Is British Airways getting rid of the Club Europe business class console table?

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• Luke says:

  23 Feb23 February 04:55

  I am back from LHR-MAD-LHR tier point run to try both BA and IB widebody short haul business class and I was amazed, how huge is the gap between IB and BA service despite been under same ownership. BA service really get very close to ryanair level, even in business class.

  • David S says:

    23 Feb23 February 06:56

    Even narrow body service to Spain is better than BA. Got a trip in July and went out my way to book IB rather than BA and it was cheaper too- go figure!!!!
    I know the money still goes to IAG but at least I am getting better food and service and comfort.

  • Craig Strickland says:

    23 Feb23 February 08:49

    IB Business to Havana was significantly better than my last 3 BA CW trips.

• Phil says:

  23 Feb23 February 05:20

  Cash+points bookings and suite upgrades are the real sweet spots for using Hyatt points. I recently used 3000 points per night for a suite upgrade in Tokyo that would cost $650 per night.

  • Talay says:

    23 Feb23 February 07:29

    Park Hyatt perhaps ?

    That tends to be where I use mine. Old favourite of mine since it opened.

    • Phil says:

      23 Feb23 February 12:20

      New Hyatt Centric in Ginza, actually. 🙂

      • Jimmy says:

        23 Feb23 February 22:09

        What did you make of Tokyo/Japan?

• Lumma says:

  23 Feb23 February 05:38

  Rob. My phone no longer shows the site in mobile mode, has something changed? It’s been like this a few days now, makes it much harder to read

  • Jack says:

    23 Feb23 February 07:02

    Can you just scroll to the very bottom and select “view mobile site”? – I sometimes go to the desktop site to find links to certain articles from the sidebar and then flick back to mobile for reading the daily articles.

    • Rob says:

      23 Feb23 February 09:44

      Nothing has changed, you probably clicked ‘Show desktop site’ by mistake.

• Ali Bentley says:

  23 Feb23 February 05:48

  Is this centre seat to be left vacant or filled with another passenger? If the latter the extra seat cost is not justified by the service provided

  • JamesB says:

    23 Feb23 February 06:43

    Given the restriction to 7 rows I think it’s odds on it will not be long before we see somebody squeezed in the middle.

    • John says:

      23 Feb23 February 09:37

      Maybe they can rename it Euro Traveller Plus and stop pretending it is Business Class

    • Jonathan says:

      23 Feb23 February 11:10

      7 row limit is due to lack of space for catering on the Band (3?)/4 routes so it’s a 28 passenger limit rather than 7 rows. It’s also only a temporary measure on this small proportion of flights while they work out how to alter the trays & meals to fit in a smaller galley space. Therefore even BA won’t be trying to go 3-3 in CE anytime soon

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      23 Feb23 February 11:24

      The reason they’re restricting the size of the cabin is because they’re limited on the catering they load in the new galleys, so they can’t squeeze in extra passengers without further sacrificing the catering.

      As they’re not Virgin Trains East Coast who’s happy to run a service without the advertised first class catering and any complaints are dismissed with “it’s complimentary, it’s not part of the ticket price” I doubt BA would run a service where they have more CE passengers than space for catering trays.

      • Lady London says:

        23 Feb23 February 11:30

        Well British Airways runs out of the food options already at row 2 and 3 according to reports. So I doubt many people past Row 4 or so would notice much difference if they do decide to squeeze an extra person into the middle seat they now promise to keep free in Business class.

  • Mike says:

    23 Feb23 February 06:48

    Perhaps the person in the middle seat would pay less as they don’t have a tray table……….

• Chris says:

  23 Feb23 February 05:51

  Seriously, they’re dropping the middle table because of “weight”?

  How heavy even is it? 1kg?

  If true that’s incredible the levels they’d go to. They have a maximum of 7 rows of CE so 14 tables – say 14kg?

  Surely that’s just margin of error stuff, the differing weight of passengers would make much more difference than that.

  I’m speechless.

  • JamesB says:

    23 Feb23 February 06:50

    Across all seats, aircraft, flights even 1kg/seat adds up to notable savings in fuel in a year.

    • KBuffett says:

      23 Feb23 February 07:07

      They would save a lot in fuel if they only recruited petite women as cabin crew. Also, if they were banned from eating anything for 8 hours before the flight and during the flight, this would save a lot in fuel. Water is heavy too…they really need to remove that from all flights.

      • Anna says:

        23 Feb23 February 08:03

        There are some male cabin crew these days you know!

      • TripRep says:

        23 Feb23 February 08:20

        Anna – fairly certain all of KBuffets were tongue in cheek. Most men weigh more than women, same goes for petite versions of both.

        Alternatively maybe reduce crew members so just the pilots onboard, one which does a trolley run mid flight. Had that service in the far North of NZ once on a tiny plane, v funny 😀

      • KP says:

        23 Feb23 February 11:40

        Or maybe ask everyone to have dump and pee before boarding the flight. That might save fuel too!

    • rob says:

      23 Feb23 February 07:23

      That would be a microscopic overall saving, mind you this is BA who continue to run around in 747’s, old 777’s and non-neo’ed A320s. Yes I know on 747’s the residual value of the frame is near zero but the cost of a new aircaft per hour operated is small vs cost per fuel hour.

      I can in no way fathom that this is for weight savings. Maybe for time savings as easier to clean, no need to setup etc? My suspicion could be something to do with safety regulations somehow….

      • JamesB says:

        23 Feb23 February 07:53

        You forget…BA loves microscopic savings

  • ankomonkey says:

    23 Feb23 February 09:45

    Next, dynamic pricing based on passenger weight. The lighter you are, the less you pay. Lower prices for those who agree to enter the lounge but don’t eat or drink anything, higher prices for passengers who wish to consume in the lounges (they get a wristband that allows entry into the catered area).

    • KP says:

      23 Feb23 February 11:41

      Now now now…lets hope Mr. Alex high-viz Cruz doesnt listen to your suggestions…

• Cheshire Pete says:

  23 Feb23 February 06:17

  BA centre table……. Pin Drop…….. Agog……

  Used to love stashing my small man bag under there when in row 1 too…… Sobs…..

• JP says:

  23 Feb23 February 06:19

  This is utterly ridiculous. The weight of the tables must be minimal and with the capping of CE to seven rows I would be surprised if 14 units bears a significant additional fuel cost to each BA flight.
  Maybe this is also the real reason why the flowers were removed from the F toilets….

• Ian says:

  23 Feb23 February 06:32

  If it’s true that BA are going to remove the middle tray table to reduce weight then I’m speechless! I normally sit in the front row and you need that tray to be able to safely work and have a drink.

  What’s next.. empty the wine/champagne into plastic bottles so they don’t have to have those heavy glass bottles on board? Scrap the new mug and replace with thin disposable ones? Oh one of the pilots on a recent flight looked a little overweight, sack him and hire a slimmer one!

  Just be done with it and scrap CE all together BA!

  • Jimmy says:

    24 Feb24 February 09:20

    Maybe passengers could be politely asked to empty their bowels before boarding?

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