Some good news on British Airways in-flight food
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Back at the British Airways press event in early April – which now feels like a l-o-n-g time ago – Chairman and CEO Alex Cruz made some passing remarks about reversing some of the cuts on in-flight services.
It seems he meant it.
According to comment from cabin crew on Flyertalk, the following changes were meant to be in place yesterday:
The amuse bouche has returned to First Class
The flowers have returned to the toilets in First Class
Cheese and biscuits, and pretzels, have returned to World Traveller Plus
The contents of the ‘snack basket’ passed around in World Traveller on short routes – which is instead of a 2nd meal – have been improved with passengers allowed to take three items
The latter will undoubtedly please Troy Warfield, BA’s ‘head of customer experience’. There is an internal BA staff video where he talks about how, when he worked a flight one day to see how it was, he saw cabin crew being forced – due to lack of stock – to reprimand small children who tried to take two items from the snack basket.
Given the huge amount of negative publicity that British Airways has received for its service cuts (it was a weird day when even The Economist started quoting HfP) you can’t help but think that some major mistakes have been made. The bad publicity has almost certainly cost the airline far more in bookings than the paltry cost of a pack of World Traveller Plus pretzels or a fun-size chocolate bar.
Meanwhile …. at London City Airport
You may have seen a story in some newspapers over the weekend about British Airways being forced to put back the launch of ‘buy on board’ catering at London City Airport due to a legal case. A group had already purchased tickets for travel this Summer when the announcement was made and felt that their contract had been breached. They claimed £156 in compensation.
British Airways revealed during the case that buy on board catering at London City has now been delayed until October and so the claimant had no claim after all.
Some reports put two and two together to get five and thought that BA had delayed buy on board at City because of this case. That is not true. It has apparently been delayed because of issues creating the necessary storage space on the small Embraer aircraft used.
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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (February 2025)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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