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Bits: British Airways launching buy-on-board?, Etihad 30% discount code

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News in brief:

British Airways believed to be launching buy-on-board catering

There are a steady stream of rumours at the moment that British Airways is poised to announce the launch of buy-on-board short-haul catering from early 2017.

My understanding is that cabin crew are currently being invited to meetings at the Waterside headquarters building where the new policy is being outlined.  They are being required to sign confidentiality agreements before entering.  (This could all be nonsense, you understand. I am just repeating what I hear.)

My personal view is that – as the company clearly refuses to invest any money in short-haul catering and is currently giving Euro Traveller customers no option except to starve, assuming you don’t count a mini bag of crisps as a meal – it is probably for the best.  The good news is that you will be able to pay with Avios, apparently.

A bigger issue is what happens to all the people who have booked flights for 2017 and are expecting free snacks.   The mini bags of crisps may continue to be free for a year.

It would be interesting to see if they remove free drinks as well.  Many employers do not allow their staff to reclaim expenditure on alcohol for personal consumption, and having to switch from a free G&T to an overpriced, not reclaimable, BA G&T may be the final straw for some.

If you work for Gate Retail Onboard, Alpha LSG, Gate Gourmet or even BA cabin crew and have any insights, please drop me an email at rob at headforpoints.com.

Etihad A380

30% discount code for Etihad business and economy flights

Etihad has released two new discount codes which are valid for flights from the UK booked before Monday evening.  These give a 30% discount on fares before taxes.

STFBUS will get you 30% off the base fare on flights with outbound travel before 23rd November and return travel before 30th November.  There are no black out dates.

STFECO gives a similar discount on economy tickets, although the saving is less impressive because the base fare is a far smaller percentage of the total cost in this cabin.

You can book on the Etihad website here.

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Etihad Guest does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Etihad Guest miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Etihad Guest miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Etihad and Etihad Guest

Comments (113)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • James A says:
    17 Sep17 September 05:19

    Are there any decent fares to go along with the Etihad discount code?

  • Anon says:
    17 Sep17 September 06:24

    Your suspicions are 100% correct.

  • Chris jones says:
    17 Sep17 September 06:47

    BA are finished if this happens. especially outside of London. we need to easyjet to start a avios style points.

    amex could feel a drop in business too.

    • duncan mcgregor says:
      17 Sep17 September 09:22

      I expect everyone outside London to pick a new airline to be loyal with. There hasn’t been a good reason to stay with BA dor a while. We chose flybe and have neve looked back – quicker, hardly any delays, more leg room, can use avios etc Only problem is they don’t fly to every european destination so we are still have to use easyjet or ba. Priority club lounges are better than the regional ba lounges imo.

      I suspect easyjet and ryanair will be the real winners as they have a similar extensive network and are so ridiculousy cheap sometimes – it takes away all pleasure flying with them though i find.

      We have too many avios to burn but if it wasnt for that, i don’t think we would fly ba with the amex 241s. They are too restrictive especially for families and some of the deals you are getting in business class now with other airlines are amazing. I would like to try different business products.

    • Nick says:
      17 Sep17 September 09:37

      If they start charging for drinks then yes. If food, then not really. It’s not like they currently feed you on short haul Y currently anyway.

      But as the article points out, removal of the bar would be the end of BA as a full service airline. At that point they will be locked in to an unwinnable price war with the LCCs. At that point the only reason I could see why people would fly them short haul would be feeder flights, cheap CE, and ET where the passenger has no other option.

      It is all very sad. I do think there is room for a full service airline, and the world does not need another LCC. Sigh.

    • John says:
      17 Sep17 September 10:50

      As a Londoner, I only use BA short-haul for RFS anyway, and I have lounge access so don’t really care whether they have F&B on board or not.

      I am not “loyal” to BA but unless RFS and lounge access is enhanced then I will continue to fly them.

  • Ben says:
    17 Sep17 September 06:56

    Etidad doesn’t seem to work for me. Anyone else having the issue?

  • Cheshire Pete says:
    17 Sep17 September 07:14

    When we flew AA from states last year you had to pay for spirits, but not if you were Emerald. A little known rule, I wonder if BA will have similar….

    • JP says:
      17 Sep17 September 07:24

      I believe Delta is the only US airline that serves free alcohol in economy (without status). Although the wine option was out of cartons last time I flew….

  • Andrew says:
    17 Sep17 September 07:20

    I recently did a return trip to Helsinki in economy out BA and back with Finnair (who offer buy on board) so I had a chance to compare the two approaches directly. Going out at lunchtime I had no choice but to pay a visit to Pret beforehand for a sandwich as there was no way that two white chocolate shortbreads were going to sustain me.
    Coming back at dinnertime, Finnair on the other hand had the option to pre order a proper hot meal. This was brought to my seat as soon as the economy service started and was much much better than a sandwich dinner. Perhaps if BA offered this it wouldn’t be so bad compared to the current situation?

    • C77 says:
      17 Sep17 September 14:58

      BA still provide catering on band 3 departures until 1359….. I say catering referring to a sandwich/roll. Hardly substantial. Its only departures 1400 or after that have had the catering reduced to biscuits.

  • Pierre says:
    17 Sep17 September 07:39

    Re the auction, you can bid by phone or email as well

  • mark2 says:
    17 Sep17 September 07:40

    We flew to Venice last week CE out and ET back. On the outbound (0645, two hours late for plane change) the cold meets and cheese with champagne was surprisingly good; even my wife was impressed. On the way back we got the actually medium sized bag of crisps, but wine or spirits although I had to drive 150 miles on landing. No 1 Lounge was pretty quiet too and the food better than in Venice Marco Polo. I think that these things are pot luck, which is not as they should be.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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