[Rosemary]

Tomorrow morning I am flying on BA725 from Geneva to London. I have used BA - my national airline - regularly to fly this route for the last 35 years, and watched the 'customer service' shrink to virtually nothing in that time. I had already decided that this flight (part-paid with unspent Avios) would be my last with them, and just as well, since the morning has been the last straw. I have been a member of BA's Executive Club (not that the 'advantages' are worth anything any longer) which means that the airline has my profile and details including my seat preference. I always select an aisle seat. When I tried to check in on line this morning I was informed that BA had 'allocated you a seat' - another innovation since my last flight with them. Said seat is two rows from the back of the plane in the middle. No-one ever selects a middle seat if allowed a choice, and I have never, in 35 years, indicated a preference for one. However, reading on I discover that I may still change my seat ... but it will cost me 16.50 CHF (approximately £13 sterling) to do so.

I went to check in five minutes after it opened online, and at the time every seat in the six rows in front of mine was unoccupied. I am left with the conviction that BA deliberately pre-selected that seat on my behalf knowing that any frequent flyer's reaction, not just mine, would be to change it immediately. They are mistaken. I refuse to give them the satisfaction. Neither will I be partaking of their 'refreshments' - on short-haul that now means paying way over the top for a Marks and Spencers sandwich and a tiny bottle of water ... assuming they haven't run out of either.

I can't imagine how many more ways BA is going to find of extorting money from its passengers. Over the last few years, though it pains me to say it, the airline has developed the business ethics of a loan shark and the customer service of a Soviet-era Moscow grocery store. The only remaining reason for travelling BA these days is its safety record. Alas, that's not enough for me. In future I will be using any other airline with an equally good safety record that at least pretends to treat its passengers as valued customers rather than pawns to be exploited and extorted. I'd like to think the people responsible for the airline's rampant greed would hang their heads in shame, but I'm not capable of that level of self-delusion. Utterly disgraceful.

[TurtleEyes]

Rosemary; sorry to read of your experiences with BA. I can sympathise with what you have written in your complaint; I was left extremely disappointed on a flight following a four year hiatus from BA. It is sad to read the many examples passengers are giving (on various travel forums) of the “enhancements” a once great airline is making under the stewardship of Alex Cruz to the detriment of passengers.

[Rosemary]

Hello, TurtleEyes. Yes, that's just it. I've gone beyond being angry with them now, I just find it so terribly sad. I returned on my final flight with them to Geneva from London this morning, only to find that in Terminal 5 you now have to check in the bag yourself by scanning your boarding pass, printing and attaching the bag tag and then printing off a tiny baggage receipt which can no longer be safely glued to something because it no longer bears any glue. The staff hanging around to 'help' passengers to whom I appealed for that help were aggressive and downright rude. And then on the plane, which has always had two toilets at the rear of the cabin there is now only one. Inevitably that means queues in the aisle which is so narrow that there is no hope of the 'refreshment' trolley passing if anyone's standing there - and nowhere to move if you need to let it past. Reason - the space previously occupied by the second toilet now has three extra seats crammed into it.

Beyond words really. So sad.