BA and the Big Squeeze…or should I say Squash?!

British Airways may not be everyone’s favourite airline, but they are certainly one of the big guns when it comes to schedule flights. I very much doubt their frequent flyers will be all too pleased with their newly announced plans to ‘refurbish’ their Boeing 777’s to include the latest in onboard entertainment technology, WIFI and oh yes….to increase the seat capacity by 1 in every 10 seats!! They have no plans to increase the number of toilets on board however meaning it will be one toilet to 30 passengers, rising from the current rate of one to 25. As if queuing for the loo’s mid flight isn’t pain staking enough at times.

The announcement was made by Chief Executive of BA’s parent company IAG, Willie Walsh. He stated that the move would allow the company to ‘lower the average cost per seat, charge a lower price and stimulate demand’. He said ‘We’re responding to a market opportunity’. 

Hmmm, well Im not going to hold my breath waiting for a reduction in the cost of flight seats. In light of other announcements made recently by BA my sneaking suspicion is that the plan is more greed, sorry I mean profit related than it is customer interest related, but I fear they are cutting their nose off to spite their face (more on that shortly). What other announcements I hear you ask? Well, the big guys at BA thought it would be a fantastic idea to team up with Marks & Spencer who will be taking care of providing the onboard catering, wider choice available from a larger menu and likely much nicer than your usual on board pickings, which sounds great. If I brush past the part where we learn that you will now have to get out the wallet and pay for your refreshments on short haul flights…..

British Airways have always set themselves apart from their budget airline rivals, by making their tickets a much more inclusive and some would say more upmarket deal. Baggage, meals, drinks, prebooked seats etc all in with the ticket price and whilst I appreciate BA bosses needing to cut out some of the services to make their tickets more affordable in order to compete with the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair and the other budget airlines, I cant help but think this will simply alienate their loyal customers who appreciate the finer details that BA have always strived to provide.

Do you think they are making a good business decision? Or is squeezing more in only going to hurt their pockets in the long run? Will cheaper tickets with less frills included convince you to book with BA or do you regularly use them but will now look elsewhere? Id love to know what you think about this.