British Airways wants more customers so they’re dropping their fares

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Nov 06 2009 | 1 Comment

The people who fly with British Airways will have to do something that people who fly on other airlines will NOT have to do: Pay for a particular seat on the plane. If they want to sit somewhere in particular they will have to pay some kind of fee according to the airline. The extra charges will only affect those who want to sit next to the window or the aisle (SO I suppose, if you want to be stuck in the middle of two people you don’t know, you should be alright?).

The change has already started; it took effect October 7th. The lowest fee that will be assessed will be 10 pounds for those who are booking their seats on an economy flight throughout Europe. The most expensive seats will cost the customer sixty pounds for long trips in the business class. Those who are expecting a seat somewhere near the emergency exit will have to pay an extra fifty pounds a flight.

British Airways says this measure will give customers more control over their seating. British Airways currently allows customers to select their seat for free 24 hours prior to their flight. If customers want to book ahead of time, they can do it before 10 and 4 days before take-off.

“Customers frequently request specific seats, but in the past we’ve only been able to confirm them 24 hours in advance or on the day. We know people want to secure them in advance and have real control over their flying experience. This will allow them to do that,” said a BA spokesman.

With this new fee and probably others that will follow, BA tries recover after £401m loss last year. Earlier this year, BA decided to no longer offer free meals on short flights and cut luggage allowances.

It is really annoying when any company decides to take advantage of a customer when there is some kind of demand for a product. In this case, the airlines are trying to squeeze money out of the consumer because they are paying rock bottom prices for airline tickets. It’s a funny thing though because these customers are still waiting in airports for delayed flights and sitting on tarmacs waiting for their planes to take off. I should know, I spent over an hour on a tarmac in North Carolina waiting in the past few months. I hate flying on airplanes.
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Tags: aisle, free meals, luggage

British Airways Expects Employees to Work for Free

Michael Bowler | RSS | Wed, Jun 17 2009 | 2 Comments

Yesterday, United Kingdom airline British Airways, who has seen the largest one-year loss since being privatized in 1987, asked employees to save the company money by working for free. Naturally, a struggling company would try to save money wherever possible, but that might be a little extreme. It is a bit difficult to tell employees that you are expecting them to work for free.

Willie Walsh, chief of British Airways, said he will not draw a salary for the month of July, demonstrating that no employee is exempt to the expectation and that it really is that important to the company. He urged other employees to work for blocks of time entirely unpaid. In a company publication, Walsh commented, “I am looking for every single part of the company to take part in some way in this cash-effective way of helping the company’s survival plan. It really counts.”

BA said it was a request that meant employees would basically volunteer to take a cut in base pay, allowing the lost income to be spread out over the course of several months. The company said last month there was a chance it would ask employees to consider working unpaid hours or shifts.

The UNITE union, which represents airline employees, including thousands of British Airways ground and cabin crew, did not respond well to this idea. UNITE said that while British Airways chief Walsh might be able to afford working a month for free, the employees could not. After all, most employees nearly live paycheck to paycheck.

British Airways said last month that it had lost 375 million pounds ($595 million) in their fiscal year which ended March 31. Compare this with a profit of 712 million pounds in the previous fiscal year and you understand their concern. They are trying to curb their worst totals in more than twenty years of public business. The previous low point was a loss of 200 million pounds in the 2001-2002 year.

Related posts:
When did British Airways Become A Discount Airline?
British Airways wants more customers so they’re dropping their fares

Tags: United Kingdom, UNITE, british airways