BWIA or change of airline

[Torsten S.]

Hi all, phantastic webside. My wife and me did travel with BWIA to Tabago in 1995 and found at that time that BWIA was a good choice. We have now booked over Christmas 2005 via Kuoni to go back to Tobago, again using BWIA. Meanwhile we have have 2 chidren aged 9 and 7. We got a deal for just under £2400 for flights and accomodation (selfcatering, which we anyway prefer). The price was mainly so low as we got about £1000 reduction for flying with BWIA. Sadly, we found a number of bad experiences with BWIA on the web, mainly due to delays and attetude of staff. We would still be able to change the flights to either Virgin or BA, but at a cost of approx £800-1000. Does anybody think that we should be advised to do so? In particular for not having to put 2 young children though a possible ordeal, or do you think these negative reports are only few and far in between? Thanks to you all and can't wait to be back on Tobago.
Torsten

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Torsten

Welcome aboard and thanks for the kind words.

Now, there's a question! I don't think there's anything endemical wrong with the staff on BWIA flights and I've heard lots of reports of excellent service. However, the perilous financial status of the company probably does have a negative impact on staff morale so I guess this can show at times. Mind you, I don't think anybody, except possible Air Canada, can even start to approach BA for bad staff attitude (of senior crew, in particular). In comparison, the flight staff of BWIA are just amateurs.

BWIA's biggest problem is the uncertaintity of the future and the lack of resources to cope when anything goes wrong. This impacts on quality of service and shows in frequent delays. That is unlikely to change in the short-term, so if it is a major problem to you, you have no choice but to bite the bullet and change to Virgin or BA.

What constitutes an 'ordeal'? I don't think there's an airline flying who hasn't put some passengers through an 'ordeal' at some time or the other. The trouble is, you could spend the extra £800-£1000 and find that you've picked the very flight that suffers a engineering or other mishap and is delayed for many hours.

[Torsten S.]

Hi Steve,
thank you very much for such a speedy reply. I am well aware that mishappenings, in particular delays can happen to any airline. The question is, if BWIA is so bad and do these things happen at such a frequency, that it is best to avoid them. I will check departure times in the next few weeks, inflight service is not really such a criteria to me.
Thanks again for your reply.
Torsten

[Steve Wooler]

NO, I have no reason to believe that BWIA suffer "bad flights" on a much more frequent basis than other services to Tobago.

[Rachel Crew]

I've flown with BWIA a number of times, mostly because they are consistently cheaper than the other scheduled airlines .... maybe I have just been lucky but I can honestly say I haven't had any bad flights with them, and no more delays than with any other airline (Excel top the chart for that ) In-flight staff have been pleasant. Food is not great, but then 800 GBP is a lot to pay just for a good meal!

I guess if you pay a premium price, such as for Virgin or BA, then you should expect and receive a premium service. As for BWIA, I can just tell you that I have had no real problems as a fairly frequent flyer.

[Joanne Kassie Foehner]

In January of this year we flew with BWIA to Trinidad and then with Tobago Express to Tobago. It was a nightmare southbound. Our flight check in was at 8:30 p.m. for a flight out at midnight. There was a flashing light stating "Flight Delayed 2:30 a.m. that's was it! We finally got off the ground at 3:40 a.m. and arrived in Trinidad around 9 a.m., with luggage missing. Then the hassles of filling out forms etc. at Piarco and then having to do it again in Tobago. Hey, and BWIA splurged by giving us TT$150 per day to buy a pair of shorts, a toothbrush, a razor and shaving cream. When the luggage arrived at 7:30 p.m. three days later they told us were not eligible for compensation on that day because the luggage arrived. AND YOU THINK THAT WAS BAD!

Our return on Feb. 7th leaving at 1:30 a.m. well we never got off the ground until Feb. 8th at 7:30 p.m. We were never told the whole story. Hotel rooms were scare because of Carnival and so people with kids were given whatever was available. We were fed breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and lunch at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. We arrived at our destination in the wee hours of Feb. 9th.

We have vowed never to travel with them again. There are other options which we will use. BWIA treated us and the rest of the passengers badly.

Joanne

[C Phillips]

I really, really, really hate to say it but BWIA is the worst. There is always delays. Why I keep using them? I'll never know

I really don't want to type a long story about my experiences with them. If you can change your flights, I think you should do so. I really don't know what's going on with BWIA lately but my experience with them last month was probably the worst I ever had to deal with, with them.

[Lou W]

Hiya
I think I should stick up for BWIA, I have never flown with them personally but as a travel agent that sells the caribbean all day everyday I have a bit of loyalty to them!!
I dont think that anyone can say anything about the attitude of BWIA staff, it is a caribbean airline so there is a caribbean attitude. It is why we all go to the caribbean. BWIA is classed as a 3* airline, so you should be able to compare them with the likes of British Midland, MyTravel, and all the big American carriers.
Unfortunatly there are delays with every airline, everyone has their own opinions and our own bad experiences. I dont think it should put you off. I can name numerous reasons not to fly with other airlines based on my experiences and my collegues. You can't always rely on other peoples accounts. If you really dont want to fly with them then change to someone else but I personally wouldn't, think of the extra cost it's adding to your christmas.

Lou W

[Torsten S.]

Thank you for all your postings. Reports have obviously been rather mixed. We have meanwhile decided to stay with BWIA and simply hope for the best.
Torsten

[Jane H]

Our experience is that actual flights with BWIA (on BWIA planes) have been ok - and there is more legroom in economy than on several other carriers. We haven't experienced the negative staff attitude reported by other people - rather the reverse in fact - and food has been good on our flights. Yes there have been problems with the in-flight video system - but generally we prefer to sleep or read anyway, so it didn't bother us.

Our problems occurred when our return BWIA flight was on a wet leased World Airways plane, that had a major technical fault which resulted in us getting a 24 hour delay on Antigua. Now that sounds wonderful (24 hours extra holiday) - but lack of information, cash and things like sun screen (left behind in Tobago) conspired to make this a less than pleasent end to what had been a fabulous holiday. BUT - technical problems can happen to any airline, and personally I would rather not fly and have a delay than chance it on a potentially faulty one!

Would we fly BWIA fromHeathrow again? Definitely, yes.

Jane

[Antony]

The problem with BWIA is that they only have 2 aircraft for traveling to the UK. One goes to Manchester and the other to London. Normally BWIA run the white with blue engines Airbus A340 to Manchester. From my recent trip to Port of Spain, I found this aircraft to be dirty and with a significant proportion of the personal in-flight entertainment screens out of order. The leg room was not amazing either.

However on my return trip from Port of Spain to Manchester, we got the all green with white engines Airbus A340, and this aircraft really was in a different class altogether – this aircraft is normally run to Heathrow, however was substituted. The green aircraft looked far newer inside, was clean with large amounts of leg room and the aircrafts in flight entertainment actually worked. This aircraft is of the standard I would expect for a scheduled airline.

As for delays on my trip, there were none, and we even arrived back in Manchester 30 minutes early!

So, from my experience, if you get the all green A340 and there are no delays, the chances are you will enjoy your flight. If you get the white with blue engines A340, take a pillow as there won’t be much entertainment or comfort for you.

Also BWIA have an envied safety record, apparently never having had a crash in some 60 years of flying.

[Joanne Kassie Foehner]

The reports on individual experiences with BWIA have been rather mixed. I think we can move on now. And yes I know other airlines have lost luggage and have had extended delays. But now I have the opportunity to choose when I want to have a holiday in Tobago and the choice of carrier need not be only BWee.

Yes, I have been loyal for 32 years and I still think they have a proven record for safety after all in not having a crash or been hijacked for decades. They have always been the only airline who actually offered flights on a daily basis from Canada to the Caribbean with pretty competitive airfares.

And thanks to all who stuck up for them. They have been going tough economic times lately. I could only wish them well for the future!

Regards Joanne

[Steve Wooler]

Well said, Joanne