How BA lost the plot

I am writing this from Nashville, Tennessee, where British Airways was supposed to have flown me and a planeload of Boeing 787 customers on a direct service from Heathrow. However, the night before our intended departure I received a terse message from the airline saying that the flight had been cancelled. A later email informed me that I would be flying on their code-share partner American Airlines (AA) to Charlotte, North Carolina. Then after a layover I would eventually be deposited at my destination.

There is mounting frustration at what they say is BA’s ‘unreliability and general low standards’

Not surprisingly the American Airlines flight was rammed with passengers, many similarly bumped BA customers. You could tell who was who by the expressions of frustration and anger on their faces. The AA crew told me this had been happening a lot lately and that the previous day there had been three last-minute BA cancellations out of Heathrow, while more were anticipated on the day we were flying.