Is British Airways the World's Stingiest Airline?
How BA is charging legacy prices for a Ryanair experience.
I used to the think the stingiest airline ever was an Israeli low-cost carrier, called Up, which no longer exists. On a flight from Tel Aviv to somewhere, the on board service consisted of one small bottle of water. Warm.
Well lo and behold, now there’s the airline formerly known as the world’s favourite airline, British Airways, which has stepped up to the (empty) plate as possibly the world’s stingiest airline.
The flight from Athens to London Heathrow clocks in at about four hours. Not terribly long, but by no means a short flight either.
When you fly on Aegean Airlines, Greece’s flag carrier, you get a little meal and full beverage service, included in the price of your ticket. They even give you a little piece of candy when you step on board. When you fly British Airways on the same route, you get bupkis.
The only reason you would choose BA over Aegean has to do with flight times. Aegean’s earliest flight to Heathrow departs Athens at 9:15AM. That simply doesn’t leave you with enough time to make most onward connections to the wonderful U.S.A. BA’s 7:25AM from Athens, by contrast, does.
So how nice to know that after waking up at an ungodly hour before you go-go to get-get to the airport in Athens, waiting in line at customs and immigration and security, then waiting some more in the overcrowded terminal to board your flight, you, the put-upon traveler who actually keeps airlines like British Airways flying, is rewarded with a thin, tacky seat almost guaranteed to give you a backache, almost no legroom, somebody kicking your seat from behind, plus maybe one of those infamous window seats without a window, and a food and beverage service that frankly my dears includes no food or beverages.
A small bottle of water is not a beverage.
A “flapjack” granola bar roughly the size of a mini Snickers “Fun Size” bar is not food — not in the way most people think of what food is.
There are a variety of overpriced beverages and a few sandwiches for sale from the trolley, as you would expect from a low-cost carrier like Ryanair.
Last time we checked on ticket prices, though, British Airways was not a low-cost carrier.
So, here’s one from the idea box: Maybe it should stop acting like one?
