Cava back in World Traveller Plus from tomorrow, and other BA catering changes

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

• Scott says:

  13 Jul13 July 05:50

  Flew F to SFO last week (A380) and had no offer of afternoon tea – crew said it had just been withdrawn and replaced with a choice of light meal option.

• ee says:

  13 Jul13 July 08:07

  O/T but Tesco Metro Bishopsgate has approx 30 v3/pay cards right now. Rack is towards the back of the store on the end of an aisle. The pay cards are slightly hidden by dangling Tesco calling cards. Hope this is useful to someone!

  • Rob says:

    13 Jul13 July 08:39

    May wander in on Tuesday when back in London, thanks!

    • Jason says:

      13 Jul13 July 09:15

      They’ll be gone by then 🙁
      Getting in my car now……only joking!

  • Brian says:

    13 Jul13 July 16:21

    I found some in Clapham last week. Only 5 there though, of which I bought 4…

• Calum says:

  13 Jul13 July 08:29

  Any idea what the second hot meal on West Coast flights will be? Same sort of thing as e.g. PEK-LHR, ICN-LHR?

• John says:

  13 Jul13 July 08:35

  UK domestic presumably retains the high quality bag of crisps
  due to customer feedback.

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    13 Jul13 July 09:08

    I would assume therefore that BA were unsuccessful in trying to find a quality provider who would produce a bag of crisp for them. Think of the savings!

  • czechoslovakia says:

    13 Jul13 July 09:30

    I was offered some lemon shortbreads which were actually quite acceptable last week. No tea/coffee though due to “turbulence” – which didn’t exist.

  • CV3V says:

    13 Jul13 July 09:38

    I was on early morning shuttle from LHR to GLA last weekend and was given the option of the cooked breakfast or continental! And it was actually ok.

• Tim says:

  13 Jul13 July 09:30

  We travel to Paphos quite a lot in CE and have noticed a definite improvement in food quality over the last 6 months. We even had the good fortune to be allocated a 737 on our latest trip which hadn’t been reconfigured to the ridiculous new seating layout. However, champagne was rationed by the glass rather than the bottle which we found both amusing (the purser pouring from a bottle holding 18.5c! And trying to keep a straight face was a sight to behold!) and intensely irritating although the purser did keep refilling, bless her (she said they were under orders to reduce consumption by 50%!) At a time when BA is devaluing Club in every respect (ok, the food has got better), this seems a little churlish. Interesting to hear there will be no change in the First offering to the Middle East – BA definitely needed to get their act together in CW when faced with such a better offering from the M/E carriers so it’s good to hear of the latest changes but it’s surprising that First will effectively be downgraded with the removal of the amuse bouche. We use Avios for first to Dubai quite a bit and although the food isn’t superb, it’s still very good (or as good as it can be given the equipment available) so this decision seems as odd as the champagne restriction. Whatever next – flights to Dubai terminating in Abu Dhabi for an “improved passenger experience?!”

  • Nick says:

    13 Jul13 July 10:51

    Interesting to note that the menus on Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait are being changed completely in all cabins. I fly LHR-KWI-LHR every year and found C/W food to be particularly awful when I flew BA 0156 last month. I could never understand why they serve breakfast at around 09:30 after take of at 08:30. Surely most people would have had some form of breakfast already prior to boarding? They then offer afternoon tea, which was a totally unappealing plastic wrapped sandwich and a slab of indifferent fruitcake! I certainly hope it’s better now.

• Matt says:

  13 Jul13 July 09:32

  Considering the changes being rolled out by VS, I’m not surprised. Late to the party BA but still good to hear.

• CV3V says:

  13 Jul13 July 09:49

  Did CW a few weeks ago to KL. There was a choice of champagnes (one rose), the Asian items on the menu (prawns to start, ginger chicken for main) were very good to the point that I wondered if it was catered in KL. Yes the main was served preplated, but that’s just the same as CX who have a great business class product. The only oddity was the ‘cheese or desert’ option, and with only one desert to choose (strawberry tart which was also good), not too important as it was easy enough to go raid the Club Kitchen. Flight back in First was also of a high standard and the blueberry pancakes for breakfast were great. Although BA lacks the bling of the middle east carriers they do get the job done, although seem to aim for the minimal pass mark and not the highest pass mark.

  • Daz says:

    13 Jul13 July 10:33

    The last part of your post really sums up why we are flying Business class on Qatar next week to KL. We got a deal back in March.

    Whilst this topic points out improvements; a large proportion of frequent flyers do put up with service/products failing to meet the quality line for different reasons. I think people saving long and hard for that one time flight to a dream destination would be pretty miffed.
    I think BA should be pretty ashamed of themselves really, I could get a better meal-deal from Poundland (and buy a toy plane).

    • CV3V says:

      13 Jul13 July 11:06

      When in CW I liked the comment made by the chap in seat 10A, who wondered how much money his company had spent for him to sleep in a ‘toilet cubicle’. (I was using an Amex 2-4-1 voucher.)

      Tip for KLIA, your business class boarding pass allows you to use the fast track immigration lanes for both entry and departure.

      • Daz says:

        13 Jul13 July 11:46

        Thank for the heads up, much appreciated.

    • Nick says:

      13 Jul13 July 13:17

      We flew back with Qatar Business Class yesterday. We flew BA CW and First about a fortnight ago. Of the three products we tried recently, I’d rank it:

      Qatar Business
      BA First
      [big gap]
      BA CW.

      BA CW is still a very, very comfortable way to fly and I think it’s easy to lose sight of that fact. You get a flat seat, for goodness’ sake! That’s fantastic really – significantly more comfortable than Economy. The BA lounges were uniformly poor with the exception of the Concorde lounge, but I think the Qatar Business class lounge at Doha was even better than that. BA First is a decent attempt at luxury. The food is good, there is a choice of champagnes, the seat is spacious. It’s great. Qatar Business, however, is (to my mind) better again. The food was better than BA First, the service was significantly better (I actually preferred the old seats on the 777 than the new Dreamliner seats, but both were amazing). I can’t even imagine what Qatar First is like. There is a huge gulf between BA CW and Qatar Business…. I think my efforts in future are going to focus on getting flights on these better airlines. BA has a long way to go to catch up, but I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that flying long-haul business with anybody (even BA) is a treat.

      • Daftboy says:

        13 Jul13 July 15:09

        I think that’s a very fair assessment of BA. I think the hard product is very solid onboard in CW and I am always able to sleep in the flatbed. Food is generally fine ex-UK, varies greatly on the return (with ex-US particularly bad), I never run short of something to drink. Lounges are fine, not the height of pampered luxury but a pleasant place to spend before a flight. I find CW (and the occasional F) very good value on an Amex 2-4-1, even with the additional charges – although I have yet to redeem longhaul under the new pricing levels. (I also fly CW with work a few times a year).

        Flying QR for the first time in October (787 and A380), looking forward to experiencing what is by all accounts a very high quality offering (hard and soft product).

      • Jason says:

        13 Jul13 July 17:36

        Personally I prefer the Concorde lounge to Qatar’s business lounge. I also prefer the seat in BA F to Qatar’s 787 J seat. However as you say both are extremely comfortable.
        I also thought Qatar’s food was better than BA F, however it’s nice to sit down with your wife or child, whilst eating, in F, which you can’t do on the Dreamliner.

• Artem says:

  13 Jul13 July 11:52

  They still serve just a bun with a slice of cheese and tomato in economy on 4 hr flight to DME 🙁

  • Andrew says:

    13 Jul13 July 14:41

    Plus the 777/744 rotation has been downgraded to the mid-haul (if I can call it that) A321 next year, so no F RFS any more

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