British Airways cabin crew say they have been told not to rely on simply saying ‘sorry’ to passenger passengers for service issues and, during a training day, had to take part in a group exercise in which they had to assemble an Economy Class meal tray on a budget.
The revelations come just days after British Airways was criticized by frequent flyers and staffers alike for introducing a new brunch menu and ‘goodnight’ supper service in what many people believe is a stealth way to cut costs.
Thousands of British Airways cabin crew have attended a mandatory training day at the airline’s Global Learning Academy near Heathrow Airport over the past 12 months, where they were instructed to stop relying on just apologizing to passengers.
Cabin crew have been encouraged to stop using the word ‘sorry’ so liberally and instead thank disgruntled customers for telling them about their woes and that they will pass on their feedback.
During the same training course, cabin crew took part in a group exercise in which they had to assemble a mock Economy Class meal tray with a budget of just £5 per passenger.
Cabin crew were given various versions of different meal and service items, ranging from cheap budget options to more premium items that would take a bigger chunk out of the budget.
Several sources confirmed that they had taken part in the exercise, although a spokesperson for British Airways insisted that the ‘£5 meal tray’ was not a part of its formal training.
The airline also said that while cabin crew are still allowed to apologize to customers, they are also trained to listen to feedback and thank customers for sharing their concerns with them.
On October 15, British Airways introduced a new brunch menu in its long-haul premium cabins that have been derided by both flyers and staffers for its meager offerings.
British Airways has decided to offer breakfast-style dishes on all long-haul flights departing between 8:30 am and 11:29 pm, meaning that many passengers are being served cheaper-to-produce meals like omelets and pancakes at lunchtime after they have likely already had breakfast at home or an airport lounge.
The cost-cutting has also extended to late-night departures, with long-haul flights leaving after 9:00 pm being catered with light supper-style dishes like a hot sandwich and soup or a salad.
British Airways has been inundated with complaints about the new service and while the airline has publicly defended its menu changes, internally managers have admitted that they are working to make adjustments as a matter of urgency.
In fact, matters have gotten so serious that the airline is offering cash compensation to angry customers who have complained about the new service, while many other travelers have threatened to book away from British Airways until the old menus are restored.
Matt’s take
Given that other airlines are desperately trying to differentiate their product by improving onboard catering (just look at Qatar Airways and its new caviar service in Business Class), I’m really surprised that British Airways seems to be doubling down with its cost cuts.
Of course, profit margins can be razor-thin for airlines, even in expensive premium cabins, but British Airways seems to have scored a spectacular own goal with its brunch and supper menus.
Former CEO Alex Cruz once famously boasted that cost-cutting was embedded in the airline’s DNA, but despite his fall from grace, the training that cabin crew have received seems to prove that times haven’t changed that much.
May be BA (aka Brunchairways) can go from BA to ByO ( bring your own) Airways, installing microwaves in first and business and I bring my own food .,,, that might help cutting costs !! ( and loosing customers, but who in BA management cares about customers when you can cut costs
Every since the merger with Iberia, its famously bad service is being implemented at BA. It is a pity, they used to be a really good airline. I had high hopes after flying on the new interiors they started to put it that things were turning around for the better. I guess not.
Brits are addicted to austerity
Simply Beyond Abysmal and Best Avoided….
Sadly though until BA are forced to compete on a level playing field ie compete for slots at Europe’s busiest hub) they’ll continue to profiteer from their inherited position.
I think this article is a little disingenuous. I’ve attended that training day, and the message was not that we couldn’t say “sorry”. The message I came away with was that we absolutely should apologise when things are not right, but then ALSO to thank the customer for raising the issue(s) and then follow up with proactive action to feed back to the company using new internal channels that we can access with the mobile devices all crew have been issued with (to our product or service departments, or Executive Club). For example, on a recent flight I had a customer who was irate when his pre-ordered special meal was delivered. He explained that his secretary had added to his Executive Club profile, but he “never wanted it”, has tried to remove it but keeps getting this meal every flight. He clearly was very annoyed about this. So, I apologised, and then I sent a message to Executive Club explaining the situation (this was sent immediately over the onboard WiFi) and by the time we landed, the customer had received an email from Executive Club confirming the change to his profile and removal of the special meal request. I’m not saying this type of quick resolution happens each and every time, but this is what BA is aiming for and empowering crew to initiate such feedback is an important part of that.
As for the £5 economy tray – It’s more to get crew to think about how we spend limited budgets for maximum customer satisfaction. Would you choose to include cheese & crackers, or remove them to spend more on an upgraded and more substantial salad, or add an after dinner chocolate? This is just one of many group exercises of a type which is quite typical during training days. It really has nothing to do either with World Traveller catering or the budget for it.
I completely agree with this statement, I’ve attended the training day in question and has nothing to do with budgets. It’s to enhance the crews knowledge, on how the onboard products get put into place and the decision making process behind it. I read a lot from PYOK, but this has been taken out of context and blown out of proportion.
We are trained in a variety of ways to deal with passenger issues when they arise and nip them in the bud at the first opportunity. Considering the article is in the same breath as the brunch, 1 + 1 has equalled 11. Yes things can go wrong, new ideas can backfire, but would you rather BA try new ideas and fail, or just stay the same old. We live in an industry that dynamically changes & if businesses don’t try new things they will inevitably rot, which there trying not to do.
Positive coverage is no where near the level of negative coverage when it comes to BA. Believe me they’re doing a lot internally to progress and make up for past mistakes!
I’m CC, love my job and the direction the company is going, there will always be hiccups along the way, but I’m trusting the process. It can’t change over night
Yet direct feedback from customers has been ignored for years and the real world cost cutting continues… See brunchgate, poor cabin cleanliness, ongoing IT issues 2+ years after the lies about £7billion investment (the VAST majority of that sum going to essential fleet replacement for airframes at the end of their economic life… predensified they reduce the per customer space for the vast majority)
It also appears that BA have introduced a policy of not responding to letters of complaint and simply ignoring them. I experienced this response when we were downgraded from Business Class to Economy on a 3 hour flight. Despite 3 letters and numerous emails, no response was given.