British Airways has updated its uniform guidelines in an interesting way, as flagged by PYOK, and this is proving to be controversial among employees.
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British Airways updates crew uniform & appearance guidelines
British Airways has just updated its uniform and appearance guidelines for flight attendants and pilots, and the changes are proving unpopular with employees. Perhaps one restriction stands out more than any other — flight attendants and pilots are now banned from drinking in public while in uniform.
No, we’re not talking about alcohol, but instead, we’re talking about drinks like coffee. It’s common for airline crews to get their caffeine hit before a flight, given the constant exhaustion they deal with. The one exception to this drinking rule is water, but crews are asked to drink that “discreetly.”
These new appearance guidelines reportedly cover everything from acceptable lipstick colors, to how employees can style their hair. British Airways has asked crews to embrace these new guidelines, claiming that these new rules will make the company a better place to work.
Beyond that, British Airways has also banned employees from commuting to work (by plane) in uniform. Many employees are based at Heathrow Airport but commute from another city, with a lower cost of living. So if commuting, they now have to wear “civilian” clothes, and then change into your uniform prior to their flight. Oddly, crews of other airlines can still commute on British Airways in uniform.
This is only the latest employee crackdown we’ve seen from British Airways in recent times. A few months ago, the airline banned crews from posting pictures from layover hotels, in the name of safety.
Is this crew beverage policy update reasonable?
There’s no denying that airlines around the world have very different appearance standards for their employees, both in terms of how they dress, and how they act.
At US airlines, it’s common to see flight attendants and pilots walking through the terminal chatting on their phone, drinking frappuccinos, and eating food in the gate area with their fingers.
Meanwhile at carriers like Emirates, it’s a totally different story, with all kinds of restrictions on how crews are to present themselves while in public. They walk in a much more orderly way through the terminal, they’re not on their phones, they’re not eating in public, etc.
Quite honestly, I see both sides. On the one hand, there’s no denying that Emirates crews look infinitely more professional and well put together than your typical US airline crew. At the same time, US airlines aren’t selling any sort of glamor or appearance as part of their value proposition, really. They’re just providing transportation, and the crew is there primarily for your safety.
I will say, British Airways is certainly introducing restrictions more in line with what you’d expect from Gulf carriers, and in some cases, going even more extreme (like banning photos from layover hotels). I appreciate what the airline is going for, but of course there’s a big disconnect between how British Airways management sees itself (or pretends to see itself), and what the experience is actually like.
British Airways management claims it wants to become super premium, while management’s actions don’t otherwise really reflect that. Yet crews are being treated as if that’s the case.
Bottom line
British Airways has updated its uniform guidelines for flight attendants and pilots, and that includes restricting beverage consumption in public. Specifically, crews are no longer allowed to drink in public, with the exception of water, and that has to be consumed “discreetly.”
So you’ll no longer see British Airways employees walking through the terminal with their pre-flight cup of coffee. That’s certainly a strict approach for the company to take, and I question to what extent that’s warranted, given the experience the airline otherwise offers.
What do you make of British Airways’ new crew drink restrictions?
As a retired pilot from a major U.S. airline, I remember crew members jokingly referring to their careers as “living the dream”. It now seems that more and more management geniuses are turning the dream into a nightmare.
The coffee story brings back memory of an international flight on a US airline last year. Peak of summer, all passengers by the gate with no AC sweating, flight was delayed by almost 2 hours because crew was stuck in traffic. Could the crew have planned better and left their hotel a but earlier as heavy traffic was expected? After a long delay, crew starts to arrive by the gate. 90% of the FAs carrying...
The coffee story brings back memory of an international flight on a US airline last year. Peak of summer, all passengers by the gate with no AC sweating, flight was delayed by almost 2 hours because crew was stuck in traffic. Could the crew have planned better and left their hotel a but earlier as heavy traffic was expected? After a long delay, crew starts to arrive by the gate. 90% of the FAs carrying their freshly brewed Starbucks coffee that they just waited in line to buy inside the terminal. Many of them were also carrying duty free shopping bags that they had just purchased. WTF! So they were late for the flight but still had time to buy coffee and do some shopping? Passengers were pissed, some started screaming and the contracted people managing the flight at the gate were in disbelief. One of them came to some passengers and said they were also furious to see that the crew arrived super late but were carrying fresh coffee and shopping bags. She said she took pictures of the crew and was going to report them to the airline. Oh well!!!
BA is a carrier with AA style service, SQ style prices and LH style hard product that clearly wants to look like EK. Good luck.
WOW! This brings back memories of my career with a US Airline in the 1970's. We could not drink, eat or chew gum in view of public/passengers. Smoking was done only in the terminal while seated, not while walking. Conversations with passengers inflight was not to involve religion or politics.
As an ex-British Airways cabin crew member, I’d like to say that while I understand the reasoning behind the new no-hot-drinks policy, it’s worth considering the effect on crew morale. Cabin crew and pilots often work very long and anti-social hours, and a simple cup of tea or coffee can be a small but meaningful refreshment. Taking that away might just make hardworking crew feel less appreciated. Just something to think about.
Drinking coffee? Are these bots or people? Because if they latter they get hungry, thirsty, tired and need to go to the lav from time to time. A crew member grabbing a coffee, or water or bite of food inflight is perfectly acceptable between duties. I guess management wants people that can go 12 hours plus without the need for food, liquids or "bathroom" movements.
The banning of posted "selfies" while on duty makes...
Drinking coffee? Are these bots or people? Because if they latter they get hungry, thirsty, tired and need to go to the lav from time to time. A crew member grabbing a coffee, or water or bite of food inflight is perfectly acceptable between duties. I guess management wants people that can go 12 hours plus without the need for food, liquids or "bathroom" movements.
The banning of posted "selfies" while on duty makes sense. You're there to do a job, which includes layovers, not tout yourself on a Youtube channel.
Photos from layover hotels should indeed be banned. It is a security issue.
How this is not obvious is beyond me. I wonder when will this ridiculous narcissism end.
US crew are there primarily for our safety? What a joke. 99.999% of their work involves serving food and drinks or picking up trash, but that 0.001% of the work is their primary job? That's ridiculous on its face, nevermind the fact that some 60 year old lady who can't lift help with luggage for fear of injuring herself is going to do anything but get in the way in an emergency.
I used to...
US crew are there primarily for our safety? What a joke. 99.999% of their work involves serving food and drinks or picking up trash, but that 0.001% of the work is their primary job? That's ridiculous on its face, nevermind the fact that some 60 year old lady who can't lift help with luggage for fear of injuring herself is going to do anything but get in the way in an emergency.
I used to work as an engineer in a manufacturing plant. We had to do occasional safety training every few years. Actually I thought I was an engineer at the time, but I guess my primary job was actually safety!
The primary reason they are there is government mandate, that is all.
Agree with you on most points except that it’s not 99.999 percent, it’s 100 percent. During an incident these women care about their lives first! Period! It’s human nature!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from decades in management and managing people it’s this; “pick your battles”. And frankly this isn’t a battle worth picking. None of this will do anything to increase the “glamorization” of British Airways. It will only piss off the employees who frankly aren’t all that happy to begin with.
Nailed it.
Probably has to do with the fact of these ridiculously sized coffee cups. Everyone and their mother has a Stanley or some massive metal vessel. Super sus.
Treat them like robots, that's what BA will get. They're human, and need to drink.
BA is a crap airline. Fix the issues with the company first.
And banning staff from drinking water in public is probably illegal, banning them from drinking coffee is just management being morons.
There are good views and there are bad views.
Many years ago I was in FCO departing on Lufthansa. Their airport was a chaos, but it was not clear why, and as we were waiting for the delayed boarding the pilot came walking by with a large order of coffee for the crew. As you are standing there waiting to board, hoping to catch your connection in Frankfurt, while likelihood is rapidly dwindling, seeing the...
There are good views and there are bad views.
Many years ago I was in FCO departing on Lufthansa. Their airport was a chaos, but it was not clear why, and as we were waiting for the delayed boarding the pilot came walking by with a large order of coffee for the crew. As you are standing there waiting to board, hoping to catch your connection in Frankfurt, while likelihood is rapidly dwindling, seeing the captain shopping for crew coffee is probably not what you want to see.
As it turned out, Wizz Air had decided to have their landing gear collapse on the runway in FCO on a diversion from CIA due to a landing gear warning. So there was plenty of time to get crew coffee, but with no passenger information it was not a pretty sight.
It’s about professionalism and also safety. There was an incident where a Swiss passenger slipped on coffee spilled on the floor in I believe terminal 5, causing life changing injuries. BA lost a case, even though it was not even at the gate as it was considered as “ during boarding”. US crews already look unprofessional with drinks, food and phones as well as being badly dressed. They want you to be seated when drinking.
Sit where and drink a coffee in LHR T5? Terminal A has enough seats for less than 20% of passengers at any one time.
I don't care at all if the crew drinks coffee or not. If you want to be professional then make sure the crew is not boxed into the forward galley all of the time avoiding to work - which this is doing the opposite of as they would be allowed to drink coffee in there if they close the curtain. Thanks a lot BA..
Not covered by their contract?
You forgot to mention your customary WOW in the title. Please don’t try and compare this to US airlines as they don’t really have standards that resemble rules. I appreciate that BA is trying, but they may have overshot the mark
Yup, very silly idea. Everyone in the UK walks around at work with a coffee cup/flask or water bottle all day long. Hardly affects the image of an FA.
I was about to post some dumb quip about it only being proper to reject coffee for tea as a british business, but this is just dystopian and I surely hope this clowns version of totalitarianism is against UK labour laws and promptly abolished.
Took the words right out of my mouth. This is completely nonsensical.