I got up before dawn on Thursday, after four hours’ sleep, and headed to Gatwick to catch an easyJet flight to Seville with my son. A few hours later, my other half, Stephanie, went to Heathrow to catch a British Airways flight to the same destination with our daughter. Normally, we would all be flying BA, but this time we decided to “hedge” our Easter break. By choosing different airlines and different airports, we figured at least two of us could be enjoying sangria in Santa Cruz before the day was out.
Hedging holidays? We’re the lucky ones. Some families who had booked to fly together from Heathrow or Manchester this Easter had abandoned their holiday plans altogether. Even after two ruined summers and Christmases, another vacation on the sofa seemed preferable to the ordeal that passes for air travel in Britain these days. In recent weeks, thousands of BA flights have been cancelled or disrupted, and bag drop and check-in queues at some of Britain’s airports have been so long that some travellers have abandoned their luggage rather than miss their flight.
Our family holiday hedge is just the latest episode in my – and many other Brits’ – love/hate affair with British Airways. Indeed, Which? reveals it has slumped to second to last in its airline rankings; it only just beat Ryanair in short-haul. Lousy customer service and the airline’s efforts to avoid making cash refunds to customers who could not travel during lockdown sealed BA’s fall from grace. One reader described it as “a budget-style airline with premium prices”.
My first date with the red, white and blue queen of the skies was very different. I can still remember the pillbox hats and navy uniforms worn by the stewardesses (as we called them) when I boarded the Trident jet to Cyprus. The year was 1972, when BA was still British European Airways. I was five. A jumbo jet to New York followed. Big seats! Twin aisles! Stairs leading to the upstairs “bubble” for the lucky few!
The ardour did not last. Everything looks good when you’re young. The truth back then was that nationalised BA was so shoddy, it more than earned its nickname Bloody Awful.
But hang on, what’s this on the horizon? Another flying lady; Margaret Thatcher privatised the flag carrier in 1987 and – chocks away! – cleared the runway for a golden era of travel. Under swashbuckling leaders Lord King and Sir Colin Marshall, BA soared to become the world’s favourite airline, carrying more long-haul passengers more miles than any other. It was propelled in part by Saatchi and Saatchi’s operatic “walking face” commercial, one of the most memorable TV ads ever made, and – having been filmed in the Utah desert with a cast of hundreds – certainly one of the most expensive.
