahead with a class action against both firms in the US.

While Virgin escaped punishment for alerting authorities about what was going on, British Airways was hit by a record fine of more than a £121m after being found guilty by the Office of Fair Trading. The US Department of Justice imposed another £150m.

Channel 4 News

London Beijing March 2007

Text of a letter sent to Willie Walsh CEO of BA on 17 March 2007

"Dear Mr Walsh,

I would like to provide you with a few observations about my recent “first class” return trip (London-Beijing) on BA (8th March-12th March):

· The standard of the Heathrow lounge was not what I would expect for first class; it does not compare favourably wrt the facilities, or indeed size, of lounges offered by other airlines eg Virgin.

· There were only two Internet workstations in the London and Beijing lounge. In the Beijing lounge, one of the Internet workstations was out of order.

· The theory of the London lounge, as best as I can make out, is that customers sit down and are served by BA staff. Unfortunately, those customers who did not sit in the immediate vicinity of the bar were not able to attract the attention of staff for service, as there weren’t any staff in the non-bar area. I had to go to the bar to find anyone willing to serve me.

· The entertainment system on both flights did not work that well. The outgoing flight could not show the safety video, as the system had a malfunction. The quality of the picture on both flights was poor, and on some of the channels (outgoing and inbound) the video didn’t work at all.

· The remote control in the armrest on my outgoing flight was stuck, and had to be extracted by the cabin crew with a butter knife. Very high tech!

· In trying to manually extend the footrest on my seat, I managed to impale and cut my finger on a sharp piece of metal that was protruding from underneath the edge of the footrest.

· One member of staff, who was so ashamed by the quality, told me with head bowed in shame that the system was “out of the ark”. I would concur, as other airlines, such as Singapore and Virgin, used to have the same systems back in the early/mid nineties; they have long since upgraded them. I was advised that that the systems will be upgraded, but was also told that this same message has been repeated for quite some time. Having paid £6K for my ticket, hearing of future plans is of little interest to me.

· On both flights a curry was served, yet no chutneys were available. I improvised with marmalade. BA makes great efforts to tell me in the menu that the recipes are designed by world-class chefs. That being the case, why did I have to resort to using marmalade?

· The quality of the staff on both flights, and their customer care/attention, was good. They were all embarrassed by the poor state of the technology and equipment on board.

BA’s last remaining asset that has not been tarnished by strikes, security delays, delays in general and out of date entertainment systems, would appear to be its staff. However, if they are embarrased and ashamed of their company I wonder how long you will retain their loyalty?

Reputations are hard to earn, but easy to lose.

In brief, I do not think that the “first class” description equates to the price I paid, or the competition that BA faces. I will be travelling on a more regular basis to Beijing over the coming months/years, but will be (subject to schedules) looking to other airlines to get me there and back.

In my view, there are a number of issues that you need to address if BA is to retain the much tested “loyalty” of their customers, whether they travel economy, business or first.

I would be interested to hear you views on the above, and what steps BA will be taking in the short term to address these issues.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,

Ken Frost"