Whiskeyhotel From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 224 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1961 times:
I was reading The Scotsman today in the Golf Tavern, when I came across an article claiming that BA is considering Buy-On-Board for its short-haul and domestic services. Is this just another case of a newspaper getting its airline news hopelessly wrong, or is BA starting to tread the murky path of its listless, downward spiralling cousin, BD? Who in their right mind would pay a full Y fare to get tier points with a BOB system in place? Has BA lost their minds, or has The Scotsman?
Work is the curse of the drinking classes - Oscar Wilde
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9215 posts, RR: 42 Reply 1, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 1932 times:
Well, in a questionnaire I filled in recently on a BA flight, I did say I'd rather pay 3 quid more and get food worth 4 quid instead of those awful "sandwiches". I'm getting fed up spending most of the day travelling, with very little time between flights, and getting a couple of tasteless half slices of bread with a wafer thin coating of cheese or half a tortilla with two prawns and two square centimetres of lettuce to keep me going. Either that or I get a little box of cakes and sweets for my breakfast/lunch. Their sandwiches remind me of the old British Rail fare. You can get really good sandwiches in Heathrow at a retail price of 4 quid - why don't they use them?
Do they still do cooked breakfasts on the early GLA-LHR flights? That was something they did much better than most airlines I've flown on. If they do, I'll make sure I get one of those early flights.
Rossbaku From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 673 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 1905 times:
Quoting David L (Reply 1): Do they still do cooked breakfasts on the early GLA-LHR flights?
I don't know about the GLA-LHR route but on the 0635 BA2921 from ABZ to LGW they did a fantastic cooked brekkie: sausage, bacon, egg, tomato, mushrooms, tea, orange juice, roll with jam (best of all it was roasting, unlike some plane meals). Wow! Just thinking about it makes me want it!
I still hope BA make some improvement to the food on their mainline, short-haul services - and keep the hot breakfasts. The food was one of the main reasons I chose them in the past. If you're just doing one short-haul flight it's not a problem but you're doing GLA-LHR-GVA, you can be pretty hungry by the time you get there.
As usual, the questionnaire I filled in was flawed. I could choose a free hot meal at meal times, a free hot meal at all times or free snacks - i.e. I couldn't choose a hot meal at meal times for £5 more and there was no option to buy on board. So only my comments at the end were of any use.
Scotron11 From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 1178 posts, RR: 3 Reply 8, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1624 times:
Whatever. Some folk are saying that BA are claiming savings on their "outsourced" catering cost as profits. So what? BA is doing what any "free enterprise" entity would do.
Hopefully they get their act together and get rid of these total "ass*****s that succeeded in bringing a class airline to its knees.
IRelayer From United States of America, joined Jul 2005, 1071 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1609 times:
If this sounds completely disgusting to you, try travelling domestically in the US. Only CO still serves full meals here. Even the longest sectors on almost every airline are now mostly BOB. UA SAN-ORD, which is a 4.5 hour flight, has only BOB in Y. Imagine that. Americans have learned though, they just bring stuff on the plane now and don't expect whatever is offered by the airline to be any good anyway, which is pretty accurate. BOB = prepackaged foods, because the whole point is to not have the flight catered, and not have to deal with meal service. So you will be paying 4 dollars for a "snack box" with (perhaps) a sandwich and some packaged snacks.
BDKLEZ From Ireland, joined Jun 2005, 1735 posts, RR: 16 Reply 10, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1580 times:
Might make BD look not so "out of touch" then after all if this move actually goes ahead. They could even claim the title of "industry innovator" if BA actually follow suit. However, it doesn't actually change the overall mudddle that BD is in. But maybe BD's "modular" idea is rubbing off on Willie Walsh.
Trespassers will be shot; survivors will be shot again!
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9215 posts, RR: 42 Reply 11, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 1473 times:
Quoting IRelayer (Reply 9): Americans have learned though, they just bring stuff on the plane now and don't expect whatever is offered by the airline to be any good anyway
At least if BA stopped claiming to serve "meals", I'd know to bring my own food along. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer BA. I've only experienced BOB once, with Swiss. It might have been expensive but it was good. I'd rather pay £10 for something decent than get mouse food for nothing.
AIR MALTA From Malta, joined Sep 2001, 2364 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1432 times:
Well I don't know what are you talking about. The last time I flew BA to/from Vienna the all day deli box was very tasty. It consisted of a fruit salad, a yughort, a juice and a cake, plus a choice of warm pizzas or ciabbata to choose from. So it is not mouse food as some mean.
OS has BOB and sometimes you want a ciabatta bread with salmon but they don't have it especially on the late flights. So you make a journey and you stay hungry...
BA should stick to what they are doing the best : quality service. And a lot of other airlines like LX are reintroducing free food because a mixed service under one roof does not work especially when you say your a quality airline.
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9215 posts, RR: 42 Reply 13, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1335 times:
Quoting AIR MALTA (Reply 12): The last time I flew BA to/from Vienna the all day deli box was very tasty. It consisted of a fruit salad, a yughort, a juice and a cake, plus a choice of warm pizzas or ciabbata to choose from. So it is not mouse food as some mean.
I've never had anything like that since they stopped providing "meals" as meals. I wasn't exaggerating in my description above - I seriously wouldn't pay £1 for what they've given me recently. There are still a few of us left who like a bit of protein between getting up and having their evening meal! I just have to stop hoping "it'll be better this time" and make sure I take my own food along.
My next flight is a 07:30 departure so maybe I'll get the hot breakfast.
SNATH From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 3232 posts, RR: 24 Reply 15, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1292 times:
Quoting David L (Reply 1): Do they still do cooked breakfasts on the early GLA-LHR flights?
They did in May when I flew that route. They also had cooked breakfast MAN-GLA when I flew them in July.
AvroArrow From Canada, joined Sep 2001, 1040 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1276 times:
Perhaps if they combined the BOB service with a BYOB option it might make it easier to take. I know that tipping a couple usually takes away my hunger.
Give me a mile of road and I can take you a mile. Give me a mile of runway and I can show you the world.
Well, yeah! My second leg is LHR-ORD and they've got just under 3 weeks to get it sorted. If not, can I bring a fridge, a portable stove, a grill and a frying pan?
SNATH From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 3232 posts, RR: 24 Reply 18, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1129 times:
Quoting David L (Reply 17): as long as 07:30 isn't considered "mid-morning"!
The flight from GLA was indeed really early (6am I think), however the flight from MAN was reasonably "late" (9am).
Tony
Nikon: we don't want more pixels, we want better pixels.
'We offer you a hot breakfast on our early morning flights to and from London, and after 10am, we offer our contemporary 'All Day Deli' menu which is prepared with the freshest ingredients. There's also an excellent selection of drinks - both soft and alcoholic - to suit your mood.'
From my experience, the 'meals' on Citiflyer operated flights tend to be much smaller and less impressive than mainline BA flights. But even on morning routes such as EDI to BHX or MAN a hot breakfast is still served.
Orion737 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 21, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 1 day ago) and read 1041 times:
I will second the fact that BA Citiexpress meals are smaller and less impressive. One half of a sandwich and the tinest piece of cake I have ever seen was what was served up on my latest BA Citiexpress flight from MAN-NCE!
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9215 posts, RR: 42 Reply 22, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 985 times:
Quoting Orion737 (Reply 21): I really hope BA does not go down the BOB route.
I guess there's BOB and there's BOB. If they did it well, I'll be all for it but if they just sold crap, then I don't know what kind of drink would "suit my mood"! Another other problem would be consistency - if it's good sometimes and not so good at other times, how would we know whether or not to bring our own. At least if it was always bad, I'd know what to do.
Whiskeyhotel From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 224 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 968 times:
I'll be doing BA EDI-BRS (BA 4033), then BRS-CDG (BA 4084) on Tues...anyone have any idea what sort of meal service those flights will have? Am also curious as to what equipment I'll be on. I booked through OneTravel (who unfortunately don't give equipment type when making a booking).
Work is the curse of the drinking classes - Oscar Wilde
Orion737 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (7 years 9 months 1 week 23 hours ago) and read 961 times:
Yes but if they go BOB, you can probably wave goodbye to the hot meals on short haul and they will do like the crappy WW, FR and EZY do and offer you a £2.00 cup of soup (weak as water) or a half-frozen sandwich for about £3.00
25 David L: They could do that or they could do something better and charge more. I certainly wouldn't expect any bargains. They could start with a wider range a
26 BA380: I would be very surprised if they did it soon -- they have only recently instigated a new policy of hot breakfast on all Y shorthaul (cookie brekkie o
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