British Airways/Quantas

[Noodles]

I've read through some topics on here and BA seem to get slated quite

alot. Are they worth the £2400 for the 3 of us at christmas time?

I would like to fly with emirates for the same price, and I know I will be

satisfied with their service, in-flight entertainment etc. But wife would like a

direct flight.

Any feedback on their service, in-flight entertainment would be great.

Thanks in advance

[wileycoyote]

Yes & the price seems fair.

The entertainment is good & suitable for all ages.

We are also "stuck" with scheduled flights that cost more ,but perhaps are worth it ,if there are Winter diificulties , at least they know your direct point of origin & destination & will route them accordingly,even it involves another carrier eg QF or TG

[samuiseagull]

Remember that if your deciding to book with British Airways then their dinosaur staff love a strike now and then.

I would'nt go near them, especially at Christmas when they would love to put a spanner in the works.

Stay well clear.

[ESB7]

B.A. are still a great airline. A few years ago in an emergency budget the airport tax was increased, I had a flight that was used BKK-Lon but the return was after the tax increase was implemented.....B.A. were the only airline in the world to honour their original pricing whereas all others made customers pay the extra tax prior to flying or even at check in. In flight service can differ but more often than not is exceptioinaly good, both the staff are friendly/helpful and food/entertainment is OK.

[Theo007]

I have had no problems with using BA, some flights are operated by Qantas since they co-share.

[tigerfish]

flown a few times out and back using b.a./quantas. although the flight out with b.a. was reasonable, the flight back with quantas was very poor and substandard. considering your flying close to 13 odd hours, the cabin crew are more interested in getting you watered and fed as quickly as possible in an attempt that hopefully they can have the rest of the time to sit on their backsides and catch a bit of shut eye or have a good old chin wag. with no care for the passengers who would like say to enjoy the experience with a drink in hand while watching the in flight entertainment. lost count of how many time i had to press the call button to get the attention of one of the attendants. food was bad, served cold and the planes are old and in poor condition. reminded me of flying dan air.

imho your better off flying an airline like emirates or ethihad where they pride themselves on their service to the paying customer. new planes, great cabin crew that speak a variety of different languages, a choice of food from a menu, an endless list of in flight entertainment for all ages. plus the fact that you get to break the trip up, when stopping in dubai or abu dhabi.

you will also probably get a better deal in terms of how much you pay for a ticket as well.

Edited July 30, 2010 by tigerfish

[harrry]

I agree with the previous poster that QANTas cabin crews tend to want to get you watered fed and settled and then relax and ignore you. They also have been criticised for their older hostesses though the cabin stewards which comprise a large part of the cabin crew are always attentive and helpful. I sometimes fly QANTAS though as I know the cabin crew are very very well trained in handling emergancies as is the flight crew however with cost cutting aircraft servicing seems to have slipped too the standard of others.

THe main reason I do not fly with them is that all credit card payments in thailand must be confermed with the card in Bangkok within a week of making them and I rarely go there.

THey are one of the more reliable airlines in providing a replacement aircraft quickly if there is a service delay.

[steve187]

Direct flights in order of preference - EVA,THAI,BA and QANTAS

Inderect in order of preference - ETIHAD,QATAR,EMIRATES,

Not counting the more expensive SINGAPORE and CATHAY PACIFIC

Edited July 30, 2010 by steve187

[KhunDave]

If you have any tall people in your party bear in mind that BA and Qantas have a relatively tight 31 inch seat pitch. On the Middle Eastern carriers you typically get two to three inches more, and that can make a real difference on a long haul.

[tw25rw]

If you have any tall people in your party bear in mind that BA and Qantas have a relatively tight 31 inch seat pitch. On the Middle Eastern carriers you typically get two to three inches more, and that can make a real difference on a long haul.

There's an added complexity to that though.. If the seat is thin, the pitch might be the same but you still get more room.

[duceahearts]

Remember that if your deciding to book with British Airways then their dinosaur staff love a strike now and then.

I would'nt go near them, especially at Christmas when they would love to put a spanner in the works.

Stay well clear.

I second that, stay away from BA until they sort out the current situation.

[ragandboneman]

Crap seat pitch, crap seats, old crap planes, crap crews, crap atitude of crews, crap food, crap inflight enttainment, crap reliability, crap boss of airline.

Apart from that they are okay.

Better of taking the bus than flying with them IMHO. :rolleyes:

Best Regards

ragandboneman

[Rinrada]

Thought about BA for next jolli in Sept/Oct but recon Etitti at £415 compared to Willys W budgies at just a "ba" hair under £650 made the decision easy.

Was a bit too quick on the seat reservation for wife...she goes earlier to organise our 9 monks to bless the house get the bbq arranged for the village etc. and had to call Ettis office in London.

Phone connected immediately and a very nice sounding lady sorted the seats out for return trip Bangkok-Abu-london in ....about 2 minutes and Sooooooooooooooooooooo polite :jap:

..and we get full air miles....happy customer ...and thats wot its all about.

Also the £500 quid saved should buy us another little bit of LANNA and a few more beers in the Red Lion,Old Bell,Rons place and even....Jucy l...

Well Done Etti.... ...got my vote

[Tropicalevo]

BA are famous for over-booking. This means that at busy times - you may not get your flight! Not enough seats. This has happened to both me and my wife with BA. More than once. No other airline has done this to us. (Yes - we are both Britsh.) We have both vowed NEVER to fly BA again.

As other posts have stated - there are rumours of more BA cabin crew strikes at Christmas.

Qantas are slightly better, but I would ALWAYS choose Emirates over both of these. The break in Dubai is quite pleasant anyway!

Have a nice flight.

[game4shame]

B.A. are still a great airline. A few years ago in an emergency budget the airport tax was increased, I had a flight that was used BKK-Lon but the return was after the tax increase was implemented.....B.A. were the only airline in the world to honour their original pricing whereas all others made customers pay the extra tax prior to flying or even at check in.

they could do that, coz their original pricing was already much more expensive than their competitors - probably had a good bit left over per passenger!!

joking aside, I've flown with BA a few times and IMO they're good but their tickets are rarely flexible and their prices are usually considerably higher than others so I usually don't bother booking with them.

middle eastern airlines set the standards IMO - emirates, etihad and qatar. all good and usually good fares and conditions.