British Airways-Britishness Explained

BRITISH AIRWAYS - BRITISHNESS EXPLAINED

What’s “Britishness”? A number of UK media outlets have over the years tried to have a stab at explaining this. In a survey done by Rife magazine, answers included everything from “being able to order five different flavoured crisps in the pub”, to “unpredictable weather and not knowing what to wear.”

British Airways is the latest to try and explain the concept, via an online video aimed at US tourists to the UK.

In the video, four BA ambassadors / cabin crew members answer questions posed by American tourists, who appear to have been interviewed at London Heathrow’s Terminal Five, while checking in on their flight home.

Questions include the inevitable “when is the Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle”, “why do restaurants only charge a 12 or 12.5% tip” (compared to c.20%+ in the US), why do Brits pronounce ‘aluminum’ and ‘oregano’ the way they do (answer from the BA staff - because that’s the way it’s pronounced!) and “why are people so polite?”

This writer would agree with what Ben Schlappig from One Mile at a Time said about the video: “At first I thought it was a bit cheesy...though in the end I found the whole thing to be quite charming.”

Yes, it includes quite a few cardboard cut out stereotypes of the UK such as fish and chips and mushy peas, the rain (or not), and of course the Royal Family.

However, the simple reality is that a large proportion of people come to Britain, exactly because they have those images on their mind. Sure, BA could have done a video about (e.g.) street art in East London or Bristol, and yes that would have appealed to some people, but as far as the mass of UK-bound tourists are concerned, it’s not what they expect or even necessarily want to see.

As a result, it makes sense to appeal to and talk up the very things that make most tourists come to the UK, especially from the United States.

BA RECRUITS COUNTRY SINGER FOR NASHVILLE LAUNCH

Separately, British Airways has launched its route to Nashville, becoming the only airline to connect America’s capital of country music to Europe.

To launch the route, BA brought on board country singer and songwriter Stella Parton, who took part in a photo-shoot in front of a BA Boeing 787-9.

At the same time, BA is serving traditional hot chicken on flights from Nashville to Heathrow Terminal 5 in all cabins until June 4.

BA has highlighted this fact by getting the airline’s head chef, Mark Tazzioli, show foodies on Facebook how to make Tennessee’s signature dish via a video.

KEY TAKE-AWAY

As the saying goes ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ And certain national stereotypes just happen to loom large in the public imagination.

People will always associate Germany with the Oktoberfest and beer, France with vineyards, art and castles - and the UK with fish and chips and the Royal Family. These factors drive a lot of the inbound tourism into those countries.

With over 40 million tourists projected to come to the UK in 2018, British Airways has played up to these, but managed to do so in a light hearted way via a video which is accessible and fun - and reinforces BA as the authority on all things Britishness.

See also as well SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam’s video on ‘Britishness Explained’, where he praises British Airways for using real staff members and not actors (giving it authenticity) as well as for filming the staff responses in different London locations, which helps bring it to life.