British Airways is to offer free instant messaging on most flights and a new app to allow customers to automatically book alternative travel in cases of disruption, as part of a £7bn overhaul to spruce up the national carrier.
Passengers on planes with wifi – about 80% of the Heathrow fleet, plus all of the smaller Gatwick operation – will from next month be able to send texts on services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger free of charge during the flight.
Currently passengers have to pay a small fee to use basic wifi services, but all who sign up to the airline’s free loyalty club will be able to use text messaging services – although not make calls or send images – without charge.
The airline is also bringing in new seating and lounges for premium customers and spending £750m to modernise its creaky IT system.
The overhaul follows criticism from frequent flyers, after elements of BA’s service were pared back to compete with budget airlines, even before the cost-cutting and loss of staff in the pandemic. The airline’s chief executive, Sean Doyle, said it was “on a journey to a better BA”.
The airline said all its aircraft should have inflight wifi by the end of 2025. Although other “full-service” global carriers such as KLM and Lufthansa already offer free messaging, BA hopes it will be a point of difference from its biggest UK short-haul competitors, easyJet and Ryanair.
BA has unveiled new seats for its short-haul fleet, to be introduced when new Airbus planes arrive from May, fitted with better and more accessible charging ports. In its premium Club Europe seats it is bringing back a bespoke leather tray that straddles the vacant middle seat for extra comfort.
Much of the £7bn investment, announced alongside rebounding profits last week, will be in new, more fuel-efficient planes, but a significant sum will be spent on back-end IT and improvements to the public website and app.
One change, coming at the end of 2024, is to allow customers to make their own rebookings in times of disruption, should they wish, including for other airlines and emergency hotels. Passengers have often complained of long wait times to reach call centres during occasional mass disruption.
Doyle said the investment would also address resilience at Heathrow, using AI to predict delays and speed up operations, as well as hiring a further 350 people to work in customer service.
He said: “We’re going to take delivery of new aircraft, introduce new cabins, elevate our customer care, focus on operational performance and address our environmental impact by reducing our emissions and creating a culture of sustainability … we are laser-focused on transforming our business and fixing any pain points for our customers.”
The airline will also start direct flights in autumn to two popular Asian destinations, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, which were dropped from its network during the Covid pandemic.
