Willie Walsh is the CEO of IAG, parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling. And here’s what he expects from customers:
He describes all the myriad cutbacks at British Airways as merely catching up to competitors in the race to the bottom and says their customers are stuck with whatever BA offers or they can go fly someone else.
Never one to mince words, he thinks that once Ryanair recovers from their flight cancellations driven by pilot shortage they’ll be a fierce competitor — so fierce he says “I’m s***ing myself”.
Historically there have been plenty of foul-mouthed airline CEOs. They didn’t usually speak so brashly, though, in financial presentations or recorded breakfast talks.
thank goodness i’ve never wasted my energy being loyal to oneworld. Between AA’s unicorn saver space, BA’s YQ, multiple-terminal tarmac bus transfer at LHR, and a complete gap in continental Europe and China, it’s totally undesirable for anyone who aren’t hub captive at CLT or DFW.
Shooting himself? 😉
@Basil …if only!
Truly a vile specimen of humanity.
oneworld is great out of NYC! I somehow only take the T5 train at LHR. And can fly to HKG nonstop. And Iberia is a nice LHR/BA alternative. Decently desirable for plenty of flyers.
And, best of all, can avoid the S-hole known as EWR for int’l flights.
@UA-NYC, But United says EWR is “the best New York/Newark airport experience!”
@RF. Ha. You been there lately? It’s always had horrible flow (unnecessary tri-level setup, narrow walkway in front of security, poor AirTrain, awfulTerminal A experience, etc.) but now it’s especially terrible with the lounge reconstruction and infestation of OTG.
When Willie Walsh, CEO of IAG says he’s ‘sh*tting’ himself over Ryanair…passengers in the coach cabin should take comfort they will not have his poop on their seat as he usually sits in the first cabin.
I have spent a bit of time flying OneWorld recently as I love T5 at Heathrow and was Gold Status for 2 years on BA (now silver). However, as I’ve just achieved 1m miles status with United and permanent Gold Star Alliance, I think I’m going to be moving my business elsewhere.
Well, maybe Willie is a believer of the “sh!t or get off the pot” brand of business.
Is anyone actually outraged or even mildly surprised. This is actually the truth for once. BA are an inferior service provider in almost every area. Given the advantages they were granted as a legacy, the only real question is, how far does BA fall before real positve change.