British Airways is letting non-revenue staff passengers take onboard amenity kits and pyjamas as part of a series of improvements to help boost morale. Staff passengers, who typically get at least a 90% discount on the usual ticket price, were previously banned from taking onboard goodies as a cost-cutting measure.
The airline will also allow staff passengers to choose a wine from the full selection and they will no longer be barred from making a selection that would require a new bottle to be opened.
In reality, most staff and their friends and family travelling on heavily discounted concessionary tickets were already given an amenity kit and other goodies as part of a longstanding tradition amongst flight attendants, which is common at most airlines, to make staff ‘non-rev’ passengers feel welcome.
A recent internal staff satisfaction survey has made for “sobering reading” and chief executive Sean Doyle is looking to mend a broken relationship with staff after admitting that the airline made mistakes with the way it handled some aspects of initial pandemic response.
Doyle, however, has admitted that the airline won’t be increasing staff wages anytime soon, even as the UK faces a cost of living crisis, so is looking at other minor improvements instead.
For employees who can afford to go on holiday, there will also soon be an opportunity to use the airline’s premium lounges as part of an internal ‘mystery shopper’ scheme whereby staff passengers will report back on the level of service and cleanliness they encounter in the lounge.
British Airways also announced a slew of other minor improvements to the passenger experience on Friday, which is part of a wider effort to make BA a more ‘premium’ airline.
Headline improvements include:
- A new dedicated check-in zone for World Travellers Plus (Premium Economy) passengers
- A baggage tracing app
- A greater variety of meals available in Club Europe (Business Class)
- A new plant based menu in its premium lounges
- Water bottle filling stations and removing single-use plastic bottles from premium lounges
“We want to create an even better British Airways and know that we need to keep making changes to the customer experience with things like alternative menus, reducing plastics and introducing new technology to get us to where we want to be,” commented Tom Stevens, BA’s director of brand and customer experience.
“In addition to these improvements, we are also moving ahead at speed with some of the larger initiatives that we promised to our customers, such as the roll out of our award-winning business class seat, Club Suite.”
The airline has also promised to address issues at its contact centres with a new telephone system being installed and more staff being recruited.
It’s been a while since I’ve flown through LHR so I am not sure if anything has been done. Those fibreglass showers at BA’s T5 lounges are a definite brand destroyer. They look like they were purchased USED from an NHS facility.
Wow I work for airline in the USA, amenity kit wine any food first class are free for non revenue stand by
I feel sorry for the employee at BA
Yet you’re not paid for boarding 😂😂 none of this is true, we all have whatever we want on the aircraft!!
I fly NR too but why “sh*t in the nest”? In the current climate I would quite like my airline to stay in profit/be viable. Does one really “need” the vanity kit or is it going to be given to a friend?
Airline staff should be well versed in how to travel comfortably. Ditto lounge access, essential for your trip? I don’t think so. Isn’t the reduced cost enough………
Employees that can afford to go on holiday? How f**king rude!!
I take home £2000 a month, I can afford to go on holiday. Disgusting comment!