Deplorable

Gordon Brown has weighed into the BA strike by saying that it is deplorable.

Lord Adonis noted, quite correctly over the weekend, that the strike threatens the existence of BA.

As to whether anyone in the BA union or management is listening is another matter.

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BA On The Precipice

The prospect of a BA strike this month looks highly likely. BA have retrained a thousand staff to keep flights going, and have chartered 23 aircraft and crew from rival airlines to fly out of Heathrow if the strike does go ahead.

Whilst this may keep the flights going, more or less, the damage done to the brand and finances of the company are such that its future existence will be seriously jeopardised.

No company, let alone an airline, is immortal. The union and management need to remember this before they push BA over the precipice.

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BA's Battle For Survival

British Airways (BA), the self styled "world's favourite airline", has announced pre-tax losses of £50M in the three months to December 2009 (an improvement on the £122M loss in the same period in 2008).

BA's pre-tax loss in the nine months to December now stands at £342M (compared with £70M in the same period in 2008).

The results are nonetheless better than analysts expectations.

Does this mean that BA has a rosy future?

No, not if you believe what CEO Willie Walsh has told the BBC (he expects record losses):

"Operating costs are down by 10.5% and show that we've adapted quickly to the new businesses realities created by the global recession.

We still expect to make record losses this year.

Permanent structural change is being introduced in all areas and will return us to sustained profitability."

BA also faces a £3.7BN pension funds' deficit.

Walsh's negative outlook in part can be explained by the fact that he is fighting Unite (the cabin crew's union), and that he needs to highlight that the company is facing a struggle for its survival.

However, the BA could still very easily go under:

1 Industrial action will further damage its already poor customer relations.

2 The pension deficit, as mentioned, needs to be addressed.

3 Stabilisation of passenger numbers is not enough, it needs to attract more customers. The only way it can do that is to cut prices, but improve customer care. A very tall order indeed!

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The World's Costliest Airline

Martin Waller in today's Times takes up the point that I raised a few days ago about the pricing disparity between BA and Iberia for the same flight to Barcelona.

He notes that BA's explanation for this disparity -

"BA claims that this is because it has the cost of the flight, while Iberia is merely issued with its own allocation of tickets."

- hardly makes much sense.

He then raises the question as to what will happen to the BA/Iberia flight prices, in the event that BA make a bid.

Will BA drop their prices or will Iberia raise theirs?

Maybe this very valid question should be raised with the Office of Fair Trading?

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The World's Costliest Airline

Here's a little conundrum for you.

What's the difference between the following?

A business class return air ticket for two people (Gatwick to Barcelona), flight to be taken in July, purchased via Iberia.

A business class return air ticket for two people (Gatwick to Barcelona), flight to be taken in July, purchased via BA.

In terms of the departure times, airport terminals, lounge facilities and airline operating the aircraft...no difference whatsoever.

The flights are operated by BA.

However, here's the rub.

The price of the two return tickets, if purchased via Iberia will set you back £455.80.

The price of the two return tickets (for the identical flight), if purchased via BA will set you back a stonking £1165.80 (256% of the Iberia price).

Don't believe me?

Try it for yourselves:

-www.ba.com

-www.iberia.com

Could BA please explain this differential?

Oh, and by the way, BA own 10% of Iberia.

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BA Reservations II

It seems that I was not alone in experiencing problems accessing the BA Reservations call centre yesterday.

I tipped off the Times yesterday about my troubles, and they reported today that others had the same issues:

"More fun and games for British Airways customers, who discovered yesterday morning that the main number to make reservations, as specified on the website, didn't work. Nor did another number supplied by BA's Executive Club. The airline, which is by now convinced that I am deliberately persecuting it, admits to 'some call-routing issues' after weekend maintenance."

Despite the phone porblems not being a good omen, I will be flying to Beijing next week on British Scareways on business; let us trust they manage that aspect of their business a little better than they do their phone lines.

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BA Reservations

Well done BA for further damaging their already badly soiled brand value.

I made a bold and futile attempt to contact their reservations line this morning, on 0870 850 9 850 (the number specified on their website).

Having pressed the various option buttons, and listened to the "tinny" music, I was informed that I had dialed the wrong number and was given a new number to dial.

Can you guess what that was?

Yes, that's right 0870 850 9 850!

I rang the Executive Club, and was told that in fact the number should be 0870 850 4 850 and that the BA website was wrong.

I rang the new number...

Guess what?

I had the very same experience.

Well done lads!

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