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The rumour mill was churning overtime last night, with speculation mounting that popular UK airline, British Airways, is set to announce a range of enhancements. Chief amongst the improvements is a new first-in-class boarding concept, where passengers will be given the opportunity to participate in ‘Flexible Boarding’.
(UPDATE: For the avoidance of any future doubt, please note that this article was published on 1st April 2018 – AKA April Fool’s Day…).
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but the general idea behind Flexible Boarding seems to be that the efficiency of boarding can be improved through the introduction of an auction-style system, available through the BA mobile app. The more passengers are willing to pay, the earlier they can board. Downloading the BA app will become mandatory for all passengers, as there is set to be a minimum ‘bid’ that all passengers must make.
When asked about the rumours, Vice President with Responsibility for Customer Satisfaction, Olaf Prilo, had this to say:
A relentless focus on enhancing the passenger experience is at the heart of everything we do and explains the enduring popularity of BA. We’ve already introduced an extensive series of measures across the board – for example helping to improve the health and wellbeing of passengers through the recent catering changes to short haul Economy – but it’s important never to rest on our laurels. Flexible Boarding is something customers have been clamouring for and we take customer feedback extremely seriously. Improvement is a constant process and we will be making further announcements in due course.
Bottom line
Flexible Boarding sounds like a great new way for passengers to take control of their travel – we are excited to hear the details!
What do you think of the rumoured enhancement? – What other improvements would you like to see airlines introduce?
Nice one guys, it had me complaining to my husband for a few seconds before I remembered the date!! You all have great Easter Sunday – Nxxxxx
Second that!
Haha – cheers Naomi, Happy Easter!
AFDAY
As soon as I saw the word “popular” in the same line as BA, I knew this was a April fools piece?
😉
Read another AF article today using BA, funny how BA appear to be the basis of foolery recently!
Of course the secret of a good April Fool is that it has to be slightly believable? Which this was!! xxxxx
I couldn’t possibly comment… 🙂
Nice one. I might have gone for a special Qatar J fare to somewhere that doesn’t exist… 🙂
I might make a note of that for next year…
Sounds more like a RyanAir scheme to me. But then again Ryanair passengers are not willing to pay extra. Happy April first.
I was just thinking they already do flexible boarding as they let everyone with a kid, old person, or disability board before status passengers. The line just then descends into farce as the priority lanes are blocking and it becomes a scrum where people who have no right typically board between those that do, with rarely anything being said. Seems flexible to me.
what would be hilarious is news that BA is going to retrofit planes with 2-2-2 Oman air style J seats. that would be believable as well as a definite AF joke!
It did cross my mind to do something about them introducing a new industry leading QSuite style thing, but it was quickly pointed out that literally nobody would believe it even for a second!