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Earlier this week I was on BA2159 LGW to Grenada (via stop down in St Lucia) in club world seats 1J and 1K
Scheduled for 10:05 departure. Had to suffer the dreaded Brunch. We were first to be served at 12:25pm.I have submitted a complaint thinking I might receive £150 compensation but it seems BA are using Avios to compensate now. I’ve already got oodles of Avios being a Gold Exec member and would have preferred the flexibility of a cash voucher but it is what it is.
I’m assuming cash compensation won’t be forthcoming but if it appears I’ll let you know.BTW the flight attendants were saying how embarrassing it is to serve brunch at lunchtime especially to premium customers.
BA email reads…..
We’re sorry to hear about your recent experience with. This isn’t what you should expect, and we understand why you needed to complain.Please rest assured that your feedback has made a difference. Your comments have been shared with the relevant team and we’ll be using them to help us do better next time. We’d also like to thank you for your patience while we got back to you.
We’ve added 6,000 Avios to the Executive Club accounts of each person travelling with you and we hope this goes some way towards making up for your experience. You can exchange Avios for flights, upgrades, hotels and more – please see ba.com/avios for more information.
Once again, please accept our apologies. We hope to welcome you on board soon.
6,000 ? bvgg** all on that route for premium.
The £150 voucher initially offered was entirely unsustainable and I imagine they will stop offering any compensation at all fairly soon.
Even 6,000 Avios per person seems a disproportionately large sum for a relatively minor menu change and/or the absence of a first course. What is the supposed monetary value of any loss, suffering or injury anyone has allegedly suffered?
One week ago my OH was on a long haul flight with the brunch nonsense. He submitted a claim and received a £150 evoucher.
One week ago my OH was on a long haul flight with the brunch nonsense. He submitted a claim and received a £150 evoucher.
He did very well! He’s essentially been overpaid by around £140, an uncharacteristically generous and unsustainable excess.
6,000 ? bvgg** all on that route for premium.
6k avios = £60 so actually a good sum if you value them at a penny each
or £ 48 if you use Robs standard valuation of .8 of a penny
They’ve been giving vouchers or Avios or nothing depending on if it’s a person or AI processing.
You can go back and suggest an evoucher instead. I’ve never known 6,000 avios be offered — insultingly low
Got £100 two weeks ago following complaint that breakfast was served at 12:05 (flight departs Gatwick at 11:00) on a CE flight
You can go back and suggest an evoucher instead. I’ve never known 6,000 avios be offered — insultingly low
@executiveclubber – plenty of reports of people getting nothing and of course plenty of grown-ups are not claiming at all.In stating that 6,000/£60 is “insultingly low” you make clear that you don’t understand the dictionary or legal meaning of the word ‘compensation’. It’s not complicated.
What value are you attributing the the swapping of a piece of chicken for some egg or a missing first course? Objectively this can’t even be £10, so in offering £60, BA is adding a generous goodwill gesture of £50+.
It’s not just the swapping an egg for a piece of chicken, it’s being hungry on your flight. Arriving at your destination and needing to spend time and money going out for a meal.
It is of course also the image BA is giving in providing an inadequate meal on a business class flight. The compensation is meant to offer some compensation to maintain loyalty. Maybe Golds are getting more compensation??
It’s not just the swapping an egg for a piece of chicken, it’s being hungry on your flight. Arriving at your destination and needing to spend time and money going out for a meal.
It is of course also the image BA is giving in providing an inadequate meal on a business class flight. The compensation is meant to offer some compensation to maintain loyalty. Maybe Golds are getting more compensation??
@Tracey – when you refer to “some compensation to maintain loyalty” that then ceases to be ‘compensation’ properly so called. It’s a gesture of goodwill which is an entirely different thing.I think the idea that anyone is now going hungry as a result of these changes is utterly preposterous. In any event, the £60 would more than adequately cover any replacement food bought prior to or after the flight whereas £150 voucher is absurdly over the top.
I think I might bring some sandwiches on my next Club World flight. 😉
If a passenger paid £3000 or more for a long haul business class flight, and they were left hungry. Would £150 voucher still be absurdly over the top?
@JDB How much would you value the meal services on a flight, as % of the ticket they paid. Personally I think it should be more than 5%If a passenger paid £3000 or more for a long haul business class flight, and they were left hungry. Would £150 voucher still be absurdly over the top?
@JDB How much would you value the meal services on a flight, as % of the ticket they paid. Personally I think it should be more than 5%Well, the reality is that the quantity of food hasn’t really changed, but the nature of the food has changed. While I think the changes are definitely a retrograde step, it really is such nonsense to suggest that anyone is going to go hungry, so the question re the £150 is entirely academic. This idea of going hungry ignores food offered in the lounge or on a previous connecting flight. People seem to expect to be provided with more food than they eat or would be willing to pay for in their everyday lives. It really feels just like an excuse to complain and visit the compensation ATM.
Everyone has got very excited about this and it has been sensationalised in the press but you need to take a step back and consider the matter objectively. Compensation is a sum paid in recognition of loss, suffering or injury. It’s possible that you could attribute some nominal loss to the change to brunch or the late night dinner service, but that is a minute sum. Nobody has suffered any injury, and this just isn’t anywhere near a threshold for “suffering” so if the matter were considered by an independent party such as a judge or arbitrator you would be lucky to get a tenner. BA is bunging certain people large sums to go away until the storm dies down. £150 is, on any analysis, ridiculous.
I think the idea that BA is spending as much as 5% of the average fare on food is hopelessly unrealistic.
We have been given £200 for a CW flight for two (11 hours plus). Neither booking had our BA number on (due to the recent budgie status and upcoming flight).
The nonsense of it to me is that the best flight advice I ever got was to change your watch to the destination timezone when you board and act accordingly. So 1225 in St Lucia is G&T and a nice meal aiming to get 5 hours sleep in before arriving in time for breakfast.
And, yes, I am sometimes that person with the light on when the cabin is dark because it’s not night time at the destination.
It’s not about compensation nor suffering.
The OP was on an exceptionally long flight to a prestige part of the world for these flights and was in a Premium cabin.
Trapped on an aircraft for that length of time unable to exit to go down the street to a different restaurant that would serve palatable nutritious food, the OP has made a complaint that service ot a reasonable level has not been provided. In fact has been insultingly neglected.
British Airways has been caught out trying to go too cheap in an un-clever way. The resulting menus do not make sense and their nutritional quality is highly questionable.
Payments from BA to passengers who booked BA on the basis of completely different publicity, or who on other routes due to work timetables might not have been able to eat before the flight or soon after it,especially the BA publicity bout “luxury” in Premium classes, have every right to complain and the amount from BA should have a large OK we boobed / got caught out trying to be too cheap, or punitive element.
6000 avios is absolutely nothing in this context.
I have had my fair share of troubles with BA with dodgy IT and waiting months and months for refunds so I’m not a huge fan.
But I have to say, people complaining about this and getting compensation I find totally wrong. It is what it is and you’re getting food, just not what you like. Should Ryanair pay out because I don’t get anything?
It’s a service change and it’s been announced. If you don’t like it, take your business elsewhere. I don’t think it’s great that the offering is what it is. But I don’t think anyone should be due compensation and frankly am surprised they’re giving people anything at all.
Anyway, an unpopular view perhaps.
I think I might bring some sandwiches on my next Club World flight. 😉
Do they still have sandwiches and fruit in Club Kitchen? Or is it just crisps and chocolates now?
I have just booked a flight to Canada for 2025 in Club for me and my partner as a big birthday treat. Reading this makes me worried. Should we pack a lunch box for each of us, like on a school trip? It is not cheap for us at all to fly Club.
I don’t think there’s much in Club Kitchen, I am really am tempted to bring some sandwiches wrapped in tinfoil just for a giggle. Ham sandwiches and champers.
Do people on here really believe that they will starve and need to bring sandwiches on an 8 hour flight where you are fed? And can gorge on food in a lounge. Please.
If BA changed the regular lunch to brunch based on “customer feedback”, what’s wrong with providing more “feedback” to complain and tell them that, some of their customers don’t like their “improvement”?
Who knows what’s next BA wants to “enhance” based on their “customer survey”? “No more champagne because our customers prefer English sparkling wine”?@ekposh Did you notice the wink? I’m not exactly being serious.
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