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New Club World food service photos …. with Bollinger?

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A reader sent me a link to a Flickr album (yes, it still exists) he created featuring some photographs of the new Club World food service found on Instagram.

For copyright reasons I have not published the pictures, but you can see them on Flickr here.  The pictures on this page are from the BA ‘investing4u’ press day that Anika attended over Easter, where a taster of the new service was previewed.

The images were apparently taken during a demonstration at the BA headquarters building at Waterside.

food cart ba cabin crew

The most shocking thing here is that there is a bottle of Bollinger in the ice bucket.  Is BA seriously going to start serving this in Club World?  For a business that got excited by the prospect of saving £1 by removing a flower from the First Class toilets, it seems unlikely.

The presentation looks excellent.  Someone has clearly realised that attractive crockery is not necessarily more expensive than ugly crockery (so can we have some prettier mugs in Club Europe please?).

starters and bread

Of course, none of this will make much difference if there isn’t a step change in the quality of food and substantial care and attention taken to how it is cooked and prepared.

We will know soon enough, with the new service due to be launched on the Heathrow to JFK route next month.  Other routes will need to wait until 2018.

Take a look at Flickr and see what you think.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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

25,000 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

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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.

Comments (62)

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

  • Diydegsy says:

    Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Is there an article on using two 241″s or have I missed it? It would be great to have the most up to date info or HFP readers experiences on using them. Wouldn’t even be discussing this in the first place if it wasn’t for this site so thanks Rob and contributors.

    • Rob says:

      There isn’t anything different about it. If one person has 2 vouchers then you can book all 4 people on one ticket. If the vouchers are in different names then it requires 2 bookings, but it is the same process as using one voucher.

      We regularly travel on 2 bookings as my wife has her own BAPP card and it has never been an issue.

      • Diydegsy says:

        Hi Rob BA told me this am that I can’t book 4 people if the two 241 vouchers are in my name so I have to wait until my husband receives his voucher before booking so are you saying I should speak to them again and clarify or can I use my two vouchers online without having to call BA? Thanks again

        • Alan says:

          Yep, try a different agent – see T&Cs posted by Andrew* below.

        • Anna says:

          “That is not possible” seems to be the standard response to anything you ask a foreign call centre operator in my experience. I will only contact the UK based call centre now as I can have a conversation with them without losing the will to live!

      • Andrew* says:

        Doesn’t the person who ‘owns’ the 241 voucher have to be one of the travellers? How could one person who ‘owns’ 2 x 241 vouchers use that to travel with 3 others?

        • Andrew* says:

          I’ll answer my own question – Ts & Cs – item 12

          If the Cardmember has two valid Companion Vouchers on their account they have the option to redeem both of them together for one flight booking allowing the Cardmember to travel with 3 companions and pay the Avios flight price for only 2 people travelling on the booking.

  • Tina says:

    Looks as if the Bolly bucket is on a patio rather than in CW….

  • Jo says:

    Sorry O/T re HHA – If I have a HHA on BA.com and separate accounts on avios.com, can I still use combine my avios on avios.com to transfer to my individual BA accounts?

    • Andrew* says:

      Yes. (You can’t do it if you have a HHA a/c on Avios as then you really do only have 1 Avios a/c; BAEC accounts are kept separate but linked in the HHA arrangement)

  • Scott says:

    Looks promising – but it would be good if they actually loaded the meals onto the aircraft in the first place. It seems normal now that CE doesn’t routinely load sufficient catering for every passenger to have a meal; in my last 16+ F segments I’ve yet to have a full meal service with every course loaded, the full wine list available, and menu options all actually available!

  • Ruth4325 says:

    OT why is it that invariably I price PE tickets on BA but then when I go to pay and upgrade to CW using avios the price is always substantially more for the same flights. Money grabbing ploy or something I’m doing wrong?

    • Rob says:

      Potentially additional fuel surcharge going on.

    • Chris says:

      You might find the issue isn’t related to upgrading – the site is shocking at pricing tickets until you get to the confirmation stage.

      The flight selection screen and actual total differed by 50% (eg almost £700) when I was pricing a flight to ATL not so long ago – agent from CS said it was because the flight selection guesses at charges, and are only properly calculated on the next page

  • James matt says:

    These pictures are from an AA staff member at waterside hardly top secret. This staff member travels the world in J and F incl his mates. I wonder now are these premium cabins or staff cabins

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

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