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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.

  • JDB says:
    22 Oct22 October 16:55

    Pre-selection actually caused far more complaints and creates greater logistical issues for last minute aircraft swaps. It’s not that popular with passengers per utilisation when offered.

  • Russell G says:
    22 Oct22 October 16:57

    Out of interest, do you have a direct contact in the BA press / marketing office (or even management)? I’d have thought a website of your size directly targeting BA’s customers would be high up on BA’s radar. If so, do you reach out to them for comment when publishing articles like this? I’d be interested to know how the other side of the story goes given this seems so one sided (or would they be too embarrassed to admit if it’s purely done in the name of cost cutting?).

    • Rob says:
      22 Oct22 October 17:00

      Read the quote they provided to The Independent and then decide if we should waste space with it – https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-brunch-service-b2632757.html

      • Sarah says:
        22 Oct22 October 17:12

        A spokesperson for British Airways said: “We’re incredibly proud of our premium dining experience, which includes a wide range of meal options to suit the preferences of our customers depending on the time of day they’re travelling. We trialled our new brunch offering with thousands of customers across numerous routes and received extremely positive feedback on both the quality and variety of options offered.”

        I’d love to know when this trial took place and who was part of it as I’ve not seen one person on HfP or Flyertalk mention that they were, and I’ve certainly not seen any positive feedback from anyone who has experienced the new offerings since they were officially introduced.

        • JDB says:
          22 Oct22 October 17:20

          It’s fairly normal in these processes only to hear from the gripers, the vast majority of whom of course haven’t tried the new menus but want to make a fuss or expect immediate compensation for the trauma of menu changes.

        • Jason ones says:
          22 Oct22 October 20:01

          Having witnessed many of these PR releases, they literally make it up to suit their agenda.

        • Delbert says:
          22 Oct22 October 20:42

          Thousands of turkeys voted for Christmas, according to BA. 😄

        • Russell G says:
          23 Oct23 October 12:31

          “We’re incredibly proud of our premium dining experience”

          It’s one thing to be proud when you’re getting great reviews and ratings, but when SkyTrax rates your food and beverage 3 stars out of 5 and your direct competitor Virgin are getting 4 stars (and Qatar Airways gets 5 stars!), it’s just delusion.

          The first step to improvement is admitting where your weaknesses are, not proclaiming you are proud of something that everyone is saying is at best mediocre!!!

      • LittleNick says:
        22 Oct22 October 17:16

        The biggest takeaway is that Simon Calder only flies economy.

      • Russell G says:
        23 Oct23 October 12:16

        Wait, looking at the photo in the article, when did BA serve Taittinger in Club World??? Was this scene created for a publicity stunt or was this in the way back when?!

        • Rob says:
          23 Oct23 October 12:21

          Not sure about that particular one, but BA did once put out a PR shot showing Bollinger!

  • Paul Stevens says:
    22 Oct22 October 17:18

    Late to post because I’m currently on the west coast. Had the chicken and leek pie on the way over. It didn’t have any leek in it, only chicken and peas. There was no sauce in it either or gravy to go over it. It was dry pastry, dry chicken and peas. Horrendous!

  • aq.1988 says:
    22 Oct22 October 17:24

    I’ve got a couple long haul flights booked for next year for after 9pm. I deliberately chose these flights, so I could work the full day as normal, and then head to LHR later.

    I would plan on eating in the lounge, but you don’t always find a place to sit with a table at the correct height, so you could eat a meal properly.

    I’m not a big eater on the plane, but it would certainly be nice to still have the choice to have dinner on board, if you couldn’t get something substantial in the lounge.

    So, I’ll be putting a complaint in after each flight just on principle tbh. These types of cost-cutting measures aren’t enough for people to cancel already booked flights, and might not be enough to stop them booking in future, but if enough people complain (and maybe get avios/e-voucher in compensation), they might reverse their decision.

    • JDB says:
      22 Oct22 October 17:41

      Yes, well it’s all these trivial complaints (encouraged by many as a sure fire Avios ATM) and those “just on principle” prejudging a change without any evidence that is creating the need for BA to cut costs.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Oct22 October 20:32

      What principle? That they should keep everyone awake? I don’t get how eating in the lounge doesn’t count as it’s at the wrong height 🤣 is the food then 0 calories?

      Personally this would’ve been a god send on my last 9:30 departure as it took 2.5 hours to serve everyone and pretty sure 90% were eating for the sake of it

      • meta says:
        22 Oct22 October 20:41

        I normally eat at a proper table, not from my lap or from a coffee table and the bar stools in the lounges are not at a correct height for eating normally. I can understand the poster’s frustration.

      • aq.1988 says:
        22 Oct22 October 21:34

        What I mean is, if I can’t find a place to sit and eat at a table properly, then I wouldn’t eat much, and so would hope to eat on the plane.

        Also, the last time I flew long haul on BA, it was also after 9pm, and I took a connection, which ended up being over 1 hour late, so had no time to go to the CCR, and had to rely on the meal on board in F. I appreciate these changes are for Club, but certainly won’t be surprised if ‘dine on demand’ is also scaled back.

  • JS says:
    22 Oct22 October 17:46

    Time to make a switch to another transatlantic service.

  • Jill Kinkell says:
    22 Oct22 October 17:50

    I’ve experienced BAs paninis and pancakes in the past , albeit nothing to do with the latest ‘ enhanced service menus’. Soggy. doughy, undercooked . Thoroughly horrid. Maybe I was just unfortunate, but the result is I’d never choose either of these again. Better make sure my future flights are not 8.30-11.29 or after 9 pm!

  • Joe says:
    22 Oct22 October 17:58

    Absolutely embarrassing, who comes up with this stuff? My slow march from GGL to UA Global Services accelerates.

    I personally do choose not to eat on east coast – London hops. But anything more west is a different story where I want the option. And the key thing is having an _option_ to do different if I want to.

    I’d observe that most leisure fliers have the meal. It’s part of the experience. What a way to kill the experience, BA. The people you’re going to upset most are the people who are going to be most vocal about it.

  • Dawn says:
    22 Oct22 October 19:01

    If I have a flight after 9pm I always eat in the lounge first as I don’t like eating so late. I’d rather bed down and sleep. I appreciate this is personal preference and many won’t agree.

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

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