Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways unveils its new coronavirus catering – it’s an improvement on the plastic bags

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

What food and drink is British Airways serving during coronavirus?

Just a day after we complained about the state of British Airways onboard catering, British Airways has unveiled its new interim catering solution.

This is the food you will be seeing on long-haul and short-haul flights from 16th June.  There is still a distinct lack of hot food – unlike Emirates, Qatar, Etihad etc – but this is a definite improvement on the ‘cheese sandwich and a Kit Kat in a plastic bag’ meals which have been served to date.

Everything now comes in these fancy boxes (click on any image to enlarge):

British Airways business class Club World coronavirus food catering

First Class

Here is a main meal box for BA First Class. First Class is the only part of the aircraft where there will be hot main courses.

British Airways First Class coronavirus food catering

…. and here is a typical Afternoon Tea box:

British Airways First Class coronavirus food catering

Club World:

Here is a typical Club World meal.  Club World will not be getting hot main courses at this point although hot paninis and wraps will be available as snack or second meal options.  It is unclear if there will be any choice of meal, apart from a vegetarian option, or whether special orders will be allowed:

British Airways business class Club World coronavirus food catering

…. and here is a breakfast:

British Airways business class Club World coronavirus food catering

World Traveller and World Traveller Plus:

Here are typical World Traveller Plus and World Traveller meals.  Both cabins will receive the same boxes:

British Airways economy World Traveller coronavirus food catering

and

British Airways economy World Traveller coronavirus food catering

Club Europe:

Moving onto short haul, this is typical of what Club Europe passengers will be receiving:

British Airways Club Europe business class coronavirus food catering

Euro Traveller:

Euro Traveller will be retaining the free water and a small bag of crisps / popcorn / pretzels that is available at the moment.

Buy-on-board is not returning for the short term.

Special meals:

There will be two meal options offered – vegetarian and non-vegetarian.  I’m waiting for BA to confirm whether other special meals can be pre-ordered.

Alcohol:

Alcohol will be returning, except in Euro Traveller.

This is NOT a long term replacement for British Airways catering.  The airline is keeping it under constant review, with its hands partly tied by UK Government guidance.  You should expect to see the boxes above for at least four months, I believe.

HFP-Barclaycard-Avios-Card

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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 £12,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.

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

30,000 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

Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers 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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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 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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (106)

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

  • Graeme2 says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:09

    Looks like a big improvement, although I’m not sure the “handmade” label will be very reassuring for some in the current situation!

  • Sarah says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:13

    It’s an improvement, but still a pretty poor offering compared to many other airlines, particularly the lack of hot food in CW.

  • David says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:16

    Are you sure alcohol is back in Club Europe on Short Haul? I had read elsewhere it was only back on long haul. Can you confirm?

    Thanks

    • Rob says:
      11 Jun11 June 15:34

      Unless my mind has got confused I was told on the phone yesterday it was back. I was walking down the road juggling a cup of coffee and my phone at the time though ….

    • Simon Spanswick says:
      11 Jun11 June 16:07

      Post number five of the Flyertalk thread on resumption of catering confirms that alcohol will return from next week in CE and CW (and presumably First). The information comes from Corporate Wage Slave who knows just about everything that goes on in BA (possibly even more than Raffles…!).

  • Optimus Prime says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:24

    They’re on fire today. Rob, what did you threaten them with? 😛

  • Andrew says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:24

    I don’t understand why this is the best they can offer when fellow U.K.-based airline Virgin Atlantic is offering a full catering service in Upper Class albeit on a tray rather than laid up table (although BA always do this in CW anyway) – no hot food in CW is ridiculous as is no alcohol in ET – pure cost saving measures.

    • Doug M says:
      11 Jun11 June 15:46

      Why do you care, you’re not flying BA any more right?

      • Andrew says:
        11 Jun11 June 15:57

        When did I say that?

        • Doug M says:
          11 Jun11 June 16:15

          Apologies if I’m wrong. I thought you were very anti-BA in previous threads and advocating other airlines.

          • Andrew says:
            11 Jun11 June 16:56

            ‘Andrew’ is a bit more of a common handle than ‘Doug M’

          • Doug M says:
            11 Jun11 June 22:03

            Isn’t reason to add something that makes it unique?
            I still hope for the forum style posts here soon, rather than just comments which are too random.

    • Opus says:
      11 Jun11 June 15:49

      I hope VS will be there in 3 months to serve hot food.

    • ChrisC says:
      11 Jun11 June 16:07

      Since there is no BoB in ET then no booze either as it’s part of BoB

      Surely free water and crisps is better than BoB?

  • David Cohen says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:31

    Whilst yes it’s an improvement, the only way it couldn’t improve is if they offered nothing.

    If this is going to be the catering for the next four months, it’s a joke and I shall travel with the competition. Even American can offer near normal catering.

  • N says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:45

    What does “Enjoy your menu!” even mean

    • AJA says:
      11 Jun11 June 15:50

      Too much to expect the menu itself to be edible? 😉

    • James says:
      11 Jun11 June 16:24

      That’s the biggest disgrace – an abomination!

    • planeconcorde says:
      11 Jun11 June 16:54

      I was thinking the same. That’s a very strange phrase to use if the only choice is between vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Unless there is an menu and it is edible! 🙂

      “Enjoy your meal” would be a more understandable phrase to use.

    • Jon says:
      12 Jun12 June 02:47

      I was about to say the same. Odd turn of phrase. Perhaps they’re implicitly acknowledging that this isn’t sufficient to qualify as a meal? 😉

  • AJA says:
    11 Jun11 June 15:49

    Oh well Let’s see if I get to experience the Club Europe fare in September to Tenerife. Two bits of good news in one day is a bit much but nonetheless very welcome.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 40,000 bonus Membership Rewards with the American Express Business Platinum Card

Amex Business Platinum

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

GET £10 CASHBACK WHEN YOU SPEND £150 ON CURRENSEA

Currensea

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? Earn points worth 10,500 Avios with Capital On Tap

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 30,000 Virgin Points with a Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card!

VAA

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!