Going back to BA

Well.. It looks like I may be doing the unthinkable and actually planning a return to BA;

Factors;

Seat/service/food/wine - BA wins hands down
Bed/check in/security/lounge - Virgin wins

Executive club seems much more complicated than Flying club but is much more flexible. One of the main reasons is that Upper class is as high as you can go but with BA there's always the chance of upgrade to First.. (especially with a few strategically placed friends at BA.. )

I've got 2 more reward upper flights planned for Feb and April, then a BA flight in may..

I can see myself doing 2 or 3 BA flights and missing the VIrgin 'x-factor' and returning, but i suppose it's good to vary things occasionally??

Happy Christmas to all.

I'm pondering the same. It's going to cost me £506 and 25k BA miles to upgrade to CW for a NYC trip, but a similar upgrade on VS would cost about £1200. Not being able to reserve a seat is the biggest issue for me though, I like to know I'm not going to get that dreaded middle seat. That, and I like my luggage to arrive at the same time as me!

Agreed - I always use miles in that way and BA seems to work much better. They also have a much easier approach to pooling miles with family members which I like to take advantage of.. .

I like to think that with friends at BA and the fact that I work at Heathrow I can somehow manage to pre-book a specific seat, although it is frustrating!. I will be interested to see the on-ground services at T5 stack up as the last BA club flight i took was T4 (and having already done the Virgin experience I wasn't impressed..) Not expecting the lounge to compete at all (unless I can somehow get myself into the Concorde room!!).

I think ultimately I will end up using a combination of BA and Virgin but my 100% dedication to Virgin is slowly swinging..

You could try being an 'airline tart' like me... I go with whichever airline works out best at the time... BA/VS/CO/LH/AA/UA etc.etc.

I MAINLY collect BA Miles (BA Amex helps there) and they are ALWAYS good for using miles to upgrade from WT+ to CW. I collected a lot of CO miles over the years (and have had a couple of Business Class Transatlantic Awards, for husband and me, with them). BMI miles have been good in the past too - although how much long that continues, with them being taken over by LH, remains to be seen. I now have a few VS miles too: they don't seem as felxible as BA miles, but husband likes VS UC - so we do that sometimes....

I think that BA has a consistently solid product. Maybe not as much 'modern glamour' as VS, but definitely more consistently professional.

Still, if a good deal comes along, I just go for it.

Boo

After having the (DIS)pleasure of a BA transatlantic flight the other day, I can safely say Virgin will have my money for a long time to come.. Virgin may have lost a lot of the sparkle it had a few years ago, but it still has some way yet to fall to BA's product offering(BA crew were superb, product somewhat.. errrm AWFUL)
Bed design/layout cramped compared to Upper, wine only acceptable wouldn't buy it myself which is how I judge onboard wines. only good point, I was in my transport within 30 minutes of landing (with all luggage accounted for!!) at 8.15 wed morning

quote:Originally posted by ilikebluesmarties
After having the (DIS)pleasure of a BA transatlantic flight the other day, I can safely say Virgin will have my money for a long time to come.. Virgin may have lost a lot of the sparkle it had a few years ago, but it still has some way yet to fall to BA's product offering(BA crew were superb, product somewhat.. errrm AWFUL)
Bed design/layout cramped compared to Upper, wine only acceptable wouldn't buy it myself which is how I judge onboard wines. only good point, I was in my transport within 30 minutes of landing (with all luggage accounted for!!) at 8.15 wed morning


Interesting subject that has been discussed many times before.

For me .. most of my flying is now done with BA, this was initially forced on me with a change of job but I have to say overall I now favour BA and book them in preference. The seat discussion is really a personal issue. I favour the BA CW seat because to me it is far more flexible and comfortable when you dont want to bed down.

The crew - you pretty much know what you will get with BA - a sound professional service which is pretty much consistant !

Exec Club - is (IMHO) far better, you get the perks and recognition that you deserve as a Silver or Gold (not just with BA)and the use of miles is far more flexible.

Lounges - they may not be the same but I find them perfectly acceptable especially the First lounge in T5.

Wine - I dont fly for the wine and actually rarely drink alcohol when flying these days (and always feel so much better for it)

Overall BA wins hands down at the moment (IMHO of course[:)])


Just my 2c worth

MS [:D]

[HighFlyer]

I don't see anything wrong in doing what is best for your own pocket. If there is a significant saying to be had by flying another carrier then I think we'd all be silly not to. I've just completed a very good leg on CW and wouldn't hesitate in booking BA CW again -- as long as I can book on the upper deck. There are plusses and minuses for most carriers and certainly things I missed from VS whilst on BA but if the major plus point is the extra cash in your wallet, thats not a bad thing [:)]

Thanks,
Sarah

quote:Originally posted by HighFlyer
I don't see anything wrong in doing what is best for your own pocket. If there is a significant saying to be had by flying another carrier then I think we'd all be silly not to. I've just completed a very good leg on CW and wouldn't hesitate in booking BA CW again -- as long as I can book on the upper deck. There are plusses and minuses for most carriers and certainly things I missed from VS whilst on BA but if the major plus point is the extra cash in your wallet, thats not a bad thing [:)]

Thanks,
Sarah


Totally agree with what you've said Sarah.
Loyalty is a wonderful thing and it cuts both ways. If it costs me (more) money I'll look at the alternatives. Or last trip to the US was with AA in Y (VS wanted lots lots more). We had great flights and based on this I'll use them again. My recent trips with VS (in UC) have been so so.
I pay for my travel (be it miles or cash) so I'm be prepared to be ruthless to get the best bang for my buck. Maybe if VS didn't charge their horrid surcharge for paying with their own credit card I'd feel more charitable , but they don't, so I won't.
DL

I'm doing the same with my work flights back and to from Dubai every 3 weeks.

BA have 4 flights a day and double the baggage allowance in PE when compared to Virgin, so is much more flexible for the business traveller.

I must admit I will miss the PE on Virgin as the seat is so much better, but until Virgin look at either more flights or a comparable baggage allowance i'm with BA for the time being on this route.

Still collecting the miles for VS through the black amex and will definitely use VS on any trip to the USA!

quote:Originally posted by DragonLady
Maybe if VS didn't charge their horrid surcharge for paying with their own credit card I'd feel more charitable , but they don't, so I won't.
DL


Hear Hear...

Its a disgrace, and surely an easy win for VS to agree with MBNA to remeove surcharge on their OWN Card... Given need to drum up business, this would possibly help hold onto loyalty, as other airline's inflight products & sale offers catch up/ overtake rapidly. After major G seat fest in 09, also looking at split loyalty, which is daft given the ease these incentives could be sorted by VS?

I've now switched to BA despite making VS Gold last February.

My flight to Cape Town (UC) in February was good, and we were upgraded PE-UC for New York in June, which was after a trip to Chicago in BA Club World in April. The BA flights were far more more preferable in terms of crew quality, food and wine than any VS flight I've had in the last year. For me, the initial 'sheen' of the Clubhouse and the suite have now faded and the stuff behind the sheen doesn't cut it for me anymore. I'm more interested in a decent on board experience rather than one flashy lounge.

I did think Flying Club was superior to Executive Club, but as as I shop at Tesco I now amass enough points that way to mitigate against the 1.5 miles / £ earning of the BA Amex against the 2 miles / £ of the VS Amex. In fact I earn much more miles now by using Tesco, the BA eStore etc. The household account is great and it's status-independence makes VS's Gold only option seem stingy.

David.

[Nottingham Nick]

Very interesting thread. [y]

Like many others on V-Flyer, I was attracted to VS by its X-Factor. That spark was always provided by its staff, and occasionally by innovative products and ideas that made them market leaders.

Now however, VS seem to be doing their best to kill staff morale in all sorts of areas (allowance payments, time down route and on-board cutbacks to name but a few), so they are in danger of destroying their best asset - the people who are proud to work for Virgin.

There are still a lot of wonderful folk wearing the VS uniform, but there seem to be more and more that do not have the commitment and drive that spawns loyalty like you see on this site.

TR after TR, on here and other sites, talks of crew more interested in gossiping in the galley than serving passengers, invisible FSMs and crew that appear to treat passengers as a nasty inconvenience.

It didn't used to be like this and, unless the recruitment criteria has changed drastically, the reason may be because crew no longer feel as valued by their employers as they once were. Management will reap what they sow IMHO.

I fully appreciate that we are in very difficult economic times, and there is a need for belt tightening. However, there are such things as false economies. [V]

Nick

[Nottingham Nick]

This thread has provoked a discussion about earning BA points at Tesco, which I think is worth a thread on its own, so I have started it here.

Nick