Among the general public there is virtually zero sympathy for the British Airways cabin staff & their strike, & not just from those whose travel plans are now uncertain or disrupted.
Although there has been much talk of the nation’s favourite airline, beloved British institution etc, I doubt that people actually have all that much affection for it.
It was noticeable that in a recent series of letters to The Times on the unkind interpretations which were given to the initials BOAC, those writers who leaped to the defence were children who were in the privileged position of regularly flying between school in England & home in one of the (now former) colonies.
With its image of silver cutlery & young lady air hostesses with cut glass accents, it did not seem to be for the likes of the rest of us.
Bob Ayling’s instinct about the need for a change of image (& attitude) was sound, but the silly painting of the tail fins was not – we liked the flag, it needed more than that. And the current generation of cabin crew are suffering from the legacy of that stuck up image – they need to be taken down a peg or two
