British Airways

I found BA to be the worst airline I have used. Flew LHR to Boston 2hr 56 min delay to start with. Cabin staff unhelpful and disinterested. Also leg room appalling with trim falling of the seat in front of me. It had the interior of an old knackered plane. I have flown Singapore Airlines who run rings around this bunch. I could have flown with Virgin instead for the same money and would have had a vastly superior less drab experience.

Heathrow - Johannesburg A380. My first flight on A380. After half an hour delay because of planes late arrival boarding started. First thing I noticed was how tiny the seats were. Second thing to notice is that the plane was not properly cleaned. There were grease stains and empty cans left behind. At this point I noticed some toilet paper between the panels above my head. When asked the cabin crew explained this is how they fixed condensation problem from the air conditioning. Anyhow time for lift off. I turned on the inflight entertainment system to watch it from the camera at the tail of the plane. After looking for 5 minutes I couldn't find it anywhere. (Later I found out there is no such option on BA A380s). So no tail cam fine let's listen to some music. Wrong the headphones are not working. Cabin crew assures me they will "bring me some more". One hour later suffice it to say cabin crew did not bring anything. I've managed to grab a pair of unused headphones from one empty seat just to find out they were not working either. Probably it was some problem with the jack in the seat rendering the whole inflight entertainment system pointless. And if that was not enough it was time for dinner. By the time it was my turn BA had run out of "chicken" so my dinner was asparagus with rice or something like that. You don't even have to look at it to understand why everyone else was choosing the "chicken". So no edible dinner and soundless entertainment system. Pretty much spent the rest of the journey counting the minutes until I could get off this plane. The worst part is I have a return trip with BA which I'll be looking to switch to another airline if possible.

TXL-LHR-SFO. TXL-LHR on an A321 it was an uneventful flight drinks were served. Transfer at Heathrow was uneventful but I think that BA should give their gate numbers beforehand. LHR-SFO on Boeing 747-400. IFE was a little old and the volume was very low. Movie selection was okay. Overall it was a pleasant journey.

Flew British Airways from Sydney to Venice on 22nd April and return 20th May from Barcelona. From Sydney check in staff wonderful courteous and helpful. Cabin crew just as wonderful as Check in Staff. Food out of Sydney awful. Return journey was from Barcelona. Again check in Staff were wonderful and helpful. Cabin crew just as wonderful and food was fine.

Recently for our honeymoon we took advantage of a BA promo to fly in to Singapore and then to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific and back to UK. Our flight out to Singapore was easy and relaxed because I think it was not a busy flight. We did ask to have a wedding photo canvas to be checked in to save us the hassle of lugging it around but was flatly refused. The canvas was less than 1kg properly packed for delivery but just slightly awkward to be carried around. We understand BA has a one bag check in policy and no flexibility but we were not too bothered anyway although a little kind gesture would have been appreciated. Our flight on Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong was great! We were allowed to check in 3 pieces of luggage between 2 of us that weighed less than 40kg food was fantastic and the service was immaculate. On our way back to London we were excited as we knew we were flying the A380. SQ and Emirates have A380 we have flown. This turned out to be a mistake from the start. When we were checking in we were not allowed to check in extra hand luggage despite the combined weight of less than 40kg for all 3 items. When we got on the plane we were shocked to see how tiny the seats on the BA A380 were in comparison to SQ or even Emirates. Next we struggled to find an overhead cabin compartment for our hand luggage. The staff instead of helping us find a space for the bag stood on her spot pointing at cabins that looked empty but were 10 over rows away from our seats. The ultimate bad experience came when breakfast was served. By the time the trolley came to us there were no more options for our breakfast and the food was just plonked on our trays. No apologies no explanations as to what was under the foil no smiles! I was quite upset by now as I had to ask the stewardess what was being served. I have never felt more humiliated. With BA it was just silence. Miserable unhappy lifeless crews at work who can't seem to care less with their customers. No smiles no interactions no explanations no communication. Needless to say the highly unpopular dim sum with noodles for breakfast was left untouched! Our overall flying experience with BA has been anything but pleasant friendly generous comfortable with delicious meals. It had just served as a reminder why I have not chosen BA the last 10 years and perhaps the next 10 to come.

LGW-Antigua on 29 April and Antigua-LGW on 13 May Boeing 777. It started off badly when I went to pay the final payment on line on evening of 16 February. The system rejected both my credit and debit cards. On checking the state of my account with BA online I found that the final payment had been credited to my account and I now owed the initial deposit. I sent an email to get it sorted only to receive a reply that it could only be sorted out by a telephone call. First call was useless with a person who had poor grasp of English. Another call to a premium number required a 20 minute wait to get someone to sort out the problem having been passed round twice. I was told it had been sorted out and received E ticket email with my state of account showing I owed nothing. Two weeks later I received another E ticket the only difference now was that it showed the last four digits of my credit card. Next credit card statement did not show money taken out. Not unusual for some companies but made me nervous that all was not well. Two weeks before flight I got a phone call from BA stating that there had been a computer glitch and could they have my credit card details. I then received an email apology and confirmation all had been paid. About 22 hours before flight I went online to check in and changed my seats and entered passport details etc and printed boarding pass. Arrived at LGW to just print baggage labels and drop off baggage. Met by man at terminal who tore up my boarding pass and printed off a new one saying ‘bring back the old system. We then had to queue to drop off baggage. Other than choosing seat it was a complete waste of time to check in online. Flight left and arrived on time. However the inflight main meal was the worst I have ever experienced on an aircraft. There was no choice and the red wine was undrinkable. The inflight food on my first flight a forces trooping flight to Singapore in 1962 was better. On return flight you could only check in online and alter seat position. Check in at Antigua was one of the quickest check ins I have ever done. Left Antigua on time and arrived LGW on time. Food was worse than going out. No choice. Starter was small chopped up lettuce leaf with small tomato wedge with a rotten end to it. Main was very dry pasta with a tomato sauce on it. White wine was just about drinkable. Coffee served as we started main course. Asked if we could have it later and told no as turbulence was expected. No turbulence but cabin crew quick to clear up and disappear for a bit of shut eye leaving minimum staff on duty. At least with Ryanair you know what you get for your money.

LHR-JTR-LHR. A tale of opposites for BA's new route to Santorini. Outward it couldn't have been better with excellent FAs decent food and arrival that was ahead of schedule. The return started off poorly with substandard facilities at Santorini airport including no online check-in no business class lounge and no priority boarding. An air traffic controller issue kept the plane grounded for 30 minutes. On board they'd forgotten the menus for the dinner service and the starter and cheese course had been left behind. The Club Europe toilet then ran out of water. So overall okay but the return was disappointing.

Gatwick-Venice return. Two contrasting experiences. Trip out pretty good A320 so much better than the old 737's used at Gatwick. Staff friendly and a good snack and beverage included. Good updates from cabin and we left and arrived on time. Trip back felt like it had been crewed by brand new staff in the cabin. Food handed out 20 mins after take-off but drinks took another 30 mins to be offered around cabin. Half the cabin crew seemed too pre-occupied with passengers not sitting in correct seat even though flight not full. Think a smile and re-assurance to move back after take-off would have sorted the issue however one female crew member in particular had forgotten to bring her 'happy face' to work that day! Flight OK but not up to standard you expect. I fly BA quite regularly and choose over EasyJet as fares and flight times often similar but service superior. I hope the Gatwick service levels can reflect the BA brand otherwise they have an aggressive competitor in EJ at this airport.

When we booked our holiday to Barbados I was really pleased to see we were flying with British Airways as they have a good reputation. Sadly our experiences put a lie to this. As part of the service they offer BA allow you to either pay an expensive premium to choose your seats in advance or you can log onto their website for free 24 hours in advance. I tried to do this several times without success and finally rang the helpline number suggested. After a 14 minute call at premium rate the call operator (whose grasp of English wasn't great) was unable to advise about the problem nor manually book our seats and could offer nothing more constructive than “keep trying”. I rang the complaints line (still premium rate) and other than a better grasp of English was still unable to assist in any way. Both operators assured me that they would sort it all at the Airport. So in view of this we arranged to arrive at the airport early. We entered our details online to find that even though there were only 2 of us we weren't sat together or even on the same row. By now my wife – who is a nervous flyer – was in tears! We then sought assistance and had to queue but eventually we're allocated 2 seats together. As they were free I don't know why these weren't given originally – however given our further experiences – maybe they don't like using them? I have flown long haul before and found that you always get a more generous allocation of space particularly shoulder and legroom. Sadly British Airways don't appear to follow this doctrine. The legroom was adequate however as soon as the woman in front reclined her seat I had about 4 inches between the front of my nose and the back of her seat. As my TV screen is in the back of this seat it made trying to watch the screen extremely difficult. I managed to watch 1 film however this brought on a headache so I was forced to stop. I would love to see what regulations BA have to follow regarding VDU viewing however in a work environment this would be banned without question. The final disappointment came when the food was distributed. I had the Thai Chicken which was over-cooked so that the rice was cremated to the top and bottom of the container whilst my wife had the cottage pie which tasted of plastic. She didn't eat hers. I ate mine but had a stomach upset for the following 48 hours. All in all this was an experience I do not want to repeat and I shall certainly not fly British Airways by choice in the future! We didn't have these problems with Sri Lanka Airlines.

Travelling as a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 young children) from London to Boston I hoped there wouldn't be a problem sitting together in the 4 middle seats. I had not paid to reserve my seat as I had never had to pay extra before while flying with Emirates Singapore or Cathay Pacific. The seats allocated at check in were 3 on the left (A/B/C). My wife sat with the kids while I had to sit in the row behind. The seats could not be changed at check in or on the plane. It seemed ridiculous that we were not allocated the logical place for a family of 4 in the middle of the plane even though my flight had been booked 5 months in advance. I warned the stewardess that the situation would be difficult for my family for the staff and the passengers around as this proved when my 3 year old cried as he wanted to sit next to me. I had to swap seats with my wife a couple of times during the flight it was a stressful flight. On the return flight I reluctantly paid extra (£23 x 4) to make sure we got the 4 middle seats. The journey was less stressful but my wife had her own issues as she couldn't recline as the passenger behind was too tall and refused to move his legs (he should have paid and extra £23 and reserved a seat with more leg room). My wife complained to the steward as the passenger refused to let my wife recline he was made to move to a different seat. In conclusion I found staff were generally friendly but didn't exert themselves on service the food was okay but the entertainment system was dated it didn't have any games and the screen kept freezing. It seems the flight services to USA are not up to the same standard as flying to the Middle East or the Far East as British Airways had failed in comparison at all levels when compared with the other airlines mentioned earlier - my last experience to the USA was with American Airlines and that was worse than BA. The main disappointing issue with BA is definitely having to pay extra for choosing your seat. If you are travelling with a family of 4 and you want to guarantee you sit together you have to pay an extra £200 on top of the original cost of the return ticket this felt more like the additional charges of Ryanair!