22 May 2015
Dear British Airways
October 2014
I seem to be on some kind of British Airways target list,
because frequent travellers, their best customers after all, are perhaps the
most appropriate to ask what's good and not-so-good about the airline, its
service and staff. So I get asked after every flight, often before and
sometimes in-between about whether I was satisfied with the check-in, security,
the lounge plus of course the boarding, the flight and so on. I do answer most
of the surveys, mainly because I don't like to be reminded that I haven't done
something, so of course the best way to make sure that does not happen is to
complete the survey.
I was slightly taken aback by one question in the latest
survey, which asked me whether I "love" British Airways (for a sense
of balance, no doubt, they also asked me whether I hate them). It's an odd
question, isn't it? You can love another person, for sure, or a dog for
example. You miss them when you're apart, perhaps even yearn for them. Love
might include desire but, before you worry, I have no plans to settle down and
spend the rest of my days with a Boeing 747 or Airbus A320.
The survey didn't allow me to answer the question in the
way I wanted, "listen, you may have noticed I've had a Gold Card since
1991, and have accumulated over 40 thousand air-point-thingies in that time
and, as for most flights I only get 10 air-point-thingies, you must realise
that I don't exactly despise the company." (I heard a speaker on brand
management a few years back use Harley Davidson as an example of a brand that
users could get passionate about. Bikers even have tattoos with the company's
logo. But I just can't see myself, or to be honest anyone including Willy
Walsh, have "To fly. To serve." in a tasteful tattoo on my arm or
bum. Dear, oh dear.)
It's been a tough time for the airlines recently, with
high fuel prices, competition from budget airlines, the global financial crisis
and ailing airlines like Alitalia refusing to die. So understandably there's
been a lot of cost cutting, restructuring and cutbacks. Cost cutting is, after
all, one of the great successes of the capitalist system. Every year, you need
to find a way of making the product or service better, cheaper, or ideally
both. I saw my first colour TV in the late 1960s. It cost £200 and couldn't
display colour because all the transmissions were still in black and white.
Today, a similar size TV costs about the same. When we moved to France 20 years
ago, a flight from London to Geneva cost about £200 in economy and £400 in
business. It's actually a bit cheaper than that today.
So like its competitors, BA has made cuts, some visible,
some less so, and some welcome and some not. I like to be able to check myself
in on line, for example, and as this means the airline does not need to provide
staff to help, we both gain. I regret the reduction in quality in the wine
selection in Heathrow lounges, but it was frankly bonkers to offer such great
wine free when you have to compete with Ryanair or EasyJet, who charge for
everything. I could do without being asked how well the eggs should be cooked
for the boiled egg and soldiers breakfast I like to order in the lounge when I
have an early flight (you try using soldiers on a hard-boiled egg) and I got
quite cross when the Gold Card customer service hotline was no longer manned
24/7, but overall I cannot grumble about the service level. Until now, that is.
The latest BA cost-cutting is an outrage and has to be reversed. I'm talking,
of course, about the tea provided in the First Class lounge at T5.
Twinings, that global purveyor of our national drink,
makes different grades of tea and their best, in my opinion, is the silky
pyramid range. The mint is to die for and the English Breakfast has a freshness
and depth that really gets me ready to tackle my day. But it's expensive at
about 25p a bag, compared with the standard breakfast tea at about 5 pence, which
is probably why some BA bean-counter switched to the standard bag.
I did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, after
watching some travellers in the BA lounge. I estimate 10% drink tea, so the 20p
per bag cost saving to BA works out at about two pence per passenger per
flight, or tuppence in good ol’ English.
This is serious stuff and, if knew how to use Twitter, I
would start a #tuppencemore @BA campaign to force BA to increase ticket prices
by the said tuppence to cover the cost of going back to the real tea. The UK
government has been trying to reduce the balance of payments deficit for some
time, mostly through increased exports. But we exporters cannot be expected to
close deals, win business, penetrate new markets and generally save the country
and its balance of payments without a decent cup of tea. Unless BA reverses the
decision, there will be questions at PMQ, or there should be. It's that
important.
So BA, I'm sorry to say, I don't love you. Admire and
respect, for sure. And you are likely to have my business for several years to
come. But I would love a decent cup of tea.
# posted by DavidF @ 17:45 
