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British Airways confirms return of full Club World meal service

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British Airways has confirmed, in communications to staff, that a full Club World meal service will return from 28th October.

It is, shockingly, 2.5 years since BA last served a ‘proper’ meal service in its long-haul business class cabin, so it is good to see it back.

It’s just a shame that most of BA’s competitors returned to full service a year ago ….

British Airways Club World meal

Since the pandemic started, British Airways has veered from ‘snacks’ to DO&CO meal boxes to the current ‘single tray’ set up. This is effectively a Club Europe meal, served in one go, with only the main course being hot.

The driver for this has been low crew numbers, not a desire for cost savings – albeit those were a benefit – with the airline not having enough staff to handle a full meal service in Club World.

From 28th October, the historic service will return. This means:

  • each course served separately
  • hot soup returning as a starter option
  • hot desserts returning as an option
  • regional meal variations returning on specific routes

The ‘express’ option will also return for evening flights, which is effectively a return to the current Club World service. You receive a single tray meal – something which I do appreciate when flying overnight if no lounge dining is available.

Let us have your feedback if you are travelling on or just after 28th October.

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Comments (141)

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

  • VinZ says:
    17 Oct17 October 08:55

    Does this include flights from Gatwick too?

  • NorthernLass says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:06

    Is the facility to pre-order meals coming back? This hasn’t been possible in either J or F for ages!

    • Rhys says:
      17 Oct17 October 09:09

      Not clear!

    • T says:
      17 Oct17 October 09:14

      Not yet, full service 1st, then more options will be added in the new year 👍🏻👍🏻

      • Journeying John says:
        17 Oct17 October 09:50

        Ie. given their “eco” aka under provisioning in reality there will be no choice even in business for the majority.

  • Cara says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:22

    Flying CW to Singapore on 29th so excellent timing. Sadly not Club Suite

  • Mart says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:28

    Hate to say it even pre covid we always had a boots meal deal as backup
    Some shocking experiences and I’ll eat just about anything

  • John says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:30

    Tbh I prefer a single tray in J as long as the food is actually good and the portions are not tiny.

    Someone mentioned LX earlier on – but before covid LX offered an express one-tray option in J for later departures and they managed to make it good quality and large portions

    Individual courses is appropriate for F because the crew are in theory meant to notice when you’re ready for the next one.

    • Rhys says:
      17 Oct17 October 09:50

      BA will still offer express service eg on return transatlantic flights

    • MKB says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:39

      I concur with John.

      Getting the eating over and done with, once delivered, in 30 minutes, was much better than the two-hour wait when courses are delivered separately.

      Pre-pandemic, the express service seemed to be a cut-down version of the full meal, so I never liked that.

      I have found the veggie choice on the menu to be a significant improvement on the awful stuff you get if you order VLML. The one-tray has always been substantial, and you get dessert AND cheese, not one or the other.

    • JDB says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:44

      Agree – the quality of the food is vastly more important than whether it’s served on one tray or individual courses. When they spend ages faffing about and you then get something that looks nasty and is inedible, all it does is delay the disappointment. The current J wine offering is also undrinkable

      • NorthernLass says:
        17 Oct17 October 14:39

        Agreed, I’d be quite happy with one tray if the facility to choose in advance was brought back!

  • 1ATL says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:43

    You receive a single tray meal – something which I do appreciate when flying overnight if no lounge dining is available.

    Surely you mean if lounge dining IS available otherwise this would suggest you’re happy with the current setup?

    • Andrew J says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:04

      I think he means if preflight dining is available he won’t eat at all on board.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:06

      I took it to mean on a day flight they like the full service, larger portions and helps pass the time.
      On a night flight they’d rather make do with a single tray and the sleep asap if they couldn’t dine in the lounge. But if they could dine in the lounge they’d skip the meal entirely

  • babyg says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:50

    Cool.. good news!

  • 1ATL says:
    17 Oct17 October 09:53

    And no the current Club World setup is not effectively anything like the current Club Europe setup. Other than everything is served in one go, the main meal tray is twice the size of the equivalent Club Europe one. The main also appears slightly more substantial also. Still glad to see the return to pre covid service standards…. finally. Hopefully the quality of ingredients and menu items improves also, although I suspect probably not.

    • Chad McChadface says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:06

      From pictures I’ve seen the CE hot meals are not much different to the CW hot meals, size or otherwise.

    • Rob says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:16

      The meal is very similar to what you’d get on a Band 4 Club Europe (Larnaca etc). Obviously it is better than you’d get for Amsterdam.

      • 1ATL says:
        17 Oct17 October 19:39

        We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one Rob. Having experienced a band 3 CE hot meal on the same day as a CW hot meal very recently the only similarity was was the single tray setup and the starter bowl of doom. Otherwise the meal offering was more substantial in every way than that offered in CE…. as it should be.
        That’s not to say the CE shouldn’t be frilled up next however. A square charger/main dish instead of the current oblong one will make the main look more substantial involing no more ingredients/ portion increases plus make way for a dedicated bread plate/basket to fill the otherwise drab looking tray setting out.

    • HH says:
      17 Oct17 October 13:24

      I hadn’t flown CE since the pandemic until this month, so I don’t know if this is the new normal… I was served a meagre roast beef salad, one bread roll, and a chocolate mousse on my flight to BSL. I’d have left hungry if I hadn’t already eaten something in the Galleries lounge.

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