Piers Daniell

Another holiday, another BA strike. For those who are familiar with my holiday plans they always involve some kind of issue. Whether it be a strike, queue on M25, volcano, war or anything equally bothersome I am sure to have my plans affected by something. But to date I have always managed to go and find a way around the problem. BA for one always seem to find a plane and fly, even if it is some god awful Portuguese ageing 767 with seats so small you wondered if there was a comedian designed the plane.

It got me wondering as to how much the flight really matters, as long as you get there. I was just grateful the flight was going and was able to make the most of BA’s excellent T5 executive lounge. Also no insurance argument would ensue in trying to get back missed days at the hotel. The problem was that I had saved up my air miles for Club and this plane certainly had never ever catered for such a service, even economy customers were laughing at the ‘service’. The little ‘Club’ napkins on the headrests didn’t improve matters and certainly didn’t counter the distain of my fellow passengers. But we were going and I would have my holiday.

Ironically I think BA would have had less of headache on its hands of disgruntled passengers if it had actually just cancelled the flight and blamed it on the crew striking. The problem by flying was that it put hope into customers minds and they very quickly forgot about all the strike issues when faced with a 1920’s 767 (I know by the way that Boeing hadn’t made a 767 in the 1920s, just making my point…). I, for one, have decided against complaining as I had my holiday and certainly made the most of the glorious service on my return. A reminder, if you needed one, that while BA may have its issues it is still the best carrier out there. And Portugal should be ashamed of itself!

It’s all very well going away for Christmas but as this year shows it can be a real pain even before your feet have left the ground. I am in an enviable position of having family around the world and while my brother enjoys Christmas in New York, where he works, with our father, I am heading out tomorrow to Austria to spend it with my mother and step father in winter wonderland. And while I do feel privilege the joy has been somewhat taken out of it by strikes and bad weather. I most likely will be able to make it but there will be thousands across the UK and Europe suffering as staff strike, trains break down and the arctic wind bears down on us.

Not much we can do about the weather but pathetic how everything seems to grind to a halt. Austria I am told is sitting under a good two meters of snow and my brother is braving minus ten degree weather in New York but everything appears to continue. We are not so lucky and while planes freeze over and trains fail to operate we have a hardcore section of the population eager to strike to protect their working conditions. Or should I say union who believe they are talking on behalf of the majority of their members?

British Airways’ recent fiasco with the union was appalling and while it was called off has done untold damage to the airline. I love BA, always have, always will. However there will be a number of customers who have been loyal but won’t forgive the potential ruining of their Christmas by the company this year. They will be off, and while there isn’t much out there providing a better service will stay away because it isn’t BA. Obviously because I like BA so much they managed to call off the strike and award me with 10,000 air miles, which was nice.

So next year I might give up on the travelling and just stay at home. At least I will know that I am going to be having Christmas even if it might be a rather damp quiet one.

A customer of ours recently suffered a complete outage when another ISP tried to install a line into their premises. Obviously wasn’t the ISP’s fault, just a bad job by a BT Openreach engineer eager to get the job done and leave site as quickly as possible. It meant however that the customer had to survive four days of complete outage while numerous engineers came back to site to repair the damage and resolve further issues.

The client was understandably upset with the quality of the work carried out and the time it took to resolve. An experienced engineer, it turns out, should have been able to get service restored within a few hours at most. So he put together a detailed report and sent it to no less than Ian Livingston, BT Chief Executive. And you know what? He got a personal email back from Mr Livingston within 20 minutes detailing his concern on the matter and best course of action the client should be taking. To say I was a little cynical that this was actually the big man himself emailing and not a team of PAs working from outside the UK is an understatement. However the replies kept coming and our client kept responding and today he was met by the BT regional manager at his site.

The manager spent time to go through the client’s concern and has organised for a number teams to visit the site to inspect existing cabling and ensure every precaution is made to prevent a future outage. Not only that but also a fault report for us to escalate through our account manager to claim compensation on behalf of the customer. He also confirmed with the client that this matter was escalated at the highest level and that a number of Director’s were aware of the issue.

What amazes me was Ian’s direct response to the client, especially considering we are talking about a PSTN line here and that he took direct control of the matter to resolve it to the client’s satisfaction. For me it has been a very impressive display of his desire to turn BT around and that no client, no matter how small, would be left behind. Ian, like Willie Walsh at BA, has one of the most difficult jobs in the city but this kind of attitude will resonate throughout the business – even a company as large as BT.

This action alone has made a big impression and I wish Ian all the best in turning BT into the business this country deserves.

I am currently enjoying a break in west coast America and just wanted to write about the excellent service I received on my trip over. Admittedly a lot of spending on my credit card over the past year allowed me to save enough air miles for two round trip tickets in BA’s Club World. However seeing that BA has recently revised pricing, it is now not so ridiculous to consider upgrading on your next holiday.

I know that there are two very specific camps in the British psyche for BA, much like marmite, you either love it or hate it. I have always been from the former opinion, and have always tried to fly with them if I could. However if you fell out of love with BA a few years back I would urge you to consider them again, especially if you are able to sit further up the plane! Heathrow Terminal 5 is excellent, acting more like a resort than an airport, and the new business cabin is very cool. Actually it is so good that I think BA struggle to convince people to fly in FIRST where you get a smaller seat and screen.

I must look quite the newbie trying out every position the seat will go into and everything in the complimentary wash bag - but for a bit of geek that’s most of the fun. Anyway when a company gets as much bad publicity as BA I feel it is important to talk about the good as well as the bad and in the case of their business class cabin it is first class.

I am interested in the high publicity that the third runway at Heathrow is getting, especially as I don’t have any strong opinions one way or the other.

However I don’t understand why it would have not have been easier and cheaper to build a second runway at both Stanstead and Gatwick providing London with the runway capacity of places like Paris and Amsterdam. These would be geographically spread to ease the impact on one area. With this extra capacity I am sure airlines such as Virgin would have been keen to move to Gatwick completely and BA could take over more slots at Heathrow. All have existing railway links which could be upgraded for faster trains and then consumers would have the choice of which airline to choose, not only for the flight but the whole experience.

Why is it necessary for example to fly all the budget airlines out of Heathrow? If it is such an important hub for business in London then surely all the national carriers should fly into there and independent airlines should use Gatwick and Stanstead. At least they would get a better service as they won’t be bullied by the larger carriers and their handling staff.

In contrast to my last post on the awful management of Little Chef I did catch another program which was presented by Gerry Robinson on BBC Four. It is a new series where Gerry is interviewing the movers and shakers of the business world and in this one he interviewed the British Airways Chief Executive, Willie Walsh.

What came across loud and clear was Willie’s ability to lead and while I was never a big fan previously thought his candour and straight answers helped show his leadership skill. I am a big fan of BA so it was pleasing to actually see how this British institution is being looked after and has as much potential as any airline to succeed. The interview with Gerry could have gone really badly but I feel it was successful and obviously goes to show why his resignation was not demanded by the city following the T5 opening. I just wish they had fought a bit harder to keep Concorde flying!