The British Airways A380 First Class tasting menu – in pictures

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• Stephen F says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:06

  i have saved enough for 3 of us to go F (with 241) to LA or Miami and was very excited at the prospect. I’m now feeling a bit downbeat after these reviews.

  What made it worse was reading a review in the Daily Mail (no I don’t read that paper!) of Singapore Suites which looked AWESOME! The lounge and service looked much better than BAs offering.

  Oh well I’m sure it will be fine….

  • Paul says:

    3 Oct3 October 07:24

    On 241 it’s fine, as it has a cache still but he in no doubt that you would need to quite mad or on expenses to pay BA any money for this product. It is a mid tier business class offer and no more.

    • Raffles says:

      3 Oct3 October 09:23

      You should compare my BA F piece with my Singapore Suites piece from August, to be fair.

      It is a little unfair to compare a product reviewed by an overexcited small child with a product reviewed by a world-weary mid 40’s year old ….

• Paul says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:22

  Well yours was at least loaded!

  I think BA should be both worried and ashamed when they read comments such as yours and many many others. the product is no where near a real First Class product on any level or at any stage of the journey.
  Bland food, frozen scones, lack of choice and ill trained crew are hallmarks of a product that does not even match the business class offers of many airlines.
  The bottom line is that BA at fortress heathrow has no need to provide anything more and they exploit that position very well. This will only change when they are exposed to proper competition and from a new airport. Without it bland frozen offerings will simply become a happy memory!

  • Raffles says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:26

    I didn’t think I came across that harshly and it was never my intention if I did! This is by no means a terrible product, it is just that others do it better. You may prefer Waitrose to Sainsbury, but if Sainsbury is all you’ve got then at least you have the comfort of knowing its not Lidl …

    • gnarlyoldgoatdude says:

      3 Oct3 October 10:31

      This comment really made me laugh.

      Sainsburys is high culture for my area.

      When I’m in Malta (as Tom will confirm), Lidl is viewed in awe as a proper supermarket.

      • Anders says:

        3 Oct3 October 10:52

        You’d be surprised what you can find at Lidl.

        • Lady London says:

          3 Oct3 October 14:03

          Big Lidl fan here. The rest of my shopping is done at Waitrose. Can’t be a$$ed with all the ones in between.

          Those wines were well matched to the food. In particular I like the Bouchard.

        • squills says:

          3 Oct3 October 18:52

          I’m amazed at the pervading snobbishness about Lidl & Aldi. They are great at what they do well, ie good quality continental deli stuff at amazing prices for the UK.

          I wouldn’t buy my loo rolls or toothpaste there but for dairy, processed meats, Italian etc they are miles better value than & equivalent to or better quality than Waitrose. They both (Aldi/ Lidl) have enormous buying power in Europe.

          Aldi doubled turnover & profit in the last 12 months yet the stick in the muds don’t seem to get it.

• Henry says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:28

  I had the same amusee bouche on a different route on the same day, so I imagine everyone on the BA network had that, not just your cabin…

• Sam wardill says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:41

  I am a little disappointed that your experience backs up my own. BA First is (unlike their recent fly on the wall documentary might suggest) not really anything special.

  • Nick says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:16

    I flew BA First last month from BOS-LHR and it was very disappointing. It’s so inconsistent and seems to depend pretty much on the crew of the day. Some are very good, others not so. When you get a good crew you do feel welcomed and, dare i say, special. The cabin supervisor will introduce himself, someone checks your drinks, food, etc. on a regular basis, you’re offered the full bed service, etc. etc. With others it really is no different from Club and on this particular flight it really was lacking. No regular checks and no bed service even offered (it was a night flight BTW). It’s this inconsistency that annoys.

    • oyster says:

      3 Oct3 October 08:39

      I see these comments all the time yet in over 30 BA F flights (all redemptions too) I never get anything other than amazing service.
      I put it down to the way I treat the crew. A polite smile never goes amiss, yet for many premium BA pax it seems this is too much.

      • Nick says:

        3 Oct3 October 09:52

        All I can say is that, IMHO, you’ve been very luck then. As for the polite smile, that is certainly never lacking in my case. i worked for many years in the hotel industry, including one of the best hotels in the world, so I know what it’s like to have customers of that ilk. It’s also why I’ll always be more than pleasant to the crew and usually have an excellent “banter” with them. As others have said, there are good and bad, and when it’s bad a polite smile really makes no difference. My personal view anyway.

        • oyster says:

          3 Oct3 October 11:09

          It wasn’t aimed at you at all. Just a general observation. I have seen examples of where polite passengers have been treated with better service than the surly ones. Is that correct? Well morally yes, perhaps financially for BA no.

• Nick says:

  3 Oct3 October 07:59

  Phew! Luckily no cherry tomatoes in sight! You know, the one’s that have a tendency to explode if you try to cut them with a knife, and shower your nice clean shirts with a red stain. I’ve learn’t over the years to pierce them very delicately with one of the fork prongs (or eat whole of course), but still can’t understand why airlines still serve them!

  • Nick says:

    3 Oct3 October 08:03

    …..I just looked at the Salmon pic again….is that a cherry tomato?! LOL!

    • Thywillbedone says:

      3 Oct3 October 09:49

      The sealed plastic cups of orange juice also present the same threat – from bitter experience you must always open the foil away from you!

    • Thywillbedone says:

      3 Oct3 October 09:50

      The sealed plastic cups of orange juice also present the same threat – from bitter experience you must always open the foil away from you!

      • Nick says:

        3 Oct3 October 09:55

        …and any yogurt pot! 🙂

• Patrick says:

  3 Oct3 October 08:32

  Having just stepped off Frankfurt to Bangkok with Thai First class on an A380, I can say the food quality is incomparable to these pictures. Thai service was fantastic and I had two courses of caviar, lobster (which was good) and a nice duck curry amongst cheeses and pudding etc.

  This all reminds me of why I loved the BMI Diamond club days – you could try different star alliance airlines without being encouraged to use one with a 2f1 voucher. Now, with Cathay and Qatar etc being twice as expensive as BA with a 2f1 voucher, we have to limit our experiences to BA and the ropey food.

• Alan says:

  3 Oct3 October 08:40

  Far too much fish for my liking!

  More generally, even with the new kitchens I think they need to realise this is still in flight food and do more by way of things like nice stews (which can have flavour and keep the meat tender) rather than steak-style pieces of meat.

  • gnarlyoldgoatdude says:

    3 Oct3 October 10:29

    What he said.
    Give me a nice Stroganoff or Massaman any day.

• Dominic says:

  3 Oct3 October 08:46

  I think the comments about service making or breaking First are 100% right. The bedding and pyjamas, etc, separate out the product a little from Club World. It is also lovely being in a small cabin with only a few people. But, in that context, the service is critical (especially on a day flight). When it works well, BA First is wonderfully and sensitively attentive – but when it is not it is really disappointing and mars the product seriously.

  • Paul says:

    3 Oct3 October 14:58

    Small cabin on BA first is 12 or 14. KLM have fewer on business on same foot print! My personal recommendation however is AA777-300 and business in the front cabin behind first. 2 rows of 4 so just 8 people. CX offers same if going East. Both hard products are a match in my view for BA first and leave club world for dead.

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