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British Airways cuts Club World meal service for departures after 9pm

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Yesterday we covered the bizarre new breakfast / brunch service that British Airways is serving for lunch on long haul flights departing up to 11.29am.

It pairs a cooked breakfast with wine, a cheeseboard, coffee and liqueurs. Those who have tried it are finding it as odd as it sounds.

On the upside, you are at least still getting a three course meal of sorts. This is no longer the case for Club World departures after 9pm.

BA cuts Club World meal service for departures after 9pm

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I mention this because, about 20 years ago, British Airways launched something called ‘Sleeper Service’. It stripped down the Club World business class food service to the bare minimum, on the grounds that most people wanted to sleep on overnight flights and those who didn’t could starve. It was a failure, launching the catchphrase ‘To Fly, To Starve’ and was abandoned. This is despite the fact that it only operated from airports where BA had pre-flight lounge dining.

Multiple rounds of staff departures at British Airways later, everyone who remembers the failure of ‘Sleeper Service’ seems to have left and a version of it is back. This time it is on virtually all routes, irrespective of whether the lounge offers a full meal.

What is now served on Club World departures after 9pm?

The menu has been pared back sharply:

  • appetisers have been scrapped
  • main courses and desserts are massively simplified

Here is an example menu currently in use:

Main courses

  • Butternut squash and coconut soup
  • Grilled tiger prawn salad
  • Chicken and leek pie
  • Cheese and crackers

Dessert

  • Panna cotta
  • Fruit salad
  • Chocolate chip cookies

…. and that’s it.

Bizarrely the menu says at the top:

“Take your pick from an assortment of seasonal dishes. If you’re feeling tired and can’t wait to cosy down, then just choose your main and dessert and a night cap of your choice”.

However, you have no option but to have just a main and dessert because that’s all there is! The appetisers are gone.

This new service has been rolled out on virtually all long-haul routes. The only exceptions are 12+ hour flights. It is, apparently, being used on Cape Town and Mauritius which are over 11 hours.

The airline argues that a ‘one tray’ meal service will allow passengers to get to sleep more quickly. The problem is that British Airways ALREADY offered a stripped down ‘one tray’ option on late night Club World flights. Those who wanted to eat and sleep could have the ‘one tray’ meal whilst those who didn’t could – until last week – have the standard full menu.

It isn’t clear what is offered in First Class. I believe that the menu has also been cut back but bears more resemblance to a proper meal.

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Comments (486)

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

  • PH says:
    22 Oct22 October 11:16

    I’m in favour of this because previously ppl who wanted to sleep quickly could have a one-tray service but then be forced to listen to the entire cabin having a prolonged service…

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      22 Oct22 October 11:28

      There are these things called ear plugs!

      But surely it’s equally bad for those that want a full meal to be forced to have a cut down service.

      Plus this is still public transport!

      • Ironside says:
        22 Oct22 October 11:35

        Earplugs + noise cancelling headphones* (both supplied by BA … at least they were last time I flew CW) = near silence.

        * (Do they still have a white noise audio channel, or am I thinking of VS?)

        The catering, however, sounds dire! Glad I have no BA flights scheduled.

        • Mark says:
          22 Oct22 October 12:04

          I wouldn’t want to sleep wearing headphones though… and it also means the lights are on for longer. I know, there’s a eye mask as well 🙂

          Personally I’m in favour of a quicker meal service for shorter late night departures, especially where pre-flight dining is available and have deliberately selected Sleeper Service flights from the US East coast when they were available.

          In my view, a one-tray service is not an unreasonable compromise, however that doesn’t necessarily have to preclude an appetiser or more substantial mains and it does feel like this approach is a cost saving measure first. It should also be clearly communicated so that people can make decisions in advance (both in who they fly with and pre-flight dining) taking into account the kind of meal and amount of sleep they’re likely to get onboard.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Oct22 October 20:40

      100% with you. Considering UK is a country that pretty much closes every kitchen but McDonalds at 10pm I’m surprised there’s a massive uproar about light meal services post 9pm when you’d be eating closer to 10:30 onwards.

      • Londonsteve says:
        23 Oct23 October 17:59

        Thing is, while we might ordinarily eat earlier on a normal day, travel days are almost never normal. At the time we might be preparing dinner at home, or visiting a restaurant, on a travel day we’re sitting on the train or in a taxi. Many people will board a flight famished looking forward to finally being able to relax and eat after a stressful journey to and through the airport. Not everyone can or wants to arrive at the airport 3 hours early to avail themselves of in-lounge dining, moreover the NHS hospital food on offer in BA lounges and the lack of seating appropriate to eating food with a knife and fork makes this harder. A lot of folks might also be unaware of the fact that they can no longer expect to feel replete from the in-flight catering and end up enduring 12 hours in the air feeling hungry. If desperate, I’m sure the crew could magic up an extra something but I’d feel self conscious about asking for leftovers after the main service.

  • John A says:
    22 Oct22 October 11:17

    In the absence of a proper main, does this not mean that the economy catering would be more substantial than in CW?

    Many are citing the East coast flights — and I agree the time between completing dinner service and the crew waking people for breakfast is short — but for flights outside the coasts those flights can be 8+ hours and from outstations without any real lounge food.

    If these changes were exclusively ex-LHR I would understand more but for someone flying from a place like BNA at 21:35 telling. CW passenger to eat in the terminal because the Admirals Club has no hearty food and all you’ll get is a cup of soup just seems bizarre. Then again, that flight is an IAG monopoly, so it’s that or connect in Atlanta

    • Andrew. says:
      22 Oct22 October 11:23

      Maybe it needs to be flicked over from East Coast?

      Veggie sandwich and a piece of banana bread on departing the US, the old BA “Full English” 90 minutes before landing?

      (Being mindful that BA managed to serve their “full English” tray to a twin aisle domestic 55 minute flight in the olden days.)

    • Lee says:
      22 Oct22 October 11:25

      Virgin Atlantic from Atlanta!

      • John A says:
        22 Oct22 October 12:38

        Yeah, traditionally people in Nashville say, “come heaven or hell it’ll involve a layover in Atlanta,” so I didn’t really mean ATL literally so much as any connecting option to have full business class service.

  • AL says:
    22 Oct22 October 11:17

    I like reading your articles. But please make them complete. Has this been rolled out? When is it going to be rolled out? Or When did it roll out? Is it global?

    • Rob says:
      22 Oct22 October 11:30

      It says in the article that it has already been rolled out globally on all routes except 12+ hour ones.

      The only point from your list I didn’t mention is that it started on 15th August, but that’s not really relevant.

      • tony says:
        22 Oct22 October 12:07

        Now that’s interesting as I flew back from MEX on 31/8 and didn’t notice any great difference although it would have been a year since I flew a similar leg with BA. Certainly nothing that would warrant the frenzy that’s being drummed up here.

  • David says:
    22 Oct22 October 11:25

    So I am flying CW LGW to BKK at 21:15 in January and return from BKK at 22:55. Should BA pay compensation as the meals are not as advertised at time of booking? Which lounge at LGW and BKK is recommended for pre-flight dining? Thanks

    • Mark says:
      22 Oct22 October 11:47

      BKK-LGW is over 12 hours so presumably exempt from these changes…. Interestingly the schedule time for LGW-BKK is 11:55. You’ll have access to the BA Lounge at Gatwick which should have a hot food buffet.

    • JDB says:
      22 Oct22 October 16:58

      No, BA doesn’t contract to provide any specific meal content when you book and even if your flight were affected, how much would you expect to be compensated for a missing £3.50. It’s so ridiculously inconsequential but this constant expectation of compensation for nothing is why BA needs to cut costs.

      • JDB says:
        22 Oct22 October 16:58

        Missing first course.

      • LittleNick says:
        22 Oct22 October 20:08

        @JDB They wouldn’t have to compensate so much if they got it right in the first place like other airlines manage! It’s a circular spiral of decline by cutting

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Oct22 October 20:45

      What was advertised? A meal or how many courses?

      Do you regularly eat past 10pm when not flying?

  • Swifty says:
    22 Oct22 October 11:34

    Is this a fore runner. This is surely at complete odds with the way the other airlines do things. I want caviar not soup. Damn. That ba amex is getting hammered and now I’ll just get the mr rewards cards.

    • JDB says:
      22 Oct22 October 17:04

      If you were running an airline would you wish to be the leader or the follower? Caviar is considered by many to be an unacceptably cruel product; should BA adopt it in CW? The airlines offering the biggest luxuries aren’t European legacy airlines that simply can’t afford these things. Legacy flag carrier airlines are stuck with totally different cost bases and consumer legislation vs their competitors. You pay for your EC261, higher staff/employment costs and absence of government subsidies etc. in lesser quality. European airlines used to lead the way but can no longer afford to do so.

  • whiskerxx says:
    22 Oct22 October 11:57

    I’m BA Gold

    I only ever fly BA if I have to.

  • Beep says:
    22 Oct22 October 12:02

    I always shed a tear for the people that are forced to fly BA when I read articles like this (so almost every month). I’m sitting in my Qsuite enjoying perfect service from a young and fresh cabin crew, really feeling for you guys being served gruel by an over unionised miserable and lazy BA crew

    • LittleNick says:
      22 Oct22 October 15:09

      BA crew I’ve had may be not the most proactive but never miserable in fairness

      • Beep says:
        22 Oct22 October 15:27

        Every time I fly BA, the younger crew spend most the flight talking to either their off duty colleagues or their mates that they’ve upgraded. The older ones that survive in the job as a result over unionisation are so miserable.

    • Niall says:
      22 Oct22 October 16:01

      BA cabin crew for a long time have been more inconsistent than other airlines in my opinion. Since covid changes when so many left it is overall worse for sure.

      I do think though that when the BA crew are good, it is a massive positive point of difference for BA, with a more genuine and warm service compared with say the competent but less human service of say Qatar.

      Changes as silly as this won’t help this. Irritated passengers make for irritated crew.

  • Mark says:
    22 Oct22 October 12:11

    I agree. Used to do that all the time when they offered it. Virgin does now from most of their departure airports, including additional choices that are not on the onboard menu. I’d rather choose a few days before, rather than be stick with whatever options are left that I may not want. If there’s something decent on offer in the lounge we’ll usually do that just because we’ve then had something.

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