Water & crisps only offered on Club Europe flight

[rinam]

Yesterday i flew business and treated my son via avios to a business seat – London to Geneva. There was no warning meals drinks would not be served during flight before take off.

We were given water and offered Lentil crip and biscuit.

A big part of booking club for me is the drinks selection and a decent meal – it wa a lunchtime flight.

I received an email offering me a refund for any expenditure from high life (there was no offer from high life menu anyway)

How do i complain and what should i expect is reasonable. I feel we would have been better off booking economy and buying a meal to take on board.

[The real Swiss Tony]

“I feel we would have been better off booking economy and buying a meal to take on board.”

Well, OK, so long as you don’t put any value on the lounge access, fast track check-in/security, extra baggage allowance, free middle seat and faster exit from the plane….

Send a complaint form in and you should get a sensible response for something like this. My son had that on a flight recently and it was 5000 Avios – although passengers were proactively informed of this by the crew.

[ZoeB]

Complain and point out that they had multiple opportunities to let you know about this, they could have sent you a text (like they do when offering to check in you hand luggage on a busy flight). They could have let you know as you entered the lounge. If they found out later they could have put out a PA in the lounge. They could have announced it at the gate before boarding started. Then you could have done something about it.

[JDB]

@ZoeB – the most likely reason for the flight not being catered is a last minute aircraft swap. If that was the reason, it was an overall positive decision for the passengers. Who knows?

The OP has a genuine complaint for which they will be compensated, but adding a whole lot of flannel/guesswork is really counterproductive and likely to delay resolution. Stick to the facts.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

I agree with @JDB this is likely due to a last minute swap and the pilot took a decision to have an ontime departure than have to wait for catering and possibly lose the slot, have a delayed arrival into GVA, a late departure back then further knock on effects through the day

@ZoeB – would you realy want people scurrying off to all perts of the terminal looking for a sandwich at the last minute and causing delays?

[James C]

I tend to ask for (and receive) the Avios difference in Y and J in such situations. I am GGL though so basically the F&B is all I’m getting in CE over ET except of course the blocked seat if it is a very bust flight.

[JDB]

@JamesC – the considerations are rather different if you are GGL vs mere mortals who, by travelling in CE, enjoy various additional benefits they might not otherwise receive.

The difference in fare between the classes might therefore be excessive in many cases, although on a short route like Geneva it comes to roughly the standard 5,000 offer with the class difference being 5,750 – 6,500 depending on whether it was off peak or not.

[Ihar]

So the rest of the flight had access to the High Life menu?? in which case the cabin crew should have pro-actively offered you anything from that. Rather than focusing on cost difference between classes, I’d focus on having no food/drink for the duration. I think 7.5-10k Avios would be more appropriate, especially as it was a “treat” for your son.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

@Ihar

Cabin crew can’t just offer items from the high life stock as it doesn’t actually belong to BA – hence the email about applying for a refund.

But it’s actually likely that the high life stock wasn’t loaded either.

If it had been then the cabin crew would have informed those in club about the need to purchase and reclaim.

[yonasl]

For me there are a few issues here:
– Regardless of the reason, the CE passenger had no food served which means BA should compensate somehow.
– Additionally, it is silly the crew did not proactively offer food from the High life menu. The economy passengers had a better deal here.
– I don’t agree with the “but you had lounge and priority and luggage”. Those are all part of the same package and if one is missing you cannot start dividing the total cost.

I suppose 5,000 avios sounds reasonable but I get if you paid 10,000 specifically for the CE experience you may feel short changed (after all, if I went to a restaurant and the service and food were bad I would expect not to pay, not to start negotiating the actual cost of each dish and decide what is the “fair” sum to exchange for the services rendered).

[JDB]

@yonasi – it comes down to reasonableness and proportionality. There was no catering for some operational reason, not malice, fun or to save money as BA probably had to pay for the food. It was likely a sensible operational decision to the overall benefit of the passenger or possibly caterer error. Geneva is a very short flight so catering isn’t such an important part of the overall journey or cost. A non status passenger still received lounge access, priority boarding, extra luggage, blocked middle seat, a much less crowded cabin etc.

The ‘standard’ Avios peak cost is 9,750 + £0.50 economy or 16,250 + £12.50. Out of the Club Avios cost BA has to pay away cash of £28 APD plus around £24 Heathrow PSC. The true cost of the food/drink is very low and it’s not a significant part of the price paid, so even at 5,000 Avios/£50 BA would be offering a significant element of goodwill. At 10,000 Avios BA would essentially be giving the flight for free. Is that appropriate?

[yonasl]

BA says:

Business – Club Europe
In Club Europe we serve a selection of delicious meals including a full British breakfast, lunch, traditional afternoon tea and dinner. Alongside your meals, we offer a range of hot, cold and alcoholic drinks.

I get most people just want to go from A to B so the main thing is for the plane to be operational. But that is also the business case for flying economy or doing it with Easyjet/Ryanair.

I do not think it is fair to try and guess how much the food in CE costs (it will be very little) but in this case what is the overall effect to the experience. If the crew had said “we are sorry for no hot food but please help yourself to anything from the economy menu” then it would be great and I don’t think anybody could complain (they could serve drinks with a sandwich and that would be more than acceptable). The problem here is that they didn’t even think of that which goes to show they don’t understand what the CE passenger expects (other than the true business travelers who just want to get from one meeting to another quickly and have had enough of BA’s food).

I have seen people going from LHR to short destinations on CE for their anniversary and emptying the bubbly supply on the plane while having a nice breakfast/lunch. The experience would be ruined for them if there was nothing to eat and I understand they would be annoyed at a nice expectation ruined because BA cannot plan their operations according to their offering.

Lastly, BA does not include in their T&C a clause explaining what happens if they do not provide service but the website says:

Aircraft variations
Wherever and whenever you fly in Club Europe you can expect the same impeccable standard, access to lounges*, top quality food and drinks, and premium service by our attentive crew. Please note, some of the features and cabin elements may vary according to the time and duration of your flight and the type of aircraft in use.

This sounds quite explicit …

[JDB]

@yonasi – all the above may be fine, but the core contract is to transport you and your luggage safely and on time, not to feed you during the short flight.

In this instance, BA did not cater the aircraft, but they executed all the rest of the contract/service and has incurred considerable cost in doing so. Thus to expect a full refund of your flight for a fairly small omission in the scheme of things is totally absurd. I can only assume you don’t run a business – if you did you wouldn’t be advocating endless disproportionate handouts.

5,000 Avios is on any objective analysis very generous. If the OP gets more, that’s good for them.

[CJD]

Missing out on airplane food is hardly detrimental.

[Ihar]

I disagree. But it’s different for different customers. If you were flying CE as a treat it’s quite different to just getting the “flying bus” to/from work. If you’re buying a “premium” product, when it’s not delivered you expect “premium” compensation.

There’s a great saying in customer service when things go wrong – “What can I do to make this right?”. Personally I’d offer a pair of First Pj’s to the son (cost < £10) as an Xmas present. Sometimes Avios isn’t the answer.

[rinam]

All responses appreciated. This was very much a treat for me and my son, which I paid for myself, so it was not a company expense.

I don’t think Highlife was loaded either and the economy passenger were in the same situation but likely most pre bought food anyway.

I do feel that an offer of some compensation to acknowledge the service was not 100% delivered would be the correct approach. I would not expect a full refund.

Thank you I will log a complaint and see where I get to, it is a shame it has to be a complaint rather than just receiving a sensible offer in the first place.

[freckles]

@rinam I had a domestic a short while ago that took off without catering, it was delayed and I’m convinced they purposely didn’t load it to avoid further delay and compensation claims. Like you, no pre warning and no one knew until we took off.
I too had email after the event with apology and offer to refund any pre orders, but of course when travelling CE you don’t tend to do that.
A quick complaint via website just saying no meals etc loaded on flight and within a couple of days I had an e-voucher, more than I expected but no refusal from me!

[Fraser]

They should have explained that you could order whatever you like from High Life and claim it back.

On a 2 hour flight, let’s call that 4 champagnes, 3 courses of food and a coffee. If you didn’t buy these with cash, claim the Avios they would charge to sell you those for points.

[JDB]

@freckles for a short flight like your domestic one or Geneva it’s an entirely rational decision not to delay a flight pending delivery of catering. There are various routine operational reasons the catering might not have been loaded and it would be absurd to delay a short flight for that reason alone.

It is quite possible the catering deliberately wasn’t loaded for your flight, one of many such judgement calls ops people are making all day long. The timeliness of the flight is far more important.

You imply that you might have preferred to delay everybody, get the catering loaded and for you to receive compensation as a result. If correct, I’m lost for words at that sort of thinking.

[freckles]

@JDB no such implication from me on that suggestion! Not sure how you inferred that from my post – i just said that we were so close to the time limit that it was the most plausible reason for not loading catering.

[JDB]

freckles wrote:

@JDB no such implication from me on that suggestion! Not sure how you inferred that from my post – i just said that we were so close to the time limit that it was the most plausible reason for not loading catering.

I can absolutely assure you that BA ops people are contending with much bigger issues than worrying about compensation claims. Delays have far greater consequences for BA than just compensation. The reason you suggest is genuinely far fetched.

[JDB]

Fraser wrote:

They should have explained that you could order whatever you like from High Life and claim it back.

On a 2 hour flight, let’s call that 4 champagnes, 3 courses of food and a coffee. If you didn’t buy these with cash, claim the Avios they would charge to sell you those for points.

BA is (rightly) very good at ignoring or slashing greedy and opportunistic claims.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Fraser wrote:

They should have explained that you could order whatever you like from High Life and claim it back.

On a 2 hour flight, let’s call that 4 champagnes, 3 courses of food and a coffee. If you didn’t buy these with cash, claim the Avios they would charge to sell you those for points.

The OP has said that the High Life stock items weren’t loaded.

So they couldn’t have done that!

Though I’m not sure now you could make a 3 course meal from the high life items. Unless you count a packet of crisps as a course.

[John]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

Though I’m not sure now you could make a 3 course meal from the high life items. Unless you count a packet of crisps as a course.

The supermarkets count it as a course

If High Life items were loaded, the cabin crew should just be authorised to offer CE passengers X number of items and charge it to BA using their devices. It may be cheaper than the time spent on processing reimbursement claims, although maybe BA is hoping that they will save more money if passengers can’t be bothered to claim or are put off by having to pay that they don’t take anything in the first place.

[londoner_the]

I would be annoyed but i usually fill up at the lounge.