British Airways is copying the low-cost carriers again – but this time it's a good thing
The BA bashers were handed further evidence last week that this once great airline is quickly turning itself into nothing more than a low-cost carrier.
We’ve already seen free food and drink scrapped on short-haul flights, and the introduction of “Basic” fares, which mean passengers with hold luggage pay more.
Last year saw BA cut legroom on dozens of planes and banish fresh flowers and complimentary amuse-bouches from first class. The airline, since 2016, has even offered flights from Stansted, for heaven’s sake.
Now, just like Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz, Wow - and all the others - it is ditching reclining seats from its cabins. “BA once again in a race to the bottom,” lamented one Telegraph reader. How dare they?
There’s just one problem: it’s the best idea we’ve heard in years.
For once, BA’s efforts to mimic its low-cost rivals are going to improve the experience of its passengers. After all, the move will only affect short-haul flights – and what kind of selfish person needs to recline their seat during a two-hour hop to the Med?
BA says the change will douse the flames of the so-called “legroom wars” that erupt whenever someone decides to lower their seat. Quite right too. We’d go one step further and suggest BA keeps the recline button – but has it administer a couple of hundred volts to anyone thoughtless enough to press it.
“There are two personality types while travelling,” explains Dr Becky Spelman, a psychologist from the Private Therapy Clinic in London. “There's the ‘altruistic soul’, who is considerate of others, and the ‘selfish ego’, who will look to increase their own comfort at the expense of others.”
Long-haul flights are another matter. A few degrees of recline are essential if you’re cooped up for more than a few hours. But if you can’t last a journey to the south of France without putting a stranger’s kneecaps in peril, you’re in the “selfish ego” category – and you really need to be stopped.
The majority of travellers would appear to support BA’s new policy.
“This the best news to come out of BA for a while,” said one reader, decrying what they called the “inconsiderate button”.
“Oh what a shame,” said another. “So I will no longer have the back of the seat in front of me in my lap?”
A third added: “I’m 6’4” and have enough trouble getting even remotely comfortable without some ignoramus ramming the back of their seat into my knees. It’s beyond my comprehension that somebody actually thinks this is acceptable behaviour.”
The golden age of British Airways (before the strikes and £5 sandwiches)
A poll of more than 25,000 readers by Telegraph Travel back in 2014, inspired by the launch of the Knee Defender, a nifty device that prevents the person in front from shifting their seat, found that 70 percent of readers wanted reclining in-flight furniture banned. A clear majority.
So let’s give BA some credit for getting something right. After all, with seat pitch already cut to 29 inches on some of its aircraft (that’s less the 30 inches that come as standard with Ryanair), BA’s passengers need all the legroom they can get.
