Avios is starting its own ecommerce business, starting with wine

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• David Humpherston says:

  1 Sep1 September 08:37

  It seems a little unfair to say all wines in first class aren’t great. On a recent trip in FC I had a very nice Grand Cru. The cheapest I could find it for online was around the £50 mark

  • JDB says:

    1 Sep1 September 09:12

    Yes, I simply don’t understand the comments re BA F wine from our travelling experience 3-4 times a year. While they generally don’t offer ‘big name’ wines (except for champagne) like SQ or ME3, they do have very well selected third and fourth growth clarets that are exceptionally good and quite rare. They must also have someone who particularly likes Pinot Noir as they have really superb examples from tiny producers that, if you can find them at all, retail for £50+. For white wines, they have similar selections. SQ may serve Chateau Beychevelle in F and Amiral de Beychevelle in J, but that’s easy enough to buy, so I much prefer the BA approach.

    The wine in Club Europe/World to which one is subjected on sadly F free routes is however, disgracefully poor. It’s only merit is that as it is undrinkable we have arrived more refreshed than might otherwise have been the case.

    • JDB says:

      1 Sep1 September 09:17

      I should have added that at least in Club World the rubbish wine is in sync with the diabolical food. Club Europe food is actually quite good.

      • Londonsteve says:

        2 Sep2 September 12:54

        Anyone know why food in CE can be quite good and that of CW is often not? I thought both were catered by Do&Co? My recent CE meals were excellent in both directions but I haven’t flown CW since the pandemic started, nor do I have any desire to based on the reports and the crazy fares/crazy YQ on redemptions.

        • Rhys says:

          2 Sep2 September 13:43

          Biggest problem with CW meals right now is that they are served on one tray. You are basically just getting a CE meal.

    • Thegasman says:

      1 Sep1 September 20:55

      The good stuff was generally bought EP pre Cruz’s cost cutting rampage.

    • Economist_Nearby says:

      1 Sep1 September 23:20

      I haven’t seen a well selected third or fourth growth claret on BA for years. They have been serving compete crap.

  • Alex G says:

    1 Sep1 September 10:38

    On a recent trip in First, I enjoyed LGPS (£150 a bottle) and 2011 Chateau de Fieuzal (£50 a bottle if you can find it).

    On the way back in Club, they had a 2018 Californian Pinot Noir which retails at £20.

    Rob’s PTA fundraisers sound like a right good do.

    • Rob says:

      1 Sep1 September 10:53

      The Robinson article explains why the LPGS remains.

      Given that BA will be serving Club Europe one tray meals in CW until at least end October a £20 wine seems like a remarkable luxury!

• Andrew says:

  1 Sep1 September 08:41

  My last CW flight (to Bermuda in July) the wine in Club was ‘Our cellar x…’. The ‘our cellar Pinot Noir’ was not really drinkable. I’d rather have Lidl’s Cimarosa Chilean for £2.99 a bottle. Now that has some fruitiness! First on the way back was a bit better but nothing that would breach €10/bottle at the cellar door. It really isn’t good enough in the context of the fare (I had a cash ticket for that trip).

• LostAntipod says:

  1 Sep1 September 08:45

  Dear Customer, we regret to advise that your wine order has been cancelled. We’ve sent you the nearest available wine. Check manage my booking to confirm your new case of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon instead of the French Pouiily Fuisse you ordered.

  • Chas says:

    1 Sep1 September 09:19

    😂

• memesweeper says:

  1 Sep1 September 08:49

  Singapore Kris have a similar shop of products you can offload your miles at a poor rate in.

  Trouble for IAG might be comparisons with cashing out via Nectar and then Sainsburys and/or Argos. Extremely unlikely they could be better than that combo for any product. They may as well just white-label Argos and be done with the idea.

  • Rhys says:

    1 Sep1 September 08:56

    Lots of airlines have these shops – but do they actually operate them or are they outsourced?

    IAG is proposing to insource the retail product.

    • Rob says:

      1 Sep1 September 09:16

      They already have one – it is called Argos and you spend your Avios there at 0.8p per point.

• KP says:

  1 Sep1 September 09:14

  That FT link is not working

  • Rhys says:

    1 Sep1 September 09:22

    It is, but you probably have adblock or something on.

  • Andrew. says:

    1 Sep1 September 09:25

    Blocked for me at work too.

    “You have attempted to access a banned site, sites promoting alcohol or tobacco are forbidden.”

• Justin says:

  1 Sep1 September 09:38

  Does a wine have to be expensive to be enjoyable? I don’t really understand the horror from people when they find out that BA (and many other airlines) are using wines that are sub £10 a bottle. Yes I have had some terrible wines on BA in F and J but have also had some lovely ones, it is as always subjective – not to mention what tastes good on the ground is very different at cabin pressure.

  • Russell G says:

    1 Sep1 September 10:16

    It is amazing how people will brag about getting an amazing tasting wine at a super cheap price, yet when BA wine buyers do the same they get damned to hell! 😀

  • TimM says:

    3 Sep3 September 06:01

    What does that say about Sainbury’s rather passable £4/bottle Penguin range?

• Andrew. says:

  1 Sep1 September 09:47

  It’s quite fun reading the comments about the £5 bottles of wine being served to Business or First Class passengers.

  As someone who doesn’t drink alcohol, and can’t drink cola, all that’s left on the trolley is 150ml can of Sprite (wholesale 20p), glass of bottled water (value 5p), or a glass of nasty “fresh” orange juice from concentrate (value 15p).

  • Bagoly says:

    1 Sep1 September 09:59

    Even though I love champagne, I would love to see them up the quality of the orange juice in J and F. Squeezed on board would be ideal. But even the not-for-concentrate bottles (which last for weeks and would cost about £1) would be a dramatic improvement.

    • John says:

      1 Sep1 September 14:24

      Does BA still do smoothies for J breakfast? I found those to be quite nice in the past – if they were low quality I couldn’t taste it, whereas I can taste the low quality of the orange juice.

  • John says:

    1 Sep1 September 14:22

    Have a Like.

    I hate carbonated drinks and I can’t understand how people can drink alcohol on board flights, it makes me feel sick and unable to sleep. On short-haul I will have a G&T when it’s included (i.e. not BA mainline in economy) but only if I’m not driving.

    I’m not the biggest fan of QR but one thing they do well is a wide range of non-alcoholic drinks, also CX was not too bad either

• David S says:

  1 Sep1 September 10:11

  Is Sean Doyle actually still at BA (just kidding), but you would occasionally like to hear the CEO try and promote the company he heads up. Or at least for BA dispatches to mention him or his support for a new concept. Absolutely invisible. At least we regularly heard from or about Cruz even if sometimes it was for negative reasons.

  • Frankie H says:

    1 Sep1 September 14:53

    Why would Sean Doyle talk about a new concept that’s owned by IAG Loyalty? That’s for Adam Daniels to do.

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