BA's new boarding policy - I don't understand why people are upset?

dowie · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:00

apparently there are not to be 5 numerical classes for the purpose of boarding, supposedly there has been a **** storm on twitter and the press are now portraying this as an angry reaction from customers - I do wonder if they're trying to make a story out of nothing by focusing on angry reactions from a small minority:

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...rd-provokes-anger-basic-economy-a8067061.html

You’re only buying the flying: that's the deal when you book a Basic Economy ticket on British Airways. To qualify for BA’s lowest fares on domestic and European flights, you surrender the right to check in a bag and pre-select a seat. And, from 12 December, you'll be last to board the plane.

On that day, British Airways brings in a group-boarding system “to further improve the customer journey”. Your boarding pass will be marked with a group number between one and five. The priority enjoyed by elite-grade frequent flyers and business-class travellers, as well as families with young children, will continue. The significant change is in economy.

Up to midnight on 11 December, for boarding purposes, all BA’s economy passengers are created equal. But from the following morning, some will be less equal than others. Anyone who has a ticket from the cheapest category, Basic Economy, will be assigned to group five. They will be last to board, making what some have called a “Walk of Shame” along the aircraft aisle.

I mean we already have first class, business class, premium economy and economy... surely adding a 5th class by breaking down economy into regular economy and some basic economy ticket that doesn't allow for checked bags is hardly changing much?

Is anyone on here genuinely miffed about this?

iamdjdz · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:03

Yeah I don't get it at all, you still all get on and you still have allocated seats.

planty · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:06

Who cares if you're first/last to board? It's not like you lose out on a seat.

Dirk Diggler · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:06

I prefer to be last on board as it's less time to take off and most people are seated by that time, so more space to get my hand luggage up there and get seated. I'm always confident that the plane won't leave without me.

The press like to declare that the country is outraged when in actual fact around a dozen people have tweeted a picture of a sad face.

johnny6 · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:07

Am I the only person who prefers to get on the plane last?

Kenai · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:08

The only issue I see that is probably upsetting people is that often if you're last, there is no room in the nearest overhead for your bag and you end up having to abandon it at the other end of the plane. This is easily countered currently by bullying your way to the front, now you won't be able to.

dowie · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:10

planty said:
Who cares if you're first/last to board? It's not like you lose out on a seat.

sometimes preferable not to be last on the budget airlines as there often isn't any overhead luggage space left as plenty of people bring on oversized bags and the airline staff can't be bothered checking them

johnny6 said:
Am I the only person who prefers to get on the plane last?

sometimes, especially if you've got an allocated seat in economy anyway

however the lounge might well be some distance from the gate and having to mill around at the gate/join the queue or sit and watch the queue from some uncomfortable airport seat/bench before boarding last probably isn't as preferable as boarding first without a queue and sitting in the big comfortable 1st class or business class seat

Trifid · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:28

iamdjdz said:
Yeah I don't get it at all, you still all get on and you still have allocated seats.

You don't get allocated locker space though.

Raymond Lin · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:48

Kenai said:
The only issue I see that is probably upsetting people is that often if you're last, there is no room in the nearest overhead for your bag and you end up having to abandon it at the other end of the plane. This is easily countered currently by bullying your way to the front, now you won't be able to.

This is pretty much the reason to get in first of all the economy seats but other than that, you still get your assigned seat so makes no difference.

Randomface74 · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:50

People don't like it being pointed out that they're not well-off.

MooMoo444 · 25 Nov 2017 at 21:57

lol at sensationalising it by calling it a walk of shame to be last to board. Nothing wrong with saving money.

Haggisman · 25 Nov 2017 at 22:07

billysielu said:
People don't like it being pointed out that they're not well-off.

I think this is basically it to be honest...

Supernova · 25 Nov 2017 at 22:14

Ah a ****storm on Twitter. Home of the outraged and easily offended. Not representative of actual viewpoints at all!

Hotwired · 25 Nov 2017 at 22:39

Stirring of **** over nothing.

If you have no option of seat selection then why is it a big surprise that you'd board last.

You literally agreed to be seated anywhere and bring no significant luggage so you are both the easiest and lowest priority to be seated.

Frothing about the implications is also moronic, pandering to self concious fears of embarrassment and apparently finding some.

The reality being... you're just another person walking up the aisle to get a seat.

adolf hamster · 25 Nov 2017 at 22:41

ba should respond with "it's not a walk of shame, but a parade of glory at the savviness of the people who don't waste money on unnecessary frivolities when travelling"

ironically it'll be more annoying for folks who board before- because if they're in an aisle seat then they'll end up with randomers pushing by to get to the middle seats

LOAM · 25 Nov 2017 at 23:36

Bing bong "final call for tramps on BA567, boarding at gate 5"

Puzzled · 25 Nov 2017 at 23:44

Sounds like a longer way to board to me, they usually load planes from the front and back so wouldn't it make more sense to have group 2 (1 is business class) in the middle and then work out towards both ends 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 2 - 3 - 4- 5 with group 1 in business class at the front. Or are the areas different, is group 5 just sitting on some straw and newspapers at the back?

But then I'd guess group 2 would have to wait longer to get off, they'd have to queue with the poor people at customs :eek:

rubberduck · 26 Nov 2017 at 00:10

This is disgusting and no different to when black people had to travel at the back of the bus! I hope Ofjet come down on BA like a ton of bricks for this outrageous practice.

Pawnless Endgame · 26 Nov 2017 at 01:09

billysielu said:
People don't like it being pointed out that they're not well-off.

rubberduck said:
This is disgusting and no different to when black people had to travel at the back of the bus! I hope Ofjet come down on BA like a ton of bricks for this outrageous practice.

I'm agreeing with the minority here because it smacks of hierarchy, a viewpoint that comes across as being a bit backwards imo.

dowie · 26 Nov 2017 at 01:57

rubberduck said:
This is disgusting and no different to when black people had to travel at the back of the bus! I hope Ofjet come down on BA like a ton of bricks for this outrageous practice.

I think you're becoming too obvious with this stuff... as if the pro-Mugabe stuff wasn't obvious already

Pawnless Endgame said:
I'm agreeing with the minority here because it smacks of hierarchy, a viewpoint that comes across as being a bit backwards imo.

Smacks of? It quite literally is hierarchical and has been for some time, main addition here is that economy is getting divided into two classes for the purposes of boarding... I don't really see what is wrong with companies providing more for people who pay more

I mean in other news you can get a bigger cabin on a cruise ship by paying more, or a bigger hotel room with a nicer view, or a better car from the same manufacturer or faster graphics card...