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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.

British Airways BA A380 flying

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.

British Airways BA A350 in flight

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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Comments (92)

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

  • FlightDoctor says:
    2 May2 May 11:03

    I flew First to JFK last night and can confirm the amuse bouche and the flowers are back! Just a shame that the cabin crew seemed really bored and did nothing to make me feel like a premium passenger.

  • Jimmy says:
    2 May2 May 11:26

    On the BA2625 back from Nice last night we found another CE ‘enhancement’ – having booked the flight expecting to get dinner on board (as on previous occasions) we were told that the route has been reclassified, and so dinner in CE has been downgraded to a hot snack, eg a croque monsieur.
    I appreciate this is right up there as far as first-world problems go, but for a revenue CE ticket booked in January, it’s a bit blimmin annoying to only find out you’re not getting the meal you expected when the trolley arrives at your seat.

    • Tony says:
      2 May2 May 21:14

      Haha. My wife and I returned from AMS in J on Easter Monday and were served lunch of, you guessed it, croque monsieur. The FA was quite embarrassed at having to trowel out the sticky mess from the foil but, surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad and my wife insists not as bad as the Dutch cheese and slice of lettuce as previously provided. Still not great for J, if I’m honest.

  • kens says:
    2 May2 May 11:45

    I was on a WAS-LHR flight felt starving before they served their 2nd meal, the fun sized snack. As I didn’t know the rule by the time, I attempted to pick up two finger sized kit Kat bar, and was embarrassed to be told off that it was limited to one per passage. I really hated myself not be prepaired for the 8hour flight so I decided to took none. Btw I m a gold memeber( that’s not to say I deserve anything more than other flyers. I am just praising BA for giving same recognition for all its fare paying customers)

  • Anna says:
    2 May2 May 12:34

    I took 4 x CE over the bank holiday weekend, on 3 of those the food was great – chicken or duck salad, warm rolls, oat cakes and stilton plus delicious cheesecake or chocolate mousse. However, the “afternoon tea” on one of the legs was terrible – tiny, dry sandwiches with unidentifiable fillings and equally dry fruit cake. The inconsistency was baffling! They have started serving gorgeous chocolate and coffee/walnut cake in the lounge, so if flight times permit, I would have afternoon tea there in future.

    Cabin crew confirmed that all the bottles of wine – only one of which had more than one glass taken out of it – would have to be poured away at the end of the flight. This practice must be costing BA a fortune!

  • Chelseafi says:
    2 May2 May 13:25

    O/T can I refer Gold from Plat and receive same referral points as Gold to Gold? Just trying to work out what to do next thanks.

    • Rob says:
      2 May2 May 13:37

      Yes, you send a link to Gold but can toggle it to Plat if you scroll down

    • Mzungu says:
      2 May2 May 15:59

      Following on, I posted this last week, but must have been too late for folks to see:

      Re referring, and cancelling BAPP with a 241 earned, I’d just like to canvass opinion from the experts here…

      I’ve just triggered the 241 on my BAPP, and have about 4 weeks to go to renewal. My wife has PRGC (triggered bonus a while back) – I’m thinking of getting her to refer me for Gold, upgrading her to plat etc. Then cancel my BAPP before having to pay the next year’s fee.

      I won’t be able to use the 241 for quite a while, we’ve only just used the one on her account! I think that the accepted wisdom is that cancelling the BAPP will have no effect on the 241, as it resides in the BAEC account? Is there any cause for concern (in spite of what Amex may say when I cancel)?

      Thanks

      • Alan says:
        2 May2 May 16:00

        Indeed – no-one can guarantee it, but as you say the voucher is in your BAEC account and no-one seems to have run into problems. I’m due to cancel myself shortly, just waiting to charge taxes/fees for a BA redemption first!

      • NigelM says:
        2 May2 May 19:15

        …the thing about cancelling BAPP before paying next year’s fee… since they refund pro-rata, you know the anniversary doesn’t have much significance, right? The week before paying the fee costs as much as the week after.

        • Mzungu says:
          3 May3 May 18:17

          That’s a valid point NigelM, but I’m close to the end of the year, and I’m ready to start a churn cycle. So it’s as good a time as any…

          • Genghis says:
            3 May3 May 18:58

            I always cancel as soon as I’ve earned the 241 to then reset the clock.

  • flyforfun says:
    2 May2 May 14:03

    “Cheese and biscuits, and pretzels, have returned to World Traveller Plus”

    I don’t know why this doesn’t return to World Traveller Std as well. Cheese is a food that makes you feel fuller for longer.

    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.

    Three small fun size chocolate bars counts as an improvement? The shame of it BA.

    Just found out my company has now removed BA from it’s list of preferred airlines for TATL. Cost is one factor and complaints from staff is another. Many were stopping at the airport to get something to eat, even after flying business or WT+ on their return to the UK and claiming it on expenses. Amazing what a little cut can do….

    • Roberto says:
      2 May2 May 15:40

      “Amazing what a little cut can do….”

      I had to read that twice – I thought you where referring to Alex himself…

  • Fenny says:
    2 May2 May 17:14

    As Jed Bartlet says – “post hoc, ergo propter hoc!”

  • RTS says:
    2 May2 May 17:18

    If only one of the other major airlines offered a proper 2-4-1 on their CC… they would totally clean up…

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

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