BA on a downward spiral

The weather outside is frightful and we’ve no festive time off left to stay cosy indoors, so it’s no wonder that come January our thoughts turn to sunnier climes as we battle our way to work through the wind and rain.

This is the time of year when holiday brochures become a must read. But how often do we consider the airline taking us away from drudgery in our rush to get a deal?

Well, we do at Which? That’s why every year we carry out a customer satisfaction survey of both short haul and long haul carriers.

And this year we found that BA, that premium airline, slumped to third from bottom for short-haul flights with a customer score of just 52 per cent - down from 67 per cent in 2016. Unsurprisingly in the year BA ended free catering for economy passengers on such flights, it got just two stars for its food and drink. But the same poor rating was also given for seat comfort and value for money.

We might expect such results from budget airlines - and indeed Ryanair came joint last with Vueling (owned by BA’s parent company IAG) with a customer score of 45 per cent. But in the minds of consumers BA is supposed to offer a far superior service.

Yet it was also rated the third worst long-haul carrier, behind the likes of TUI Airways and Thomas Cook, for the first time. The customer score dropped from 60 per cent to 50 per cent in a year.

United Airlines was ranked the worst for long haul with a score of 39 per cent, followed by American Airlines at 46 per cent. Not company BA will be used to keeping.

Passengers tell us at Which? that there are many different ways to be a great airline but the basic is providing great service at an acceptable price.

BA’s poor score proves it’s got a lot of ground to make up - from the food and drink on offer to the poor value for money of the journey.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on what’s happening in the sky when it comes to BA this year to ensure it improves. After all the holiday begins when you set foot on the plane.

Email me with your consumer questions at askalex@which.co.uk