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BA says goodbye to in-flight shopping on short-haul, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph

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British Airways has made an internal announcement that it is phasing out in-flight shopping on short-haul flights from January.

January 2018 sees the arrival of the first A320 / A321 NEO aircraft which will come with new high-density seating.  At the same time, the existing short-haul fleet will begin to be retrofitted to the same design.

One key plank of the new design is the removal of the toilets at the rear of the aircraft.  These will now be built into the back wall, allowing extra rows of seats to fill the space currently taken up by the loo.

British Airways A320

The downside is that the space available for storage trolleys is reduced by the width of the loo.  Something has to give, and that ‘something’ is the cart containing the shopping items.

Shopping will remain on the aircraft which have yet to be converted, but as this becomes a bit of a lottery I would suggest that you make your giant Toblerone purchases in the terminal instead.

To be honest, I am surprised that in-flight shopping has survived so long.  Sales always seemed minimal on short-haul flights.  Has anyone at BA ever done the maths on the fuel burn generated by an additional heavy trolley and the brochures?

I can’t help thinking that whatever profit is generated from in-flight sales would be eaten up by fuel costs, and that is before you factor in the crew time required at a time when some flights are struggling to serve all ‘buy on board’ customers.

Newspaper changes too …..

Change is also coming to the British Airways newspaper selection.

From TODAY, the Daily Telegraph will no longer be available on board, in British Airways lounges or at the gates.

From 23rd December, the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday will no longer be offered.

British Airways says that this is due to the scrapping of bulk distribution deals by these two titles.  If this is accurate then they are also likely to disappear from hotel lobbies and other airport lounges amas well.

Other newspapers, primarily The Times and Financial Times, will continue to be offered.


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Comments (130)

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

  • Paul says:

    The loss of the Daily Mail is no loss at all. It’s a horrible publication with many advertisers now refusing to use. Just why BA continued this long providing it ( even when free) always surprised me as it was never sympathetic to the airline. Good riddance in my view.

    • Andy says:

      Agreed. I’ve always rejected the offer of the DM on the grounds I don’t need a racist, homophobic hate-rag oozing with self-righteous indignation thanks very much

      • vlcnc says:

        Totally agree! I have often wondered if I was the only one who thought this!

    • TF says:

      Spot on! Thank heavens for the removal of the Hate Mail.

      • Londonsteve says:

        +1

        I always felt it cheapens the brand. Not much better, in terms of public perception of prestige, than The Sun. Best to keep only broadsheets for the perceived erudition, even if some passengers have a secret hankering for the DM. They can always buy one at the newsagent before boarding.

  • Brendan Joseph Madden says:

    Well at least there’s SOME good news in there. Less terrible newspapers. AND they’re keeping the toilets instead of the shop. That’s at least one priority differentiation between BA Y and Ryanair

  • John says:

    I was on one flight FAO-LGW when practically someone from every row bought something from the trolley, and I still don’t know why. Otherwise I see maybe less than one purchase every 10 flights…

  • Tim Millea says:

    “One key plank of the new design is the removal of the toilets at the rear of the aircraft. These will now be built into the back wall”

    Will these be open urinals? I don’t like the “plank” idea either. It reminds me of my sailing days.

    • James says:

      Rumour is that Alex Cruz wanted a communal long drop installed…

    • Rich says:

      That’s not such a silly idea.

      I’ve just got back from Japan, where the trains have urinals on them alongside small and large (accessible) toilets.

      A urinal and a toilet would take up much less space than two toilet cubicles.

  • Bagoly says:

    Even with the Ryanair pressure of staff to sell, I has also long wondered whether these sales really make economic sense for any airline having allowed for fuel burn, brochure printing, distraction of staff etc.

    • Lady London says:

      Only if the markup on perfume is at least 30% at the point of sale. Oh, wait…..!

  • Andrew says:

    OT but watch out for your finances if you signed up for the Sunday Times travel magazine, £60 / 4,500 Avios /. 2 year deal last year. It appears that the magazine changed its distributors and due to a mix up Times helped themselves to another £30 from my bank account yesterday
    My 6 bottles of Rioja @£24 / 240 Avios from Vinoselecion arrived this week. There was a delay in the delivery because the courier couldn’t find me. It transpires that if your house has a name rather than a number, their database can’t handle it so the address label is missing some vital information. In my feedback to Vinoselecion, I suggested they should send confirmation emails and I could have double checked the order and delivery details but they are adamant that sending a text is the best way forward and “it always works and has done for many years”. So there you are then….

    • Andrew says:

      P.s, I didn’t really enjoy the Rioja, a bit to light for me.

    • Yvonne M says:

      Yes, Vinoselecion seem to keep their answerphone on, reply to voice messages via email and take three weeks to deliver half an order, I still don’t know if I have another six bottles arriving or not. There hasn’t been any problem getting through the wine I’m pleased to report.

      • the real harry1 says:

        they picked up the phone to me promptly enough! maybe Anna was on her lunch break when you called

        they have also messed up one of my orders and IT dept is looking into it, so worth a call if you didn’t get your order yet

    • RussellH says:

      Sadly, too many firms really do not understand the way addresses work. And too many addressees too. In my business days when people phoned or e-mailed for a holiday brochure, I always checked the Postcode Address file before posting anything – I would guess that 20-25% of customers gave inaccurate addresses. Dauily Telegraph readers were far and away the worst.

      But I am horribly familiar with Andrew’s scenario too. Around here there are no house numbers at all – except, just to really confuse the system, there are six houses with my own postcode that do have numbers as part of the house names. Two start with a ‘1’ and two with a ‘2’.

      And tests – yes, texts sent to Vodafone number will normally get through; those to an o2 number also usually arrive. Other networks – forget it, unless you stick the phone in an upstairs window. But if it is raining, wait until it stops, which may be tomorrow.

    • Liz says:

      I am still receiving the Sunday Times Travel Mag even though I cancelled my direct debit months ago. Only paid for 1yr subscription. No more money has been taken.

      • Alan says:

        Interesting – I got the bonus extra one that we all seemed to get but don’t think I’ve had any since then (kinda got behind them so have lost track when the last one arrived!)

    • Alan says:

      I just cancelled the DD at my end as soon as the Avios posted – that way no risk of them pulling more cash! You should get a refund straight away from your bank under the DD guarantee though.

  • Londonbus says:

    OT: Kaligo seems to be rather more generous than it used to be. I’ve booked two nights at the Juffair Grand in Manama for January – Cost is about £275 – I should get 2,500 Avios. Is this worth an update?

  • Mr Cinnamon says:

    The DM is an atrocious rag and offering it to passengers on our national airline reflects very badly on the UK in my opinion. Delighted to see it go.

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