British Airways News and Discussion Thread - 2022

Crosswind · Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:05 pm

Ignoring obsolete configurations being phased out by refurbishments on the 777 fleet, current BA long haul seat counts.

469 - A388 - F14C97W55Y303
336 - B772 - C32W52Y252 (LGW 3-Class)
332 - B772 - C32Y48Y252 (LGW 3-Class)
331 - A35K - C56W56Y219
272 - B772 - C48W40Y184
256 - B77W - F8C76W40Y132
256 - B781 - F8C48W35Y165
236 - B772 - F14C48W40Y134 (LGW 4-Class)
235 - B772 - F8C49W40Y138 (LHR 4-Class)
216 - B789 - F8C42W39Y127
214 - B788 - C35W25Y154

The A350 is hardly dense, especially when you compare the seat count 331 v 272 against the much smaller 3-class LHR 772.

Notable that the 77W and 781 have the same seat count, but the former has a much higher premium seat count. The 789 and 788 totals only differ by 2, but again the former has a much higher premium seat count.

The A350-1000s role at BA was to directly replace the capacity lost with the retirement of the Mid-J 747 fleet, configured for 335, F14C52W36Y235. The First cabin on these aircraft was a legacy of their former use and universal First cabins, the A350 maximized Club and WTP cabins, at the expense of economy in the slightly smaller A350.

Somerandom787 · Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:36 pm

airboss787 wrote:
sand26391 wrote:
I am just curious and wanted to know something... if any1 can give some insight on this... it would be welcome:-

On the LHR-BLR sector, why has BA switched A35K to B772 for the summer? Because from what I am aware, on the loads side atleast, it was doing good. Has it got to do with something else? Are they redeploying the A35K to more premium heavy or leisure heavy destinations?
Thanks!

In addition, even BOM has been downsized to 5x weekly on 787-8 from 2x daily on the. 35K and 787 on some days. Not sure why the drastic reductions across the board. Especially now that travel has opened up fully. There is enough O&D demand to London to sustain more than a 5x weekly flight.

1. Is this for S22? Because if it is for S22 (and even W22), BOM would definitely be big enough for at least daily 3 class 772

2. Proof? I don't think BA would do this unless they had a severe aircraft shortage like AA (who is cutting profitable routes like DFW-SCL or MIA-CDG)

3. Did anything change for DEL? DEL is always extremely similar to BOM

airboss787 · Tue Mar 29, 2022 11:53 pm

Somerandom787 wrote:
airboss787 wrote:
sand26391 wrote:
I am just curious and wanted to know something... if any1 can give some insight on this... it would be welcome:-

On the LHR-BLR sector, why has BA switched A35K to B772 for the summer? Because from what I am aware, on the loads side atleast, it was doing good. Has it got to do with something else? Are they redeploying the A35K to more premium heavy or leisure heavy destinations?
Thanks!

In addition, even BOM has been downsized to 5x weekly on 787-8 from 2x daily on the. 35K and 787 on some days. Not sure why the drastic reductions across the board. Especially now that travel has opened up fully. There is enough O&D demand to London to sustain more than a 5x weekly flight.

1. Is this for S22? Because if it is for S22 (and even W22), BOM would definitely be big enough for at least daily 3 class 772

2. Proof? I don't think BA would do this unless they had a severe aircraft shortage like AA (who is cutting profitable routes like DFW-SCL or MIA-CDG)

3. Did anything change for DEL? DEL is always extremely similar to BOM

1. Not sure of W22, but this is for S22. Pre-COVID they did have 3 daily BOM flights, but never since then.

2. https://twitter.com/MZulqarnainBut1/sta ... 1148626949

3. DEL sees similar reductions. Equally puzzling. Quite surprising to see at this time VS are the only daily flight from BOM to LHR.

jomur · Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:05 pm

Scotron12 wrote:
BA just took delivery of an A350-1000 this past weekend. They were speaking of changing the layout of "future" builds to make them more crew friendly.

Anyone know what that means?? Right now they have a total of 331 seats on their A350s (IMO probably influenced by A. Cruz..cram as much as you can ala Click Air). No other WB aircraft has such a dense configuration at BA. Talk about "premium" cattle car. Even BAs 779s will only seat 325!

So I wonder what kinda changes will they make...or is it all hot air??

Its all to do with re-arranging the galley space and makingit suitable to do 2 hot meal services on the longer flights it would be operating.

B742 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:31 pm

BA systems are down again, causing a fair bit of chaos at LHR. Also causing a knock-on to IB/QR in Terminal 5. A7-APJ has been sat on the ground for 1hr 15m since landing, other aircraft holding across taxiways and T3.

TexasAirCorp · Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:31 pm

BA IT systems are down again. All flights from LHR suspended.

goosebayguy · Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:35 pm

This is what happens when you save money by sending your IT to India. It costs you more in the end.

JannEejit · Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:18 pm

TexasAirCorp wrote:
BA IT systems are down again. All flights from LHR suspended.

Situation resolved..."allegedly"...

Sky News: British Airways hit again by 'technical' failure that has delayed flights.
https://news.sky.com/story/british-airw ... s-12578303

davidjohnson6 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:28 pm

BA are not doing their name any favours with the IT systems regularly going down. What is happening with regards to brand and reputation management to try to avoid too much of the stigma ? Have they got some PR people dealing with this in the press ?
BA cannot afford to wait until all the IT issues are fixed - that will take months - after the last 2 years, they desperately need a good summer season in 2022

seansasLCY · Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:40 pm

JannEejit wrote:
TexasAirCorp wrote:
BA IT systems are down again. All flights from LHR suspended.

Situation resolved..."allegedly"...

Sky News: British Airways hit again by 'technical' failure that has delayed flights.
https://news.sky.com/story/british-airw ... s-12578303

Almost all LHR BA short haul now showing as cancelled for the rest of the evening.

TexasAirCorp · Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:05 pm

seansasLCY wrote:
JannEejit wrote:
TexasAirCorp wrote:
BA IT systems are down again. All flights from LHR suspended.

Situation resolved..."allegedly"...

Sky News: British Airways hit again by 'technical' failure that has delayed flights.
https://news.sky.com/story/british-airw ... s-12578303

Almost all LHR BA short haul now showing as cancelled for the rest of the evening.

Am currently sat in T5 Galleries South, they're making announcements for cancelled flights every few minutes. Originally it was 'all short haul flights past 6pm cancelled', now 'all short haul and a couple of long hauls'. They've just announced all JFK/EWR/BOS/IAD flights this evening aren't happening.

davidjohnson6 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:18 pm

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in a BA boardroom meeting... listening to what all the directors are saying internally about the IT systems. Yes, they could (and possibly will) throw the CIO under the bus and fire him/her, but that alone is not going to solve the problem.
Issuing a press release saying "It's all Alex Cruz's fault" probably isn't going to help either

JannEejit · Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:19 pm

I've just watched BA1487 depart GLA, from my window and head for LHR. It appears to be almost four hours delayed.

BA1487 from Glasgow to London https://fr24.com/SHT7H/2b534364

JannEejit · Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:22 pm

davidjohnson6 wrote:
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in a BA boardroom meeting... listening to what all the directors are saying internally about the IT systems. Yes, they could (and possibly will) throw the CIO under the bus and fire him/her, but that alone is not going to solve the problem.
Issuing a press release saying "It's all Alex Cruz's fault" probably isn't going to help either

If they're still talking about BA's failing IT systems at this stage, they ought to fire themselves.

seansasLCY · Wed Mar 30, 2022 5:42 pm

TexasAirCorp wrote:
seansasLCY wrote:
JannEejit wrote:

Situation resolved..."allegedly"...

Sky News: British Airways hit again by 'technical' failure that has delayed flights.
https://news.sky.com/story/british-airw ... s-12578303

Almost all LHR BA short haul now showing as cancelled for the rest of the evening.

Am currently sat in T5 Galleries South, they're making announcements for cancelled flights every few minutes. Originally it was 'all short haul flights past 6pm cancelled', now 'all short haul and a couple of long hauls'. They've just announced all JFK/EWR/BOS/IAD flights this evening aren't happening.

It’s being reported on Twitter that BA are offering LHR staff double pay plus £25 per hour to work overtime tonight. https://twitter.com/MZulqarnainBut1/sta ... NHTTlacaTw

Surely at some point the compensation, overtime costs etc start to outweigh not investing in IT and infrastructure?!

TexasAirCorp · Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:10 pm

seansasLCY wrote:
TexasAirCorp wrote:
seansasLCY wrote:

Almost all LHR BA short haul now showing as cancelled for the rest of the evening.

Am currently sat in T5 Galleries South, they're making announcements for cancelled flights every few minutes. Originally it was 'all short haul flights past 6pm cancelled', now 'all short haul and a couple of long hauls'. They've just announced all JFK/EWR/BOS/IAD flights this evening aren't happening.

It’s being reported on Twitter that BA are offering LHR staff double pay plus £25 per hour to work overtime tonight. https://twitter.com/MZulqarnainBut1/sta ... NHTTlacaTw

Surely at some point the compensation, overtime costs etc start to outweigh not investing in IT and infrastructure?!

Not sure £25 is even enough seeing how hard they're working right now. Information distribution from HQ is absolutely abysmal right now, there's flights still on the board from 5pm with no information. I was support to depart 10 mins ago, no idea what's happening.

TexasAirCorp · Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:12 pm

Just been told they're out of hotels now too - if your flight is cancelled, you're on your own.

TexasAirCorp · Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:20 pm

Very interesting stuff here, I'm sat next to an American chap who says he works for a cybersecurity who was talking to BA about taking on a cybersecurity project for them. Apparently Alex Cruz cut out all fallback systems to save money, hence the system is so vulnerable, any problem can knock it out and there's nothing to provide backup. Can't verify that but that's according to this guy who seems to know what he's talking about.

davidjohnson6 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:35 pm

TexasAirCorp wrote:
seansasLCY wrote:
It’s being reported on Twitter that BA are offering LHR staff double pay plus £25 per hour to work overtime tonight. https://twitter.com/MZulqarnainBut1/sta ... NHTTlacaTw

Surely at some point the compensation, overtime costs etc start to outweigh not investing in IT and infrastructure?!

Not sure £25 is even enough seeing how hard they're working right now.

I would read it as double pay plus £25 per hour - so for somebody earning £30,000 per year (or £17 per hour, assuming 44 weeks worked per year and 40 hours per week), then I would guess they are being offered £59 per hour to stay at work tonight

TUGMASTER · Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:22 pm

That’s around the ball park… £60 per hour, however, BA already offer double time for any overtime worked in the past 6-7 weeks, as they’re that short of staff. And because of this , a lot of staff are smashing it, and will already be on long days, and probably have no appetite to stay on any longer.
The real trouble is, you can’t talk to management, they know it’s broken, but are not prepared to listen on how to fix it.
IT issues are just one of their many many problems they face this summer.
Selling your soul to the cheapest bidder has come back to bite them in the derrière .
Moral is currently rock bottom too.
New hires are leaving as quick as they start .
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Embarrassing is too kind .

davidjohnson6 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 8:24 pm

TexasAirCorp wrote:
Very interesting stuff here, I'm sat next to an American chap who says he works for a cybersecurity who was talking to BA about taking on a cybersecurity project for them. Apparently Alex Cruz cut out all fallback systems to save money, hence the system is so vulnerable, any problem can knock it out and there's nothing to provide backup. Can't verify that but that's according to this guy who seems to know what he's talking about.

This, along with the repeated IT system failures makes me distinctly concerned about booking flights with BA. I live in London, and fly regularly - at least every 2 weeks.
If I buy a ticket, and the airline says to me a few days before I leave London "Sorry, your flight is cancelled because we messed up" it's annoying, but I can live with it.
If I am somewhere far away from London and an airline says "Sorry your flight is cancelled because we messed up", I'm likely to be furious and experience a lot of pain because I can't get to work or be with family

I imagine a lot of people and corporate travel agents are getting distinctly nervous about booking with BA, especially if they are not tied into some multi-year travel agreement, simply because they need confidence that the airline will reliably get them home. This WILL translate into a decline in sales revenue

I'm wondering as well when somebody from the UK CAA or Dept for Transport starts to make a few phonecalls to somebody senior expressing serious concerns

TC957 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 8:56 pm

BA should have taken the travel downturn during 2020/1 to invest in a new IT system or at least overhauled and upgraded the one they have.

Scotron12 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:41 pm

Who hired A. Cruz in the 1st place? He seems to have caused quite a bit of damage

What were his redeeming features that qualified his hiring? AFAIK, he made money at Click, that's,about it. So why was he deemed suitable for the main carrier of IAG???

Somerandom787 · Wed Mar 30, 2022 9:44 pm

airboss787 wrote:
Somerandom787 wrote:
airboss787 wrote:

In addition, even BOM has been downsized to 5x weekly on 787-8 from 2x daily on the. 35K and 787 on some days. Not sure why the drastic reductions across the board. Especially now that travel has opened up fully. There is enough O&D demand to London to sustain more than a 5x weekly flight.

1. Is this for S22? Because if it is for S22 (and even W22), BOM would definitely be big enough for at least daily 3 class 772

2. Proof? I don't think BA would do this unless they had a severe aircraft shortage like AA (who is cutting profitable routes like DFW-SCL or MIA-CDG)

3. Did anything change for DEL? DEL is always extremely similar to BOM

1. Not sure of W22, but this is for S22. Pre-COVID they did have 3 daily BOM flights, but never since then.

2. https://twitter.com/MZulqarnainBut1/sta ... 1148626949

3. DEL sees similar reductions. Equally puzzling. Quite surprising to see at this time VS are the only daily flight from BOM to LHR.

Weirdly, it, along with Delhi is returning to 2x Daily in May.

TexasAirCorp · Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:17 pm

Scotron12 wrote:
Who hired A. Cruz in the 1st place? He seems to have caused quite a bit of damage

What were his redeeming features that qualified his hiring? AFAIK, he made money at Click, that's,about it. So why was he deemed suitable for the main carrier of IAG???

Because IAG seems to have a policy of promoting heads of smaller subsidiaries when a CEO position becomes vacant instead of hiring someone from outside. He was CEO of Vueling when Keith Williams left BA, and hence got permission to climb the golden staircase up to one of IAG's big boy airlines. Same with current CEO Sean Doyle, who used to be at the helm of Aer Lingus.

davidjohnson6 · Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:05 pm

Large chunks of BA shorthaul out of LHR seems to be cancelled. Any idea when operational stability will return ?

seansasLCY · Thu Mar 31, 2022 12:32 pm

davidjohnson6 wrote:
Large chunks of BA shorthaul out of LHR seems to be cancelled. Any idea when operational stability will return ?

It usually takes 2-3 days after these incidents to recover but BA have also said they will proactively cancel short haul flights for the next few months due to their issues.

chonetsao · Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:14 pm

TexasAirCorp wrote:
Scotron12 wrote:
Who hired A. Cruz in the 1st place? He seems to have caused quite a bit of damage

What were his redeeming features that qualified his hiring? AFAIK, he made money at Click, that's,about it. So why was he deemed suitable for the main carrier of IAG???

Because IAG seems to have a policy of promoting heads of smaller subsidiaries when a CEO position becomes vacant instead of hiring someone from outside. He was CEO of Vueling when Keith Williams left BA, and hence got permission to climb the golden staircase up to one of IAG's big boy airlines. Same with current CEO Sean Doyle, who used to be at the helm of Aer Lingus.

I remember when Alex Cruz was hired by BA, the consensus was that his track record in Vueling will be useful for BA to bring the cost down.

Alex Cruz did bring the cost down, by taking away a lot of things passengers and crew liked, and in turn almost destroyed BA's long term reputation and employees' morale. He also moved some part of IT function to Poland together with some IAG's member airlines in the name of synergy. He cuts here and there wherever he could.

Some here on a.net have said it will bring disaster to BA's long term stability. I have always thought he went too far too fast and he did not understand legacy network carriers like BA works differently compare to a springboard low cost carrier. I would not be surprised that today's failures were rooted to Alex Cruz's measures at that time.

To come back to your point, I want to say IAG does not have the policy you mentioned. IAG's intention, when Alex Cruz was hired, was due to his ability to cut cost at any cost, as well as at that time, IAG wanted people from British side of business to run Spanish side while Spanish side to run British side so that both sides can understand and learn each other's strength and weakness in order to achieve maximum synergies within the group. Such step is very natural for a company that just finished the merger with distinctly different corporate cultures. Sean Doyle was an accidental promotion. The board realised Alex Cruz is taking BA to the wrong direction, yet there was no other people qualified to lead BA. And frankly, after what Alex Cruz had done to BA, it would be an even bigger disaster to hire someone from 'outside'.

Personally, I expect when Sean Doyle completed his mission in the future, the next CEO of BA would be from within or from 'outside'. My personal bet is Alan Joyce from Qantas (if he is interested of course).

WAC · Thu Mar 31, 2022 3:24 pm

I had 43k worth's bookings with BA this year. They cancelled my flight today last night. Now it stands at 0.

by738 · Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:05 pm

the vast majority of punters outwith high yielder frequent fliers will be completely oblivious to IT failures. They will not ‘walk with their feet’ and will continue to book BA. It barely made the headlines this time. If everyone is desperate to travel (are they?) then the cheap seats will be filled..

skipness1E · Thu Mar 31, 2022 9:49 pm

Alex Cruz was Willie Walsh's yes man, parachuted into BA to finish what Willie started. They both got their bonus cheques and departed leaving Sean Doyle a poisoned chalice.
Legacy IT was simply seen as a cost to manage down which is a classic boardroom balls up. Any proper strategy sees IT as a business critical system demanding ongoing TLC and investment. The longer you don't do this in the modern age with legacy infrastructure, the harder it gets to migrate over. And then one day, you're business stops. And then another day. And then again. Big round of applause for Willie and Alex.

WAC · Fri Apr 01, 2022 3:23 pm

by738 wrote:
the vast majority of punters outwith high yielder frequent fliers will be completely oblivious to IT failures. They will not ‘walk with their feet’ and will continue to book BA. It barely made the headlines this time. If everyone is desperate to travel (are they?) then the cheap seats will be filled..

You must be joking. I personally had £43k booked for my travel alone 3 days ago. All cancelled. I along with some other BA Concorde card holders have cut the cards and sent to IAG and BA board of directors photos/videos of this. Our loyalty is purely on the commitment of BA delivering and providing a service that reliable.

seansasLCY · Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:16 pm

The BA meltdown continues. On almost all short haul flights they are now only selling full fare seats to deter people from booking. Examples including LHR-ARN at £609 one way in Economy. This seems to be on all flights for the next two weeks with avios redemptions unavailable also.

More reports of flights arriving today with no baggage and long queues at LGW.

by738 · Sat Apr 02, 2022 4:31 pm

WAC wrote:
by738 wrote:
the vast majority of punters outwith high yielder frequent fliers will be completely oblivious to IT failures. They will not ‘walk with their feet’ and will continue to book BA. It barely made the headlines this time. If everyone is desperate to travel (are they?) then the cheap seats will be filled..

You must be joking. I personally had £43k booked for my travel alone 3 days ago. All cancelled. I along with some other BA Concorde card holders have cut the cards and sent to IAG and BA board of directors photos/videos of this. Our loyalty is purely on the commitment of BA delivering and providing a service that reliable.

You must have missed the bit ‘ outwith high yielder frequent fliers’

WAC · Sat Apr 02, 2022 6:34 pm

[s][/s]

by738 wrote:
WAC wrote:
by738 wrote:
the vast majority of punters outwith high yielder frequent fliers will be completely oblivious to IT failures. They will not ‘walk with their feet’ and will continue to book BA. It barely made the headlines this time. If everyone is desperate to travel (are they?) then the cheap seats will be filled..

You must be joking. I personally had £43k booked for my travel alone 3 days ago. All cancelled. I along with some other BA Concorde card holders have cut the cards and sent to IAG and BA board of directors photos/videos of this. Our loyalty is purely on the commitment of BA delivering and providing a service that reliable.

You must have missed the bit ‘ outwith high yielder frequent fliers’

Whoops a daisy... my fault... sorry for overlooking that.
Just in a rage with BA and their short termism business strategies.

ScottishDavie · Sat Apr 02, 2022 7:54 pm

Am I correct in thinking that Cityflyer hasn't been affected (or at least not so badly affected) by the IT issues? The EDI-LCY flights seem to have been operating more or less normally despite the meltdown elsewhere. I have to go to London next month and I need to decide between Cityflyer to LCY (my strong preference) or U2 to LGW. I'm not risking BA LHR under current circumstances.

Crosswind · Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:15 pm

ScottishDavie wrote:
Am I correct in thinking that Cityflyer hasn't been affected (or at least not so badly affected) by the IT issues? The EDI-LCY flights seem to have been operating more or less normally despite the meltdown elsewhere. I have to go to London next month and I need to decide between Cityflyer to LCY (my strong preference) or U2 to LGW. I'm not risking BA LHR under current circumstances.

There have been no IT issues with Cityflyer, despite using the same IT as mainline. I think the issue this week has been LHR specific to the infrastructure there, as doesn’t seem to have occurred anywhere else on the network… other than the knock on effects. To be clear I’m not claiming any blame rests with LHR, just that whatever the issue is, it is confined to there. Haven’t seen any unusual delays at LCY recently.

ClassicLover · Sun Apr 03, 2022 2:07 pm

chonetsao wrote:
Personally, I expect when Sean Doyle completed his mission in the future, the next CEO of BA would be from within or from 'outside'. My personal bet is Alan Joyce from Qantas (if he is interested of course).

I think Qantas will want to hang on to him, as he's done a remarkably good job at the Australian airline. Since the Project Sunrise A350-1000 order is due to be placed by mid-year for deliveries in 2025, I really think he will stay to see those routes begin. Still, Sean Doyle will be in his fourth year by then, so who knows. I honestly hope Alan Joyce stays with Qantas, but I'm sure he could name his price at any airline anywhere in the world at this point.

Thunderboltdrgn · Sun Apr 03, 2022 3:06 pm

Watched on youtube live stream (BJTV) and it was mentioned that today's BA209 (A380) from LHR to MIA has some issues with the jetway
malfunctioning and being stuck to the aircraft. So they can't push back the aircraft from the gate.

skipness1E · Sun Apr 03, 2022 6:15 pm

G-EUUC back from Shannon repaint with some decidedly non standard titles, the crest is much further away from the "BRITISH AIRWAYS".

"Ahh no one will notice am sure!"

leftcoast8 · Sun Apr 03, 2022 7:50 pm

Does anyone have hard numbers for the passenger demand for BA's South Asian and African network coming from North American connections? Especially from airports that don't have an ME3 route (AUS, LAS, PHX, DEN, SAN, YVR (TK)).

TC957 · Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:18 pm

772 G-VIIT diverted to Lajes en route MBJ-LGW. Reason ?

BA174 · Mon Apr 04, 2022 11:23 pm

TexasAirCorp wrote:
Scotron12 wrote:
Who hired A. Cruz in the 1st place? He seems to have caused quite a bit of damage

What were his redeeming features that qualified his hiring? AFAIK, he made money at Click, that's,about it. So why was he deemed suitable for the main carrier of IAG???

Because IAG seems to have a policy of promoting heads of smaller subsidiaries when a CEO position becomes vacant instead of hiring someone from outside. He was CEO of Vueling when Keith Williams left BA, and hence got permission to climb the golden staircase up to one of IAG's big boy airlines. Same with current CEO Sean Doyle, who used to be at the helm of Aer Lingus.

Both Sean Doyle and his successor CEO at EI have worked at BA in the past for many years, long before IAG came into being.

mrkerr7474 · Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:14 am

Has anyone ever flown 789 last row in economy class? Just wondering what personal experiences may be in those seats being so close to galley / toilets as I'm considering them as option flying Sydney to London and vice versa

Thanks in advance

JumboMaiden · Tue Apr 05, 2022 7:40 am

[*]

mrkerr7474 wrote:
Has anyone ever flown 789 last row in economy class? Just wondering what personal experiences may be in those seats being so close to galley / toilets as I'm considering them as option flying Sydney to London and vice versa

Thanks in advance

That's a long way to travel sitting back there, but the last row does have the buffer area of the entryway to the crew bunks (4L) behind it (so not a simple thin bulkhead
to the galley) and an equipment stowage cupboard at 4R. Toilet entry faces the back of the a/c not the the aisle and so is not directly at the aisle of the last row. Only advantage I can
think of is no one behind leaning and pulling seat backs every time they get up.

BealineV953 · Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:55 pm

chonetsao wrote:
TexasAirCorp wrote:
Scotron12 wrote:
Who hired A. Cruz in the 1st place? He seems to have caused quite a bit of damage

What were his redeeming features that qualified his hiring?
AFAIK, he made money at Click, that's about it. So why was he deemed suitable for the main carrier of IAG???

Because IAG seems to have a policy of promoting heads of smaller subsidiaries when a CEO position becomes vacant instead of hiring someone from outside.
He was CEO of Vueling when Keith Williams left BA, and hence got permission to climb the golden staircase up to one of IAG's big boy airlines. Same with current CEO Sean Doyle, who used to be at the helm of Aer Lingus.

I remember when Alex Cruz was hired by BA, the consensus was that his track record in Vueling will be useful for BA to bring the cost down.

Alex Cruz did bring the cost down, by taking away a lot of things passengers and crew liked, and in turn almost destroyed BA's long term reputation and employees' morale. He also moved some part of IT function to Poland together with some IAG's member airlines in the name of synergy. He cuts here and there wherever he could.

Some here on a.net have said it will bring disaster to BA's long term stability. I have always thought he went too far too fast and he did not understand legacy network carriers like BA works differently compare to a springboard low cost carrier. I would not be surprised that today's failures were rooted to Alex Cruz's measures at that time.

To come back to your point, I want to say IAG does not have the policy you mentioned. IAG's intention, when Alex Cruz was hired, was due to his ability to cut cost at any cost, as well as at that time, IAG wanted people from British side of business to run Spanish side while Spanish side to run British side so that both sides can understand and learn each other's strength and weakness in order to achieve maximum synergies within the group. Such step is very natural for a company that just finished the merger with distinctly different corporate cultures. Sean Doyle was an accidental promotion. The board realised Alex Cruz is taking BA to the wrong direction, yet there was no other people qualified to lead BA. And frankly, after what Alex Cruz had done to BA, it would be an even bigger disaster to hire someone from 'outside'.

Personally, I expect when Sean Doyle completed his mission in the future, the next CEO of BA would be from within or from 'outside'. My personal bet is Alan Joyce from Qantas (if he is interested of course).

IAG and BA will always want to appoint the best candidate for a senior position, and particularly as CEO. I very much doubt that IAG slavishly follows a policy of promoting heads from its smaller companies ahead of a recruiting a stronger candidate from outside IAG. Similarly, while I can think of two high profile examples of people moving from IAG businesses in Spain to BA, I would be very surprised if IAG has a policy of moving senior managers from its Spanish businesses to its British businesses and from its British businesses to its Spanish businesses at the expense of appointing a stronger candidate.

IAG moves high performing managers around the group to broaden their experience. Senior managers have moved from British Airways to IAG Cargo, Avios and to other businesses in the group. This should be seen as effective career development and succession planning.

Sean Doyle was certainly not an “accidental promotion”.
Doyle joined British Airways in 1998 as a financial analyst. He went on to be Finance Director BA Cargo, Head of Corporate Strategy and Executive Vice President British Airways Americas.
In 2016 Doyle was appointed as Director of Network, Fleet & Alliances. As a director, he joined the airline’s executive Management Committee. As part of this role, he was accountable for network and fleet planning, airline partnerships and oversight of BA’s business units at London Gatwick and BA CityFlyer.
In January 2019 Doyle joined Aer Lingus as Chief Executive.
I suspect that when Doyle moved to Aer Lingus, he had already been lined up for the BA Chief Executive role.
In October 2020 Doyle was appointed Chief Executive of BA, and Chairman in April 2021.
Doyle probably took on the BA Chief Executive role a little earlier than expected.

Where you say Cruz “…did not understand legacy network carriers like BA” you may be unaware that he began his career at American Airlines.
Cruz then became a partner at Arthur D Little before setting up his own aviation consulting firm, and later joined Accenture as its Head of Aviation.
In 2006, Cruz founded Clickair. When Click merged with Vueling, Cruz became Vueling’s Chairman and CEO. In 2013 Vueling was acquired by IAG.

In 2016 Cruz was appointed as BA CEO by Wille Walsh. Cruz replaced Keith Williams, and he may also have had some say in the appointment.
Cruz had created and successfully grown a ‘low-cost’ carrier.
At BA, Cruz was very keen to be seen as being creative and entrepreneurial. It may have been these attributes that appealed to Walsh.
Cruz did not have experience of managing costs at a legacy carrier, and if that was a key requirement of the BA role, then in that respect his CV was weak.
Cruz reported to Walsh, and Walsh certainly gave Cruz ‘cost management’ as a one of his key objectives.

Walsh and the IAG board may have become less certain of Cruz when in early July 2016 Vueling had an operational melt down. By that time Cruz had joined BA, but before leaving Vueling he signed off the airline’s summer 2016 schedule. A number of people at Vueling publicly stated that Cruz had ignored their concerns about the low cost carrier having the resources to operate the planned schedule.

I saw Cruz present formally and informally many times. It may have been that he was a genius and far too clever for me to understand. However, I came to think that he was a fake. There was usually a significant gap between his latest creative idea and being able to implement it. Typically, Cruz simply ignored the implications of his ideas for BA’s partners both inside and outside IAG. Coming away from his presentations, I often heard people say that, as with the James Brown song, Cruz had been talking loud but saying nothing. Unable to communicate his ideas clearly, Cruz struggled to take people with him.

Cruz was not responsible for moving “some part of IT function” to Poland.
Rather, IAG has centralised a number of business functions, and Cruz had absolutely no say in it.
An early example was the creation of a centralised procurement team, responsible for all purchasing across all of the airlines in the group. When IAG Procurement was set up, the procurement teams at BA and Iberia were disbanded. IAG Procurement has an office in Krakow.
Centralising procurement certainly does afford IAG greater purchasing power than any of the member airlines would have alone.
The first aircraft order placed under the new regime was in August 2013 when IAG Procurement signed a contract with Airbus. The deal included a firm order for 62 and an option for an additional 58 A320 family aircraft for Vueling, and options for 100 A320neos to be allocated to any of British Airways, Iberia or Vueling.
You can be sure that IAG will have negotiated a better price on a contract for 220 aircraft than any of the individual airlines would have achieved.

Very little of IAG’s IT activity is centralised. Each carrier in the group uses different IT systems for reservations, departure control and other functions. Standardising systems across the group would be very, very expensive.

At one time BA was entirely self-sufficient in IT development, operations and security. However, in recent years in an effort to reduce cost, BA has outsourced very nearly all of its IT functions.

BealineV953 · Tue Apr 05, 2022 2:48 pm

TC957 wrote:
BA should have taken the travel downturn during 2020/1 to invest in a new IT system or at least overhauled and upgraded the one they have.

In early 2017 BA implemented 'Fly', used for reservations and check-in. Fly was a huge and very expensive project. Fly is a very capable bespoke front end to the Amadeus reservations system. Significant upgrades will not yet be needed.
BA's issue is not around overhauling and upgrading IT systems. Rather, the issue is in keeping its systems up and running.
Also in 2017 BA came to the end of a programme of outsourcing IT development, operations, security and support. At one time BA employed a large number of excellent people in those areas.
I don't know, but I have a funny feeling that the 'IT problems' that BA has experienced in recent weeks may be because the third parties that assumed responsibility for these functions are not delivering the service that BA is paying them for.
I'm happy to be corrected on that by someone who knows more about what is going on.

Vicenza · Tue Apr 05, 2022 2:59 pm

BealineV953 wrote:
Cruz did not have experience of managing costs at a legacy carrier, and if that was a key requirement of the BA role, then in that respect his CV was weak.
Cruz reported to Walsh, and Walsh certainly gave Cruz ‘cost management’ as a one of his key objectives.

That being the case, then surely his CV in itself was not weak, but rather a substantial mistake by Walsh by not recognising that lack of experience required for the role.

shamrock321 · Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:17 pm

TC957 wrote:
772 G-VIIT diverted to Lajes en route MBJ-LGW. Reason ?

This was a medical emergency…a friend was onboard and they finally made it back to London late last night after a relief 777 and crew were sent…They spent the majority of the delay onboard because of space issues in Lajes, I’m not sure if they were eventually allowed off later…

skipness1E · Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:35 pm

Vicenza wrote:
BealineV953 wrote:
Cruz did not have experience of managing costs at a legacy carrier, and if that was a key requirement of the BA role, then in that respect his CV was weak.
Cruz reported to Walsh, and Walsh certainly gave Cruz ‘cost management’ as a one of his key objectives.

That being the case, then surely his CV in itself was not weak, but rather a substantial mistake by Walsh by not recognising that lack of experience required for the role.

Just like they outsourced passenger handling at their biggest airports which are useless when the operation falls over. 3rd party handlers are paid the bare minimum and you get what you pay for. Hence the decision to outsource can be a wrong headed one which in theory hands responsibility over to a 3rd party but the airline still suffers all of the pain when things go amiss. Look you either see good IT as an essential part of your BAU or a pain in the arse cost to be managed, ideally by someone else. Amazon didn't get to be where they are today by not making sure their IT was what they needed it to be. It's a frequent misunderstanding of a modern CEO, who by putting off the essential pain to get it right ASAP may well bank his fat bonus but leave a world of steaming pain for his successor. It's classic short termism shareholder value vs. long term business benefit.

Who is online

Popular Searches On Airliners.net