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You can buy British Airways First Class crockery and bedding: the sale is now live

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And now, from Waterside …. it’s the Sale of the Century!*

Over the course of the last few months lots of airlines have been selling off their excess stock of amenity kits, snacks and even entire (stocked) bar carts.

Whilst some of BA’s catering partners have sold off their stock (such as the Speedbird IPA by Brewdog and Pickering’s Centenary Gin) British Airways has not sold anything directly ……. until now.

BA First Afternoon Tea William Edwards crockery
BA First afternoon tea on William Edwards crockery

British Airways is selling a number of items from the First Class service including a range of bedding and crockery. In the press release it said:

“Although the at-home experience is no match for the real thing, customers or collectors can pick up items such as William Edwards plates, soup bowls, cups, saucers and even a butter dish for reasonable prices, allowing them to create an authentic First Class dining experience at home.”

Bread baskets, hot towels (which arrive cold!), hot towel plates, champagne flutes, coasters and the Club World casserole dish are also be available, as will the First Class slippers and day blanket.

All of the crockery and bedding is brand new, for clarity!

William Edwards crockery British Airways First class
The BA First William Edwards crockery

Why is BA selling First Class stock?

Given none of the items listed are perishable, you would think that BA would be happy to hold on to them rather than sell them.

It would not be the first time BA sells off excess stock. Staff sales are a semi-regular occurrence at HQ; Covid-19 may just have pushed this online.

There are a few reasons why BA might have chosen to liquidate its stock:

BA thinks it can raise some cash from the sale of the items, which can only be positive given the flying outlook for the winter;

The retirement of the 747 fleet and the significant reduction in available First Class seats means BA now has an abundance of crockery and bedding, more than it can realistically make use of in the coming years;

The lack of flying in the past months means that breakage has significantly reduced, leaving BA with a mountain of items;

It plans to introduce a new service in the near future (this is, I accept, very unlikely given the current situation and the fact that the William Edwards crockery is only 18 months old!)

The First bedding has a thread count of 400….

Anything off the trolley dears?

The sale is now live and it turns out that the range of items is far more eclectic than we first expected …..

In addition to the family china, British Airways is also selling a range of general items, where you can buy stuff such as aircraft catering boxes or a waste top loader trolley for £150!

Notably absent, however, are amenity kits or first pyjamas.

The bargain of the day? You could get a set of 6 larger (28cm) dinner plates for £5! However, it turned out that this was a BA IT error and it should have read £50 ….!

How to buy

Looking at stock sales by other airlines, these items are likely to sell out fast.

The link to buy is here, and is now live. Click on ‘British Airways’ in the menu bar.

Let us know what you manage to pick up! If you want to use your British Airways American Express to pay, select PayPal as your payment option as Amex is not accepted directly.

We have bought a few items which we intend to give away in a reader competition in a few weeks.

*We know this is a misquote. You can see the Sale of the Century title sequence here, featuring a brief glimpse of a BA aircraft in Negus livery.


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Comments (445)

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

  • Annette says:

    Nothing left to buy before we even managed to get on line…….

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    Wow, looks like it was BA’s same outsourced IT provider behind the website yesterday…

  • Nigel Wong says:

    For anyone who bought items yesterday, has no one got a dispatch email yet? I ‘paid’ (yes it was the same price) for next day delivery and heard nothing from them.

    • Andrew says:

      +1
      Someone did comment they had a dispatch yesterday but not me. I like you selected next day delivery when I ordered just before 8am but not expecting it to turn up today as have had no notification. Someone said it was DPD they use and nothing showing on my delivery app either.

    • Rhys says:

      Same for me. If you look on the site now they are only offering 2-3 day delivery. BA actually told us that the site only went live yesterday morning for ten minutes of testing, but because we had the link they had to keep it running, so I wonder if the delivery options were a mistake and they forgot to remove them until later….

      • Andrew says:

        I made a second order in the afternoon (just before BBC went live) as I regretted not buying the medium dinner plates (which are more like starter/dessert plates) and thought maybe 80 hot towels for £12 would be good value too 😉 Next day was still an option then. As long as it all turns up I’ll be happy, that website doesn’t fill me with confidence.

    • Paul Stevens says:

      I have the order confirmation and receipt from paypal but as of yet no dispatch notification – and yes I choose next day delivery as well. I’m in no rush – as long as my box turns up!

  • Ian says:

    Why would anyone want to use BA crockery at home?

    • sloth says:

      pleased someone else said this – thought I was the only one thinking it

    • Nigel W says:

      In my case, I liked the design (not plain but has a nice design that won’t age over time). Also the cost of the plates from the manufacturer compared to their normal prices was IMO decent value.

    • Andrew says:

      Same reason you’re wearing the shirt on your back Ian – you liked it so you bought it.

    • Njbdevon says:

      Why not?
      It was crockery made by a reputable manufacturer at a decent/ridiculous price. (£5 or 6 plates)
      For day to day crockery BA first plates bring a bit of fun/memorIes to Mealtimes.
      Personal choice I guess – fits in with the white Ikea/M and S stuff and still means I can save the Wedgewood (a staple early 90s wedding list gift) for Christmas day !!

    • Andrew says:

      Although I am struggling to see why anyone would want to buy the oven insert box – these seem totally useless and really disgusting looking.

  • ChrisC says:

    So who has had their delivery and

    (1) are these new or used items

    (2) if you ordered the big F plates did you get one or 6?

    • Andrew says:

      No deliveries here yet, despite a 7:45 am order yesterday and next day delivery selected. Not that I’m in a rush – just as long as it arrives.

    • Rob says:

      BA confirmed it is all new stuff.

      • Tom says:

        William Edwards is an extremely well respected manufacturer and actually I have bought the design for ‘best’. I think it’s classy looking and to be honest there’s no way of identifying it as BA unless you turn the plate over.

        • VinZ says:

          But even if one of your guests were to turn the plate over…. who cares??? I bought loads as soon as I saw how much William Edward plates are priced normally! I’m a bit bothered the pasta bowls came in set of 4 instead of 6… so annoying!

      • Margaret says:

        Does anyone know if there will be stock added?

        • Rhys says:

          No, sorry. I imagine it will be unlikely, unless BA decide they have other items they want to sell too off the back of all this.

        • Ron says:

          They seems to have added few extra items this morning in the general section that wasn’t there yesterday.

    • Terry says:

      Received mine today – 6 brand new plates for £5!

  • Chris says:

    Has anyone else had issues with the coasters? We received 3 individual mats in a plastic bag and not 3 rolls as the picture suggests???

    • Margaret says:

      Are the mats nicer?

      • Chris says:

        No, they’re the same ones which are on the rolls in the pictures! Just 3 individual ones!

        • Margaret says:

          Lol! I bought the socks for my daughter who has a collection from flights and *likes* them, as a socking filler joke. lets hope I get 10 pairs, not 10 socks as they are not the best.

        • simpletastes says:

          This can’t be right. I think their fulfillment team must have got this wrong. It is quite ridiculous to sell those thin disposable coasters individually rather than in rolls.

          • Lady London says:

            calm down. if it’s the small paper doilies they will be sold in packs of 50, 100, or, if you are really lucky, something bigger

    • Andrew says:

      I ordered some of those but my delivery is yet to arrive – that’s disappointing as I was expecting the toilet roll of them as well, not 3 individual ones, and ridiculously poor value when 6 saucers were the same price as 3 fabric coasters!

      • Lady London says:

        Hum, there’s a thought. Perhaps BA could get into selling a regular line of toilet paper with the first leaf of every roll embossed with the BA insignia ? They could even have them available for a set number of avios. I’ll bet there could be quite a run on them and they could even become a regular item.

    • Andrew says:

      And Chris, did you order the large plates (6 for £5), and did 6 turn up?

  • cinereus says:

    One born every day…

  • johnny_c-l says:

    A few items have come back in stock and they now have First side plates.

    • Andrew says:

      Quite a few items including the First dinner plates are back – although now £50, not £5.

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