BA and The Sunday Times

Yesterday (Sunday 20 June) The Sunday Times published (Magazine page 32) the most comprehensive interview of BA boss Sean Doyle since his appointment in October 2020.   John Arlidge met him at T5.

The whole interview is 2,500 words and is easily summarised by Doyle early on “It’s been worse than 9/11, Sars and the global financial crisis combined.”  

Arlidge’s last line says it all: “There will be only one thing on Doyle’s mind: how to get BA “back big and beautiful again”.  He promises: “Today’s the start.”  

Also see BTN 19 October 2020 Sean Doyle is the new BA CEO.

The article is available free of charge on the The Sunday Times website.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-airways-is-in-crisis-can-new-boss-sean-doyle-save-it-hdhmmw9vl

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Tim Lintott, UK

BA lost me in late 2017, when I raised.a complaint about early closure of a gate. Customer Relations promised to look into it with LHR, but CR log said "not going to send to airport queries ... and will email pax [that] we can't get the info". When I queried the statement "LHR could not provide the info", CR log says "pax is being petty now". When raised in letter to Cruz, no response - and when chased, I got a call from a PA to say sorry there had been no response yet. That was the last word from BA. This was last straw after many disappointing experiences - and many years a Gold card holder. Now a firm ABBA. Doyle will have to change culture back to service rather than surliness.

Keith Wallis, Canterbury

BA lost me as a passenger way before the IT fiasco and the worst cost cutting excesses of Mr Cruz Control and while Mr Doyle’s customer centric approach reminds me of the Rod Eddington era and the early days of Willie Walsh’s tenure I haven’t read anything in Mr Doyle’s comments to make me change my mind. For real customer service he should look to SQ, CX or TK among others. (CX has been rolling its Marco Polo memberships for passengers for the last 18 months.)