British Airways

[jason1-11]

And about 40 on the BA 1404 to Manchester including myself.

 

[ChurchFenton]

Was on yesterday's BA1341, very busy flight, would say well over 100 and seemed to be very few empty seats. Flew back today on lunchtime 1342, much quieter with maybe 50-60 on board.

 

[White Heather]

According to an LBA director at yesterday's Consultative Meeting, BA are on target to carry 120,000 pax on the LBA route this year.

 

[stewief1]

Do either Ridgeback or User001 think that those type of numbers will satisfy the number crunchers at BA? I certainly get the feeling that the route is gaining momentum. Also, have people been watching the BBC2 documentary about BA called 'A very british airline''? The program has provided a great insight into the business from an operational, recruitment and service perspective. Training of the cabin crew is harsh, yet the rigour in their training certainly shines through when you're flying with them whether up the front or down the back.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Stewief1: Giving people 4 mistakes before they are removed from a course seems too fair to me. When you have people turning up for work late or failing to take care of their personal appearance when on 3 warnings (two factors advised in the first 30 minutes of their training as total no no's) says to me that B A selection at fault.
To me this programme has highlighted the low staff standards of B A against their international competitors, bet Wille Walsh does not think a good advert for BA. Has shown weakness with the trainers, they allow far to much lax behaviour.
The trainers would have been fired in my business, having trainees laughing and smiling during an evacuation of a plane does nothing to enforce the seriousness of this procedure, very poor training.

 

[imagineif]

A lot of that in training filming was theatre but I agree there was some "interesting" candidates on the course shown. The problem is BA are now paying cabin crew peanuts but still expects them to perform like they are serving Celebrities on Concorde.You can not instil life experience, culture and maturity to young people on a cabin crew training course.

The bottom line is airlines pay less, recruit younger and take on people they would have snubbed years ago. This is to answer the demands of low cost travel. People cant have it all...

As long as the crew training meets the requirements of EASA / CAA / JAROPS I am happy. Service comes secondary.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Not sure recruiting younger. My experience is that cabin crews are getting older, this may be a reflection that my memory from 60 years ago is that they seemed to be female and obviously went off to have families.
Service is vital to me, whether on low cost or international carriers, I dont expect less on Ryanair/jet2 then if flying BA. In the event of an emergancy I would hope both behave in a proper professional manner
Getting back to B A I measure against other I know like, Singapore, Cathy and New Zealand, over the last 30 years their service to me has been 2nd rate measured against other main stream carriers.
cabin Crews could be paid unrealistic wages we the tax payer had to foot the bill. In the real world as Wille Walsh now with Iberia is trying to sort out, you must live within your means.
Paying a lower rate today does not mean that the people should not be a driven and dedicated to the job, their getting todays rate, you cant look down memory lane on previous pay. If you dont want to commit fully and give 100% effort dont apply for the job.

 

[imagineif]

The age ranges they recruit are now broader - some airlines now recruit from 18 which I think is scary and airlines are no longer allowed to be ageist. A friend of mine left BA to have children and ended up returning to flying at 50 saying she had missed it, she was snapped up by another airline sighting her life experience and BA on her CV.

I just don't think you can expect a 20 year old to deliver what BA wants and what the passenger necessary expects in club world. No month long course can achieve what I believe they try to portray on the documentary - in reality people differ in maturity but I would say people 25+and above are more suited to the roll.

A better idea would be to put young crew on Europe for 5 years pared up with more experienced crew before progressing to intercontinental and serving club world passengers.

The airlines have to satisfy JAR-OPS the CAA and EASA with the Flight Safety training they deliver and the pass rates of crew trainees but can you honestly say you would be confident on a flight with perhaps a 25 year old Purser and three other 18 year old crew members - I note that Jet2 & Monarch seem to have older more experienced crew as pursers but some of the Ryanair crews look like they are on a school outing.

Some of the things these crew will have to deal with at such a young age, Emergency situations, Medical emergency, Difficult passengers, Drunk & Aggressive passengers... salary high or low does not buy maturity or experience.

 

[adam]

Is there a problem on this mornings LHR to LBA as it seems to have come in on the normal path over Wakefield and Leeds then done 4 circles over the airfield and around Otley and has now gone back over Wakefield to Head over Leeds to LBA info off flight tracker on FR24

 

[LBAYORKIE]

My main concern is not age, it is the untelligibility of the announcements made by some of the foreign crew members. I have been seriously concerned on some Ryanair flights (especially) what would happen in the event of an emergency when following crew instructions is critical.

 

[Turbulence]

Is there a problem on this mornings LHR to LBA as it seems to have come in on the normal path over Wakefield and Leeds then done 4 circles over the airfield and around Otley and has now gone back over Wakefield to Head over Leeds to LBA info off flight tracker on FR24

Itdid a go around but there were no vis issues at LBA. Can only presume circling for tech reasons unless someone knows different.

 

[ryan]

Out of interest, how much money do people think new BA cabin crew are on? I see the words "peanuts" and "unrealistic" used on here, would just be interested to know what people think.

 

[leedsman]

Flew down on the BA1341 yesterday morning. Looked close to being full, I couldnt see many empty seats around. Had a smooth transfer within T5 so another very positive experience.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Ryan: A B A Customer service manage (in charge of the cabin crew) is on 25k a year, I would assume basic cabin crew on 18/20k, staff can earn a 20% bonus on top of basic wage, some would say a good wage for the role.

 

[lbaspotter]

Coming off the back of Yorkshire hosting the Tour de France "Grand Départ 2014" this past weekend, I see British Airways did a bit of good advertising for there Leeds/Bradford route on there Facebook page last night.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/britishairways?fref=nf

British Airways
The sublime beauty of the Yorkshire landscape hosted the start of one of the summer's biggest sporting events this weekend, but where would you visit in this idyllic part of the UK? You can now explore it more easily thanks to our regular flights to Leeds, find out more here http://bit.ly/1qPIifs
Image - Michael Turek

 

[whoshotjimmi]

Just arrived back on this evenings flight from Heathrow. I would say that both my outbound on Friday morning and my inbound this evening were approximately half full. Both legs were magnificent and I cannot fault BA, LBA or LHR at all. Considering this is the first time I have made travel plans to London where the plane has been a broadly similar price to the train, I would choose this method every time, providing it is suitable for what I want. Sadly, it is obvious that, should one want to conduct business in London pre midday, this service is not suitable as it took until midday to simply make it to West London (which was my destination). Shame really as it really is an excellent thing to have.

 

[jason1-11]

Flew up on the BA1342 yesterday. Boarded at 12:15 and stayed on stand until 12:50. Then taxied to a remote stand close to the fuel farm for a further 15 minutes waiting. Told by the Captain this was due to ATC restrictions in the Manchester area due to weather. We were eventually airborne at 13:30, but didn’t arrive in Leeds until 14:15 due the aircraft entering the hold over Leeds. This did provide some fantastic views of the airfield though. The Captain then inform us that all the delays were down to the incident at Manchester Airport and subsequent congestion with arrivals into Leeds due to the high number of diversions. I estimate circa 60-70 onboard.

Back to London on the BA1345 last night. Terminal very quiet so a breeze through security and I did find a chair to sit on. I was surprised that there were circa 40 onboard as was expecting to be the only passenger at that time. Airborne at 9pm with a 14 departure without backtracking. Landed 40 minutes later without the need to hold and home at 22:15.

All in all, a good days business.

 

[imagineif]

BA are dropping down to 2x Daily flights during November, the morning & evening service. The lunch time rotation appears to return from December,

 

[bobleeds]

Yes, they have emailed me to confirm moving me from afternoon to morning on 12/11/14 on first leg of a transatlantic trip from LHR the following day - no mention of any alteration to return trip back up to LBA on03/12/14 so this would back up imagineif's post

 

[leedsman]

The CAA stats for July are now out and the LBA-LHR shuttle carried 12,448, up 25% from last July. Is that a monthly record for the BA service ?