May 19, 2010 Whatever has happened to my favourite airline crews? Daily Mail, 19 May 2010 For those in Britain who need to travel the world, flying has turned into a nightmarish game of aviation roulette. If Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano doesn’t get you, then Unite surely will. Bad enough that you have to pore anxiously over meteorological charts and wind forecasts to work out whether it’s likely that you will be able to either take off or land before the ash cloud closes the airport. Even if the ash has blown in the other direction, however, there’s likely to be yet another British Airways cabin crew strike which may or may not cause your flight to be cancelled. Indeed, it seems that BA strikes are being spewed out from the Unite volcano as a result of some primeval and unstoppable force. As soon as one cloud of industrial action is blown away — courtesy of the courts or just the passage of time — yet another one floats menacingly across the sky. It is hard to exaggerate the degree of frustration, anger and misery that this combination of volcanic and union eruption has inflicted upon the hapless BA passenger. As a BA ‘frequent flyer’ — and one who has had to juggle journeys to cope with flights cancelled by strikes — I have been baffled as to why the BA staff are persisting in what appears to be an utterly suicidal wrecking action. Strikers almost invariably end up out of pocket. And in the case of BA, which was already losing tons of money before the strikes started, such militancy might well cause it to go out of business altogether. With the best will in the world, even those who have remained loyal to BA until now cannot indefinitely put up with the threat of this disruption. The damage being done in terms of lost revenue and customer confidence, on top of the ash cloud cancellations, is colossal. So why are the cabin crews behaving in this seemingly crazy way? The widely accepted explanation is that this is a re-run of extreme trade union militancy — centred in particular in Unite’s cabin crew branch, the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association (BASSA). Willie Walsh, BA’s pugnacious chief executive, yesterday blamed the strikes and the threat of further, indefinite, ‘guerrilla’ action on a small group of BASSA hardliners. But I really did scratch my head a bit at this — because the votes for these strikes have been pretty overwhelming. And yet, speaking from my own personal experience, the typical BA cabin crew member doesn’t seem hardline at all. These strikes lump Unite and the crews it represents as one solid militant block, facing Willie Walsh across the barricades. But is this union really representative of its members? For whatever their grievances with the BA management, surely nothing justifies using the poor, suffering passengers as hostages like this. And those crews just don’t look like the kind of people one associates with such militant contempt for the public. Here, I must make a personal confession. Until about 15 years ago, I never flew anywhere at all. Brought up by parents who were terrified of flying, I too never flew — instead enduring long and inconvenient journeys by car, boat or train. When I finally decided to slay my demons and join the rest of the human race by forcing myself to fly, I would sit in my aircraft seat rigid with terror for the duration of the (usually rather short) journey — too frightened even to get up and go to the loo in case the plane should tilt over. I kid you not. Any change in the engine note would have me gibbering with terror. On one occasion, I jumped so badly that my hand involuntarily flew out and grabbed the startled man sitting next to me — fortunately, by the arm. Gradually, I lost this terrible fear. And one of the main reasons I did so was the kindness and professionalism of the BA crews. When they saw how petrified I was, they could not have been nicer or more helpful. They made a point of talking to me, asking how I was and explaining what was going on. In those innocent days before 9/11, they would take me trembling into the cockpit to talk to the cheery pilots (who, I shuddered to observe, weren’t even looking where they were going). They were always calm and unflappable. They dealt with my panicky questions — such as whether the faulty warning light on the control deck that was causing our two-hour delay actually meant the engines would fail, or whether the de-icing machine really would work — with unfailing patience and sensitivity. More important than that, however, they were so very professional. Through myriad different little ways, they made it clear that their main concern really was –as the recorded announcements said — the safety of all on board. So passengers were told firmly to sit down when they should not be standing up, or to switch off that mobile phone now, sir! Of course, crews on other airlines may also have high standards. But I really notice the difference if I fly on airlines in America. On such flights I am often alarmed, for example, by the trilling of cellphones in the overhead luggage bins — even though these are said to interfere with the plane’s navigational systems. On one occasion, as we were taxiing towards take-off, I mentioned to a passing steward that I could hear phones ringing among the luggage. ‘So what?’ he said. This does not instil confidence in a nervous passenger. On these American carriers, I have often been treated with studied indifference — even when green with terror on a particularly hair-raising rollercoaster of a flight from Boston to Cape Cod. That’s why I have continued to fly BA. Even though I’m now a recovered flying-phobe (well, almost), I still find BA crew members outstandingly pleasant and efficient. Faced with screaming babies and fractious toddlers, they are kindly, helpful and retain a sense of humour. They will raid the Club Class seats for an extra blanket if you are shivering in a packed Economy cabin, or sympathise from a clearly offended sense of professional pride if your seat light or personal video screen doesn’t work. As so often it doesn’t. But then, for me, the attentiveness of the crew keeps me loyal despite the cramped seats, often ghastly meals and the fact that the in-flight entertainment so frequently goes belly-up. More generally still, when I look at these BA cabin crews I see the unthreatening faces of Middle Britain — sensible, orderly, down-to earth people, as far removed from stroppy Left-wing militants as you could imagine. So were they bamboozled into these strikes? Even intimidated, perhaps? Or might there actually be something beyond self-interest that has caused them to behave so out of character? For here is a heretical thought. Maybe if BA is restructured, as they fear, with fewer crew members working for much reduced rates of pay, the kind of crew members that I so appreciate will simply disappear. Maybe their high standards are due to the fact that they are relatively well-paid and stay working for BA for long periods. BA may be going broke — but maybe in order to stay financially airborne it will destroy its greatest asset, the real esprit de corps of its staff. Whatever the truth of this, it is a source of considerable sadness that my favourite airline crews have now placed themselves so tragically against the very public whom they have so punctiliously served. |
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