Friday 18 November 2016

LESS ROOM ON BA IN FUTURE

SHOW ME THE F***ING MONEY!’ Greedy British Airways bosses joke about crude slogan ‘Show Me The F***ing Money!’ as passengers face less leg room and cramped seats
Slogan was on a slide at a ­presentation for investors as hundreds of redundancies are announced
EXCLUSIVE
BY STEPHEN MOYES 17th November 2016, 2:39 am
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BRITISH Airways passengers face less leg room and narrower seats — as axe-wielding bosses joke: “Show Me The F***ing Money!”

The crude slogan was on a slide at a ­presentation for investors by parent firm IAG, led by Willie Walsh.

BA slide
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Slide used at ­presentation with the crude slogan
Meanwhile hundreds of redundancies were announced, and BA’s Boeing 777s are to squeeze an extra seat in economy class rows.

It was among the first seen by IAG and British Airways bondholders, City investors and board members in a slide show titled ‘Annual Report & Accounts 2015’.

World Travel Market trade show, ExCeL, London, UK - 07 Nov 2016 REX FEATURES
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Willie Walsh, chief executive of IAG took responsibility for the slide
The obscene swear word was written in full except for an aeroplane replacing the ‘U’.”

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A respected online travel blogger said: “Crass, tasteless, infantile and moronic are just a few ways I can think of describing the decision to use a slide like that but, more than anything, it shows just how devoid of class IAG (and by extension British Airways) now is.”

A senior union boss representing BA staff who face the axe said: “No one will seriously think he cares about staff or passengers after this.”

british airways waterside headquarters ALAMY
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‘Hundreds’ of workers will go from BA’s headquarters at Waterside
Despite existing cramped conditions on BA flights, the current nine-seat row on its long-haul aircraft is set to get even tighter – with toilets being stripped out to make way for more seats.

The 10-seat rows in economy will feature in economy cabins on long-haul Boeing 777s flying out of Heathrow and Gatwick.

On industry observer said: “BA is to become even more uncomfortable, with narrower seats and inevitably less leg room.

BA also announced another jobs cull.


Bosses are considering closing its call centres, forcing passengers wanting to book flights online.

BA announced it is spending £400million on improving its Club World inflight section.

Last night the offensive slide had been removed from the pack available to download on the BA presentation to parent firm IAG.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of the International Airlines Group and former boss of British Airways, unashamedly took responsibility for the “crass” slide.

British Airways AP:ASSOCIATED PRESS
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BA’s Boeing 777s are to squeeze an extra seat in economy class rows

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Video of plane flying across New York night sky is coolest Supermoon clip yet
He spoke to investor at last Friday's meeting.

A spokesman for IAG told The Sun yesterday: "Willie Walsh has always been unapologetic about the airline industry’s inability to make proper returns and this time he wasn’t going to be outdone by the colourful language of one of his rival airline CEOs."

British Airways said: "We are flying more customers than ever before to our expanding network of destinations.

"To meet this demand we are updating our 777 cabins to bring us into line with many of our competitors and allow us to offer even more low fares.

"As part of the update, we will also be fitting new entertainment systems with bigger screens.

"We will also be making a significant investment in our Club World cabins."

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