purserAgree with BigVince, FR have introduced various new practices in the past that seemed stupid and unrealistic at the time but are now common low cost practice.
I can’t imagine FR stopping checked in baggage altogether. For various reasons some pax will have to check baggage in, there are many itiems that are not permitted in cabin baggage and will have to go in the hold, this is a CAA requirement and nothing to do with FR. Perhaps what they are saying is they will no longer carry checked in baggage without a fee. If that’s the case I can see the cost savings they will make (no baggage handlers etc during turnaround) and the money they will make by charging pax for their baggage.
As cabin crew myself I would be concerned about the amount of cabin baggage coming onboard from a safety point of view. The more and heavier cabin baggage the more difficult an emergency evavuation could be. Having said that, they must have been given CAA approval so I’m sure they will do it!!! I’d never fly with them but plenty do, they give the public what they want, flights for next to nothing and to some pax that’s all they want and are not concerned with anything else, fare enough!
At the end of the day, I can’t stand MOL but he’s built up a profitable company and given the public what they want.
purserBemused, I agree with you about the Easyjet tv show. I don’t watch it any more for the same reason. It’s all staged for the cameras anyway. If a member of the public was shouting and abusing any memeber of ground staff at the checkin or customer service desks the way they do on the tv show they would be removed by security until they had calmed down. If there is any kind of problem the tv producers make a huge drama out of it and even tell the people involved what they want them to say, without the shouting nobody would watch it, it’s all about tv ratings!!!!!
purserWys is right, the dispater is responsible for the safe, correct and on time departure of an aircraft.
They have to know an awful lot about the aircraft they are handling. Prior to departure they liaise with the flight crew, cabin crew, checkin, baggage handlers, cargo agents, fuel company, caterers etc etc. They compile a document called a load sheet which is presented to the Captain shortly before departure for his approval and signature. The load sheet contains all of the information required by the flight deck for the departure of their aircraft.
It’s a very important job and looks really interesting.
Purser
purserAgree Softlad, an example should be made of anyone endangering the safety of an aircraft. Unfortunately, until there is an accident caused as a direct result of air rage, nothing will change.
That thug “Vinnie I can have you killed for £5000.00 Jones” idiot should have been locked up. What a complete moron. Until you have been in a situation whereby somebody is threatening you in the confined space of a metal tube at 35,000 feet, I don’t think the judges appreciate just how frightening that can be. There is nowhere to escape to. It’s not happened to me but I can imagine it wouldn’t be very pleasant.
Purser
purserGood point and fair comment Jeansk-SN, but bare in mind a lot of people living around airports and highways were there before the noisy aircraft and cars!!!!
It’s also about air pollution!
Purser
purserThe British Airways “Well Being In The Air” programme advises passengers to do simply but effective excersises during their (mainly) long haul flight. There are details of these exercises in the inflight magazine “Highlife” and the IFE.
The BA seat pitch in economy is not the best, normally 32″ – 33″
which can be quite tight for long periods. It’s always a good idea to get up and walk around to keep the circulation going, if the seat belts are not on of course!
I’m in two minds about responsibilities. If the airlines increase the seat pitch on long haul aircraft, the fares increase with it. American Airlines recently increased their economy pitch by an inch I believe, is there any data available to say if this has increased thier economy bookings?
At the end of the day I think it’s all down to cost. If airline A are offering seats to XYZ at 400.00 with a seat pitch of 34″ and airline B are 50.00 cheaper but with less leg room, most will go for airline B then moan about afterwards!!!! That’s human nature I guess.
I’ve had passengers tell me they’d suffered from DVT on previuos flights so I should upgrade them to Traveller Plus or Club World so they should have more space……………nice try for a free upgrade! Anybody with any kind of condition that can be agrivated by being confined for a long period of time should make the airline aware before they travel, I’m sure the vast majority do. Some though, just try it on.
That opens up a whole new debate about free upgrades!!!!!!!
Purser
purserAfter production finished in the UK were’nt they being built in Romania under some sort of agreement?
To re-engine the aircraft I believe was totally cost prohibitive, a real shame as they were one of the best, along with the VC-10.
purserThe ABC is a worldwide flight guide showing almost every scheduled flight operating throughout the world, very similar to the OAG. They both have a whole wealth of information not just flight schedules. Aircraft info, airports, airport and airline codes, flying times and lots more. When I was younger I used to go to a local travel agent and ask for their old issues. Just ask them if they have an old copy they don’t need. Mind you, I don’t think many agents use them any more as they all have CRS’s (computerised reservations systems) which contain all the same information and much much more.
Good luck with getting hold of one, they’re great fun to read!!!!
Purser
purserThe 1.11, a fantastic aircraft! I started my flying career on them. I loved them. They were noisy from both outside and in. If you were operating as the No2 crew member on the rear crewseat for take off and landing, reverse thrust on landing was particularly spectacular. I can remember landing in Jersey (short runway) on several occassions being thrust forward against my seat harness as the breaks and reverse thrust were applied, sounds a bit dramatic I know but as a young air steward with a passion for aicraft I was in heaven!!!!!!!!!
They are a rare sight now but they still hold a very special place for me.
Purser
purserKev you’re quite right, there’s an awful lot of people that will be effected if anything should happen to the Mytravel group of companies. It’s not just the airline that will go, there are so many other companies in the travel/tour operation industry that are owned by the Mytravel /Airtours group.
Reading the financial press I understand that should the parent company go bankrupt some of the possibly profitable divisions may continue to operate, the airline for example. Mytravel Airways like all charter airlines are paid up front well in advance of a flying season by thosess tour operators that purchase blocks of seats on their flights. Bookings then made during the season by travel agents and customers then hopefully provide enough cash flow to allow the airline to continue to operate, if this is sufficient of course. The MYT aircraft and routes may be taken over by another company, retaining the flying crew hopefully.
I feel for all those people working for Mytravel with the companies troubles being constanly in the media. I hope it gets sorted out soon and the company has some stability.
Purser
purserSkycruiser, BA do have many female pilots and they do a brilliant job as all pilots do.
Purser
purserHi Greekdude
My girlfriend and myslef took a holiday to the Maldives and flew EK as we’d heard how good they were, they had won so many awards we assumed we would be impressed. We flew economy on all sectors. The seat layout on the 777-300 is 3-4-3 but we were lucky enough to get row 48 on the LHR/DXB/LHR flights, rows 47 and 48 are in a 2-4-2 config due to aircraft norrowing at the rear and these seats were very comfortable and had more room. However on the DXB/MLE/DXB sectors we weren’t so lucky and ended up in the block of 4 (2-4-2 config), I had an aisle seat so it was ok but the leg room was tight, similar to other airlines so no complaints.
Unfortunately the service let them down. The crew were nice enough but it them so long to get a bar service orgainsed. LHR/DXB we waited an hour and a half for a drink. Then the meal service took a similar time. My girlfriend is veggie, she was given her meal before the rest of us, it was then 45 minutes before I was given my meal. The drinks bar offering drinks to go with the meal then arrived another 30 minutes later! We gave up on the coffee. I roughly timed it, we had our meal trays for 2 hours and 20 minutes! It was similar on all 4 sectors. We all have a bad day and things don’t come together but that seemed to be the way EK did things which didn’t seemed to go down too well with their passengers as others were commenting on it too. We were left wondering what all the hype was about!!!
Apart from all that they were fine. Their IFE is very good (the forward and downward cameras are brillaint), the taste and content of the food was great and the crew spoke many different languages which is excellant, better than BA!. I’d fly with them again and hopefully enjoy it more, I think I was expecting too much.
purserWow, that’s an amazing picture.
I recently flew Emirates LHR/DXB/MLE and back. I was very disappointed, don’t know how they’ve won so many awards. I could understand them being off on one sector but it was consistant across all 4 sectors, DXB airport is excellant though and the EK exterior livery looks stunning, I wasn’t too keen on the interior though. Their B777-300’s are very confortable but the A330 are a bit cramped.
purserI recently returned from Geneva on a European aircraft sub chartered due to our original aircraft being tech. I can honestly say that I have never had such an awful flight. I find it hard to say anything possitive, I felt so sorry for the crew, they did their best but everything, the aircraft interior, exterior, their uniforms was so bad and so totally unprofessional. I’m not surprised they’re having financial difficulties.
purserHi T5
Sorry to hear about the problems you encountered with BA.
I’m sure you know, all airlines have problems with undelivered baggage at some time or other.
I work for BA as long haul cabin crew and I fully understand your frustration. I’ve never had my baggage go missing either as a passenger or crew but I can imagine how annoying it must be.
The fare you paid is imaterial, you still deserve a level of customer service and if you are not happy with the response you have recieved then keep at them and hopefully you will get the money back for your phone calls.
A few years ago I spent 2 months working in our customer service dept, due to skiing accirdent I couldn’t fly for a while. That 2 months opened my eyes to some of the the most rediculous things passengers try to claim for and the excuses they use. In your case I think BA should pay you for your phone calls, you checked your baggage in with us in good faith expecting it to be delivered to your destination airport, it wasn’t so you had to make various calls to sort it out, end of story, we should pay up!!!! The baggage system in place now is so sophisticated that it is almost impossible for it (the system) to make an error, the error would have been human, either the checkin agent using the wrong destination code or the ramp loader for loading your bag into the wrong baggage pod.
Keep at them and hopefully you’ll get your money back, good luck and I hope this doesn’t put you off using BA again in the future.
All the best.
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