To Fly. To Serve?

By Rose Bentley

It wasn’t British Airways fault that the snow fell last Saturday. And they weren’t solely to blame for the anaphylactic chaos at Heathrow. But for those of us who were caught up in it all, it was a ringside opportunity to experience a brand totally out of kilter with its promise.

Let’s start with that BA promise: To Fly To Serve. What does that mean to its people? 

Not much to one BA steward who chatted to us during the hours we sat on the tarmac as the plane kept missing its slots. He shrugged and said that yeah, Management had done something with the brand but it didn’t mean anything to him: ‘ We just get on with it don’t we?’ 

Not by the BA ground staff who patronized us all as we were herded back through Terminal 5 when the flight was finally cancelled, aghast that we might want some more information rather than a vague wave towards the hotel bus. Or the ones who greeted us the next morning at Terminal 5 and replied to our questions with  “No one tells us anything”.

And certainly not by the pilot of our second plane – which left 5 hours late and sat another two hours on the tarmac before take off – whose parting words as we landed at our destination were: “ It’s been a difficult time for all of us – especially for the crew. I hope all of you will agree that British Airways has fulfilled its contractual obligations to you.”

If BA had been true to its brand, that 36 hours could have played out so differently. I would not have reached my destination any sooner or less frustrated but my loyalty to BA would have strengthened thanks to a better experience. 

But it didn’t.  To Fly to Serve is not a promise, it’s a strapline. Its people don’t live by it, its consumers make a joke out of it. 

That’s bad for the brand. Which means that’s bad for business.