Global Airlines: A Global Failure?
Hi all, welcome back to Brooke In The Air! I know I touched on Global Airlines a couple weeks ago but I need to touch on Global again.
Global Airlines’ first A380, undergoing livery changes before the inaugural flight.
The reason? They just had their inaugural flight from Glasgow (GLA) to New York - JFK (JFK) this week on May 16/17. A bunch of my aviation industry colleagues were on the flight; i did not go as i still have a day job and could not get approved PTO. But among the passengers were Bay Area aviation reviewer Patrick Shea, UK-native and Texas resident Noel Phillips, and the aviation industry’s favorite reviewer, and German resident/native Josh Cahill.
Essentially, the flight failed across the board. Categories that are routinely rated such as time-sensitivity, service, courtesy, catering, and more. Things that average people look at as bonuses or privileges, we as aviation reviewers have to be cognizant of these things because if a passenger is paying 2,3,4, or 5 thousand dollars for a ticket, these things and a certain class of service. Even in Economy class, international travel routinely sells for about 800-1,000 USD a ticket.
A380 tailwinds
A380 in flight - concept art.
Global Airlines offers absolutely no domestic routes, only (currently) three routes based in the UK on the massive superjumbo Airbus A380-800. The A380 aircraft are, as previously mentioned, all obtained second-hand. On this flight, the inaugural, there was no seat update in Business or First-class suite. 90 people took this flight from Glasgow to New York-JFK. The crew itself semed nice enough in their attitude but the service was inexcusable.
Global Airlines promised to redefine air travel and they undoubtedly failed. There was no functional WiFi or in-flight entertainment (IFE) and a very run-of-the-mill amenity kit featuring slippers (first-class received pajamas), a dental kit, a wooden shoe horn, Black Tea-branded cologne and lotion, a wooden hair comb, and socks. Very standard overall. The crew? Training is definitely needed, and badly.
You’ll notice there are no pictures of the Global interiors. Because honestly aside from Global branding (literally, the Global Airlines stickers were plastered everywhere) there were no changes in any soft product or hard product. The A380 acquired from China Southern Airways still has the exact same business-class and first-class hard product China Southern used a few years ago. The IFE has been completely disabled with no new IFE on-line, but so has the in-seat power so you cannot charge any personal device.
Catering was another negative aspect and the crew had to be told how to do their jobs; serve salad, make food and present caviar, etc. And no one smiled. Plus the aircraft was falling apart; passenger seats were falling apart, and they (the crew) obviously did not want to be there. In the end, no one ended up getting what they paid for.
