"the worst flight I've been on"
Andy Magowan (United Kingdom)
✅ Verified Review | Belfast to Gibraltar via Heathrow return. I fly British Airways when I can and have always been impessed and satisfied - until now. The flight from Heathrow to Gibraltar was uneventful, clean aircraft, no delays, no issues - apart from the lack of drinks / snacks. I'd love to know who thought this would be a good idea. Flying short haul, there is nothing to differentiate BA from easyJet or other no frills airlines. Add to this the lack of choice on their "menu". There are only a couple of sandwiches, and if you don't like mayo or cheese, you're out of luck. Well done BA, you've alienated loyal customers and are hardly likely to attract new ones. The flight from Heathrow to Belfast is my main gripe. The flight was meant to depart at 1645, but was delayed to 1720, hardly a big deal right? Wrong! The gate only went up at 1650, this led me to a bus which took us to the aircraft. It was 1730 before everyone was boarded, again, hardly a big deal except that we didn't take off until 1830, which meant that my dogs had to spend an extra night in kennels as I was back too late to pick them up. The flight itself was full, which wouldn't have been too bad if there hadn't been a lady sitting a couple of rows in front of me who stank. I won't go into details, but she smelled rancid. I was a few rows back and so didn't get the worst of it, but I could see others who were closer who were not having a good time at all. Needless to say I didn't enjoy the flight at all. I would go so far as to say that it's probably the worst flight I've been on, and I've flown Monarch and easyJet. I did e-mail BA with my concerns, but they didn't bother to reply. So, again, well done BA, you're squandering customers good will toward you like you're burning fifty pound notes.
| Aircraft | A320 |
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | Belfast to Gibraltar via Heathrow |
| Date Flown | April 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"now at an all time low"
S Saunders (United Kingdom)
✅ Verified Review | Flew from Gatwick to Cancun. British Airways have lost their way, front line staff are still excellent, but behind the scenes customer service is now at an all time low. The quality of aircraft and seating is below other airlines, they need to sharpen up their act before even more passengers desert then.
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | Gatwick to Cancun |
| Date Flown | February 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"BA has gone cattle"
B Taylor (United Kingdom)
✅ Verified Review | British Airways has got it wrong on short European hauls. Malaga to Gatwick and if you are seated at the front end of the economy class, the food / drink trolley will block access to the toilet. Seated at the tail end of the plane, the food is very likely to run out. On my flight the promised M&S was limited to "snacks" (£1.80 water, £1.20 KitKat). Credit/debit cards only, no cash, and this meant a very painfully slow "service". One working toilet for the economy class, the other one was out of order - but the business class toilet at the front was out of reach for the "cattle class", leaving me wait for over an hour. I was not allowed to use the one working toilet at the back of the plane for about 80 minute, a combination of food trolley blocking the aisle, then of air turbulence. The cabin crew seems desperate to get the 1 trolley (hence the slowness) to the end of the cabin. People needing the toilet was obviously not a priority. They certainly did not let me pass during the 40 minutes or more without air turbulence. BA has gone "cattle".
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | Malaga to Gatwick |
| Date Flown | March 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"have slipped significantly"
28 reviews Neil Jeram (Australia)
✅ Verified Review | London to New York. It has been a long time since I have been on a British Airways flight and time has not been kind. T5 at LHR is cavernous and reasonably easy to navigate once you work out where things are. It just feels a bit hit and miss compared to Changi or HK. The flight itself was on an old B747. New seating and IFE but very old. The boarding process was chaotic. Extra security checks at the gate itself, hardly surprising. Seat comfort was ok albeit very tight and narrow. The IFE was great and that was the highlight. The lunch served was so so, but having eaten at the lounge, it was left largely uneaten. The biggest problem is the staff morale. They all seemed to be keen to get the service out of the way, dim the lights and disappear. Evidence of cost cutting in that water was only provided if asked for, any wine was by the glass, very cheap cutlery etc. BA is a premium airline but looks to be offering a Ryanair standard. Compared to the ME or Asian or my usual ride, Qantas, BA have slipped significantly. Shame as it was a great airline to fly with at one time.
| Aircraft | Boeing 747 |
| Type Of Traveller | Business |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | London to New York |
| Date Flown | March 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"expect you to pay to reserve seats"
Richard Holt (United Kingdom)
✅ Verified Review | Flight from Gatwick to Grenada return with British Airways. Lounge in south terminal was good flight and staff were good, decent food and the plane was clean. What I struggled to get my head around is after paying for business class flights, BA then expect you to pay an additional £77 per person each way to reserve seats. There were 4 of us traveling so that adds in excess of £600 to our flight cost. BA will tell you that this is free 24 hours before departure but actually 3 days before departure most seats had gone. I would expect after paying for business class that you automatically get seated together but it appears not, as there was one couple on the return flight who had not reserved seats after paying for business class and were made to stand in the galley until everybody had boarded to if there were 2 seats together.
| Aircraft | Boeing 777 |
| Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | Gatwick to Grenada |
| Date Flown | March 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"not worth the money spent"
16 reviews L Mendes (Portugal)
✅ Verified Review | Flew from Lisbon to London and return. British Airways never fails in terms of being on time, but I will end my business with them after more then 30 flights and having said very good things about them in the past. They seem to be cutting corners with everything, passengers are not given even a small cracker and for some strange reason the plane does not stop at the hub, just goes to a remote stand and takes forever to get to the terminal. Not worth the money spent.
| Aircraft | A320-200 |
| Type Of Traveller | Business |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | Lisbon to London |
| Date Flown | March 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"does not value their customers"
L Reiker (Netherlands)
✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam to Cape Town via Gatwick. On our 13 hour night flight I discovered that my seat was broken and could not recline. Spent 13 hours sitting upright while everyone around me was in a reclined position. Complained to crew but as they were unable to solve the problem they advised me to issue a complaint when I returned home to Amsterdam. This is exactly what I did. BA replied that it was unfortunate that i had a bad ecperience and offered me a GBP25 gift voucher as it woud be unfair to other passengers if they gave me more. What an insult! Its unfair that I paid the same price as the rest of the passengers, that's unfair. They do not want to communicatie with me anymore regarding this matter. Very arrogant and not customer friendly at all. I feel cheated. British Airways obviously does not value their customers. A GBP25voucher woud be adequate for a short trip during the day, but for a long overnight flight, its an insult. Sent 2 e-mails but they have decided they dont want to communicate anymore.
| Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | Amsterdam to Cape Town via Gatwick |
| Date Flown | March 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"atrocious customer service"
G Stainer (Australia)
✅ Verified Review | I was scheduled to fly BA208 from Miami to London on January 18th. Boarding and departure went normal, but than, close to take-off, the ordeal began. Captain announced a technical problem (at approx. 09:15 pm) and that's when the horror started. Overall, we ended up sitting in the plane until 01:00 am before we were finally allowed to leave the plane (any attempts to fix the fault failed). We were given accomodation, but that was a 45 mins drive from Miami Airport. Check-in took another 30 mins due to a long queue of stranded passengers, and the place was like a freezer. Was re-booked for a flight the next day, but downgraded from Premium Economy to Economy. Old, tatty 747, very uncomfortable seat and entertainment screen was the size a mobile phone. Worst of all, the delay of one day has forced me to add another night in London, and cancel my connection to Munich. Total additional expenses, not counting the difference between Premium Economy (which I paid for) and Economy was ~$500. Including the gap between Economy and Premium Economy probably ~$900. Now this is where a service oriented company would have an opportunity to make a difference. Submitted my compensation claims incl. proof for the above expenses, as per protocol online - no confirmation. Followed up with a call (had to wait approx. 45 mins to talk to a human) and was told that most expenses are not refundable but I would be compensated for the remaining. No further confirmation, email etc. Was paid a mere $50 into my account with no explanation what this is supposed to be for (the expenses were $900). Decided to do some research and it appears that under EU law, airlines are required to compensate for consequential damages if the delay if more than 3 hours (my delay was 21 hours). Absolutely atrocious customer service, lousy product. How on earth BA deserves 4 stars in beyond me.
| Aircraft | Boeing 747 |
| Type Of Traveller | Business |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | Miami to London |
| Date Flown | January 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"very lazy and oblivious staff "
Ashley Mayes (United Kingdom)
✅ Verified Review | London Heathrow to Los Angeles. Worst flight ever with British Airways, you can see why they have fallen out of the top 10! Very lazy and oblivious staff members. They ran out of food during both meal times. We were promised a replacement but nothing came until they cleared away the trays. All we got was "oh sorry" and a re-re heated meal. After leaving the service light on for 15 minutes looking for some water, I went to the back of the plane to find 2 members of staff reading the paper. Even after complaining to customer service after the flight we weren't treated much better. If it wasn't because for the avios program it was enough to put me off for a life time!
| Aircraft | A380 |
| Type Of Traveller | Business |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | London to Los Angeles |
| Date Flown | March 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"staff were absolutely appalling"
Peter Sharp (United Kingdom)
✅ Verified Review | I have never had such a bad experience with British Airways before. The cabin staff were rude, lazy and obviously did not want to provide a service. The flight was from Mauritius to Gatwick on Sunday 26th March 2017 landing Monday morning 27th March. No second cup of coffee offered at breakfast, we had to take our own plates back before landing and on two occasions the steward pointed to a cloth on the floor and expected me to pick it up without a please or a thanks. Food was good, the staff were absolutely appalling. We pay good money for Business class and this chaotic and rude service is not what I expect from my National Airline.
| Aircraft | Boeing 777 |
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | Mauritius to Gatwick |
| Date Flown | March 2017 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
Flat bed seat / suite
In-seat &/or USB power
Onboard WiFi
Audio / video on demand
On demand dining
Fine wines & beverage service
Pillows & duvet / blanket
Pyjamas / Sleepsuit
Amenity kit
On demand dining
Seat pitch : 31 ins
Seat width : 17 ins
In-seat &/or USB power
Inflight entertainment
