BA - fit to fly

Last Saturday nine leading lawyers, all former partners of mine at Simmons & Simmons and me, went to Italy to ski in the Dolomites.

We booked in with BA on the 8.40 flight out of Heathrow to Venice. Breakfast finished we got to Gate 12 in plenty of time to board. As we settled into our seats, the captain announced that 'there was a baggage discrepancy which needed to be sorted out before we could set off'

While we were waiting for the flight handlers to sort out the discrepancy one of my colleagues saw her bag being unloaded, and overheard another passenger call an attendant to say she had also seen her bag being unloaded.

It was hardly surprising then to discover, when we landed that four out of our party of ten had arrived in Venice, without their bags.

What made matters worse was that there was little or no meaningful communication even though about one quarter of all passengers were affected.

After waiting for over one and a half hours, our colleagues were told that their baggage may be on the next flight arriving at 8.45 in the evening - but there was not guarantee, it would be sent to the hotel until Monday at the earliest. So they decided to wait for the subsequent flight to retrieve their luggage.

When the next flight finally arrived, only three of the four bags were on board, and they had no idea what had happened to the bag of our fourth colleague.

We all know that mistakes happen, but this was not a mistake, it was a deliberate action on behalf of BA to let passengers fly without their baggage, but what compounded the problem was a complete lack of communication or consideration for their customers.

What makes this action so much more shocking is that it comes at a time when BA has lost E7.46bn following the pandemic.  

Luis Gallego chief executive of International Airlines Group; owner of British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus is on record as saying, 'our results reflect the serious impact that Covid has had on our business'. He goes on 'We are transforming our business to ensure we emerge in a stronger competitive position'!!!! Hmmm

The current trend is towards global fund managers to look beyond making a profit for their investors to a variety of other metrics which fall within ‘environment, social and governance’ (EFG). I am not sure this is a good thing.

BA was proud to announce that it has raised £26 million, from travellers’ ‘spare cash’ for ‘Comic Relief’ and children in need. Commendable – but surely the focus of BA should first be on its main business, which is flying passengers and their luggage to the destination paid for before they use their valuable recourses to raise money for charity – but it would not appear that the Fund Managers agree.

Larry Fink chief executive of Black Rock seems much more interested in social responsibility than customer satisfaction as can be seen from his annual letter, presumably to the investors in his funds. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase is another focussed more on the relief of poverty, climate change and economic development than customer satisfaction.

In 2020, Davos issued a manifesto for companies encouraging them to focus on a broad range of stakeholders concerns including, customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and lastly shareholders.

As a governance lawyer – I am not convinced. Good governance is based on accountability.

My four colleagues were customers of BA, important ‘stakeholders’ of BA. But how do they make BA accountable if the fund managers will not do so by their block vote? There was no-one to contact, no number to call or no address to send a complaint by email – how can customers hold BA to account if BA is not prepared to listen or is not interested and fund managers are interested in global issues rather than customer satisfaction.

There needs to be more accountability, greater communication, and an increased focus on not just listening to what customers want, give them what they want but then to exceed their expectations – which is why I set up Caroline’s Club; a club for private client professionals where they can better serve their clients by networking which works.

Please let me have your comments and don’t forget to register for Caroline’s Club – it’s FREE to register and you can then learn more about our exclusive award winning club of leading private client professionals who are keen to win business and build trust with clients simply register here