British Airways wants its new jumbo jets to feel like a boutique hotel

As British Airways prepares to receive its first Dreamliners and A380s, the man charged with keeping customers happy outlines his plans. What three words scare the hell out of a British Airways cabin crew? Brace, brace, brace? Engine latch open? Try saying: “Van der Post.” I first heard the words before I had even heard of Frank van der Post, BA’s new consumer boss. I was flying from Boston to London and the cabin crew were agitated. “Van der Post is on board,” they whispered. “VAN DER POST!” It was not the man himself. It was more serious – his wife. The crew knew they were being watched and had to be on their A game. Service that day was the best I’ve ever had. “Oh, please don’t mention that. I hate that kind of thing,” van der Post says when I first meet him. He doesn’t hate it, of course. He loves it. Because it is his job to raise BA’s game and make it the world’s favourite airline again. After a decade in which BA has been buffeted by