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So a minor question…
Ive been flying a bit lately in CE from LHR, half the time they hand out little water bottles before take off, the other half, the crew just talk to themselves.
Is it standard to get a bottle pre take off or just a nice extra when offered?
Just a nice offer, depends on how on the ball & willing to divert from service standards the IFM is. Of course, flip side is that it means passengers feel miffed when they don’t get it, but I like when the flight crew do a bit extra
It’s baffling to me why service on shorter routes doesn’t start before take off. Distribute menus, take orders, hand out water bottles so at least if drinks delivery becomes a song and dance, people have their water to drink with the food.
Don’t even think water bottles are even part of the service standard on bands 1-3.
@Blair Waldorf Salad – totally agree, especially if there is the annoucement from the flight deck – looks like we will have a (insert xx) minutes ATC slot delay. It used to happen, not so much nowadays
It’s a shame BA can’t be bothered to do a round of champagne/OJ/water before take off in Club Europe as they do in Club World.
Considering the usual chaos that is boarding, I doubt the crew could get down the CE cabin to take orders or do a round of drinks! It would certainly delay boarding and also securing the cabin to be able to get underway!
I have had proactive crews who when there are delays do take the drinks orders ahead of time and it is certainly frustrating on CW when there is a delay and the crew dont even start taking orders on the ground. You can certainly tell the difference between a proactive IFM and lazy ones!
It’s a shame BA can’t be bothered to do a round of champagne/OJ/water before take off in Club Europe as they do in Club World.
I don’t think it’s a question of can’t be bothered. It’s simply hopelessly impractical.
Aegean is able to do it despite the aisle typically being clogged up for longer than is the case on BA
It’s a shame BA can’t be bothered to do a round of champagne/OJ/water before take off in Club Europe as they do in Club World.
I don’t think it’s a question of can’t be bothered. It’s simply hopelessly impractical.
It’s also a question of cost as well. Drinks served in the air are duty free but not those served on the ground. Plus there are far more SH flights than LH.
Plus space for catering on SH is already very limited.
Aegean is able to do it despite the aisle typically being clogged up for longer than is the case on BA
@John – Aegean operates business cabins that are, on average, significantly smaller than BA. I’m no apologist for BA but the fact one airline does something, doesn’t mean it’s realistic for another. BA has the most extraordinary operational constraints, many of which are not of its own making. Pre-takeoff drinks do have a cost element but if you analyse all the practical aspects it’s very difficult and from a passenger perspective may not be a good idea. I don’t have enough experience of Aegean to opine on their passenger’s’ ability to board/sit efficiently but certainly on BA there are always a fair number of Club passengers who appear totally incapable and equally unaware of how they are delaying the boarding process.They could simply put a water bottle on each CE seat / tray table before take off, or hand to CE passengers on boarding (they’d need to go back to checking boarding passes again at the aircraft door). Hardly breaking the bank.
@dannyc exactly. It is not beyond the wit of man
@dannyc exactly. It is not beyond the wit of man
It wouldn’t of course be beyond the wit of man for BA to put a water bottle on each CE seat, but it would run counter to the airline’s sustainability targets, something passengers apparently support.
First world problems and all, but on a recent flight to Cologne they took so long to serve drinks (I was only in row 5) that my G&T got whisked away before I’d even had the chance to finish it as the plane was already descending!
@jsto Similar on route to Brussels last week; meals took forever to be delivered by trolley by one crew member. Drinks served by hand by one other cew member. There were people in row 4 onwards without anything at all to drink whilst row 1 was getting tea and row 2 getting champagne top ups.
@jdb never believe anything BA claims passengers support. I am sure you commented in jest. I doubt it was a clamour by passengers that led to the shoe box sized toilets down the back with sinks barely big enough to rinse one hand in. I was recently on a 10.30am short haul flight whose meal choice was prawn curry or asparagus pie. And a 09.20 long haul flight that had fish curry, gnocchi or beef stew as the meal served after take off. On both occasions I asked the in flight lead if the bonkers menus were “enhancements, based on customer feedback”.
BA could use Tetra Pak water cartons or cans instead of plastic bottles if they wished to maintain this pretence of environmental concern.
BA don’t proactively offer water to passengers in any travel class on any flight to anywhere to save money, that’s the bottom line.
@BlairWaldorfSalad – it sort of was partly in jest re sustainability, although to be fair I notice that increasingly even older people like me are turning away from plastic water bottles and many youngsters are very serious about not wanting them, so I questioned whether putting out 48 plastic bottles in a full short haul Club cabin was actually a good idea or not? I don’t know the answer but I do read a lot of casual comments about what BA could or should do which feel a little lazy and unthinking. I like to ask questions!
It was mentioned above that BA should offer water/champagne/OJ but cost aside, the idea of the crew trying to do that for up to 12 rows during boarding or taxiing isn’t really that serious unless they for instance, do something about all the excess hand luggage people take an age to stow. With economy passengers filing past and knocking the glasses of aisle seat passengers, crew trying to carry a tray in the aisle etc. It could also end up creating negative feedback when champagne wasn’t served all the way to the back rows (or they just didn’t try when the cabin was too big) or a short taxi meant it wasn’t served at all, causing the usual people here to suggest a complaint to BA for some Avios. I find the moans about getting one’s first choice of food in Club are also quite unreasonable and entitled; they wouldn’t be writing if it happened in a restaurant and what do they actually expect BA to do? Should they be carrying one of every main dish for every passenger so that nobody is disappointed? Or should they just have a single main dish, so nobody is disappointed? That would resolve the complaining. Apart from the cost and limited storage issue, food waste should also be everyone’s concern so one is really dealing with an unduly fussy eater problem rather than an airline issue and you anyway still get the same starter, cheese and pudding as everyone else.
Cost is obviously a major concern for BA (as it is for any European legacy carrier or LCC) , particularly in its European network and while there are lots of long haul transfer revenue/cost allocation adjustments that could be made, if BA presented the short haul operation on Dragon’s Den, they would be told it was un-investable so every penny helps.
Agreed, branded Tetra Pak water bottles at each seat could be the way to go.
First world problems and all, but on a recent flight to Cologne they took so long to serve drinks (I was only in row 5) that my G&T got whisked away before I’d even had the chance to finish it as the plane was already descending!
Pop a quick complaint in and in 4 months you might get enough Avios for another flight with an almost-drink 😉
Last year I did a couple of short-haul Y trips where everyone was handed a small bottle of water and pretzels.
But what really needs to happen here (especially while the liquid rules remain in force), is for airports to be more transparent about providing free drinking water (do they even have this at LHR?) and getting everyone in the mindset of bringing a reusable bottle to fill after security.
Other places are light years ahead of us – I stayed at the Kimpton Seafire last month and they gave each guest a very nice branded reusable metal bottle to fill up at no cost, and GCM was the first airport I ever saw to have a water filling station with very obvious signage directing pax to it after security.
I find the moans about getting one’s first choice of food in Club are also quite unreasonable and entitled; they wouldn’t be writing if it happened in a restaurant and what do they actually expect BA to do? Should they be carrying one of every main dish for every passenger so that nobody is disappointed? Or should they just have a single main dish, so nobody is disappointed? That would resolve the complaining. Apart from the cost and limited storage issue, food waste should also be everyone’s concern so one is really dealing with an unduly fussy eater problem rather than an airline issue and you anyway still get the same starter, cheese and pudding as everyone else.
This could be (mostly) resolved by bringing in pre-ordering for all routes, at least from the bases.
Agreed, branded Tetra Pak water bottles at each seat could be the way to go.
Things may have changed, but last time I went to a Veolia recycling centre for a tour they told us those are way more difficult to recycle than plastic bottles. Plus I am very very doubtful any waste from BA planes gets recycled anyway, unless someone is opening all the bags and picking stuff out, which I would be surprised by. The LCCs at least have separate bags.
Last year I did a couple of short-haul Y trips where everyone was handed a small bottle of water and pretzels.
But what really needs to happen here (especially while the liquid rules remain in force), is for airports to be more transparent about providing free drinking water (do they even have this at LHR?) and getting everyone in the mindset of bringing a reusable bottle to fill after security.
Other places are light years ahead of us – I stayed at the Kimpton Seafire last month and they gave each guest a very nice branded reusable metal bottle to fill up at no cost, and GCM was the first airport I ever saw to have a water filling station with very obvious signage directing pax to it after security.
A small bottle of water + small snack in Y is the BA standard.
I actually think the UK is light years ahead in terms of drinking fountains at airports, thanks to a significant degree to Martin Lewis’ campaign some years back: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/07/more-than-half-of-uk-airports-still-dont-have-free-water-fountains/
Also, what’s the carbon footprint of all those lovely reusable bottles most guests will take and dump shortly after…?
Last year I did a couple of short-haul Y trips where everyone was handed a small bottle of water and pretzels.
But what really needs to happen here (especially while the liquid rules remain in force), is for airports to be more transparent about providing free drinking water (do they even have this at LHR?) and getting everyone in the mindset of bringing a reusable bottle to fill after security.
@NorthernLass in addition to water refill points to be found in lounges, there are something like 120 water fountains/refill stations in public areas around the airport, the vast majority after security. Whether that water is very nice to drink is another matter! Therein lies the dilemma.I don’t think they’ve reintroduced pre-ordering on any routes yet (even F)? I got heckled for bemoaning this recently but it certainly would cut down on waste. The number of times I’ve seen cabin crew go through the cabin with dishes absolutely nobody wants! (Though they do seem to have ditched that quinoa salad now 😂)*
@JDB, that’s my entitlement then for being able to go straight to a lounge after security (where I drink the water provided). The shops do still seem to be shifting huge quantities of the bottled stuff, though. There’s possibly an issue of taste/temperature, but I think a lot of people still just buy bottled automatically. Some people (that’s you, Americans!) don’t seem to even know that you can drink tap water in Europe.*However, the “Coronation Cauliflower” needs to be the next to go, as nobody seems to want that either!
As I understand it, the DfT has just in the last couple of weeks forced all airlines to incinerate waste on arrival to the UK. Not sure if this applies only to long haul, but BA are lobbying them to drop it.
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