Want to work in public relations for BA ?

[stewart38]

What is it with British Airways ?

Treat your customer like s*** charter

I know lets cancel all uk flights today better then cancelling half

The quicker that excuse for an airlinbe is sold off the better

discuss why when 'fog' happens we 'cant cope'

in fact if anything happens a leaf or a flake of snow we are buggered

However congratualtions to the underground depite delays on the way to work i see they have lovely printed info re Heathrow and the 'freezing fog' saga

[TurboTomato]

I work a few miles from Gatwick and there absolutely no fog here. Whether or not they are trying to clear a backlog of international flights I'm not sure

Edit: having said that they've cancelled flights for safety reasons and I have no problems with that. There's not a lot an operator can do about that. A friend of mine was killed in the Milan air crash on 8th October 2001 where it was thick fog, the ground radar was not turned on and a light aircraft crossed the wrong runway whilst the plane my friend was on was taking off from it

[Dreadful Scathe]

fog causes the distance between incoming plans to be increased (safety rules) thus causing delays. Visual confirmation on the ground is harder to do too ....causing more delays. With the backlog that causes at a busy airport ,one of the worlds busiest in fact, its inevitable that flights will have to be cancelled to avoid death and destruction. Of course, if you want to risk death and destruction, please continue complaining

[stewart38]

fog causes the distance between incoming plans to be increased (safety rules) thus causing delays. Visual confirmation on the ground is harder to do too ....causing more delays. With the backlog that causes at a busy airport ,one of the worlds busiest in fact, its inevitable that flights will have to be cancelled to avoid death and destruction. Of course, if you want to risk death and destruction, please continue complaining

so solution cancel all domestic flights lets face it avoids some law suits. there a**e holes ,whats 'saftey got to do with it ??. fog lifted there now

yes ill complain when you asked to check in 3hrs before but they dont even open check in until 2hrs 40 mins before (not BA)

could you see that happening in USA naaaaaaa

[TurboTomato]

so solution cancel all domestic flights lets face it avoids some law suits. there arse holes ,whats 'saftey got to do with it ??. fog lifted there now

They've cancelled domestic rather than international flights because they're more likely to be able to find alternative solutions for those passengers.

As I said before it's more likely they're clearing a back log of international flights first. They're not going to cancel any flights unless they absolutely have to.

[David Bailey]

I don't think BAA (Not BA, they're just the carrier) have done too much wrong operationally - as said, some stuff just happens.

However, to answer the original question - I think they're definitely still deficient in the PR / communications-to-customers area.

The key lesson is that passengers will put up with a lot, as long as they know what's going on. It's not the waiting, it's the uncertainty that causes the most stress. If you know for a fact that your flight will be delayed, by X hours, you're less stressed than if you don't know anything.

So yes, I'd work in PR for them, simply because it's a challenge and there'd always be work for me

[TheTramp]

The key lesson is that passengers will put up with a lot, as long as they know what's going on. It's not the waiting, it's the uncertainty that causes the most stress. If you know for a fact that your flight will be delayed, by X hours, you're less stressed than if you don't know anything.

It's so true. If you're told what's happening, and what people are trying to do to solve the problem, then you're far less likely to moan about it than if you know nothing.

Of course, some people will moan anyhow. The fog was just put there to inconvenience them!

[David Franklin]

yes ill complain when you asked to check in 3hrs before but they dont even open check in until 2hrs 40 mins before (not BA)

could you see that happening in USA naaaaaaa

The three worst "waiting at an airport" experiences of my life were all in the US.

(1) First ever trip to the states. 3 jumbos arrived at LA almost simulaneously. We were queuing at passport control for three hours (after a 13 hour flight). This was with lots of "US passport only" stations lying completely unused, of course.

(2) Flying back from Boston in January (it snows a bit, then...) All the flights were severely delayed (ours for more than 4 hours). Looking down the "queue aisle" was a bit like looking at the approach to the DeathStar in StarWars - it literally went on till it just blurred in the distance. Another two hours of delay on the plane while they deiced the wings. Finally we were warned takeoff would "be a little bumpy" as the planes before us had left ruts in the ice on the runway. To be fair - what can you do with the weather? Although waiting around at Boston airport makes Heathrow look like a luxury resort.

(3) Flying to Las Vegas, with a Houston connection, a whole group of about 30 of us had our luggage put on the wrong flight. So we're at lost baggage claims, and they take 45 minutes dealing with the first two people in line. They have two people actually dealing with claims, and another four people doing nothing but watch our queue. Which may not have been a bad plan, because we were starting to get more than a little p*ssed off. When asked "what's the big deal?", I did point out that at the current rate, it was going to take more than 10 hours for them to deal with everyone waiting. To be fair, it did go a lot faster then.

And of course, it's only in the US that a TSA operative can decide you might be a terrorist and ship you to Syria for "extreme rendition" a.k.a. torture. Land of the Free and all that...

[philsmove]

The problem is with Heathrow
It only has two runways and handles a lot more traffic that some airports with four

Come to Bristol, we only have one runway, but it copes


Meery christmass

[stewart38]

The three worst "waiting at an airport" experiences of my life were all in the US.

(1) First ever trip to the states. 3 jumbos arrived at LA almost simulaneously. We were queuing at passport control for three hours (after a 13 hour flight). This was with lots of "US passport only" stations lying completely unused, of course.

(2) Flying back from Boston in January (it snows a bit, then...) All the flights were severely delayed (ours for more than 4 hours). Looking down the "queue aisle" was a bit like looking at the approach to the DeathStar in StarWars - it literally went on till it just blurred in the distance. Another two hours of delay on the plane while they deiced the wings. Finally we were warned takeoff would "be a little bumpy" as the planes before us had left ruts in the ice on the runway. To be fair - what can you do with the weather? Although waiting around at Boston airport makes Heathrow look like a luxury resort.

(3) Flying to Las Vegas, with a Houston connection, a whole group of about 30 of us had our luggage put on the wrong flight. So we're at lost baggage claims, and they take 45 minutes dealing with the first two people in line. They have two people actually dealing with claims, and another four people doing nothing but watch our queue. Which may not have been a bad plan, because we were starting to get more than a little p*ssed off. When asked "what's the big deal?", I did point out that at the current rate, it was going to take more than 10 hours for them to deal with everyone waiting. To be fair, it did go a lot faster then.

And of course, it's only in the US that a TSA operative can decide you might be a terrorist and ship you to Syria for "extreme rendition" a.k.a. torture. Land of the Free and all that...

actually i stand corrected rep on thw way

worse ever was USA Miami airport cira 1981 about 3.5 hrs of queueing

[TheTramp]

My worst was coming back after a ski-ing trip with the school (from Lyon I think). 14 hour delay because of the weather, with very little information (as I recall - it was about 23 years ago!). Though I guess it is difficult to actually predict when it's going to get any better.

Apart from that, I've generally been pretty lucky with planes. So far!

[Dreadful Scathe]

My worst was being stuck in Luton airport for nearly 6 hours - this was just after they added extra facilities so it wasnt as bad as it otherwise might have been. I had turned up at 5pm for a 5.30pm flight which I was "too late" for and they wouldnt let me on it, so i booked on next one. The 5.30 left around 6.30 and the later one left about 22.45. Ooooh I hate easyJet. I used to turn up at airports 10 mins before planes were due to leave and still get on them ok...those were the days.