Andrew Neil on Saturday night branded British Airways bosses ‘numpties’ and accused them of having ‘a business model with suicide written all over it’.
Broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Mr Neil said that after 55 years as a BA customer he will no longer fly with it exclusively, lambasting its ‘cheapskate service’.
He said BA ‘can’t even organise an orderly queue’ at departure gates, adding he will now fly with the likes of Emirates, Qatar Singapore and Etihad ‘whose business and first seats are far superior’.
His attack follows a decade of cost-cutting at the airline and a backlash from fliers over changes to its ‘Club’ loyalty plan.
This month BA scrapped hot breakfasts for business class passengers on eight domestic and European routes. They now get fruit, yoghurt and a pastry.
Mr Neil, 76, said on X that he always co-ordinated his ‘extensive and expensive’ travel plans ‘through London to use BA’, but he added: ‘These days are over. I will now use whatever airline is most convenient and competitive.’
He said on recent BA flights to Nice and New York that staff at the departure gate failed to call forward passengers with priority boarding, and on his first class flight last week to New York the free wifi service did not work, forcing him to pay.
‘BA [is] now run by numpties who put no value on long-standing, big-spending loyal customers, of which I’ve been one for 55 years!’ he said. ‘They can’t even get the little things right.’
Broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Mr Neil (pictured) said that after 55 years as a BA customer he will no longer fly with it exclusively, lambasting its ‘cheapskate service’
BA told Mr Neil it was ‘sorry to hear’ about his experience and said he could request a wifi refund (file image)
He said staff have ‘lost any pride working for what was once “the world’s favourite airline”.
‘Now BA is just another middling airline, charging over the odds for service barely above the cheaper budget airlines. A business model with suicide written all over it.’
BA was criticised last year after overhauling its loyalty deals, making it more expensive to earn coveted silver or gold status.
Mr Neil, who has lifetime gold status, said the airline’s new points structure ‘sets impossible hurdles even for frequent flyers regularly using business or first [class]’.
BA told Mr Neil it was ‘sorry to hear’ about his experience and said he could request a wifi refund.
It said later that it was implementing a £7 billion ‘transformation programme’, investing in ‘new seats, cabins and lounges’.
It added: ‘Coming months will see the introduction of free Starlink wifi across our fleet.
‘We continue to reward loyalty through the British Airways Club.
‘We know we’ve got further to go and don’t always get things right, and we’ll continue to learn from feedback from customers.’
