BA passenger strikes back!

I spent last week on the Italian island of Sicily.  All through the winter I’d been looking forward to a spring break touring the island, with visits to the outstanding archeological sites and other attractions, as part of a group of parents from my son’s school, accompanied by the enthusiastic head of classics.

When I first received the itinerary, I only vaguely noted we were flying British Airways to Catania, one of the two major airports on the island, the other being Palermo.  (In fact Ryanair have subsequently started to operate weekly flights to Trapani in the far west).

Worry beforehand

Although it wasn’t long before the Unite union strike ballot, and the possibility of strike action by BA cabin crew began to cast a long shadow over the trip, there was no question of cancelling or postponing.  There were simply too many people, and too much complicated diary juggling  involved, to allow for that.

We knew that the rules stipulated that unions have to give seven days notice of strike action, so it was with a huge sigh of relief as seven days before departure on 15th March came and went without an announcement, and more strike free days ticked by.  It still came as a hammer blow though, when on Friday afternoon 12th March (before we were due to travel out on the Monday of the same weekend), that we learned that the date of our return on 20th March was the first date to be affected by strike action.

It was decided we’d go ahead with the trip in any event,  and worry what was going to happen to the return flight later. I received quite a few phone calls and ‘good luck’ emails from friends and colleagues who knew I was travelling BA on the first strike day. Although we were due to return on a Saturday, so if the worst came to the worst those with work commitments theoretically had a day to play with, it was the worry of uncertainty that stressed everyone out, above all Caroline, the tour organisor who was also accompanying us – an unenviable task in this particular instance.

Draw on all available back up

While we sat back enjoying our tour (of which more another time),  poor Caroline had to spend hours on the phone to the tour operator through whom the trip had been booked, monitoring whether our return flight had been cancelled or not, and weighing up various alternative options.

It’s at times like these, that you thank your lucky stars that you have a tour organiser and a tour operator to sort things out rather than having to do it yourself – which I would’ve done had I booked my own flights direct with BA. At least most of us could get on with enjoyng our holiday!

What happened to us

Two days before we were due to fly back, on the Wednesday 17th March, ironically as we were strolling along the ridge to the temple of Concord, at the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, news finally came through that our return flight from Catania to Gatwick had been cancelled by British Airways.

After all the options had been examined, and the implications to our itinerary had been weighed up by Caroline and the tour operator,  the best solution proved to be an Alitalia Air One flight from Palermo to Milan Linate, and then a wait for a connecting Alitalia flight back to Heathrow.  Since our cars were all parked at Gatwick, where we’d departed from, BA were obliged to lay on a coach to take us back there on arrival, as well.

How the trip was affected

I guess we were pretty lucky as a group, to come away relatively unscathed from our experiences on this occasion. Sicily as a destination is fantastic, particularly at this time of year with all the wild flowers in bloom. However, every member of the group was still put to considerable inconvenience, in addition to the tour organiser who accompanied us. Here’s a summary:

• I personally witnessed poor attitude and service from BA cabin crew.  One member of the cabin staff on our outward flight to Catania had to be prompted on numerous  occasions to fetch a glass of water for a neighbouring passenger who needed it to take medication. She was made to feel a nuisance.
• The switch of airports for our return flight from Catania to Palermo meant that we lost about half a day in Sicily from  our itinerary. The direct consequences of this were:

1. we had to get up an hour earlier for breakfast on the last day in order to have any time to visit Taormina
2. we had to completely miss a trip to the finest Roman mosaics in Europe at Piazza Armerina (usually a highlight of any trip to Sicily, and one I was particularly looking forward to), in favour of a three hour journey across the island to Palermo.
3. as a result of the necessary changes to the itinerary, four members of the group opted to stay in Palermo for two nights and completely miss visiting Taormina
4. instead of a planned leisurely picnic lunch in the countryside on our last day in Sicily, we had to eat our sandwiches in a motorway service area en route to Palermo
5. the revised flights via Milan involved an earlier than scheduled take off, with an additional 3 hours travelling time, and although a coach was organised from Heathrow to Gatwick to collect people’s cars, the journey home ended up  longer and later  at night than had been anticipated.

With another British Airways strike starting tomorrow, you can probably expect to read more tales of woe in the media; but believe me, whatever happens, there will be plenty more personal experiences like mine that don’t get written about.   Visitors to Britain are probably having comparable experiences to ours, right here, in our home country. Unfortunately it’s almost bound to have a detrimental effect on perceptions of Britain abroad, and subtle but long term damage could be being done to the image of Britain as a destination. Not something we need with London 2012 coming up.

Did you enjoy reading this post? Virtual Viv could write an article or news release for your organisation. Photo journalism assignments particularly welcomed.  Comment about what I’ve written below, or contact me at Manifold Associates.

Until next time…

Marketing with spring in your step

I’ve been cheered to see snowdrops in bloom at last, and the clouds clearing after what seems like weeks of  grey skies, with the English countryside muddy underfoot and temperatures hovering around freezing. Yet it’s one of the best times for wrapping up well and enjoying the great outdoors, taking a bracing country walk, perhaps with a dog in tow, followed by a hearty pub lunch and a warm up by a roaring log fire. Find some inspiration here. It’s also a great time to take a city break, and enjoy live theatre, nightlife or a little retail therapy,  which can all be enjoyed indoors, should you be unlucky enough to encounter rain or snow in city streets.

Symptoms of recovery?

I escaped the rain myself for a packed performance of The Misanthrope at London’s Comedy Theatre last night, with brilliant entertainment from a star studded cast that included Keira Knightley, Damien Lewis, Tara Fitzgerald and Nicholas Le Prevost. I was reminded of  Sir Cameron Macintosh, in a recent radio interview,  revealing that his theatres have also been among the beneficaries of a healthy growth in West End ticket sales over the past year, in spite of the recession.

Elsewhere I’ve read recently, amongst other things, that the last year was a record vintage for English wine, thanks in part to 2009′s glorious September weather; and that Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire enjoyed a 43% increase in visitor numbers compared to 2008. Britain’s leading visitor attractions, represented by Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) saw an average 10.9% increase in visitor numbers in 2009, and reported this week that 82% of their members were optimistic about the immediate future compared to 60% this time last year.

Have you seen the recent campaign for Premier Inns, one of the Whitbread Group brands, fronted by the actor Lenny Henry? The Times recently reported that this had already generated 215,000 room nights over a 6 month period, for a £29 non refundable room rate, booked a minimum of 21 days in advance of arrival.

So what can we learn from these successes? For all of us involved in the British visitor economy, it’s vital to stay positive whatever the season; and look out for thc business opportunities and silver lining that exists inside every cloud.  Success seems to breed more success, just follow the links to some of the above websites,  they also seem to exude a certain successful ‘look and feel’.  It’s certainly important to visitors that we keep smiling, both online and in person, so they always feel welcome – whatever the weather!

New consumer marketing campaign from Visit Britain

If you’re a regular visitor to VisitBritain.org our national tourism agency’s trade website, you’ll already know that they’ve been keeping very busy in the last month. Amongst other initiatives they’ve launched a highly anticipated new campaign for cities which focuses on Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-Gateshead and Oxford in association with EasyJet and British Airways . See how these cities are being promoted to the overseas visitor.

Reap benefits from Visit Britain’s new strategy

Visit Britain has also launched a new global Britain and London 2012 marketing strategy. It makes interesting reading.

When you run a business involved in the visitor economy, it’s always going to be sensible to keep tabs on how the country as a whole, the local region, and your immediate vicinity are being marketed to visitors. If it’s feasible to  mirror the activity of major agencies and destination management organisations at an individual business level, you can potentially benefit from the glow of awareness that’s already being created in the wider arena, and perhaps even get yourself featured in some high profile promotional campaigns. That can do wonders for raising your profile in a crowded marketplace. Let’s not be shy! Anyone who identifies an opportunity that’s right for them should go for it. It’s usually a simple matter to read the strategies and identify where there’s common ground and partnering potential.

Why not also volunteer your organisation to host visiting journalists or representatives of the travel trade from overseas, on an organised familiarisation trip? This is something which has the potential to lead to valuable media coverage. You just need to get proactive, and either pick up the phone,  or fire off an email to your local tourism officer, or relevant contact found via the ‘contact us’ section of the national or regional tourist board websites, expressing your wish to get involved. For my part, I wish you good luck!

Do you think there are grounds for optimism in the visitor economy of 2010? Let me know what you think.

Until next time…