TravelMole Editor’s Comment: 15 years of BA bashing
“At a risk of showing my age, it’s been almost 15 years since I began reporting on UK travel trade news.
During that time, travel companies have come and gone, merged and consolidated, enjoyed good times and suffered bad, but one issue has always stayed bubbling at the surface – the turbulent relationship between the British travel trade and the nation’s ‘flag’ carrier.
Since 1997, when the ‘World’s Favourite Airline’ started to chip away at travel agents’ commission, BA bashing has become an industry sport.
Admittedly, there’s been quite a lot to ‘bash’ about. Lost luggage, price-fixing, the chaotic opening of Terminal 5, ongoing strikes by cabin crew, BA has been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Last week, the UK’s tour operator sector, usually a relatively quiet bunch, joined in the fray. Angered by the airline’s refusal to compensate them following the volcanic ash disruption, they made a public statement about their frustrations.
AITO, which represents many of the UK’s independent tour operators, said its members had continued loyally to book their customers on BA flights, but have now had “mud kicked in their faces yet againâ€.
The trade has always complained that BA abandons them when times are good, but expects their support when times are bad.
Right now, times are pretty bad. British Airways posted a pre-tax loss of £164 million for the three months to the end of June, its eighth consecutive quarter loss. The threat of strike action still looms and the relationship with the travel trade shows no sign of improving.
Taking many by surprise, BA chief executive Willie Walsh has agreed to speak at this year’s ABTA conference, taking place in Malta in October.
ABTA has promised he will take questions from the floor, and I imagine it will be quite a heated debate. Walsh rarely talks at travel industry conventions, so perhaps he is hoping this could be his chance to repair some of the damage. Or, will the BA bashing continue for another 15 years…”
By Bev Fearis, TravelMole Editor
* What questions would you like to put to Willie Walsh? What could BA do to improve its relationship with the travel trade? Or is it too late? Tell us your views by clicking on ADD A COMMENT below.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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