Monday, 15 August 2016

BA MEAL SHOCKER

British Airways replace in-flight meal with a fun-size chocolate bar on long haul flights

Gone is the staple sandwich before landing as hungry passengers blast the bizarre change which bosses sneaked in last month as an 'insult'

Mars Fun Size
British Airways passengers can expect this as an inflight meal from now on
British Airways are serving up a fun-size chocolate bar instead of a meal on long-haul flights.
Hungry passengers blasted the bizarre change after penny-pinching bosses sneaked it in last month, report the Sun.
Cabin crew will still serve a meal earlier in the flight, but passengers will now be denied the staple sandwich and snack before landing.
Bosses have even given staff strict instructions to dish out just one mini chocolate bar per person.
A passenger branded the new menu an "insult" after paying £500 to fly from Heathrow to New York.
Steve Parsons/PA WireBritish Airways aircraft at Heathrow Airport
British Airways are serving up a fun-size chocolate bar instead of a meal on on long-hail flights
The flyer, who was in a World Traveller class seat said: "To get just a funsize chocolate bar is a joke."
And a cabin crew member confessed: "It's embarrassing. Passengers are rightly outraged."
The change has been revealed just months after BA, who has recently employed new chief executive Alex Cruz, denied planning to charge for in-flight food.
But the airline said yesterday: "After a recent review, we no longer provide the second service meal box in World Traveller on flights under seven hours."
They added: "We offer customers on all of our transatlantic flights a three course meal, bar service and snacks and on our longer transatlantic flights, including to the west coast, customers are offered an extra meal during the flight.
"We regularly review our catering to ensure we are investing where it matters most to our customers."
PAAlex Cruz BA's chief executive
BA's chief executive Alex Cruz
They are not the only airline counting the pennies.
Ryanair has also been slammed by passengers after charging for numerous services, including £15 for re-issuing a boarding pass, £45 for checking in at the airport, and £160 per passenger to change a name.
And one holidaymaker managed to dodge paying £46 for baggage on an EasyJetflight by putting on a week's worth of winter clothes - in the middle of London'sGatwick airport.
Matt Botten, 32, was travelling to Reykjavik in Iceland on Saturday with girlfriend Abigail White, 31, when they were told his hand luggage was too big for the cabin.
When he was told he would have to pay a £46 fee to check in his bag, Matt decided to spend an hour in the North Terminal's Wetherspoons donning all the clothes he had in his bag.

Friday, 12 August 2016

Jet Blue incident

JetBlue turbulence puts 24 in hospital

Plane makes emergency landing in Rapid City

UPDATED 7:32 AM EDT Aug 12, 2016
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JetBlue jet
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(CNN) —At least 22 customers and two crew members were taken to a hospital for evaluation after a JetBlue flight experienced rough turbulence Thursday evening, a spokeswoman for the airline said.
JetBlue Flight 429 was headed from Boston to Sacramento, but had to be diverted to Rapid City, South Dakota, at about 6:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. ET), spokeswoman Katherine McMillan said.
Passenger Derek Lindahl said a woman sitting in front of him rose 2 feet into the air in the cabin at one point because she wasn't wearing a seat belt.
"I literally grabbed her out of the air to hold her to the seat," said Lindahl, a software engineer from Sacramento.
Rhonda Renee, another passenger, said the turbulence was like a bad dream.
"People were flying out of their seat belts and hitting their head on the ceiling; it was very scary," Renee said. A flight attendant was assisted off the plane by medical personnel.
It's believed that weather played a role in creating the bumpy flying conditions.
"There was a frontal boundary moving across the central plains that caused bad weather conditions in that region at the time of the turbulence," CNN weather producer Michael Guy said.
Lindahl praised the flight crew and emergency responders at the Rapid City airport.
"Even though all flight crew were injured in some way, as far as I know, they all maintained their calm and never cracked," he said.
JetBlue sent a replacement aircraft to Rapid City to take the remaining passengers to Sacramento, the airline said in a statement.

Monday, 18 July 2016

Thousands of British Airways cabin crew to vote on industrial action after "performance" scheme is introduced, according to Unite

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BA Cabin Crew To Strike As Talks Collapse
Unite said a consultative ballot has already shown that 94 per cent supported some form of industrial action (Source: Getty)
Thousands of British Airways staff are to vote on whether to take industrial action after a "performance" scheme was introduced, according to the UK's biggest union.
Unite said that around 8,800 cabin crew will vote on whether to take strike action over what it calls a new "bureaucratic" performance scheme that has led to fears over job losses.
Members of the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (BASSA), a section of Unite, will be voting for industrial action short of a strike in a bid to get management to suspend the introduction of the Dashboard Performance Management scheme.
Unite said that in its current form this new Dashboard system means, as an employee, "you are constantly given red, green, and possibly amber based on a never ending ‘continual improvement’ score which, we believe, eventually year-on-year will become impossible to achieve."
In turn, that would give the BA management an excuse to get rid of dedicated long serving staff.
A consultative ballot has already shown that 94 per cent of BASSA members supported some form of industrial action.
The ballot for the Eurofleet and Worldwide Fleet cabin crew, based at Heathrow airport, will open on Thursday and will close on 17 August.
Unite regional officer Matt Smith said: "A perfectly adequate performance management policy already exists. Our members have already overwhelmingly indicated they want this Dashboard system suspended until their worst fears have been allayed through meaningful consultation, with guarantees over job security.
"Quite frankly, this is an out of control human resources fantasy project and it is no surprise employees are pushing back against its ill-thought out introduction."
A BA spokesperson said: "Since launching our performance management tool for senior cabin crew we have listened to and acted on feedback from colleagues.
"We remain open to further discussion to ensure that it continues to help our crew deliver consistently outstanding service to our customers.
"We've introduced a new system which includes feedback from customers about how they are looked after on board. This sort of feedback is common in all industries. The system enables us to commend cabin crew who perform well and support those that need to improve so that we ensure our customers get the very highest standards of service."

Monday, 11 July 2016

BA BELT 'STRIKE' Cabin crews threaten walkout in ‘buckle up’ row

British Airways flight attendants are threatening action in a row over carrying on working after seat belts lights come on
BRITISH Airways cabin crew are threatening unofficial strike action in a row over carrying on working after seat belts lights come on.
They are expected to carry on duties when the “buckle-up” sign lights up for passengers.
BA Cabin Crew
BBC
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British Airways flight attendants are threatening to stop work unless clear guidelines are set regarding working when the seat belt light is on
But many are furious after a stewardess was injured during turbulence and then lost her case against BA.
It is believed she was not covered by insurance because she was not strapped in.
Crew want assurances from their BASSA union and BA.
Cabin Crew
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One flight attendant was injured during turbulence, but lost her case against BA, rumoured to be because insurance would not cover her since she wasn’t strapped in
One steward said: “We should stop all services and sit down until the sign goes off.
“That will focus the minds of management when nothing gets done.”
Another said: “We need clear guidelines on this.
“When it comes to court cases we always lose.
“BA has hidden behind ‘If you feel it’s safe to carry on working during turbulence, do so’ for too long.”
British Airways
PA:PRESS ASSOCIATION
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British Airways claim to offer their cabin crew extensive insurance, but refused to go into detail about what is covered
A third said: “Who covers staff insurance if we are injured during the safety demo, when we are securing the cabin, or taxi-ing to the runway?”

BASSA yesterday responded in an email after saying staff had submitted many questions.
The union said if crew feel unsafe they should “use judgement and experience to assess the conditions”.
BA said it offered extensive insurance cover and support to crew but refused to go into details.
A spokeswoman said: “Crew safety is always a priority.
“Injuries are extremely rare.”