jumjum

Which carrier has better flight attendants BA, Virgin or Qantas

fraser

Quantas one were great but then I was in buisness, I've never flown Virgin but have heard good things. We got moaned at on BA for talking too loudly because the cabin staff were trying to sleep We'd never fly BA again

Vanessa

Flew Virgin in 1987 so a long time ago but couldn't fault the staff. Travelled quite a lot with BA and the staff can vary from very polite and helpful to damn right rude!

Chalkfarm

Have flown all three and would never dream of flying with BA again, they are so rude and if you ask for anything it is such an effort.Qantas and virgin are all friendly and always so helpfull when you have children.!

fraser

So it's not just me that BA were rude to

pootle26

have flown with virgin ( to the states tho not oz) & have to say they were fantastic - i have 3 boys & nothing was too much trouble for them - it was a night flight & the plane was 1/2 empty so the attendant gave the boys 3 seats each to lay down on

would be my first choice- especially if i was taking kids (but no flights to perth )



pootle

Milo

Have flown with BA to LA and Quantas from LA to Sydney, Quantas staff on our flight were older and more friendlier nothing was a problem. We travelled with three older children and they thought of everything. I would definitely recommend flying with Quantas.

Marie

AmandaJ

I agree, I have experienced rude BA staff. Only flown Virgin to the US, but my experience of both Qantas and Virgin is excellent, both very friendly and helpful.

AJ

logan

Good point, and personally I reckon that's what happens when you have a large company. You can try as hard as you like to provide the same service and standards every time a member of staff comes in contact with the public, but it's very hard to ensure that this is occuring...especially worldwide.

I'm an ex-BA employee (not a trolley-dolly, ground staff and a little more behind the scenes than check-in although I've done my time there). The no. of times I'd cringe when listening to colleagues dealing with either our passengers or other airline passengers who just needed a little guidance/direction around the airport. However, it was well known amongst the folk I worked with that standards varied worldwide.

My experience with Qantas has been that they're very similar to BA ie large company and therefore suffer the same problem as above. However the Aussie customer service is far superior to the British so this generally gives the QF chaps an edge.

Virgin has a completely different work ethic and work culture. Branson can't stand BA and tries to be everything BA isn't, ie, a fun, young airline but still maintaining the safety aspect obviously. Mr Logan's dad's worked for years with them, as does Mr Logan's brother, and they deem it a good company to work for. Not many say that about BA these days, let me assure you.

And from Monday, Mr Logan starts his new job with Virgin Blue....so I'm just chuffed we get our concessions again!!

Hunkyhenry

BA = A Big A.ses

QANTAS = good in bed

Virgin = Liars

JayDeee

I'm also an Ex Virgin employee (not front line, I worked in Engineering buying all the inflight entertainment, seats etc etc) I have to say that they are a great company to work for and it generally works, If you like the company you work for you are gonna work your hardest to keep giving that company a good name. If you dont like the company then you wont give a crap what the public think of the company, with front line staff that can make a big difference to the service supplied.

Kala

Flying Banana

Not those 'wonderful' Upper Class bed seats - the ones where the pax end up sleeping on the floor if they wind them all the way down, the ones that used to start smoking till they were modified

I've worked for two of the airlines mentioned and have a lot of friends who work for the third and I'd say none of the above.

The BA staff will act like they are doing you a favour by allowing you to fly on their aircraft, and god help you if you dare to do anything other than sit down and shut up.

Virgin service is good, their IFE is well ahead of the opposition but the seat pitch in economy is v poor, (BA 31", Virgin 29", Qantas 31", United 32", Emirates 32", Thai 33")

Qantas can be very like BA or can be very good, as someone else mentioned it will depend on the crew on the day.


After getting what amounted to a mouthful of abuse on a BA flight for asking for a glass of water I've used United to fly LHR-SFO-SYD twice a year for the last four years and can't fault them.

Excellent service right from checkin, friendly knowledgable staff, excellent in flight service/food. Apart from my first two trips I got upgraded to business on every occasion for the LHR to SFO leg (Sydney flight is always packed), their frequent flyer scheme is way superior to the BA/Qantas/Cathay One World scheme which is designed for big business travellers. On United (or any other Star Alliance carrier) one return to Aus will give you a silver card which allows you to sit in front of cabin, exit rows or where fitted Premier Economy with 35-36" seat pitch. Two flights in a year will give you a gold card which gives full lounge access too.

It only cost me 30000 airmiles to upgrade from a full fare economy to business when I emigrated (£1800 vs £6000).

And finally the best bit they have always been at least £2-300 cheaper than Bad Airways. Off peak I got a return to Sydney with them for £599 last year, BA were quoting £894 for their cheapest fare.

If you want a quote for United ring Flight Centre Direct, they have a special deal with United and usually have the cheapest fares available.

ozzieeagle

Dont like the sound of BA at all from this thread, and am getting worried, I'm booked on flight QF387, Qantas flight operated by BA, Does that mean I'm getting BA flight Attendants ?


If so I'd best not drink dammit, I'd go loopy if someone gave me some lip after forking out 7,000 grand.

Theresa, Ian & Tim

We flew with BA & Quantas and had no problems with them at all. The staff were friendly and helpful on both airlines and both were very good with our young son. Quantas were excellent with their spirit measures. We asked for a pre-dinner gin and tonic and not joking we got about 2/3's of a tumbler full of gin.
Theresa

jond

Hi we vowed never to fly BA again after our last trip MEL to LHR with a broken seat and when I complained all I got was the rudest Purser you could ever meet, he suggested that they offload my luggage and I would have to get a later flight. I should have agreed as we were at the end of the runway at the time. This was not the first time we had flown to OZ with them and we have found that the service is always poorer than other airlines we have used. Our best flights have been Singapore Airlines.

John