EtwUK

It seems that my disappointing flight with British Airways isn’t an isolated incident. Whilst this post will focus on my own trip, a quick search reveals various articles, videos, and news reports all pointing to growing dissatisfaction and a perceived decline in the quality of the British Airways experience. For an airline that has held the top spot in UK Aviation for so long, the decline is both rapid, and concerning. So, what is going on with BA?

In The News

Saying that British Airways is underdelivering isn’t a throwaway remark, it’s a view supported by passenger reviews, media coverage, and the airline’s own frequent flyers. At the bottom of this section, I’ve compiled a few sources that provide a snapshot of how sentiment has shifted. From poor passenger satisfaction scores to loyal members walking away after changes to the Avios programme, many passengers feel the overall value of flying with BA has declined. When competitors offer better service and clearer rewards, it’s not surprising that some customers are choosing to look elsewhere.

British Airways’ challenges also extend beyond loyalty frustration and into the wider news cycle. In recent years, the airline has repeatedly made headlines for operational disruption, customer service complaints, and weak performance in independent consumer surveys. Travel watchdogs have ranked BA near the bottom among long-haul carriers for passenger satisfaction, while news coverage has highlighted issues ranging from cancellations to digital and booking system frustrations. Taken together, this coverage suggests reputational pressure that goes well beyond isolated bad experiences. One bad review can be taken as constructive, 10000 reviews points to an altogether bigger issue!

• How British Airways Lost My Loyalty After 7 Years of Elite Status
• Overwhelmingly negative Trustpilot score
• Scoring worse than Ryanair!

In My Experience

Personally, BA is not an airline that I have flown with a great deal. In-fact, my trip to America is the ONLY time I have flown with them, as I opt for low-cost carriers for short-haul around Europe. Given that this was my first experience, and also adding that this was to be Business Class in both directions, I was braced to be swept off my feet in a cloud of complimentary champagne, fine dining, and immense comfort. Those things did happen, but honestly, it felt more like being manhandled over the finish line than being swept lovingly along.

The outbound flight to Cincinnati was actually a good start. Admittedly, I was wrapped up in the novelty of it all, given it was my first experience of Business Class, but other than a slightly old and outdated cabin style, no issues flared up. My previous best flight experience was onboard a Dash 8-400 with Luxair, which firmly remains my favourite airline. For such a small aircraft, they made it work with top quality service, a tasty complimentary meal , and even a free glass of Luxembourgish bubbly, all whilst still in Economy! BA equaled this (to me at least) top quality experience, but they had the bonus space and facilities onboard a 787-8 Dreamliner, which likely helped! It seemed then that I was onto a winner, and as many suggested in the comments of the my first flight review, I should take a shot with the newer suites if I had the opportunity.

Thankfully, that opportunity would present itself with the return flight home, and only a few days after landing at Cincinnati, I locked in the upgrade having spotted that the retrofit new suites were available. With this return flight a few months away, I thought nothing more of it, and turned my attention to having a good time in Ohio.

Skip forwards a few months, and it’s time to do the usual online check-in procedures a few days before the flight. But hang on a second…wasn’t I in seat 4K? Why am I now in 10J? Quickly loading up my emails, I double checked, and sure enough, there’s my booking confirmation with seat 4K listed. Fine, there must be some other sort of change that’s going on. From memory, I knew this return flight was to be on a 787-8 Dreamliner, but now we’re close enough to departure time I can actually jump forwards a few days on Flightradar24 to see the exact aircraft. And AHA! It’s now a 787-9! But without the new suites…bugger! To say that this discovery was disappointing is an understatement. Months of looking forwards to trying out those new suites, and just days before arrival, those hopes have been dashed. The part that frustrated me the most was the complete lack of communication from BA. At no point was this change communicated, even at a courtesy “heads up” level. If I hadn’t been double checking my details, the first I would have known about the change would have been on boarding the aircraft!

When I did make it onboard a few days later, I thought that might be the end of the issues, as my outbound experience had been really positive. Alas, this wasn’t to be. It turned out there was minimal staffing for this flight, and the poor cabin crew had more passengers than felt fair. At no point am I going to attribute the problems to come on the cabin crew; they did the very best they could with the bare minimum of tools they had been given! This was simply down to BA not assigning enough crew in the first place.

Problems began right away, as the welcome drink wasn’t offered to my area of the cabin until taxiing had begun. Thankfully, this was somewhat mitigated by the massive amount of time it takes to maneuver around Cincinnati airport! So whilst I had finished my drink by the time we made it to the runway, I was left holding my empty glass like a bit of a lemon. When it did finally get collected (about 20 minutes after departure), I was able to place my dinner order: Soup for starters, beef short rib for mains, and then tiramisu for dessert. Yet again it took a long time to be served, and when the food did arrive, I was massively underwhelmed. The soup was lukewarm and bland, and the beef short rib is single handedly one of the worst things I have ever eaten. Imagine you’re chewing through the bottom of a shoe, just without any flavour or texture, and you won’t be far off! Dessert was surprisingly nice, but the heavy turbulence we were experiencing made it difficult to eat! When I was attended to by the crew after dinner, they did profusely apologise for the beef main (it appeared that quite a few other passengers had complained about the food!), and offered me another shot at something on the menu, but at that point, my appetite had gone. The one thing that did stay the same though, was the quality of the drinks menu, and I enjoyed a number of alcohol free choices throughout the flight. Again, they took a while to be brought out, but the quality was there when they did eventually arrive.

With this being a redeye flight, I took the chance to watch a few old Bond movies, and waited for the Sun to rise as we approached UK airspace. As the early dawn light filtered in, breakfast was served, and I tentatively attacked my rather gloopy muesli. It tasted quite good, but the texture was really off-putting. Thankfully a side of a fruit platter helped lighten the meal, and I was pleased to find that the fruit was actually fresh and crisp. There wasn’t too long left of the flight at this point, so my attention turned towards the sort of arrival that BA might provide this flight. Would we get the luxury of an airbridge, or the fumes of a bus? Well, if you guessed bus, you’d be right! This really solidified an experience that was so underwhelming that it completely took away from the shine of my first flight, and left a sour taste in my mouth. Although that could have been the beef!

I appreciate that in the grand scheme of things these are minor issues, yet when you cache in a large amount or Avios points, or shell out an even greater amount of cash for an upgrade, you want the end product to be the very best around. And unfortunately, that’s just not what BA provided for this flight. Notifying a passenger of any sort of change to their schedule (particularly seating!), should be an absolute basic requirement of customer service, but BA totally missed the mark on this occasion. Compounded with the slow service, poor food, and massive disappointment of not trying the nice new suites, I wish I’d stayed in the US a little longer and taken a different flight!

Given that my experience is a comparatively tiny drop in the ocean of negative reviews, it really does show how quickly things can stack up. For me, I’d only now book business class with BA if I can 100% guarantee I get the suite I want, but given all other positive flights I’ve taken, I’d be going with a different airline anyway. Positive experiences with Luxair, and Austrian give greater desire to try out their packages, rather than going back to BA for shorter trips. And for long haul, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, or Qatar Airways, all consistently rank as some of the best business class packages worldwide.

So when you next come to book yourself a luxury upgrade, or a comfortable work trip…think twice before booking BA!