It's extremely common for people to complain about airlines on Twitter, though this might just take the cake for being the pettiest airline complaint I've seen in my life. BA passenger angry he wasn't served first In a Tweet that has since been deleted, a British Airways passenger took to Twitter to share his great…
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I feel sorry for both the crew who he was so unpleasant with and his fellow passengers who had to listen to him being such an entitled and unpleasant drunk.
This crass Irishman continually fly’s BA and likes nothing better than subsequently complaining about his experience, he needs to look in a mirror or better still attend the next AA meeting in Dublin!
I agree these complaints are quite petty and a bit over the top, but seriously, just days ago, also talking British Airways, you complained that:
1. The flight attendant poured champagne by holding the bottle by the neck, and suggested they needed training on how to properly pour champagne.
2. The flight attendants didn’t address you by name.
Are we actually going to pretend that the underlying things that are being complained about in a public forum are vastly different? Or does one person just have a more polished way of writing (with a much much more visible platform)?
In the 21st century, the idea of any kind of brand loyalty, or expecting such loyalty to be recognized or appreciated is laughable.
Equally laughable is the thought of the English caring about anyone outside of the home counties. And that’s been for… a millenium.
All seats in the first row have equal status. In fact all seats in the same cabin have equal status, and I have been on planes where the service starts at the rear and works forward.
Seat 1A has a certain cachet but it really doesn't come with any benefits. And sometimes it is too close to the galley or toilets, so I choose one further back.
BA Gold here.
In fairness, I think we can all relate to this guy on the CCR charging port situation 😀
And yet those things are generally signature elements of the BA F experience, unlike service from port to starboard. Moreover, Ben expressly acknowledged that they were small things.
He isn't a public figure, but he's getting eviscerated by all these blogs. He didn't hurt anybody, he just complained about a large corporation. Why won't everyone just lay off him?
Irony not lost that you were moaning a couple of days ago about a BA cabin crew member not knowing how to hold a champagne bottle.
Grumbling is our national pastime, and rugby (ie, the 6 nations he was trying to watch in the other tweet) isn't too far behind, particularly a big game against the Irish.
He wanted to change the channel on a communal tv. He could watch it on his phone / laptop. Sounds like a typical elite DYKWIA.
And what if the passenger on the other side held a higher status ?
Who cares if he had to wait an extra minute.
BA-Gold here as well. If he was in 1A and was allowed into the Concord Room, he wasn’t in Business Class on that flight he was in First. As a Gold you can only get into the CR if you are flying First. There are two tiers higher than Gold that have access to the Concord Room when flying any class of service. Of course none of that matters when someone is throwing a privilege fit. BA First is pretty expensive and the polished service that one gets with competitors in that class tends to be much higher and more consistent. BA has let go of so many of their senior FAs in order to save money that all that is left are very junior FAs that don’t have the training for that position. I’ve seen BA FAs complaining about taking a First Class cabin assignment because “the passengers are so demanding and rude”. When someone is shelling out 10x the cost of a basic economy ticket to fly in First they expect the hard and soft products to be impeccable. Alcohol and a bad day and you get an entitled jerk that has probably spent 10’s of thousands on tickets over several years to reach his status and feels trapped in a frequent flyer program who’s actual value has plunged along with reliable premium flying experience. Do what I did and use the BA Gold status match that United offers. UA isn’t stellar but at least you can redeem your miles/points and they are keenly aware that the majority of the profits come from the premium cabins and they have your back when flights get mucked up.
@ Barbara -- This person was in the Concorde Room because they were connecting off British Airways first class from Mexico City.
@ Charles -- There's absolutely nothing wrong with criticizing bad service. Yes, of course I had a pretty negative review of British Airways first class (reviewing airlines is what I do for a living), so I'm not going to judge someone else for having feedback on an experience.
The issue here -- as with many things in life -- is how he communicated this. He confronted the flight attendant about serving right to left rather than left to right (in my millions of miles of flying, I can't say I've ever expected to be served first depending on which side of the cabin I'm seated on)?
Furthermore, he's "disgusted" and "furious" that British Airways didn't have his preferred show on the TV, and he's even accusing the airline of conspiring not to show something just because England could lose?
If you don't see the difference between that and my review then that's of course your prerogative, but...
Because he published his ENTITLED story for the world to see and publicly comment on. Your sympathies respected.
I am conflicted here as BA has truly gone downhill, and perhaps this fella just snapped, but these are indeed the pettiest of complaints. English, Irish, or otherwise, I suggest taking Aer Lingus next time as they've gone the other way and really stepped up their game!
Was this really worth writing about? Admittedly, I did read the most of the story but writing about some random guy’s twitter rant still feels like complete non-news.
Quite frankly, my only reaction on reading of this man's quite atrocious behaviour was, goodness me, clearly Karens get everywhere.
Sorry but Karen type behaviour deserves to be called out, particularly when it is so amazingly petty.
Wow, you're continuing the pile-on after the guy apologized. Would you do this to a black lady? I'm very seriously asking.
Default answer to many.
Many also believe apologizing makes everything ok, like it never happened.
More like typical behavior of your garden-variety asshole entitled drama queen.
Can you imagine the outrage if they'd dared to start from the back of the cabin? Pathetic.
Just travelled on a couple of long haul flights with BA.
The service was first class.
A delay because of the weather but many apologies and notifications to let us know.
The biggest problem was the pushing and shoving at the gate. At Heathrow, after the attendant explained how the plane was boarding by priority, a xenophobic guy said very loudly: “ if they can’t speak English, they shouldn’t be allowed in this country “ Really. People were connecting from all over the world. Maybe they should have English lessons prior to boarding?
I may have seen this in a previous post, but my favorite is the man who complained that none of the flight attendants knew what the carb count was for his entrée.
If he was intoxicated he should not have been allowed to board the flight. Simple as that.
I think a good criterion to whether something is worth writing about (assuming it has something to do with travel) is whether people would read it (you did) and whether people would engage to a point of commenting about it (you did).
There's your answer right there.
He may have complained about a large corp, but he also complained (by his own admission) to the flight attendant, probably earning close to minimum wage, and having to serve a bunch of entitled people.
I think he deserves to be condemned - the rest of humanity is not there to serve his every whim.
You’re right. I guess that’s why that’s why trashy tabloids exist (and thrive)…
You are promoting this kind of behavior by having this article. Everyone knows how easy it is to complain and that is one reason why it is more difficult to receive compensation for truly bad behavior from the operator.
He was unable to watch the 6 Nations Rugby. I totally get it! 😉
Well done Ireland for beating England and winning the Grand Slam!!!!! 🙂
This appears to be a lot less about alcohol and more about DYKWIA?
A self-entitled a-hole. No alcohol needed.
Hope he sent a personal apology to the crew who no doubt had to deal with this petty person.
In a way, I can understand why passengers complain about BA.
They simply do not live up to the standards that they project in their advertising, so the false impression of being the best is bound to be picked up when the expectations of passengers doesn’t materialise.
I regularly fly to Grand Cayman to visit family and as it’s the only direct flight from the UK, BA have the monopoly, which means they don’t have to try hard to impress.
Broken seats, toilets out of order and crew swigging down bottled water in full view of passengers.
Yes, the crew in general are friendly, but professionalism simply isn’t there.
Many years ago I flew long haul with BOAC. The standards of then are now gone.
A few years back I was on an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to JFK while England was playing Ireland in the 6 Nations. After takeoff, the pilot said he would announce the results of the match but he never did. Since Ireland lost handily, I guess he was afraid of a riot breaking out on board.
Ben, I like your blog. But I have to laugh when you call out someone for having an entitled hissy fit when you've had plenty yourself, the Aegon Mykonos saga being a recent example where you viciously pursued the hotel publicly.
It's fine if you want to take that tone in your blog but you lose credibility when you shame someone else for also being entitled.
Wow. Big fan. Really love your Photoshop skills and your service minded people skills.
You would be a great addition to US politicians. I suggest you look up to George Santos for inspirations.
Perhaps the other passenger was of a higher status and perhaps there were insufficient meal choices so as is the norm the high tier pax would be offered his/her choice first - it happens all the time