I'm my experience, typical BA and Miami flight experience. Avoid both if I can. I live in Houston and would rather take KLM through AMS to get to the UK than BA direct to Heathrow.
I haven’t flown BA since 2019 so don’t know how they are at the moment. Previously I used them on my regular GRU-LHR flight and they were fine. I know there are better products but I had no complaints re comfort, service, food and reliability. Service never less than efficient and I always managed at least 6/7 hours sleep. Later this year I’m trying KLM simply because they offered me a better deal even though it won’t be direct I don’t mind because of the substantial saving.
Matt the inflight experience was totally unacceptable! There are only so many things that can be blamed on the pandemic and sending you to the gate 3 hours early is not one of them. I recall when flying Swiss business on a late night flight they gave each passenger the individual option of an abbreviated service, which makes more sense. I'm flying JFK-LHR in late January and hoping for a much better experience!
Thanks Craig. Sadly I don't fly BA J often enough to know whether they used to offer individual service on flights like this but as I said in the vid, a scheduled post-midnight departure is a different issue to a delayed post-midnight departure...
@@MattsPlanet It's good that you'd had the chance to travel to many countries throughout the world over the years. In many ways, it sounds exciting, after all, you only live once, get alot out of life when you can. And traveling the world is a great way to do that. Unfortunately, not every experience is going to be a good one, and I'm sorry your BA flight Miami to LHR was not a good one. But, at least you've tried many new things, and it sounds like you'll try many more in the future.
Thanks Darren. I'm quite shocked that so many people have made this kind of comment... People are more likely to highlight a negative experience than they are a positive one, but leaving a comment on a YT video takes relatively little effort, so I don't think you'll find such a negativity bias unless BA really were awful!
We have blamed a lot on COVID - some justifiable, some not so much. The, "you get paid whether or not you come to work or not" is definitely not a Florida thing - the state of Florida was the most aggressive at getting people back to work as their economy depends on tourism. Must have been an American/BA issue. Asking you to leave the sanctuary of the lounge was just wrong - needed better communication between gate and lounge. Your inflight experience was not what you had paid for - even thought you were using a twofer. Those twofers also have a cost - years of loyalty and paying additional costs to show loyalty - unacceptable result. What a disappointment.
Indeed! I got the impression that state laws came second to company policy but whether that was actually the case or not is the question! As with the early dispatch from the lounge, communication was virtually non-existant!
I can’t believe what I’ve just watched! Poor you. What a shambolic experience! And how on earth can they explain that breakfast?! 🤯 penny pinching to the extreme and then they will wonder why people will flee to the competition. Crazy.
Thanks Joshua. Tempting to blame the pandemic for all of this but I think at least part of it was good old fashioned incompetence, probably amplified by the belief that it can be blamed on the pandemic!
Could you explain how the standards have dropped on Qantas? I've started flying them recently having been given QF Gold status via a status match on my United Premier Gold status. Overall, I found the lounges at SYD, MEL, BNE and DRW to be lovely indeed. I was also particularly surprised by the on-board service even in economy with hot food items being served on domestic flights. Had this been American Airlines, I'd be lucky with a stroopwaffel and can of Diet Coke on a 10 hour flight to Honolulu.
Never understood why companies make their staff outright lie to their customers, and expect people not to get mad at them. I always make it clear to the poor sods that I'm angry at the company not them personally.
Its a great point and something I try to do too... After doing this for a while, you can usually tell a) when someone has no clue and their employer has hung them out to dry b) when they've made a whoopsie and deviated from procedures. My approach to the individual varies accordingly!!
BA crew are so hit or miss, if your seated at the back of business it’s also hit or miss if you get the mains of your choice and why someone paying thousands of pounds to fly in business are forced still to pay to reserve their seat choice. BA are pretty awful
They've been more miss than hit for me of late! The seat reservation thing is quite odd - I talked about it in a recent video... BA is really unusual in not offering seat selection to business travellers - they keep it as a benefit for their status members. Status members absolutely love it, non-status holders absolutely hate it!! At least with the club suites, its not such a big deal as all of the seats are very similar...
Not trying to defend them but any delays with customer documentation checks is out of BA’s control it’s an immigration issue & unfortunately as you mentioned the airport dictates things especially when out of London. In regards to the service I’m sorry to hear that, it’s to maximise customer rest you are right, but MOST importantly due to the unforeseen delay, the crew are legally to operate certain amount of hours & they need to get their rest so they do not go out of their legal hours which are dictated by the CAA.The hours start from the time they get picked up from hotel (clock in for duty) and so for example they are rostered for 8 hr duty but there is a 3 hr delay that means 11 hours duty which requires more rest time for them for safety reasons & Failure to comply with this would lead to the airline losing their operating license. And these hours differ for flight crew and cabin crew, so you might get cabin crew within their hours but if flight crew go out of their hours that plane is not going anywhere so one of the reasons why flights get cancelled for this reason. So if you have let’s say 11hr duty , and the CAA requires 1hr 30 mins for rest (these are rotated) and it turns out you can’t have the whole crew have 1hr 30 mins break, it’s a no brainier the flight will be cancelled or at the captains discretion they can cancel the first or second service to maximise the rest time but again this has to be approved & it’s all about safety above anything else as let’s be honest you wouldn’t want a tired cabin crew looking after your safety when they are tired and sleepy and emergency occurs and they are not at their 100%. Therefore the only options left are to either cancel the flight or do the express service so that they can have the legal rest to be able to continue their duties legally which are not set by BA but all airlines have to comply with. It’s just the same as asking someone to do a 11hr shift without their legal required rest as cabin crew have to be on the lookout for things like medical emergencies, fire hazard, security &checking in on the flight crew on a regular along with doing service, let’s just remember these people are there mostly for our safety and of course service but safety is 90% of their job and the rest is service. Reason I know I was cabin crew before myself so just putting it out there as it saddens me seeing reviews like this with no regard to also the guys working all night sometimes on minimum rest and have to be up all night looking after all of us. Not ideal but these things do happen in aviation given it’s a highly regulated industry & all is ok when it goes well but not ideal when it does not. Hopefully you managed to get a better experience!
They did... It took a while and involved the CEO's office but I was happy in the end... They actually ended up asking me what I thought was fair - I haven't reported it in a video as I think they knew there were videos about so I'm not 100% I got the treatment everyone else would get...
And my camera has image stabilisation too!!!! I have noticed I have a bit of a roll when I'm walking and it is something I am working on, although it doesn't feel natural!!!! Perhaps some anti-nausea pills would help???
@@MattsPlanet MULTIPLE, over years most recently 2months ago: a no notice cancellation with ZERO duty of care support: in person, online or by phone. I am still significantly out of pocket and wasted 2 days including missing a day with Indonesian colleagues who had travelled to the UK to meet me. BA also failed to load the special meals ordered 2weeks before departure, both outbound and on the eventual return, where I was greeted by a coffee stained seat covered in crumbs... (ATH to LHR) Really NOT a business class service and frankly Easyjet would have been half the price and superior service! I can give many other examples but the one that takes the biscuit was being landed into Delhi for a working day tired (broken seat) and hungry (they "ran out"). Admittedly this was under Cruz but the post flight response? We owe you nothing as catering is complimentary and the seat isn't guaranteed to recline / convert into lie flat. #BeyondAbysmal so #FlyAbBA
Completely unacceptable, we had a similar experience in Sept 2018, Club World 747 from O hare to Heathrow, was served a dinner of beef?not sure what it was. Compounding the insults, like you they dimmed the cabin so my mother and myself ate by flashlight! The amusing thing is before this flight, the 747 had to return to Chicago and make a emergency landing, some idiot had forgotten to remove the pin from the front landing gear. British Airways??.. Bloody Awful
Hi Matt, i ditched BA years ago, it's so sad how they were once ranked #1 airline in the world by Skytrax, now they don't even make the top thirty. Too many times their stuffy pretentious attitude and poor service has left me disappointed.These days i vote with my wallet, if i fly East i go with Emirates, if i fly West i go VA.....
Thanks Jason. Many are with you! The most disappointing part seems to be that BA doesn't seem to care (or perhaps notice) that so many people with respectable wallets have decided to go elsewhere...
Excellent, no-punches-pulled review, Matt. I fully agree with you that this was totally unacceptable, both on the ground and in the air. I recently had a very disappointing experience on BA 1st class, but that was exclusively down to the sole FA serving only 3 of us in the cabin, being unbelievably incompetent for the duration of the flight (I also remember seeing her arrive late for the flight, rushing past us while in the queue at the gate!)
Big thank you for this report - i really love your honest trip reporting. What an abysmal experience and what a sad sad joke as a breakfast. Of course, i am a spoiled QR flyer, but this was below any limits. I am very disappointed, because i was putting my hopes a bit on BA. I would love to fly to MIA in 2022, Covid permitting. But after your vid i just dont know what to do.BA would be out after this vid. And my home carrier LH i have been boykotting for 30 years, just because of their hard product. My IFE is the window...but i dont want to climb over anybody. I was thinking of IBERIA, to stay in Oneworld..until i saw a recent video of an Iberia flight from Miami. Their new C policy is that they serve drinks only for meals. Seriously..in Business Class!!! So you get a drink for dinner leaving MIA...and the next one for breakfast. During the flight you may fill up your mini water bottle from 1.5 l water bottles on display in the galley. So Iberia is out as well. American carriers i have been boycotting for 30 years like my home carrier - who has nicer crews, though. But US crews tend to think they owe the plane..and above all: they seem to force you to sit in the dark even on day flights from Europe to the US..a total nightmare for me. So whats left? Air Portugal with their new A330s looks nice. In Air France: good food, but you can end up in very old 2.2.2 seats. KLM? Depends on the aircraft and seat arrangements... great crews, bu very mediocre food and wines..they dont like to spend money on this. Finnair maybe? Could be expensive to route there from western Europe. Do you have more experience with flights to the US? Maybe the new ITA? Kind regards!
Thanks Homer. Over the last few years (pre pandemic at least!) I flew East more than West so am also a big Qatar fan - I miss that stupid enormous teddy bear!!! I do have a United Polaris / Air Canada trip booked to North America but the event I was expecting to attend is likely to be cancelled. TAP is interesting (although there are mixed reviews of the service) and ITA would be interesting... Tricky to commit to anything right now though given the panic that is spreading...
@@IWTBF Generally.... First beats business... But in the US, the highest class is called First, even though the product is almost always inferior to an international business class product... And people will argue that Qatar's QSuites are better than some other airline's first class... But in general, its economy, premium economy, business then first. Cheers!
Matt , Watching this video both the experience at the airport and also onboard are completely unacceptable. Especially eating in the dark and being sent to wait at a gate for hours not a fan of the new seats but just personal preference. Had many a good flight with them but this is not good by any means and many aspects cannot be blamed on covid i feel . Hopefully BA come back with a good response
Thanks Jack. As I've said in a few responses to comments, this is a sample of 1, although plenty of people have commented that similar things have been happening to them...
I’m going to try the airportr service in the next few weeks as flying terminal 5 to SD? Have you used this service before. I’m watching all your old status run videos interesting watch. Bucharest and Sofia have become my destinations of choice now. Two more flights and I get silver status finally horah
@@RandomLifeProductions I've not used Airportr - I tend to be HBO whenever humanly possible - but I have a generally good impression of them from what I've seen. Probably a good idea for a video next time I do go somewhere with luggage! I prefer Bucharest to Sofia - there's a couple of nice tank beer bars there which I can happily wile away a summer's evening if I have an overnight there at the beginning or end of a trip!
Hi Matt, I just flew back from MCO to LHR, BA economy. While waiting at our gate at MCO, an announcement for an Air Canada flight suggested that the passengers from Orlando to Calgary buy food and drink for their flight as none had been loaded onto it. I chuckled. That was until after we took off, an announcement was made stating there was no alcohol on board and a limited supply of fizzy drinks. Now I’m not an alcoholic, but I do like a beer or two with my pretzels and a glass of wine with my dinner. Not to be lol. I had to settle for a half cup of Diet Coke. Food in economy, absolutely disgusting, why do they bother? As for the breakfast, believe me, yours was better, I was served the driest croissant with cheeses and tomato chutney that you will ever eat, it literally sucked the moisture out of your mouth. The problem then was there was hardly any drinks left on the plane to relieve the discomfort. Come on BA, yes I was economy, but you can do better than that. I have flown with you for over 30 years, although never great in economy, that was the worst food I have ever been served on an airplane. Covid is not an excuse for appalling service.
Thanks Stephen. Really sorry to hear about your experience. I have complained about my experience, and I have urged BA to take a look at the video, but more importantly to read the comments as there have been a number of reports of inadequate service (although yours sounds like one of the worst experiences). But BA seems to be stubbornly ploughing ahead regardless of the negativity their scrimping is generating. I feel sorry for the staff - they are delivering what they are being instructed to deliver, and in your case what they find has been delivered to the plane. It can't be fun for them, and they have to spout the party line when responding to angry passengers. Something has to give and the response to the video is that people will fly with someone else...
@@MattsPlanet I totally agree, I used to swear by Virgin Atlantic but BA won me over. Now I will look elsewhere when booking future trips. It’s not all about cost, flying to me is such an amazing experience. Be First, business or coach, it’s special. You want the experience to match, alas my flight two days ago was an example of how the world has changed and not for the better. Again, come on BA, you can do much better.
First of all, interesting video Matt, I really enjoy the content. I have to say tho, I do get stories from an (annoyingly arrogant) family member which obtained platinum status for life. Example, demanding a hotel upgrade because of BS reasons or calling the airline mentioning their frequent flyer status (which is highly above average) demanding compensation and getting it to satisfy their pathetic complaints. So I know what arrogant bussiness class customers can be like. Now, on your reportage, my conclution would be, you are mostly right. Delays can occur, inconvenience can be a result and crew can be held to procedures. You got the lounge access, misinformation was by the lounge agent, not by BA. Although, seeing the full experience and other details, this ticket would not have been worth my money at all, by no means, with the [explanationmark] SERVICE for the cabin you flew in. I think it's not to blame the crew, but the operations side is surely to blame. If this was my first experience on a premium BA product, I'd try elsewhere for sure. Again, not because of the front line of people, but definitely because of the operations (2nd and 3rd layer of people) that made this experience unworthy of the product advertised. Unacceptable 200%, but not on the front-line hard working employees that have to execute and deal with what has been decided higher up nor the influence they had on the Airport side (apart from check-in maybe). Nevertheless, the ticket was not as promised by experience at all and I too would be unhappy with it. As you can see, you got me going, so the video was epic. Thanks and see you next Sunday Matt!!
Thanks as always Peter. It was interesting to experience that flight knowing I'd be making a video about it. I aim to be balanced and I hope I made it clear that I thought the crew was doing a good job and was following the BA procedures... But it was a terrible experience. I didn't mention in the video, but when I spoke to the cabin services manager at the end of the flight I did say I would be making a video about it. Not in an arrogant "Do You Know Who I Am" kind of way, but for full disclosure as I thought it was the fair thing to do. Not that it seems to have made a difference as there's been no correspondence from BA since the flight... But if shining a light on the experience makes a positive difference to everyone else's future experiences, then it will have been worthwhile. Thanks for the support and next Sunday's video isn't going to be about BA!
BA have become an embarrassment to have as a national carrier. No excuse for that at all. I feel for the poor folks who shelled out thousands of pounds for that. I'm sure they will throw you a few avios in response to your complaint. But nothing will change, the writing is on the wall. I purely use BA for avios redemptions through the amex 2 for 1 but even just paying the taxes and fees feel too much for what you get!! I would never, ever choose BA for an outright cash purchase
Totally agree. For the 25 years my company forced us to travel with them I prayed someone would put them out of my misery and close them down. Then Cruz and his budget airline management team went the whole hog and removed any trace of BA as a premium airline (apart from the fares). Like you, I’d never pay to fly with them with my own money.
'Covid' strikes again, the new 'data protection'. Certainly not the experience that you paid for. Business and First charge a premium for a better experience; all cabins get you there. It is difficult to know how much leeway to allow for staff shortages etc. I am seeing this is a problem in hotels and elsewhere. That said, they could be proactive and deal with circumstances much better. Flying the same route CW on the A380 both ways. Hopefully, there will be an improvement on your experience. Thanks, Matt. Good video as always.
Thanks Barry. Things seem to be on the upswing so hopefully they've sorted the root of the issues I experienced when you fly... 5 ground staff is not enough for an A380!!!
I also travel a lot and will in the coming months have my first flight on BA. I agree that having people, especially in Business Class, eat in the dark is unacceptable. I can understand if everyone had the same amount of time to finish eating, but this clearly wasn't the case here.
Typical Britsh understatement Matt😂😂. That entire experience is inexcusable, surely hope your complaint is attended to. Let us know the outcome. If that is business class service out of a First world city, I dread to contemplate what we would receive out of SA on BA🤔
You may be right Peet - as I said at the start, I find it hard to get too animated about this kind of thing - may hamper my UA-cam journey! A sample of 1 is not enough to draw a broad conclusion from - many of my previous Club experiences were much better.
Entertaining video as always. Sorry that you had to endure that ordeal to have something to amuse us with. Four check-in desks for an A380 service!?! I'm sure I've seen more than that for a sole A320/737 flight. Didn't the satellite terminal have an AA lounge you could take a seat in? Unfortunately travelling in the West post-COVID is not the best decision with such staffing levels. With supply (staffing levels) mismatching demand (travellers), this isn't something I would look forward to, on top of rising prices.
Sadly Matt it’s seems to be the normal standard from BA, the crew however are 99% superb. It’s just such a shame it’s the so-called UK national carrier, I find any complaint is dismissed by BA because you actually only pay hundreds or thousands of pounds for them to fly you to your destination, everything else is secondary and not part of the cost. Sadly if anything goes wrong or your expectations are far to high, they just quote T and C’s and ignore you and move on to the next complaint I always wonder if this really worth paying for the service. I really do struggle, I just like things to be done right and respected as a customer, it rarely happens and I’ve learnt to lower my expectations, I’m a lot less disappointed now. Keep up your good work, a true and honest approach. Thanks.
That is very poor have flown BA in J on many occasions and I would be apoplectic if that was my experience. I hope my trip on the same flight next year is rather better!
Your bad experience would have made a good plot for a Flying Fawlty Towers. I presume some of this was down to Covid issues. Thankfully I can say newer BA aircraft with a herringbone arrangement is far superior to the old, awful 2-4-2 configuration, the food has improved considerably and the overall experience significantly better. It's particularly frustrating to be in boarding area for 2 hours or so with little/no comms on what is happening.
This sort of service really concerns me. As a family of four, we fly very little, but have been collecting Avios for a few years, saving for a special tripped to be book for a couple of years time. I have never flown business before, and ~4 years of Avios saving (and the expectation which goes with it) for this kind of experience would be awful. An absolute shocker from BA.
Thanks Oliver. This is a sample of 1 and lots of people still have excellent experiences with BA, so I wouldn't give up completely on BA. A route like New York which sees much more traffic and is serviced by Club Suite aircraft is lower risk than Miami, which is quite widely regarded as being a poor airport to transit even when things go well. But you can use Avios on other airlines, like Qatar so there are options!
One important thing to realize about Avios Oliver is you don't have to book award tickets on British Airways. In fact it may even be favourable to book on other partner airlines, particularly if the carrier surcharges are lower, the timing is more favourable and of course if the inflight and ground service is good. Some international partners you can use your Avios on include American Airlines, FinnAir, Qantas, Malaysian Airlines, Japan Airlines to name but a few.
That was a good one Matt, at least you got something to eat, on your flight home returning from the Caribbean, we were in the second last row of the 777 business class, by the time they got to us all the none vegetarian meals were gone so got a vegetarian which was disgusting did not eat it. Only had the light breakfast they serve before landing complained to the crew but of no use so wrote to BA when home and got by there standards a generous 2000 Avios miles pathetic. Hope we hear the outcome of your complaint Matt plus the video will help, maybe the new big chief of BA might see it.
Cheers Peter - thanks for watching. Running out of non-veggie food is quite unpleasant... 2000 avios would be worth £16 at Sainsbury's... We'll see if BA feels the need to make proper amends!
I feel your pain Peter. BA product/experience from the Caribbean a lot to improve. My experiences of the breakfasts + the old Club World on 777-200 not good enough. What made it worse I was told their breakfast offering was what customers 'wanted' + informed the new Club Suites wouldn't be on 777-200 till 2024 earliest. However it seems from Matt's experiences a Club Suite booking isn't a guarantee you'll actually get it (but still pay the same fare). Have no complaints with service/staff in my experience they are wonderful. Fly Virgin Atlantic now whenever on that route. Those negative factors + deal-breaker VA flies from LHR (avoid that trek to LGW).
I avoid BA at all cost, unless for flying to Bru to see family! I have two 241 vouchers sitting in my account, yet decided to use ALL my avios on 158 bottles of red wine via the reward portal!!!! I fly klm or Air france at late from NCL! from Ams or Bru
The avios were not wasted!!! BA just tweaked the twofer so you can now use it for a single redemption with 50% off the avios cost - that's really helpful for me and might make them a little more usable???
Another very honest video Matt and I think your litany of complaints are entirely justified. The lack of information by airport staff has been a perennial complaint for as long as I’ve been flying. Why do they not understand that people will tolerate delays much better if they are given regular updates on what is happening? Is it really that ground staff don’t feel they have the authority to make customer facing announcements? Will be very interested to hear what BAs response is to your observations.
Hi Alex. I'm complaining about service received 9 months after UK lockdown ended. Service which BA acknowledged was unacceptable and compensated me for...
I guess I have a stoic view of this fiasco. How long it will be that we live with limiting elements from the pandemic like staffing - my thoughts are it could be longer than we think. Certainly you should have been generously compensated. I’m seeing myself as more putting myself in the shoes of others. The nice cabin manager for example.
Cheers Scott. It is easy to be outraged about anything less then perfection, when we should perhaps be thankful that the airlines have been able to do what was necessary to survive, so that we still have the option to fly. Its a fine line to tread but there are still basic non-negotiables that should be honoured even if short cuts are being taken, and I think this flight fell well short on the basics.
I may have mentioned before that the single worst airport experience i have ever had was at the hands of inept mostly unhelpful( and in one case downright rude) ground staff at LHR terminal 5. What made it feel worse was the truly exorbitant price I had paid for the tickets. The contrast with the ground experience with Virgin Atlantic on a flight a few weeks later where we were treated as valuable customers from arrival at the mere vicinity of the check-in was amazing. In these days when the continued existence of almost any airline is no longer a given I find this cavalier attitude to customers quite inexplicable.
Thanks Les. There days there is competition on most of BA's routes so its not a given that they're going to retain customers regardless of their service standards.
Quite the eye opener. This experience would be reason to complain on the high-end Middle Eastern and Asian airlines' economy products, let alone business. I've a companion voucher to redeem at some point so hopefully service improves. New subscriber and loving the in-depth content so far!
Thanks Vincent and welcome! A sample of 1 so not typical of BA's offering, but from the comments you can probably see that this type of poor service isn't as uncommon as we (and BA) would like!
I've just discovered your channel! That looks like a terrible experience with BA on that occasion. Although not always the best, I like AA when doing US transatlantic travel, the hard product is pretty consistent across the fleet (unlike the club world/Suites difference) and the service/soft product is usually ok too.
Hi Ian - thanks for watching. Flown American a couple of times and its a very decent offering. Always found the crew to be a bit aloof and disconnected though...
@@MattsPlanet Have to agree the AA crew seem a little aloof (great choice of words) at times, I generally find the BA crew more personable and professional. I look forward to watching more of your videos :)
love your breakfast comment. last year in CW I ended up asking them to get me an economy breakfast as all they had loaded in club was omelets, which I don't eat!
Thanks Lawrence - I was quite shocked a year after this video to see the exact same breakfast served in club - I assumed it was a thrift measure that would quickly pass!
MIA is one of the worst airports in the world. The oneworld business checkin and security line is longer than most economy lines around the world, and some of the gates are about 30+ minutes walk after security, total joke of an airport. That breakfast service is the reason I have only flown QR for the last two years and not BA, complete joke at this point, can see nothing has changed
Thanks Immy - my Australian side can make a nickname out of anything... Miami has trains but you still seem to need to walk for ever to get to them... Would have been a short journey from the security to the gate had I not gone to the flagship lounge... Qatar is great but it does add a bit of flying time for a London to Miami itinerary!
It's the number of videos with similar experiences to yours on BA premium cabins that really dissuades me treating myself and purchasing a ticket with them for anything other than an economy flight and even then if there is an alternative with a rival at a similar or slightly higher premium price I won't use them then either. The route network and flight times are the only attractive aspects of booking a BA flight for someone without much status or points with an airline or group. I'll make my own poor mans business class with BA and bank on getting an empty row to myself to put my feet up (which is surprising often with such low load factors recently). The middle eastern carriers certainly embarrass them. I recently received excellent service with Etihad to and From Abu Dhabi traveling in Business, with one of the lounge attendants even knocking on the shower room door in the lounge to inform me that boarding had started when I was in the shower, service of an extra dish or drink not on the menu onboard, al a carte dining etc... that's what you call premium service and it's only possible when you have well trained attentive crew and a solid hard and soft product.
Thanks Scott. I read something on a Facebook forum from a BA Gold Guest List member who met with a senior BA bod to moan about how bad BA was. He reported that the BA person said their First class is not trying to compete with the Middle Eastern 3, so I assume they don't think their business class does either. Quite an admission...
Interestingly, much of the middle east was greatly influenced by the British, and their hospitality and politeness and fondness for tea seems to be more British than the actual British these days ;) Anyway, hope my babble was not too ridiculous & may you have a lovely day
Hello Matt! I am just discovering your page and find it very informative! I'm scheduled for a BA 380 flight I purposely booked primarily for the A380 Business Class experience. I fly from DFW to London in May to see Elton John and after viewing this video of your BA experience, I am definitely cancelling and re-booking on a American, my primary airline... I had flown British Airways off & on over the last 40 years and was hoping it had progressed to an elite level it once was in the 80's & 90's.... My opinion on whether you were behaving like a DIVA or not? Not at all!! Business Class is a product purchased in any form is expensive and should have a caliber of quality to reference from.... Your experience was way below any Business Class service I've experienced and would rather avoid it..... Thank you for the video!
Thanks Raja. The A380 will have the old seat for a while longer - there are some upsides to it, especially if you're tall and like to sleep without a foot cubby, but overall its a dated product. Interesting to remember it was world leading when it launched.... And I believe the service has recovered from the levels seen in this video... American has its own issues but it not a bad alternative! Diva? Moi???
The standard of catering on flights from MIA seems to be consistently appalling. I’ve flown MIA-LHR 3 times on the A380/747 in both J and Y and each time the catering is has been borderline inedible. Infact those 3 flights are my top 3 worst catering memories from over probably 200 flights! It makes you wonder what makes MIA so appalling? I’ve just flown back from Barbados with VS in Y and that was some of the nicest food I’ve ever eaten on board an aircraft. So good infact i had 2 mains and 3 breakfasts! BA seriously need to up their game. And honestly MIA just seems to be a lost cause on several fronts, not just the food!
Cheers Matt... I'd love to know whether the catering options from Miami are all awful or if BA is too stingy to pay for any of the good stuff! Guessing the Virgin flight wasn't full if they had spare grub lying around???
Spot on review, Matt. It is unfortunate that this is British Airways' new standard. They took a sharp decline in service, catering, seating, and every other aspect of their business and it coincided with the retirement of their 747s which was truly the Queen of the Skies.
Thanks Richard. Lots of decisions seem to have been taken with profit in mind, and annoyingly they seem to mostly have worked, as BA was doing pretty well financially before the pandemic. Then along came Covid, which has driven even more cost saving...
@@MattsPlanet Yes 12,000 staff sacked and the remaining put on new contracts hardly the recipe for a positive workforce. Now that short-term thinking has bitten as they lurch into another crisis of cancelled flights as passenger numbers return
Matt, sorry to see you had such a disappointing experience on this flight. I fly this route multiple times a year in economy with my wife as her family live in Miami. We have often wondered what the service would be like if we were to opt for the business experience (using a Comp Voucher / Avios). Just out of interest are you able to select your seats even on an avios redemption? Thanks
Thanks Rob - always tricky to draw broad conclusions from a flight sample of 1 - I'm sure plenty of trips are memorable for better reasons than this one! I have BA gold so I could book seats on booking - it having been an avios booking didn't make a difference to this ability. Pretty sure an avios booking doesn't entitle you to seat reservations if you don't have status.
Hi Matt, that was appalling service. I hope you got some compensation from BA. I have a question. I have flown in the old BA long haul Cabin many times. Plus BA 1st many times. I’ve also flown in other airlines which have a foot cubby hole like the new BA Club & almost always found it quite restrictive for my size 11 / 12 feet. So I think I may well find the old BA Club more comfortable to sleep in. I’m wondering what your view is? As a tall gent (I’m 6ft 2) do you find the old BA Cub seat better to sleep in than the new BA Club. Finally I’m guessing you still find the BA 1st seat better than both to sleep in? Thanks in advance for your help Spider
Thanks Spider. I've still not flown the BA Club Suite - another attempt this month got thwarted but I'm trying again for December... I'm 6'4" and the old BA seat (and the old Virgin seat, which was designed to compete with BA) are both quite good for tall people and I would prefer them to anything with a foot cubby. Even the "fantastic" QSuite is constricting for tall people. To get the length of an open, old style seat you sacrifice width so both BA and Virgin's old configurations feel cramped, but if sleep is your goal, and you're tall, I'd go old style on both airlines. BA First is the best of both worlds, wide and long without a cubby.
I'm considering flying BA from cph to jnb, so appreciate very much the review of ba bus class. Very odd seating design. Bit of feedback: could not watch scenes of walking and holding camera. I got dizzy and almost seasick. Skipped past them.
@@MattsPlanet This video has really pissed me off and I’m just watching it 😂. I would be so fuming if I had saved all that to receive what was shown in the video. Absolutely unacceptable. They should at least respond promptly!
Customer service directors no longer exist at BA…the new equivalent is an Inflight manager…MIA has developed a bit of a reputation for what you encountered recently…
Cheers Andrew. I'm reliably informed that the title did exist when there were two crew schemes, but it got ditched when they merged the schemes mid-pandemic? Had some good experiences from Miami and some less good ones...
Thanks for corroborating my experience but in premium, so interesting to see the 'quality' runs through! Your comments about the breakfast is spot on and as this has happened to me on several occasions I suspect it is standard. One flight back to Heathrow from Grenada I was greeted by a chilled breakfast box containing a chilled bread roll, butter (that snapped my knife), a small chocolatey breakfast bar and a tub of orange juice. After 9hrs not impressed. Neither were many who just didn't touch it. I was absolutely starving by the time I arrived home. I immediately complained particularly as I was informed at the time the product included an option of a hot breakfast. I eventually received a letter from the infamous Alex Cruz (well a photocopied signature) explaining that this was the standard offer as this is what customers told BA this is what they wanted! Incredible. I haven't flown BA to the Caribbean since. Such a pity for what used to be, and should be, a leading innovative carrier. Just can't fathom the seeming inability/nonchalance of their strategic management to recognise what competitors are doing/racing ahead.
The new guy is making the right noises and I imagine changing BA's culture isn't something that can be done overnight... Flying on them for the first time in 6 months later this month and I'm keen to see if there's been any noticeable changes...
I think your premium economy was much better than this so-called business class I think you must complain about horrible catering and horrible breakfast I mean are you kidding me what kind of breakfast is that they should've served you full English breakfast.
@@MattsPlanet I will never pay for BA business I mean come on you are serving premium economy meals to business class passengers everything on one tray no cocktail service before dinner and economy class breakfast No thank you I don't call this business class.
The premium economy on the way out there was certainly better and I moaned about that in the comments lol. Great video , it's good to point out bad experiences.
I did and was happy with their final offer - I ended up talking to someone in the CEO's office and I can't tell whether I got any preferential treatment as I was making videos about the trips, so I'm not publicising what I ended up being offered... And you're right about the Admiral's Club - I had access to the Flagship lounge which was featured in this video.
@@MattsPlanet Thanks for the update. I asked because I'm taking this same flight in December; upper deck, biz class. Am thinking, like most airlines, BA has the kinks worked out, now. The A380 experience will be a first for me.
@@RTD3 No worries. The Flagship lounge is pretty good (compared to US lounges at least!!!) but it is a real hike from the check in desks and again to the plane... Every day things get a little better so by December I'm optimistic it'll be a good experience. Have a great trip!
That looked appalling Matt ! The scary thing is my last 2 flights from DFW(F) and ATL(J) BEFORE Covid we’re not much better … lounges over crowded and closed early, poor onboard service and shoddy planes. MIA has always had a bad reputation for departures so not surprised at that but the standard of catering in this video is shocking ! I hope BA takes responsibility and gives you something more meaningful than a few 000 Avios compensation.
Crikey. I’d have been spitting feathers! No excuses, although, in my experience, Miami can’t be the best airport to try to deliver a premium service in. By contrast, I recently enjoyed a Club Europe flight from Lanzarote which was flawless.
@@MattsPlanet The thing is, I know yours was a reward flight but the guy in the next seat could have paid a £3000 price premium over the cost of an economy seat (I just checked - LHR-MIA return mid-May, BA, out Wed, back following Wed). Assuming a 10 hour experience each way, from check-in to Landing, you’re paying £150 each and every hour, just for that premium experience. Airlines would do well to remember that, and keep asking themselves; “How have I justified that £150 spend by the customer in the last hour?” (Clue; sitting on the floor at the gate doesn’t cut it. Neither does having to eat in the dark!)
Are you able to still claim eu delay now we are out? It would be a fair solution ? I would be most annoyed about having to leave the Lounge so early...
Thanks Richard. The EU compo was too much detail to include in this video - I may talk about it in the follow up video when (if???) BA responds. When we left the EU everything passed into UK law so the EU261 claim still exists. The only amendment was was to change the Euros into Pounds... But for a flight of this length it needed to be a 3 hour minimum delay for a payment to trigger (I think!!!) We were "only" 2 and a bit hours late in the end.
Thanks TJ - I think that's right for Mixed Fleet crews, which I think this team was... No-one on the team over the age of 35, which I believe is a reliable way of distinguishing a Mixed Fleet crew from a Worldwide one! I think the title persists in the Worldwide fleet as the unions won't let them change the structure - delighted to be corrected if I've got that wrong!
Hey Mat! Worldwide, MF and eurofleet have all merged now (since covid) hence the new names- no more fleets :O maybe it was by chance you had a younger crew? I’ve definitely noticed the mix of everyone on recent flights :)
That's really interesting! I'm quite surprised they were able to merge them as it was such a big deal to the unions. I guess it was inevitable as the Worldwide fleet "matured" (so to speak). The crew on this flight was pretty young overall - as I get older I find it harder to judge people's ages though!
Wow! I am considering using AA miles to fly to London from the US which will be on a BA flight. Since this would be in business class, I wonder whether it is such a great idea. Especially the extra $750 odd for taxes and fees! of and yes, the $100 to book a specific seat. Maybe I should cough up extra miles and fly with a different AA affiliate carrier?
Thanks Ken. This is a sample of 1 experience which isn't enough to make a huge strategic decision from... Thousands of people have great experiences every day with BA - I'm part of several forums on Facebook and elsewhere where you see great reviews of BA club on a regular business. But you do see a number (dozens?) of negative experiences right now. The "you know what" is making it difficult for every airline right now - not just because of the service decisions they have taken but also a of lot behind the scenes stuff, from crew scheduling and absences to ground staff and catering teams' scheduling and absences and so on. So I think you have to expect it to not be a normal experience and to be pleased if it is. On this flight, a lot went wrong and it was unacceptable overall but that doesn't mean it will happen to you... But thanks for watching!
Keep in mind Ken, AA and BA aren't the only games in town when it comes to booking award flights. There's also FinnAir too! That being said, I haven't set foot on a FinnAir flight, so it may be worthwhile to look at a trip report there.
@@MattsPlanet wow Matt - I’m super impressed that you replied! Respect! I work in the service industry myself and believe me, customers can be very demanding, but half the time they haven’t a clue what it is they actually want! I really recommend you try South Africa though, it’s my favourite place for holidays. In fact, I’ve taken five different people there (including my mother who was terrified), all of whom enjoyed it - and all of whom said it wasn’t like they expected! 🇿🇦
@@CosmicPanda855 No worries - it was a valuable comment. I pushed some of the UA-cam boundaries with the intro and the general sense of drama - it doesn't come easy to do that and its fair to be called out about having gone a shade too far in one respect. I've worked with some excellent customer service teams in my past life and any shortcomings have almost always come from poor leadership from above rather than from a lack of application on the part of the team, so I am 100% with you on that point. Also with you on South Africa - never been but it is high on the list. Cheers!
Wow, shocking experience! 😬 maybe you had the same seat/ottoman that I had on their A380 which kept collapsing in flight on my honeymoon flight! It was certainly annoying. It would be nice to think that the service in the new product is overall much better. I'm keen to find out
Thanks Michael. Originally this trip was booked as First out and Club Suites back, but as it was a reward flight I ended up with Premium economy out and the Club dormitory back... Annoying that they charge pretty much the same for Club suites as they do for the Dorm and schedule them interchangeably... Trying to get on a club suites flight but its getting harder rather than easier given everything going on right now!
Enjoyed the last video Matt and was keen to see this, which I also really enjoyed. Sad how bad BA is now. I used to fly with them often from Australia to the UK via Singapore and had fond memories on the 747 and 777. However it seems like their services in business and economy have dropped substantially these days .. You’re definitely not overreacting at all in this!
Thanks Owen. I keep defending BA in the comments by saying this flight is a sample of one, but I also keep seeing comments from people agreeing that they're a shadow of their former selves... As long as the pandemic is hovering we'll never really know how much is down to that versus BA cost-cutting - hopefully 2022 will start to give us answers! Thanks for the support.
@@MattsPlanet Quite true Matt we'll have to wait to judge. Though complaints about BA's standards were common long before Covid. Remember the days of Alex Cruz CEO - who initiated the cost cutting drive. I had a neighbour a BA employee for 20yrs and he would regal me with behind the scenes practices. His regular moan was how standards had fallen or more telling what staff were being told to do.
@@MattsPlanet Yeah it is close enough to make a good stab at it so worth a slight blur. How was BA's response to your complaint which I presume you have sent? I had a series of less severe than yours bad experiences and found avios are longer available as compensation as they were in the past to my disappointment.
Complaint is in - taking up to 28 days for a response so probably a while to wait yet... It will be interesting... No avios these days as people can cash them in at Sainsburys so there's a real cost to that form of compensation. Not sure how many other levers they have to pull though! Will do an update video as and when...
this is the second time ive seen your video and im still shocked ..... i would be raging at the service that you have been treated to by MIA and BA ive flown BA a few times ( club) and never had this sort of treatment i dont think i would email them about it .. i would be going to BA offices in person !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! did you call the gold line??????? anyway hope you got it resolved thanks for the video
Quite a lot of back and forth after this video but I ended up happy with what BA offered. I was quite shocked though perhaps a year later to see someone else given that exact same breakfast...
We used to fly BA from Phoenix to LHR often when we lived in Arizona, and the flights were never anything to write home about, and more likely than not were running late. It was odd too that each time we landed at LHR we always were out on the tarmac having to walk down the stairs and take a bus to the terminal, being one legged made it somewhat precarious. But we no longer live in AZ so we travel with other airlines now. Your experience was as one says, unacceptable. And the 25 pounds is a laugh.
Hi Matt. I really love watching your videos. I recently started following your channel as I wanted to rake up my tier points for the BA’s executive club. I’ll be grateful for your advice. I’m planning to fly to New Delhi from London and noticed BA doesn’t have First class. Watching your experience in this video , should I fly Ba’s codeshare airline to earn tier points (I think it’s only on Finnair (which have a tier bonus) or Qatar (which doesn’t have tier bonus)? Or should I take a risk and fly BA ? Thank you
Hi V C. Thanks for watching! If you're talking about Tier Points, there's no bonus for flying on a specific airline. Indeed BA would earn 140 each way, while adding the extra stop would mean you earn 80 + 140 for Finnair and 140 + 80 for flying Qatar. There is an avios bonus for flying on certain airlines. In business class as a gold (to illustrate) flying BA earns 100%, American earns 100%, Finnair earns 25% and Qatar earns 0%. You can see these bonuses on this page: www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/flights Delhi doesn't yet have flights on BA's Club Suite so the "Club Dormitory" is as good as you'll get on BA... So if you're maximising avios, fly BA. Maximising tier points - fly Finnair or Qatar. Maximise in-flight experience - probably Qatar although the new Finnair seat is well regarded. Assuming of course that all options cost the same! Plenty of BA club experiences are very good, even in the old club, but a few (like my Miami experience) are not so good...
@@MattsPlanet thank you so much . I have a voucher for a just over £1k with BA and I’m doing some European travel in Business class and wanted to accumulate tier points to go to Silver or Gold status within this year . BA and Finnair is almost the same price for Business Class, and Qatar is pricier by around £500 pounds on the dates I want to fly. I’ll explore more and watch more of your videos to get the jist 😅
Hi matt , A great review as always. We had a terrible economy flight with BA flying back from the Maldives in November, the service was awful and the food was even worse. I didn't expect that from BA in economy so i do feel for you after paying for business class product which looks no better than what we had.
Thanks Johny. I can except a certain reduction in expectations from the "you know what" but a reduction to the degree we both seem to have experienced isn't acceptable... The complaint is in and we'll see what they say!
Having flown to JFK just a few weeks back in the new Club Suite, i came crashing back down when returning from MEX last week in the old club cabin. The new service is night and day and just shows up how tired the old Club cabin is. The sooner BA retire it, the better.
Thanks Paul - good to hear. Been booked in the new club suites three times now I think and each one got cancelled so really keen to experience it. Will be hard to go back to the dormitory I think!
I have no sympathy as BA no longer offers a premium service - the assumption it would was completely misplaced on your part. Everything and everyone at BA like many airlines has undergone serious cost cutting apart from the ticket prices. Miami is also a leisure route so probably not a top BA priority. Not as it should be but representative of air travel in 2021 and the world of the Ryanair business model.
Thanks for watching! Call me old fashioned, but I remember "the good old days" so still associate "Club World" with decent service and edible food! New leadership at BA which says they want to back away from the low cost model but no signs of success as yet...
Hi Diva Matt, I totally agree, that certainly wasn't a "Premium Experience" :-) ...but it did make for a very good video! I hope BA get in touch and rectify this. ATB Paul
I'm my experience, typical BA and Miami flight experience. Avoid both if I can. I live in Houston and would rather take KLM through AMS to get to the UK than BA direct to Heathrow.
Thanks - seems to be the general consensus!
I haven’t flown BA since 2019 so don’t know how they are at the moment. Previously I used them on my regular GRU-LHR flight and they were fine. I know there are better products but I had no complaints re comfort, service, food and reliability. Service never less than efficient and I always managed at least 6/7 hours sleep. Later this year I’m trying KLM simply because they offered me a better deal even though it won’t be direct I don’t mind because of the substantial saving.
Matt the inflight experience was totally unacceptable! There are only so many things that can be blamed on the pandemic and sending you to the gate 3 hours early is not one of them. I recall when flying Swiss business on a late night flight they gave each passenger the individual option of an abbreviated service, which makes more sense. I'm flying JFK-LHR in late January and hoping for a much better experience!
Thanks Craig. Sadly I don't fly BA J often enough to know whether they used to offer individual service on flights like this but as I said in the vid, a scheduled post-midnight departure is a different issue to a delayed post-midnight departure...
And this is BUSINESS CLASS? Seriously ?
@@MattsPlanet It's good that you'd had the chance to travel to many countries throughout the world over the years. In many ways, it sounds exciting, after all, you only live once, get alot out of life when you can. And traveling the world is a great way to do that. Unfortunately, not every experience is going to be a good one, and I'm sorry your BA flight Miami to LHR was not a good one. But, at least you've tried many new things, and it sounds like you'll try many more in the future.
@@alvexok5523 Not having any kids helps...
@@MattsPlanet that's true. I've got no kids either and am 47, and don't want to have them in future either
Eating in the dark is a new one on me. I hope BA comeback with a reasonable rely.
Thanks Mr H. Breath is not held that BA will salvage this experience when they reply!
Pretty much sums up every BA experience from the past couple of years to be honest. Quite sad!
Thanks Darren. I'm quite shocked that so many people have made this kind of comment... People are more likely to highlight a negative experience than they are a positive one, but leaving a comment on a YT video takes relatively little effort, so I don't think you'll find such a negativity bias unless BA really were awful!
I love your videos and you were such a grumpy bastard on this one - I was tempted to add patreon :-)
That flight was the worst I've ever filmed! I think I could have been grumpier!!!!
We have blamed a lot on COVID - some justifiable, some not so much. The, "you get paid whether or not you come to work or not" is definitely not a Florida thing - the state of Florida was the most aggressive at getting people back to work as their economy depends on tourism. Must have been an American/BA issue. Asking you to leave the sanctuary of the lounge was just wrong - needed better communication between gate and lounge. Your inflight experience was not what you had paid for - even thought you were using a twofer. Those twofers also have a cost - years of loyalty and paying additional costs to show loyalty - unacceptable result. What a disappointment.
Indeed! I got the impression that state laws came second to company policy but whether that was actually the case or not is the question! As with the early dispatch from the lounge, communication was virtually non-existant!
I can’t believe what I’ve just watched! Poor you. What a shambolic experience! And how on earth can they explain that breakfast?! 🤯 penny pinching to the extreme and then they will wonder why people will flee to the competition. Crazy.
When the cabin crew think the brekky is embarrassing you know BA has some issues at the management level!
Similar experience to what I’ve had with BA during Covid. Sadly the standards have also dropped with Qantas and Iberia. I expect better from Oneworld.
Thanks Joshua. Tempting to blame the pandemic for all of this but I think at least part of it was good old fashioned incompetence, probably amplified by the belief that it can be blamed on the pandemic!
Could you explain how the standards have dropped on Qantas? I've started flying them recently having been given QF Gold status via a status match on my United Premier Gold status. Overall, I found the lounges at SYD, MEL, BNE and DRW to be lovely indeed. I was also particularly surprised by the on-board service even in economy with hot food items being served on domestic flights. Had this been American Airlines, I'd be lucky with a stroopwaffel and can of Diet Coke on a 10 hour flight to Honolulu.
Never understood why companies make their staff outright lie to their customers, and expect people not to get mad at them.
I always make it clear to the poor sods that I'm angry at the company not them personally.
Its a great point and something I try to do too... After doing this for a while, you can usually tell a) when someone has no clue and their employer has hung them out to dry b) when they've made a whoopsie and deviated from procedures. My approach to the individual varies accordingly!!
The only good thing about non flagship flights with BA is normally the service.
There's been some reports of excellent service back on board so I hope this is true!
BA crew are so hit or miss, if your seated at the back of business it’s also hit or miss if you get the mains of your choice and why someone paying thousands of pounds to fly in business are forced still to pay to reserve their seat choice. BA are pretty awful
They've been more miss than hit for me of late! The seat reservation thing is quite odd - I talked about it in a recent video... BA is really unusual in not offering seat selection to business travellers - they keep it as a benefit for their status members. Status members absolutely love it, non-status holders absolutely hate it!! At least with the club suites, its not such a big deal as all of the seats are very similar...
Unbelievable
..I'm so sorry...I cant believe it ..and I'm from UK ..to..omg x
It's ok.... Therapy got me through it!
Not trying to defend them but any delays with customer documentation checks is out of BA’s control it’s an immigration issue & unfortunately as you mentioned the airport dictates things especially when out of London. In regards to the service I’m sorry to hear that, it’s to maximise customer rest you are right, but MOST importantly due to the unforeseen delay, the crew are legally to operate certain amount of hours & they need to get their rest so they do not go out of their legal hours which are dictated by the CAA.The hours start from the time they get picked up from hotel (clock in for duty) and so for example they are rostered for 8 hr duty but there is a 3 hr delay that means 11 hours duty which requires more rest time for them for safety reasons & Failure to comply with this would lead to the airline losing their operating license. And these hours differ for flight crew and cabin crew, so you might get cabin crew within their hours but if flight crew go out of their hours that plane is not going anywhere so one of the reasons why flights get cancelled for this reason. So if you have let’s say 11hr duty , and the CAA requires 1hr 30 mins for rest (these are rotated) and it turns out you can’t have the whole crew have 1hr 30 mins break, it’s a no brainier the flight will be cancelled or at the captains discretion they can cancel the first or second service to maximise the rest time but again this has to be approved & it’s all about safety above anything else as let’s be honest you wouldn’t want a tired cabin crew looking after your safety when they are tired and sleepy and emergency occurs and they are not at their 100%.
Therefore the only options left are to either cancel the flight or do the express service so that they can have the legal rest to be able to continue their duties legally which are not set by BA but all airlines have to comply with. It’s just the same as asking someone to do a 11hr shift without their legal required rest as cabin crew have to be on the lookout for things like medical emergencies, fire hazard, security &checking in on the flight crew on a regular along with doing service, let’s just remember these people are there mostly for our safety and of course service but safety is 90% of their job and the rest is service. Reason I know I was cabin crew before myself so just putting it out there as it saddens me seeing reviews like this with no regard to also the guys working all night sometimes on minimum rest and have to be up all night looking after all of us.
Not ideal but these things do happen in aviation given it’s a highly regulated industry & all is ok when it goes well but not ideal when it does not.
Hopefully you managed to get a better experience!
Did BA offer any type of goodwill gesture afterwards for this poor experience?
They did... It took a while and involved the CEO's office but I was happy in the end... They actually ended up asking me what I thought was fair - I haven't reported it in a video as I think they knew there were videos about so I'm not 100% I got the treatment everyone else would get...
OMG Man you need to sort your filming. It’s like being on a small boat in choppy seas 😂😂
And my camera has image stabilisation too!!!! I have noticed I have a bit of a roll when I'm walking and it is something I am working on, although it doesn't feel natural!!!! Perhaps some anti-nausea pills would help???
Miami airport is one of the worst airport in the world from my experiences.
No disagreement here!
I can understand you that you were not sattisfied with the checkin procedure.
Hopefully these issues are a thing of the past as the you-know-what is behind us....
Definitely a poor service. I would have gone ape even though its not the crews fault
Thanks Craig. Saw a recent report that the exact same breakfast was offered... And the crew were doing their best!
Were you not Gold, you'd have this experience at least a third of the time in CW and WTP...
SpangloQatari Airways, #BestAvoided
I'm sensing some BA related trauma??
@@MattsPlanet MULTIPLE, over years most recently 2months ago: a no notice cancellation with ZERO duty of care support: in person, online or by phone. I am still significantly out of pocket and wasted 2 days including missing a day with Indonesian colleagues who had travelled to the UK to meet me.
BA also failed to load the special meals ordered 2weeks before departure, both outbound and on the eventual return, where I was greeted by a coffee stained seat covered in crumbs...
(ATH to LHR)
Really NOT a business class service and frankly Easyjet would have been half the price and superior service!
I can give many other examples but the one that takes the biscuit was being landed into Delhi for a working day tired (broken seat) and hungry (they "ran out"). Admittedly this was under Cruz but the post flight response?
We owe you nothing as catering is complimentary and the seat isn't guaranteed to recline / convert into lie flat.
#BeyondAbysmal so #FlyAbBA
Completely unacceptable, we had a similar experience in Sept 2018, Club World 747 from O hare to Heathrow, was served a dinner of beef?not sure what it was. Compounding the insults, like you they dimmed the cabin so my mother and myself ate by flashlight!
The amusing thing is before this flight, the 747 had to return to Chicago and make a emergency landing, some idiot had forgotten to remove the pin from the front landing gear.
British Airways??.. Bloody Awful
Not BA's finest hour for either of us... I know a Michelle Taylor who lives in Australia!
@@MattsPlanet small world, we both have Aussie passports....
Hi Matt, i ditched BA years ago, it's so sad how they were once ranked #1 airline in the world by Skytrax, now they don't even make the top thirty. Too many times their stuffy pretentious attitude and poor service has left me disappointed.These days i vote with my wallet, if i fly East i go with Emirates, if i fly West i go VA.....
Thanks Jason. Many are with you! The most disappointing part seems to be that BA doesn't seem to care (or perhaps notice) that so many people with respectable wallets have decided to go elsewhere...
@@MattsPlanet Matt It's so sad, once an icon of the skies, now just a run of the mill airline...
That breakfast was terrible, how can they possibly think that is ok?
Indeed - it was probably the worst I've ever had...
Excellent, no-punches-pulled review, Matt. I fully agree with you that this was totally unacceptable, both on the ground and in the air. I recently had a very disappointing experience on BA 1st class, but that was exclusively down to the sole FA serving only 3 of us in the cabin, being unbelievably incompetent for the duration of the flight (I also remember seeing her arrive late for the flight, rushing past us while in the queue at the gate!)
Cheers - disappointing in business but must have been really disappointing and annoying in F... Did you complain?
Big thank you for this report - i really love your honest trip reporting. What an abysmal experience and what a sad sad joke as a breakfast. Of course, i am a spoiled QR flyer, but this was below any limits. I am very disappointed, because i was putting my hopes a bit on BA. I would love to fly to MIA in 2022, Covid permitting. But after your vid i just dont know what to do.BA would be out after this vid. And my home carrier LH i have been boykotting for 30 years, just because of their hard product. My IFE is the window...but i dont want to climb over anybody. I was thinking of IBERIA, to stay in Oneworld..until i saw a recent video of an Iberia flight from Miami. Their new C policy is that they serve drinks only for meals. Seriously..in Business Class!!! So you get a drink for dinner leaving MIA...and the next one for breakfast. During the flight you may fill up your mini water bottle from 1.5 l water bottles on display in the galley. So Iberia is out as well. American carriers i have been boycotting for 30 years like my home carrier - who has nicer crews, though. But US crews tend to think they owe the plane..and above all: they seem to force you to sit in the dark even on day flights from Europe to the US..a total nightmare for me. So whats left? Air Portugal with their new A330s looks nice. In Air France: good food, but you can end up in very old 2.2.2 seats. KLM? Depends on the aircraft and seat arrangements... great crews, bu very mediocre food and wines..they dont like to spend money on this. Finnair maybe? Could be expensive to route there from western Europe. Do you have more experience with flights to the US? Maybe the new ITA? Kind regards!
Thanks Homer. Over the last few years (pre pandemic at least!) I flew East more than West so am also a big Qatar fan - I miss that stupid enormous teddy bear!!! I do have a United Polaris / Air Canada trip booked to North America but the event I was expecting to attend is likely to be cancelled. TAP is interesting (although there are mixed reviews of the service) and ITA would be interesting... Tricky to commit to anything right now though given the panic that is spreading...
And this is BUSINESS CLASS? Seriously ?
That's what they advertised it as being!
@@MattsPlanet shocking. How much for a ticket ?
Couple of grand? This was a redemption so it was still hundreds in taxes
@@MattsPlanet is business class better then first class? Which is higher level ?
@@IWTBF Generally.... First beats business... But in the US, the highest class is called First, even though the product is almost always inferior to an international business class product... And people will argue that Qatar's QSuites are better than some other airline's first class... But in general, its economy, premium economy, business then first. Cheers!
Matt , Watching this video both the experience at the airport and also onboard are completely unacceptable. Especially eating in the dark and being sent to wait at a gate for hours not a fan of the new seats but just personal preference. Had many a good flight with them but this is not good by any means and many aspects cannot be blamed on covid i feel . Hopefully BA come back with a good response
Thanks Jack. As I've said in a few responses to comments, this is a sample of 1, although plenty of people have commented that similar things have been happening to them...
I would have hit the roof….
The service is not acceptable…They should have given you a voucher..
Its a few months later now but I still remember how dreadful that breakfast was!!!
I’m going to try the airportr service in the next few weeks as flying terminal 5 to SD? Have you used this service before.
I’m watching all your old status run videos interesting watch. Bucharest and Sofia have become my destinations of choice now.
Two more flights and I get silver status finally horah
@@RandomLifeProductions I've not used Airportr - I tend to be HBO whenever humanly possible - but I have a generally good impression of them from what I've seen. Probably a good idea for a video next time I do go somewhere with luggage!
I prefer Bucharest to Sofia - there's a couple of nice tank beer bars there which I can happily wile away a summer's evening if I have an overnight there at the beginning or end of a trip!
For business class that was a joke. 1/10.
I agree!
Hi Matt, I just flew back from MCO to LHR, BA economy. While waiting at our gate at MCO, an announcement for an Air Canada flight suggested that the passengers from Orlando to Calgary buy food and drink for their flight as none had been loaded onto it. I chuckled. That was until after we took off, an announcement was made stating there was no alcohol on board and a limited supply of fizzy drinks. Now I’m not an alcoholic, but I do like a beer or two with my pretzels and a glass of wine with my dinner. Not to be lol. I had to settle for a half cup of Diet Coke. Food in economy, absolutely disgusting, why do they bother? As for the breakfast, believe me, yours was better, I was served the driest croissant with cheeses and tomato chutney that you will ever eat, it literally sucked the moisture out of your mouth. The problem then was there was hardly any drinks left on the plane to relieve the discomfort. Come on BA, yes I was economy, but you can do better than that. I have flown with you for over 30 years, although never great in economy, that was the worst food I have ever been served on an airplane. Covid is not an excuse for appalling service.
Thanks Stephen. Really sorry to hear about your experience. I have complained about my experience, and I have urged BA to take a look at the video, but more importantly to read the comments as there have been a number of reports of inadequate service (although yours sounds like one of the worst experiences). But BA seems to be stubbornly ploughing ahead regardless of the negativity their scrimping is generating. I feel sorry for the staff - they are delivering what they are being instructed to deliver, and in your case what they find has been delivered to the plane. It can't be fun for them, and they have to spout the party line when responding to angry passengers. Something has to give and the response to the video is that people will fly with someone else...
@@MattsPlanet I totally agree, I used to swear by Virgin Atlantic but BA won me over. Now I will look elsewhere when booking future trips. It’s not all about cost, flying to me is such an amazing experience. Be First, business or coach, it’s special. You want the experience to match, alas my flight two days ago was an example of how the world has changed and not for the better. Again, come on BA, you can do much better.
Adding to your reply, I could not fault the staff onboard my flight. It’s the goods at their disposal that is the problem.
@@MattsPlanet Hit the nail on the head. Apparently many staff were particularly against/suffered when BA stopped offering food on flights.
First of all, interesting video Matt, I really enjoy the content. I have to say tho, I do get stories from an (annoyingly arrogant) family member which obtained platinum status for life. Example, demanding a hotel upgrade because of BS reasons or calling the airline mentioning their frequent flyer status (which is highly above average) demanding compensation and getting it to satisfy their pathetic complaints. So I know what arrogant bussiness class customers can be like. Now, on your reportage, my conclution would be, you are mostly right.
Delays can occur, inconvenience can be a result and crew can be held to procedures. You got the lounge access, misinformation was by the lounge agent, not by BA.
Although, seeing the full experience and other details, this ticket would not have been worth my money at all, by no means, with the [explanationmark] SERVICE for the cabin you flew in.
I think it's not to blame the crew, but the operations side is surely to blame.
If this was my first experience on a premium BA product, I'd try elsewhere for sure. Again, not because of the front line of people, but definitely because of the operations (2nd and 3rd layer of people) that made this experience unworthy of the product advertised. Unacceptable 200%, but not on the front-line hard working employees that have to execute and deal with what has been decided higher up nor the influence they had on the Airport side (apart from check-in maybe). Nevertheless, the ticket was not as promised by experience at all and I too would be unhappy with it.
As you can see, you got me going, so the video was epic. Thanks and see you next Sunday Matt!!
Thanks as always Peter. It was interesting to experience that flight knowing I'd be making a video about it. I aim to be balanced and I hope I made it clear that I thought the crew was doing a good job and was following the BA procedures... But it was a terrible experience. I didn't mention in the video, but when I spoke to the cabin services manager at the end of the flight I did say I would be making a video about it. Not in an arrogant "Do You Know Who I Am" kind of way, but for full disclosure as I thought it was the fair thing to do. Not that it seems to have made a difference as there's been no correspondence from BA since the flight... But if shining a light on the experience makes a positive difference to everyone else's future experiences, then it will have been worthwhile. Thanks for the support and next Sunday's video isn't going to be about BA!
BA have become an embarrassment to have as a national carrier. No excuse for that at all. I feel for the poor folks who shelled out thousands of pounds for that. I'm sure they will throw you a few avios in response to your complaint. But nothing will change, the writing is on the wall. I purely use BA for avios redemptions through the amex 2 for 1 but even just paying the taxes and fees feel too much for what you get!! I would never, ever choose BA for an outright cash purchase
Thanks Phin. Its sad to feel that way about them, but their actions are creating this issue!
Totally agree. For the 25 years my company forced us to travel with them I prayed someone would put them out of my misery and close them down. Then Cruz and his budget airline management team went the whole hog and removed any trace of BA as a premium airline (apart from the fares).
Like you, I’d never pay to fly with them with my own money.
'Covid' strikes again, the new 'data protection'. Certainly not the experience that you paid for. Business and First charge a premium for a better experience; all cabins get you there. It is difficult to know how much leeway to allow for staff shortages etc. I am seeing this is a problem in hotels and elsewhere. That said, they could be proactive and deal with circumstances much better.
Flying the same route CW on the A380 both ways. Hopefully, there will be an improvement on your experience.
Thanks, Matt. Good video as always.
Thanks Barry. Things seem to be on the upswing so hopefully they've sorted the root of the issues I experienced when you fly... 5 ground staff is not enough for an A380!!!
Agree. Not acceptable BA.😟
It's wasn't fun!
How do I get into that lounge pls
Gold or silver status in oneworld... As its the US, having the right credit card is more important than travelling in a premium cabin...
I also travel a lot and will in the coming months have my first flight on BA. I agree that having people, especially in Business Class, eat in the dark is unacceptable. I can understand if everyone had the same amount of time to finish eating, but this clearly wasn't the case here.
Thanks - I hope your upcoming flight is good - there's hundreds a day that go well so you should be lucky, statistically speaking!
Typical Britsh understatement Matt😂😂. That entire experience is inexcusable, surely hope your complaint is attended to. Let us know the outcome. If that is business class service out of a First world city, I dread to contemplate what we would receive out of SA on BA🤔
You may be right Peet - as I said at the start, I find it hard to get too animated about this kind of thing - may hamper my UA-cam journey! A sample of 1 is not enough to draw a broad conclusion from - many of my previous Club experiences were much better.
Entertaining video as always. Sorry that you had to endure that ordeal to have something to amuse us with.
Four check-in desks for an A380 service!?! I'm sure I've seen more than that for a sole A320/737 flight.
Didn't the satellite terminal have an AA lounge you could take a seat in?
Unfortunately travelling in the West post-COVID is not the best decision with such staffing levels. With supply (staffing levels) mismatching demand (travellers), this isn't something I would look forward to, on top of rising prices.
No lounges in the satellite - quite a hike back to get to any... This was a while back now and I think things are better!
Sadly Matt it’s seems to be the normal standard from BA, the crew however are 99% superb. It’s just such a shame it’s the so-called UK national carrier, I find any complaint is dismissed by BA because you actually only pay hundreds or thousands of pounds for them to fly you to your destination, everything else is secondary and not part of the cost. Sadly if anything goes wrong or your expectations are far to high, they just quote T and C’s and ignore you and move on to the next complaint I always wonder if this really worth paying for the service. I really do struggle, I just like things to be done right and respected as a customer, it rarely happens and I’ve learnt to lower my expectations, I’m a lot less disappointed now. Keep up your good work, a true and honest approach. Thanks.
Thanks for the kind words Oliver - I will keep it up! We'll see what they say!
That is very poor have flown BA in J on many occasions and I would be apoplectic if that was my experience. I hope my trip on the same flight next year is rather better!
Thanks Paul. This was my worst BA J experience and I'm sure it was an outlier - still annoying to have hit that outlier though!
Your bad experience would have made a good plot for a Flying Fawlty Towers. I presume some of this was down to Covid issues. Thankfully I can say newer BA aircraft with a herringbone arrangement is far superior to the old, awful 2-4-2 configuration, the food has improved considerably and the overall experience significantly better. It's particularly frustrating to be in boarding area for 2 hours or so with little/no comms on what is happening.
This flight was December 2021 so still in the after throes of it all... Still not been on a club suite but I am booked to fly them!
This is a joke!
Sadly not...
This sort of service really concerns me. As a family of four, we fly very little, but have been collecting Avios for a few years, saving for a special tripped to be book for a couple of years time. I have never flown business before, and ~4 years of Avios saving (and the expectation which goes with it) for this kind of experience would be awful. An absolute shocker from BA.
Thanks Oliver. This is a sample of 1 and lots of people still have excellent experiences with BA, so I wouldn't give up completely on BA. A route like New York which sees much more traffic and is serviced by Club Suite aircraft is lower risk than Miami, which is quite widely regarded as being a poor airport to transit even when things go well. But you can use Avios on other airlines, like Qatar so there are options!
One important thing to realize about Avios Oliver is you don't have to book award tickets on British Airways. In fact it may even be favourable to book on other partner airlines, particularly if the carrier surcharges are lower, the timing is more favourable and of course if the inflight and ground service is good. Some international partners you can use your Avios on include American Airlines, FinnAir, Qantas, Malaysian Airlines, Japan Airlines to name but a few.
That was a good one Matt, at least you got something to eat, on your flight home returning from the Caribbean, we were in the second last row of the 777 business class, by the time they got to us all the none vegetarian meals were gone so got a vegetarian which was disgusting did not eat it. Only had the light breakfast they serve before landing complained to the crew but of no use so wrote to BA when home and got by there standards a generous 2000 Avios miles pathetic.
Hope we hear the outcome of your complaint Matt plus the video will help, maybe the new big chief of BA might see it.
Cheers Peter - thanks for watching. Running out of non-veggie food is quite unpleasant... 2000 avios would be worth £16 at Sainsbury's... We'll see if BA feels the need to make proper amends!
I feel your pain Peter. BA product/experience from the Caribbean a lot to improve. My experiences of the breakfasts + the old Club World on 777-200 not good enough. What made it worse I was told their breakfast offering was what customers 'wanted' + informed the new Club Suites wouldn't be on 777-200 till 2024 earliest. However it seems from Matt's experiences a Club Suite booking isn't a guarantee you'll actually get it (but still pay the same fare). Have no complaints with service/staff in my experience they are wonderful. Fly Virgin Atlantic now whenever on that route. Those negative factors + deal-breaker VA flies from LHR (avoid that trek to LGW).
I avoid BA at all cost, unless for flying to Bru to see family!
I have two 241 vouchers sitting in my account, yet decided to use ALL my avios on 158 bottles of red wine via the reward portal!!!!
I fly klm or Air france at late from NCL! from Ams or Bru
The avios were not wasted!!! BA just tweaked the twofer so you can now use it for a single redemption with 50% off the avios cost - that's really helpful for me and might make them a little more usable???
Another very honest video Matt and I think your litany of complaints are entirely justified.
The lack of information by airport staff has been a perennial complaint for as long as I’ve been flying.
Why do they not understand that people will tolerate delays much better if they are given regular updates on what is happening? Is it really that ground staff don’t feel they have the authority to make customer facing announcements?
Will be very interested to hear what BAs response is to your observations.
Thanks Tony. No-one amongst the ground crew seemed to be particularly senior which probably didn't help the communication...
Is this dude seriously complaining about immediate post lockdown service? Yikes.
Hi Alex. I'm complaining about service received 9 months after UK lockdown ended. Service which BA acknowledged was unacceptable and compensated me for...
3:02; maybe a lot of people weren’t aware that an A380 was coming and thought a 777/A350 or a Dreamliner was coming to Miami
I don't think so - that's been an A380 service for a long time.... Wow I was grumpy in that video!!!!
What a bad experience. This show I'll never fly BA. I use KLM and Air France exxelent service and great food on long distance flights!!!
Very good options, particularly if you live outside of London...
"Looked like a refugee camp"... Interesting analogy.
An informative review nonetheless
History has not done that phrase any favours, I will admit! But thanks for watching anyway!
I think you've come up with BAs new tagline. British Airways, not a premium experience.
My royalty percentages are really quite reasonable!
As always BA ignore complaints, or send a copy and paste patronising email in response, with no redress. Unacceptable.
It wasn't great! A little more success with an escalation to the CEO's office...
I guess I have a stoic view of this fiasco. How long it will be that we live with limiting elements from the pandemic like staffing - my thoughts are it could be longer than we think. Certainly you should have been generously compensated. I’m seeing myself as more putting myself in the shoes of others. The nice cabin manager for example.
Cheers Scott. It is easy to be outraged about anything less then perfection, when we should perhaps be thankful that the airlines have been able to do what was necessary to survive, so that we still have the option to fly. Its a fine line to tread but there are still basic non-negotiables that should be honoured even if short cuts are being taken, and I think this flight fell well short on the basics.
I may have mentioned before that the single worst airport experience i have ever had was at the hands of inept mostly unhelpful( and in one case downright rude) ground staff at LHR terminal 5. What made it feel worse was the truly exorbitant price I had paid for the tickets. The contrast with the ground experience with Virgin Atlantic on a flight a few weeks later where we were treated as valuable customers from arrival at the mere vicinity of the check-in was amazing. In these days when the continued existence of almost any airline is no longer a given I find this cavalier attitude to customers quite inexplicable.
Thanks Les. There days there is competition on most of BA's routes so its not a given that they're going to retain customers regardless of their service standards.
Quite the eye opener. This experience would be reason to complain on the high-end Middle Eastern and Asian airlines' economy products, let alone business. I've a companion voucher to redeem at some point so hopefully service improves. New subscriber and loving the in-depth content so far!
Thanks Vincent and welcome! A sample of 1 so not typical of BA's offering, but from the comments you can probably see that this type of poor service isn't as uncommon as we (and BA) would like!
I've just discovered your channel! That looks like a terrible experience with BA on that occasion. Although not always the best, I like AA when doing US transatlantic travel, the hard product is pretty consistent across the fleet (unlike the club world/Suites difference) and the service/soft product is usually ok too.
Hi Ian - thanks for watching. Flown American a couple of times and its a very decent offering. Always found the crew to be a bit aloof and disconnected though...
@@MattsPlanet Have to agree the AA crew seem a little aloof (great choice of words) at times, I generally find the BA crew more personable and professional. I look forward to watching more of your videos :)
love your breakfast comment. last year in CW I ended up asking them to get me an economy breakfast as all they had loaded in club was omelets, which I don't eat!
Thanks Lawrence - I was quite shocked a year after this video to see the exact same breakfast served in club - I assumed it was a thrift measure that would quickly pass!
It sure does look like a refugee camp -picture/video worth a thousand words....
I think I'd probably prefer to be in Miami rather than a refugee camp, but I guess I made the point!
MIA is one of the worst airports in the world. The oneworld business checkin and security line is longer than most economy lines around the world, and some of the gates are about 30+ minutes walk after security, total joke of an airport.
That breakfast service is the reason I have only flown QR for the last two years and not BA, complete joke at this point, can see nothing has changed
Thanks Immy - my Australian side can make a nickname out of anything... Miami has trains but you still seem to need to walk for ever to get to them... Would have been a short journey from the security to the gate had I not gone to the flagship lounge... Qatar is great but it does add a bit of flying time for a London to Miami itinerary!
It's the number of videos with similar experiences to yours on BA premium cabins that really dissuades me treating myself and purchasing a ticket with them for anything other than an economy flight and even then if there is an alternative with a rival at a similar or slightly higher premium price I won't use them then either. The route network and flight times are the only attractive aspects of booking a BA flight for someone without much status or points with an airline or group. I'll make my own poor mans business class with BA and bank on getting an empty row to myself to put my feet up (which is surprising often with such low load factors recently).
The middle eastern carriers certainly embarrass them. I recently received excellent service with Etihad to and From Abu Dhabi traveling in Business, with one of the lounge attendants even knocking on the shower room door in the lounge to inform me that boarding had started when I was in the shower, service of an extra dish or drink not on the menu onboard, al a carte dining etc... that's what you call premium service and it's only possible when you have well trained attentive crew and a solid hard and soft product.
Thanks Scott. I read something on a Facebook forum from a BA Gold Guest List member who met with a senior BA bod to moan about how bad BA was. He reported that the BA person said their First class is not trying to compete with the Middle Eastern 3, so I assume they don't think their business class does either. Quite an admission...
Interestingly, much of the middle east was greatly influenced by the British, and their hospitality and politeness and fondness for tea seems to be more British than the actual British these days ;) Anyway, hope my babble was not too ridiculous & may you have a lovely day
Hello Matt! I am just discovering your page and find it very informative! I'm scheduled for a BA 380 flight I purposely booked primarily for the A380 Business Class experience. I fly from DFW to London in May to see Elton John and after viewing this video of your BA experience, I am definitely cancelling and re-booking on a American, my primary airline... I had flown British Airways off & on over the last 40 years and was hoping it had progressed to an elite level it once was in the 80's & 90's.... My opinion on whether you were behaving like a DIVA or not? Not at all!! Business Class is a product purchased in any form is expensive and should have a caliber of quality to reference from.... Your experience was way below any Business Class service I've experienced and would rather avoid it..... Thank you for the video!
Thanks Raja. The A380 will have the old seat for a while longer - there are some upsides to it, especially if you're tall and like to sleep without a foot cubby, but overall its a dated product. Interesting to remember it was world leading when it launched.... And I believe the service has recovered from the levels seen in this video... American has its own issues but it not a bad alternative! Diva? Moi???
Thank you for an honest review of BA. Your video convinced me never to fly BA, EVER.
Thanks Kazunori... Every airline has good days and bad days and BA is no different.... My last experience with BA was pretty good...
You are absolutely right ✅️ ba service has fallen to the bottom level. Top management is completely unaware of ground reality.
There is a new guy and there are some encouraging reports of improvements, but there's a log way to go even if they have reached the bottom.
The standard of catering on flights from MIA seems to be consistently appalling. I’ve flown MIA-LHR 3 times on the A380/747 in both J and Y and each time the catering is has been borderline inedible. Infact those 3 flights are my top 3 worst catering memories from over probably 200 flights! It makes you wonder what makes MIA so appalling? I’ve just flown back from Barbados with VS in Y and that was some of the nicest food I’ve ever eaten on board an aircraft. So good infact i had 2 mains and 3 breakfasts! BA seriously need to up their game. And honestly MIA just seems to be a lost cause on several fronts, not just the food!
Cheers Matt... I'd love to know whether the catering options from Miami are all awful or if BA is too stingy to pay for any of the good stuff! Guessing the Virgin flight wasn't full if they had spare grub lying around???
Spot on review, Matt. It is unfortunate that this is British Airways' new standard. They took a sharp decline in service, catering, seating, and every other aspect of their business and it coincided with the retirement of their 747s which was truly the Queen of the Skies.
Thanks Richard. Lots of decisions seem to have been taken with profit in mind, and annoyingly they seem to mostly have worked, as BA was doing pretty well financially before the pandemic. Then along came Covid, which has driven even more cost saving...
@@MattsPlanet Yes 12,000 staff sacked and the remaining put on new contracts hardly the recipe for a positive workforce. Now that short-term thinking has bitten as they lurch into another crisis of cancelled flights as passenger numbers return
Matt, sorry to see you had such a disappointing experience on this flight. I fly this route multiple times a year in economy with my wife as her family live in Miami. We have often wondered what the service would be like if we were to opt for the business experience (using a Comp Voucher / Avios). Just out of interest are you able to select your seats even on an avios redemption? Thanks
Thanks Rob - always tricky to draw broad conclusions from a flight sample of 1 - I'm sure plenty of trips are memorable for better reasons than this one! I have BA gold so I could book seats on booking - it having been an avios booking didn't make a difference to this ability. Pretty sure an avios booking doesn't entitle you to seat reservations if you don't have status.
Hi Matt, that was appalling service. I hope you got some compensation from BA.
I have a question. I have flown in the old BA long haul Cabin many times. Plus BA 1st many times. I’ve also flown in other airlines which have a foot cubby hole like the new BA Club & almost always found it quite restrictive for my size 11 / 12 feet. So I think I may well find the old BA Club more comfortable to sleep in. I’m wondering what your view is? As a tall gent (I’m 6ft 2) do you find the old BA Cub seat better to sleep in than the new BA Club.
Finally I’m guessing you still find the BA 1st seat better than both to sleep in?
Thanks in advance for your help
Spider
Thanks Spider. I've still not flown the BA Club Suite - another attempt this month got thwarted but I'm trying again for December... I'm 6'4" and the old BA seat (and the old Virgin seat, which was designed to compete with BA) are both quite good for tall people and I would prefer them to anything with a foot cubby. Even the "fantastic" QSuite is constricting for tall people. To get the length of an open, old style seat you sacrifice width so both BA and Virgin's old configurations feel cramped, but if sleep is your goal, and you're tall, I'd go old style on both airlines. BA First is the best of both worlds, wide and long without a cubby.
Totally agree we would have complained about all of the things you mentioned for sure 👍
That breakfast really was awful....
Which day did u fly? I had exactly the same experience when flying with BA from MIA to LHR on the 30th Dec
December 14th. Comments suggest mine was not a unique experience!
I'm considering flying BA from cph to jnb, so appreciate very much the review of ba bus class. Very odd seating design.
Bit of feedback: could not watch scenes of walking and holding camera. I got dizzy and almost seasick. Skipped past them.
Thanks Kim! I do tend to roll a bit when I walk so sorry about the seasickness!
@@MattsPlanet 🙏
Oh, by the way, I think I'll fly Air France instead. I like the bus class seating much better in their planes.
Did you get an outcome from this?
I am still working on it! Have had some progress but BA is taking forever to respond... Will do an update video when there is progress.
@@MattsPlanet This video has really pissed me off and I’m just watching it 😂. I would be so fuming if I had saved all that to receive what was shown in the video. Absolutely unacceptable. They should at least respond promptly!
Update coming at 7pm UK time tonight...
@@MattsPlanet Can’t wait!
The foot rest is to rest, not to put the pressure you put on it!
My feet aren't that heavy...
@@MattsPlanet pressure has nothing to do with weight
Customer service directors no longer exist at BA…the new equivalent is an Inflight manager…MIA has developed a bit of a reputation for what you encountered recently…
Cheers Andrew. I'm reliably informed that the title did exist when there were two crew schemes, but it got ditched when they merged the schemes mid-pandemic? Had some good experiences from Miami and some less good ones...
@@MattsPlanet yes that’s correct, CSDs and CSMs merged to make IFMs…look forward to more videos now we can travel again!
I must say I woukd never fly BA as I find them snobie
Like every airline / hotel / cruise line there's good and bad experiences. If you live in the UK its quite hard to avoid BA!
Thanks for corroborating my experience but in premium, so interesting to see the 'quality' runs through! Your comments about the breakfast is spot on and as this has happened to me on several occasions I suspect it is standard. One flight back to Heathrow from Grenada I was greeted by a chilled breakfast box containing a chilled bread roll, butter (that snapped my knife), a small chocolatey breakfast bar and a tub of orange juice. After 9hrs not impressed. Neither were many who just didn't touch it. I was absolutely starving by the time I arrived home. I immediately complained particularly as I was informed at the time the product included an option of a hot breakfast. I eventually received a letter from the infamous Alex Cruz (well a photocopied signature) explaining that this was the standard offer as this is what customers told BA this is what they wanted! Incredible. I haven't flown BA to the Caribbean since. Such a pity for what used to be, and should be, a leading innovative carrier. Just can't fathom the seeming inability/nonchalance of their strategic management to recognise what competitors are doing/racing ahead.
The new guy is making the right noises and I imagine changing BA's culture isn't something that can be done overnight... Flying on them for the first time in 6 months later this month and I'm keen to see if there's been any noticeable changes...
I think your premium economy was much better than this so-called business class I think you must complain about horrible catering and horrible breakfast I mean are you kidding me what kind of breakfast is that they should've served you full English breakfast.
Thanks Robert. Complaint in - lets see what they say!
@@MattsPlanet I will never pay for BA business I mean come on you are serving premium economy meals to business class passengers everything on one tray no cocktail service before dinner and economy class breakfast No thank you I don't call this business class.
just booked Singapore airlines business class, BA was one of the choices, glad I did after watching this.
Singapore used to be my go to airline out of Australia when I lived there - I'm jealous!
The premium economy on the way out there was certainly better and I moaned about that in the comments lol.
Great video , it's good to point out bad experiences.
At least the bed went flat...
MIA gates are terrible. And the breakfast are not good
At least they use a double gate configuration for the A380!
"Dust bar"
Am I wrong???
@@MattsPlanet absolutely not. Sorry you had to endure that for our entertainment.
You need to be patient with BA. A good friend of mine made an complaint at BA and had to wait 3 month for her compensation.
She was happy in the end? Even with the wait?
Yes, she got extra 50 Euros for the damaged suitcase
Did you ever hear back from BA? Also, I never expect much from the Admirals Club at MIA.
I did and was happy with their final offer - I ended up talking to someone in the CEO's office and I can't tell whether I got any preferential treatment as I was making videos about the trips, so I'm not publicising what I ended up being offered... And you're right about the Admiral's Club - I had access to the Flagship lounge which was featured in this video.
@@MattsPlanet Thanks for the update. I asked because I'm taking this same flight in December; upper deck, biz class. Am thinking, like most airlines, BA has the kinks worked out, now. The A380 experience will be a first for me.
@@RTD3 No worries. The Flagship lounge is pretty good (compared to US lounges at least!!!) but it is a real hike from the check in desks and again to the plane... Every day things get a little better so by December I'm optimistic it'll be a good experience. Have a great trip!
It was a bit difficult! You were right! A real nightmare! Unusual! BA is always impeccable!
I've generally had good experiences with BA but not this one....
I am always lucky with BA. KLM also is wonderful! As I live my life between England and Brazil, I tend to use those two !
That looked appalling Matt ! The scary thing is my last 2 flights from DFW(F) and ATL(J) BEFORE Covid we’re not much better … lounges over crowded and closed early, poor onboard service and shoddy planes. MIA has always had a bad reputation for departures so not surprised at that but the standard of catering in this video is shocking ! I hope BA takes responsibility and gives you something more meaningful than a few 000 Avios compensation.
Thanks Charlie... BA has apologised and given compensation - there'll be a video on Tuesday explaining it... Sorry to be a tease!
@@MattsPlanet excellent ! Look forward to it ….
Crikey. I’d have been spitting feathers! No excuses, although, in my experience, Miami can’t be the best airport to try to deliver a premium service in. By contrast, I recently enjoyed a Club Europe flight from Lanzarote which was flawless.
Thanks Mark. Tried not to exaggerate things but it was pretty bad!
@@MattsPlanet The thing is, I know yours was a reward flight but the guy in the next seat could have paid a £3000 price premium over the cost of an economy seat (I just checked - LHR-MIA return mid-May, BA, out Wed, back following Wed). Assuming a 10 hour experience each way, from check-in to Landing, you’re paying £150 each and every hour, just for that premium experience. Airlines would do well to remember that, and keep asking themselves; “How have I justified that £150 spend by the customer in the last hour?” (Clue; sitting on the floor at the gate doesn’t cut it. Neither does having to eat in the dark!)
All great points! I'm trying to unpick why I feel an instinct to defend BA...
When did you take the trip? Is it still like this.?
December 14 - quite recent!
Are you able to still claim eu delay now we are out? It would be a fair solution
? I would be most annoyed about having to leave the Lounge so early...
Thanks Richard. The EU compo was too much detail to include in this video - I may talk about it in the follow up video when (if???) BA responds. When we left the EU everything passed into UK law so the EU261 claim still exists. The only amendment was was to change the Euros into Pounds... But for a flight of this length it needed to be a 3 hour minimum delay for a payment to trigger (I think!!!) We were "only" 2 and a bit hours late in the end.
@@MattsPlanet thanks for the update Matt.
Just FYI for the future - 'Cabin Service Director' is no longer a role at BA, the 'Inflight Manager' is what they are now called :)
Thanks TJ - I think that's right for Mixed Fleet crews, which I think this team was... No-one on the team over the age of 35, which I believe is a reliable way of distinguishing a Mixed Fleet crew from a Worldwide one! I think the title persists in the Worldwide fleet as the unions won't let them change the structure - delighted to be corrected if I've got that wrong!
Hey Mat! Worldwide, MF and eurofleet have all merged now (since covid) hence the new names- no more fleets :O maybe it was by chance you had a younger crew? I’ve definitely noticed the mix of everyone on recent flights :)
That's really interesting! I'm quite surprised they were able to merge them as it was such a big deal to the unions. I guess it was inevitable as the Worldwide fleet "matured" (so to speak). The crew on this flight was pretty young overall - as I get older I find it harder to judge people's ages though!
Wow! I am considering using AA miles to fly to London from the US which will be on a BA flight. Since this would be in business class, I wonder whether it is such a great idea. Especially the extra $750 odd for taxes and fees! of and yes, the $100 to book a specific seat. Maybe I should cough up extra miles and fly with a different AA affiliate carrier?
Thanks Ken. This is a sample of 1 experience which isn't enough to make a huge strategic decision from... Thousands of people have great experiences every day with BA - I'm part of several forums on Facebook and elsewhere where you see great reviews of BA club on a regular business. But you do see a number (dozens?) of negative experiences right now. The "you know what" is making it difficult for every airline right now - not just because of the service decisions they have taken but also a of lot behind the scenes stuff, from crew scheduling and absences to ground staff and catering teams' scheduling and absences and so on. So I think you have to expect it to not be a normal experience and to be pleased if it is. On this flight, a lot went wrong and it was unacceptable overall but that doesn't mean it will happen to you... But thanks for watching!
@@MattsPlanet fair enough. It's snowing like crazy here in Oregon right now, so the only travel I am currently doing is on foot. Cheers mate.
Keep in mind Ken, AA and BA aren't the only games in town when it comes to booking award flights. There's also FinnAir too! That being said, I haven't set foot on a FinnAir flight, so it may be worthwhile to look at a trip report there.
I’m not sure the term “demand” is really what you should be doing.
Fair point - perhaps the wording in the voice over was more strident than the wording on the plane!
@@MattsPlanet wow Matt - I’m super impressed that you replied!
Respect!
I work in the service industry myself and believe me, customers can be very demanding, but half the time they haven’t a clue what it is they actually want!
I really recommend you try South Africa though, it’s my favourite place for holidays. In fact, I’ve taken five different people there (including my mother who was terrified), all of whom enjoyed it - and all of whom said it wasn’t like they expected! 🇿🇦
@@CosmicPanda855 No worries - it was a valuable comment. I pushed some of the UA-cam boundaries with the intro and the general sense of drama - it doesn't come easy to do that and its fair to be called out about having gone a shade too far in one respect. I've worked with some excellent customer service teams in my past life and any shortcomings have almost always come from poor leadership from above rather than from a lack of application on the part of the team, so I am 100% with you on that point. Also with you on South Africa - never been but it is high on the list. Cheers!
The intro is hilarious !!!
Thanks!
At least there was retro carpet at the gate 😆
Amongst my mates in the real world I'm quite well known for always finding the bright side, but I have to say I missed that one! Thanks!!!
Wow, shocking experience! 😬 maybe you had the same seat/ottoman that I had on their A380 which kept collapsing in flight on my honeymoon flight! It was certainly annoying. It would be nice to think that the service in the new product is overall much better. I'm keen to find out
Thanks Michael. Originally this trip was booked as First out and Club Suites back, but as it was a reward flight I ended up with Premium economy out and the Club dormitory back... Annoying that they charge pretty much the same for Club suites as they do for the Dorm and schedule them interchangeably... Trying to get on a club suites flight but its getting harder rather than easier given everything going on right now!
Seats collapsing on honeymoon flights make one really wonder,,,,😂😂😂
@@homer3152 😉 much as I would love that to be a story to tell, sadly its not 🤣
Enjoyed the last video Matt and was keen to see this, which I also really enjoyed. Sad how bad BA is now. I used to fly with them often from Australia to the UK via Singapore and had fond memories on the 747 and 777. However it seems like their services in business and economy have dropped substantially these days .. You’re definitely not overreacting at all in this!
Thanks Owen. I keep defending BA in the comments by saying this flight is a sample of one, but I also keep seeing comments from people agreeing that they're a shadow of their former selves... As long as the pandemic is hovering we'll never really know how much is down to that versus BA cost-cutting - hopefully 2022 will start to give us answers! Thanks for the support.
@@MattsPlanet Quite true Matt we'll have to wait to judge. Though complaints about BA's standards were common long before Covid. Remember the days of Alex Cruz CEO - who initiated the cost cutting drive. I had a neighbour a BA employee for 20yrs and he would regal me with behind the scenes practices. His regular moan was how standards had fallen or more telling what staff were being told to do.
Name tag of check in agent should be blurred too if you want to avoid identification.
Thanks - I did zoom into the name badge when I was editing and it wasn't legible although I didn't test it on the highest definition TV!
@@MattsPlanet Yeah it is close enough to make a good stab at it so worth a slight blur. How was BA's response to your complaint which I presume you have sent? I had a series of less severe than yours bad experiences and found avios are longer available as compensation as they were in the past to my disappointment.
Complaint is in - taking up to 28 days for a response so probably a while to wait yet... It will be interesting... No avios these days as people can cash them in at Sainsburys so there's a real cost to that form of compensation. Not sure how many other levers they have to pull though! Will do an update video as and when...
this is the second time ive seen your video and im still shocked ..... i would be raging at the service that you have been treated to by MIA and BA ive flown BA a few times ( club) and never had this sort of treatment i dont think i would email them about it .. i would be going to BA offices in person !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! did you call the gold line??????? anyway hope you got it resolved thanks for the video
Quite a lot of back and forth after this video but I ended up happy with what BA offered. I was quite shocked though perhaps a year later to see someone else given that exact same breakfast...
We used to fly BA from Phoenix to LHR often when we lived in Arizona, and the flights were never anything to write home about, and more likely than not were running late. It was odd too that each time we landed at LHR we always were out on the tarmac having to walk down the stairs and take a bus to the terminal, being one legged made it somewhat precarious. But we no longer live in AZ so we travel with other airlines now. Your experience was as one says, unacceptable. And the 25 pounds is a laugh.
Thanks Mikie - So much to criticise BA for, so little time...
Hi Matt. I really love watching your videos. I recently started following your channel as I wanted to rake up my tier points for the BA’s executive club. I’ll be grateful for your advice. I’m planning to fly to New Delhi from London and noticed BA doesn’t have First class. Watching your experience in this video , should I fly Ba’s codeshare airline to earn tier points (I think it’s only on Finnair (which have a tier bonus) or Qatar (which doesn’t have tier bonus)? Or should I take a risk and fly BA ? Thank you
Hi V C. Thanks for watching! If you're talking about Tier Points, there's no bonus for flying on a specific airline. Indeed BA would earn 140 each way, while adding the extra stop would mean you earn 80 + 140 for Finnair and 140 + 80 for flying Qatar. There is an avios bonus for flying on certain airlines. In business class as a gold (to illustrate) flying BA earns 100%, American earns 100%, Finnair earns 25% and Qatar earns 0%. You can see these bonuses on this page:
www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/flights
Delhi doesn't yet have flights on BA's Club Suite so the "Club Dormitory" is as good as you'll get on BA... So if you're maximising avios, fly BA. Maximising tier points - fly Finnair or Qatar. Maximise in-flight experience - probably Qatar although the new Finnair seat is well regarded. Assuming of course that all options cost the same! Plenty of BA club experiences are very good, even in the old club, but a few (like my Miami experience) are not so good...
@@MattsPlanet thank you so much . I have a voucher for a just over £1k with BA and I’m doing some European travel in Business class and wanted to accumulate tier points to go to Silver or Gold status within this year . BA and Finnair is almost the same price for Business Class, and Qatar is pricier by around £500 pounds on the dates I want to fly. I’ll explore more and watch more of your videos to get the jist 😅
Hi matt , A great review as always. We had a terrible economy flight with BA flying back from the Maldives in November, the service was awful and the food was even worse. I didn't expect that from BA in economy so i do feel for you after paying for business class product which looks no better than what we had.
Thanks Johny. I can except a certain reduction in expectations from the "you know what" but a reduction to the degree we both seem to have experienced isn't acceptable... The complaint is in and we'll see what they say!
Excellent mat i will look forwa rd to the outcome, hopefully a good one
Having flown to JFK just a few weeks back in the new Club Suite, i came crashing back down when returning from MEX last week in the old club cabin. The new service is night and day and just shows up how tired the old Club cabin is. The sooner BA retire it, the better.
Thanks Paul - good to hear. Been booked in the new club suites three times now I think and each one got cancelled so really keen to experience it. Will be hard to go back to the dormitory I think!
I have no sympathy as BA no longer offers a premium service - the assumption it would was completely misplaced on your part. Everything and everyone at BA like many airlines has undergone serious cost cutting apart from the ticket prices. Miami is also a leisure route so probably not a top BA priority. Not as it should be but representative of air travel in 2021 and the world of the Ryanair business model.
Thanks for watching! Call me old fashioned, but I remember "the good old days" so still associate "Club World" with decent service and edible food! New leadership at BA which says they want to back away from the low cost model but no signs of success as yet...
Hi Diva Matt,
I totally agree, that certainly wasn't a "Premium Experience" :-) ...but it did make for a very good video!
I hope BA get in touch and rectify this.
ATB
Paul
Thanks Paul - waiting patiently for the response!