A Brief History of FLying: Vickers Viscount to Ryanair

Air travel has come a long way since my first journey in 1952 or 1953 aged four or five years to join my father then with the Royal Navy in Malta. We (my mother, brother and sister) flew in a Vickers Viscount with a stop over in Rome where we were allowed to get off. This was a British European Airways flight, the airline a spin off from the break up of BOAC and a precursor of British Airways when the two groups re-combined in 1974. This aircraft only took 32 passengers but my only memories are the spinning propellers, their enormous noise, of having ships sailing far below on the blue of the Mediterranean pointed out to me through the windows and, best of all, the men with brightly coloured table tennis bats who waived the aircraft into the unloading bay in Valetta. After the return journey 18 months later there was a long interval until the next flight to the Sultanate of Oman in 1976 by Gulf Air via Abu Dhubi probably in a BAC One Eleven. The main interest was at Abu Dhubi where a wild group of six tribesmen got on. They had absolutely no interest in seating themselves and moved around the cabin chatting loudly. It was all the air hostess could do to get them seated and when the aircraft eventually took off none were wearing seat belts. In Oman there were Augusta Bell helicopters with nothing to do after the end of the war in Dhofar, so British Air Force pilots with Omani air crew would take me on acrobatic trips up deep narrow wadis in the Jabal Akdar range or take me on survey trips in the Jabal Aswad in search of the Arabian Tahr a rare goat antelope. There were also trips to the Musundam Peninsular, now so famous as the guardian of the oil routes on the straights of Hormuz. These were trips in sky vans, literally a box with short square wings and a square tail, and every time they landed on graded gravel strips in rugged dark rocked valleys the "short landing" alarm would sound. There was also a commercial flight from Salalah in the south which flew over the empty quarter with the early morning mists just starting to melt away to reveal the endless dunes and the desert pavement on which they sat. This flight approached Muscat down a valley flying lower than the hills on either side.

British Airways' flights on Tristars were a a favourite with their air of imperturbable calm and space; they were also non-stop to London and back and were faster than their rivals. My best flight of all on BA was coming out of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia after making the mistake of spending a year there. Boarding the airliner was like entering another universe of calm and courtesey. There was a forceful high angled take off and as the airport disappeared fast there arrived the realisation that I would never have to return to that country ever again and BA were the delivering angel.  There were upsets too, one flight from Oman was diverted from Heathrow to Edinburgh because the aircraft lacked the equipment for landing in dense fog.  Once arrived we were immediately transferred to a BA domestic flight to London. These were the days of innocence before the fall and there was a little cafe just outside the aircraft door. This passenger had come straight out of the desert to fly for six or more hours and decided to use the cafe; unfortunately I met the head stewardess at the door, told here what I was going to do but she said "Please go and sit down". At which I point I said rather too forcibly (a symptom of dehydration) that I had been in the air for eight hours and needed a drink (perhaps an unfortunate turn of phrase in Edinburgh). Another passenger led me out of the aircraft and out of the impasse as the crew member and I stared at each other,  and I drank tea and water.  By the time I returned the head of the cabin crew must have ascertained that she had been saddled with a large number of very thirsty, dehydrated, desert rats who had just flown into the wrong airport from the Middle East  and that no one had bothered to tell her.  There was then a joyous break out of orange juice throughout the 'plane before take off. On another BA flight my wife and ten year old son were invited into the cockpit where they found the pilot professing to navigate from the school atlas he had on his lap using major roads and motorways to guide the aircraft to its destination.

After this things started to change, the days of innocence from before the fall were over and the shadow of terrorism and the petty humiliations of airport and air security started to cast their shadows, becoming increasingly long and dark as the years went on. This seemed to affect passengers and air crew alike subtly changing the social balance toward the authoritarian. One somehow expects to be bullied on Ryanair. It starts with an IQ test on the booking website with the brain straining to avoid pressing the wrong button and incurring extra costs (where is the "I do not need insurance" tab, and in which drop down menu?)  and usually ends with an early but heavy landing and an unseemly rush for the exits. The greatest humiliation suffered under this regime was when, after the goods trolley had set off on its journey down the isle but before the seat belt light had been switched off following take off, I rose to go the loo. The door was locked and as I turned around the eastern European air hostess told me from half way down the cabin to "go and sit down" in such a stentorian manner that the passengers in the entire front third of the aircraft quite spontaneously went "Ohhhh!"  It is not for nothing that the Chief Executive of this airline is famous for wanting to have loos which passengers are charged to use by having to put a £1 coin in the lock. He appears only to have been prevented by the Chairman of Boeing who said when asked if the appropriate loo doors could be provided " I would have to charge you for that" no doubt inferring that it would move Boeing so down market to be associated with such a ploy that the charge would be prohibitive.

Undoubtedly the most unpleasant experience delivered by flight crew was on a BMI flight back from Egypt whilst trying to sleep I was struck hard on the shoulder three times in two hours by cabin staff going about their duties. I became aware that the cabin crew might well be playing a game and I was their victim. Why else should people who spent hours a day on aircraft repeatedly bump hard into passengers whose locations they must have been very aware of?  

And, oh dear! British Airways - my once favourite airline hit by a malaise. The outward signs were the Chief Executive frequently appearing on radio and television to lambaste his own staff, strikes, redundancies voluntary and compulsory. A long running battle with God fearing but lowly staff over whether they should be allowed to wear crucifixes as a testament to their faith was another symptom of the narcissistic and cynical management under which the company had fallen.  The dynamic is clear; they give their staff a hard time, the best leave for jobs in other airlines leaving behind the inexperienced and those close to retirement. These staff in turn give  the passengers a hard time - this dynamic is typical of very authoritarian organisations in which domineering behaviour is passed down the pecking order - in this case the passengers are at the bottom. So my last flight with BA was an experience of complex games playing between senior staff, the baggage drop and the cabin staff and later on drawing in Customer Services; in this game my wife and I played patsy.

And oh dear! British Airways (or rather it's parent IAG) has taken over BMI so, to avoid physical and mental games play, must I resort to that nice Mr Branson's airline for the long haul???

It is not all bad news though, there is a wonderful flight between London City Airport to South West France on a BAE Avro RJ85 with four tiny jet engines, a very short take off and landing aircraft run by City Jet. The cabin crew cultivate an air of calm, the aircraft is small and flies delightfully  low over the Channel coast up to London - just like the old days. Coming in on a winters night the lights of London are a real spectacle. These flights bring back some of the old wonder that men and women can now fly through the skies in ways that in classical times were only conceived as possible for gods and godesses like Hermes the messenger or Ceres searching high in the air for her daughter Proserpine so recently abducted by Hades.  But we are only human and our wonder soon fades as does our attention; wonder is replaced by what....? I wonder.

How does one deal with corporate power and culture?

Mr Keith Williams,

Chief Executive,

British Airways Plc,

Waterside PO Box 365

Harmondsworth UB7 0GB

************

London ********

Tel: 020 8***********
paul.munton@gmail.com

Our (booking) reference: 8GJRBS

28 February 2011

Dear Mr Williams,

Communications with Your Passengers: Complaint No: 9699931

You kindly referred my letter of 14 February (copy attached) to Customer Services where it was dealt with by Ms K – (copy of her reply attached). She has clearly wrestled with my letter but lost the battle. The two most important issues have not been dealt with properly; they are as follows:

1.The central issue was one of a failure of communication.  Check in/bag-drop staff did not  tell us that they had changed our seating and that we were traveling on a different type of aircraft. A fact of which they could not have been  unaware. Communication with your passengers is something that your airline might see as important and it is something the airline could improve if it chose at relatively little cost. Why did your companies reply  ignore this key issue? 

2. I am baffled by Customer Services logic concerning refund of money paid for a specific seat. The issue is simple. I purchased from BA seats  23D and 23E for £50. I and my wife were made to sit in seats 37D and 37E on a different type of aircraft. Hence you owe me £50 for failing to provide the purchased goods. QED.   Or do you think that big companies like British Airways  are entitled to pursue a different ethical codes to those of ordinary mortals?

Perhaps it would be possible to have someone look seriously at these issues of communication (including that of the response of Customer Services)? Specifically can you prevent Customer Relations becoming a way of deflecting criticism rather than dealing with underlying issues and improving your company and its service to customers?

The emollient words of certain paragraphs of the letter from Customer Services are belied by your companies apparent unwillingness to understand the issues raised and by your anxiety to save £50 at the expense of the customers you profess to value.  We realise customers may seem to you and your company to be a nuisance but, Sir, we remain your customers.  It would be difficult to run your airline without us.  

Yours sincerely,

Paul Munton.

Dear Dr Munton

Keith Williams would like to thank you for your letter of 16 February 2012.  He has asked me to reply on his behalf.

I am sorry that you did not get the seats you had booked on your flight to London Heathrow, as per the online seat map.  I realise it must have been upsetting, especially as you had chosen the specific seats due to medical reasons.  Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused.

We do try and make your time in the air as relaxed and comfortable as possible, but I'm afraid we cannot positively guarantee a particular seat to anyone.  We’ve provided online seat maps so that you can see the layout of each cabin on the different aircraft types.  Please remember that these are representative of the seating configuration, but may vary according to aircraft.

I have checked our records and can confirm that you paid £50 for general seat and not for emergency exit row seat.  So, I'm afraid I cannot refund your pre-paid seating charges.

We appreciate you writing to us about the difficulties you had.  I hope you and your wife will give us the opportunity to deliver the positive British Airways experience, when you next fly with us.

Best regards

 ***** K**

British Airways Customer Relations

Mr Keith Williams,

Chief Executive,

British Airways Plc,

Waterside PO Box 365

Harmondsworth UB7 0GB

***************,

London ***********

Tel: 020 8************
paul.munton@gmail.com

Our (booking) reference: 8GJRBS

Dear Mr Williams,

To fly, to serve (and not to swerve)

I would like to make a complaint about treatment of myself and my wife (Josephine Munton) by British Airways check in/ bag drop staff at Washington Dulles airport at the bag drop for flight BA 0216 on 11 February 2012 at about 16:10hrs EST.

We had purchased seats 23D and 23E for the flight paying and extra £25 each (total £50) for this service on-line on 5^th January 2012. We had checked in on-line the previous evening 10^th February. On reaching the airport on 11 February we went straight to the bag drop as instructed and were told by the BA agent “all that is required is your names”. We were issued with further boarding passes and left our luggage. On boarding and searching for our seats we discovered that the boarding passes given to us by the agent (for 37D and 37E) were not those we had purchased. We showed the stewardess our boarding passes and asked for the seats we had purchased but were told that they were no longer available. The (helpful) stewardess told us she had made a note in her flight report about this matter.

At no time at the bag drop were we told that our seats had been changed or was any suggestion made that seating on our flight had been re-organised for any reason. We consider that a deceit was practiced upon us by the agent at bag drop and that he must have known that we had already purchased seats and checked in. We do not understand the reason he failed to communicate with us this on this matter.

This resulted in embarrassment and discomfort* for us and unnecessary trouble for the cabin crew at a moment when they were at their busiest seating passengers. Clearly the matter should have been dealt with at the bag drop and we should have been informed that our seating had been altered and given a reason and a refund of our payment should have been organised then. As we have previously had good experiences with BA we trusted the BA agent and did not check the boarding cards issued at the bag drop against our computer issued documentation.

In addition to making our complaint we would like to claim appropriate compensation.

Yours sincerely,

Paul & Josephine Munton.

*We had purchased seats that gave extra leg room because I suffer from muscular stiffness and have a single factor phospholipid antibody (lupus anticoagulant) which raises my risk of stroke. The intention was to use the extra legroom to move around more and reduce stroke risk.

Encl: copies of

1. acknowledgment of payment for seating;

2.computer issued boarding card and agent issued card.