British Airways

[John R]

Has anyone been following the current BA "Brunchgate" debacle, whereby there's just been a serious downgrade in the long haul Business and First Class food offering for flights departing before 1129 and after 2100? Apparently they are offering £150 vouchers to anyone who complains. Hopefully this link quoting the Telegraph isn't paywalled. It's also in The Times.

MSN

British Airways has cut back on its lunch service for business and first-class passengers in a cost-cutting move branded “crackpot” by industry watchers.

The airline has begun swapping lunch on some of its flights for a smaller brunch – even though it may be served well into the afternoon. The new menu has been introduced on all long-haul flights departing between 8.30am and 11.29am.

Flyers in Club World – BA’s business-class cabin – are served a “Great British Brunch” offering a choice of starters such as a fruit plate, smoked salmon, goat’s cheese and grilled artichoke or cheese and crackers.

This is followed by a choice of brunch main courses including chicken or sausage with mushrooms and hash browns, a cheese frittata or Belgian waffles. Dessert is a slice of chocolate marble cake, followed by coffee and liqueurs.

First-class customers would previously have been offered a range of main course options for the post-take-off meal, including grilled lamb rack, chicken wellington, grilled halibut and shrimp sauce or vegetarian kofta in korma sauce.

Instead, flyers will choose from dishes such as prawn salad, poached egg on sourdough, or pancakes. This will be preceded by an amuse bouche and starters, and followed by dessert and a cheeseboard.

At the same time, British Airways has sharply cut back its evening meal service on flights departing after 9pm.

While Club World passengers were previously offered a three-course meal, they will instead have to settle for a main course and dessert.

BA has said the “one-tray” meal service will allow passengers on late-night flights to get to sleep more quickly. However, the airline already offered this quicker option for people who did not want the standard full menu.

Rob Burgess, editor of Head for Points, a blog that helps flyers maximise their air miles, said the changes were most likely a cost-cutting measure.

He said: “The biggest structural issue with the airline business is that most of your costs are fixed. Fuel costs are fixed. Aircraft leasing costs (or debt repayments) are fixed. Staff numbers are set by law and pay scales are fixed in the medium term.

“Whilst it seems petty to start attacking the in-flight food budget, it is one of very few levers to pull.”


BA is offering a ‘one-tray’ meal service instead of its three-course dinners on some late-night flights - https://x.com/Jamier45gaming
As food cannot be served until the aircraft is at cruising altitude, passengers on flights leaving later in the morning may not be served their brunch until 1.30pm under the new system. Mr Burgess called the changes “crackpot” and predicted they would be a “disaster” on his blog.


A spokesman 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.”

 

[RailWonderer]

Apparently they are offering £150 vouchers to anyone who complains.

Anyone? I've flown with them many times but never bought a club or first ticket so I suppose you need to have bought one already. If the in flight offering is being cut back, then passengers will start to eat more in the lounge and take it on board. When other premium cabins are offering more food now and better amenities this is going in the wrong direction. When you're paying all that money you expect a lot or you'll go straight to another airline.

 

[John R]

Anyone? I've flown with them many times but never bought a club or first ticket so I suppose you need to have bought one already. If the in flight offering is being cut back, then passengers will start to eat more in the lounge and take it on board. When other premium cabins are offering more food now and better amenities this is going in the wrong direction. When you're paying all that money you expect a lot or you'll go straight to another airline.

Apparently so (obviously having been in an affected flight in Bus or First.)

I would have thought American will do quite well as BA’s codeshare partner. Not only are you guaranteed a seat that has aisle access, unlike BA, but the food will be better. And you still get Avios and Tier Points. We flew with them to Chicago (out) and Dallas (rtn) in April and were delighted with all aspects of the service.

 

[Mojo]

lt’s not just £150, it’s that amount per person, so we got £300 for two customers. That is a fairly standard amount for BA in my experience as l’ve complained to them before and had a £300 voucher.

Not quite sure l understand the “one tray” thing in their marketing, as the dessert was ordered and served up after the main course was taken away.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Has any reader been affected by BA's withdrawal of Gatwick flights, as a result of Rolls Royce being unable to supply the parts required for BA's Boeing fleet?
Sunday's media cited all LGW to New York flights withdrawn effective 12-December 2024 until March 2025. However, the withdrawal took effect immediately.
My wife and I had flights booked on that route, departing mid November. Monday morning, BA told us that our flights have been withdrawn.
Our travel agent is trying to secure us Heathrow flights.

 

[Mojo]

l can’t imagine you’d have trouble, BA operate numerous flights per day, as do Murican Airlines. Had you booked direct with BA you’d have been able to rebook yourself on any suitable flight within the next year.

 

[Sun Chariot]

l can’t imagine you’d have trouble, BA operate numerous flights per day, as do Murican Airlines. Had you booked direct with BA you’d have been able to rebook yourself on any suitable flight within the next year.

It's been more challenging than we thought. My height (well, leg length) precludes me fitting into an Economy seat.
No available Premium Ecomony seats on any LHR outward flights for the date we had booked out of LGW. We currently have the last 2 available Premium Economy seats "on hold", by travelling a day earlier each way.
We both could only take the week off in question - and it's a Christmas shopping trip, so post Christmas is sadly a no-no.

 

[AlterEgo]

Has any reader been affected by BA's withdrawal of Gatwick flights, as a result of Rolls Royce being unable to supply the parts required for BA's Boeing fleet?
Sunday's media cited all LGW to New York flights withdrawn effective 12-December 2024 until March 2025. However, the withdrawal took effect immediately.
My wife and I had flights booked on that route, departing mid November. Monday morning, BA told us that our flights have been withdrawn.
Our estate agent is trying to secure us Heathrow flights.

Have you thought about using a travel agent to do this instead of an estate agent?

 

[John R]

I expect anyone who booked direct immediately went in and hoovered up any remaining PE seats.

For a simple shopping trip to NY it’s much better to book direct. Book your hotel as well through BA and you get package holiday cover, and so if one part of the journey fails you don’t have to pay for the other. Also, you get more Avios and at the moment Double Tier points if that is of interest. (I will get 840 TP for a week long trip to the US next April - enough on its own to keep silver status).

The other advantage is that any changes are much easier - book through an agent and suddenly lots of things aren’t easily, such as if you want to consider upgrading or changing flight.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Have you thought about using a travel agent to do this instead of an estate agent?

Now I know why they wanted to do a survey of the plane and hotel first! Thanks, I've corrected my post.

For a simple shopping trip to NY it’s much better to book direct. Book your hotel as well through BA and you get package holiday cover, and so if one part of the journey fails you don’t have to pay for the other. Also, you get more Avios and at the moment Double Tier points if that is of interest. (I will get 840 TP for a week long trip to the US next April - enough on its own to keep silver status).

The other advantage is that any changes are much easier - book through an agent and suddenly lots of things aren’t easily, such as if you want to consider upgrading or changing flight.

Yes, our travel agent secured the BA/AA package (flights + downtown hotel) back in May, for nearly £1k less than the price we saw on BA's site.
To the travel agent's credit (an independent who always give us excellent service), they've been on phone to BA the past 2 days, to get the best outcome. No way could we have given that amount of time in between work meetings.
They secured us the last available adjacent pair of PE seats each way, upgraded lounge & refunded seat-allocation cost. The earlier flight time outbound, gets us an extra 6 hours in NYC too.

 

[Bald Rick]

They secured us the last available adjacent pair of PE seats each way, upgraded lounge & refunded seat-allocation cost. The earlier flight time outbound, gets us an extra 6 hours in NYC too.

Bad luck with the extra 6 hours - that means an extra 6 hours shopping for your partner….

 

[Sun Chariot]

Bad luck with the extra 6 hours - that means an extra 6 hours shopping for your partner….

She's already decided which luggage will go out to NYC empty and return filled up...

 

[JCO1406]

G-EUPL (A319) has been scrapped after sitting in MAD for 2 years. A319 fleet is down to 28.

 

[route101]

G-EUPL (A319) has been scrapped after sitting in MAD for 2 years. A319 fleet is down to 28.

28 is more than I thought.

 

[DanNCL]

28 is more than I thought.

That includes 10 ex-BMI examples. There are 18 left from the G-EUO/G-EUP batch.

 

[JCO1406]

BA have dropped DFW and reduced the frequency of MIA to daily. This is to help with the shortage of aircrafts.

 

[Bald Rick]

BA have dropped DFW and reduced the frequency of MIA to daily. This is to help with the shortage of aircrafts.

Wow - both were 380s werent they?

 

[JCO1406]

Wow - both were 380s werent they?

Yup. Another guess is that this is to relieve the A380s so that they can be refurbished with a the new First Class seats (not yet revealed) and Club Suites.

 

[Bald Rick]

Yup. Another guess is that this is to relieve the A380s so that they can be refurbished with a the new First Class seats (not yet revealed) and Club Suites.

Well G-XLEC went DEMIC today on BA207 to Miami, not sure if that is related.

 

[TravelDream]

Two easy choices as they are their joint venture partner AA's hubs.
For BA, it makes no difference financially if passengers fly BA or AA as they revenue share with the joint venture.

 

[gabrielhj07]

BA have dropped DFW and reduced the frequency of MIA to daily. This is to help with the shortage of aircrafts.

A380 availability probably. Would expect to see them return to DFW when their fleet allows.

 

[JCO1406]

DFW isnt the only route to be going. They’ve just dropped BAH and KWI.

 

[TravelDream]

BA has also delayed the reintroduction of Gatwick to JFK. It will now start at the end of April and not in March like previously scheduled.

DFW isnt the only route to be going. They’ve just dropped BAH and KWI.

AA is to add an additional daily flight to DFW so it's actually neutral, not a cut. AA will operate 5 daily on the route and BA and AA revenue share.

 

[Watershed]

BA has also delayed the reintroduction of Gatwick to JFK. It will now start at the end of April and not in March like previously scheduled.



AA is to add an additional daily flight to DFW so it's actually neutral, not a cut. AA will operate 5 daily on the route and BA and AA revenue share.

It's still a capacity cut - a 777-300ER has fewer seats than an A380 for obvious reasons. Passengers also lose UK261 protection on eastbound journeys, and those lucky enough to have BA Amex, Barclays or Gold Upgrade vouchers or "Jokers" (space releases) can no longer use these on AA.

 

[TravelDream]

It's still a capacity cut - a 777-300ER has fewer seats than an A380 for obvious reasons. Passengers also lose UK261 protection on eastbound journeys, and those lucky enough to have BA Amex, Barclays or Gold Upgrade vouchers or "Jokers" (space releases) can no longer use these on AA.

All true.

The only positive I can see is this is likely to be a temporary cut as BA struggles with a tight fleet.

 

[najaB]

The only positive I can see is this is likely to be a temporary cut as BA struggles with a tight fleet.

They're really feeling the effect of the 777X delays, possibly more so than some of their competitors. Had things gone to plan they'd have received a most, if not all, of their initial order of 18 777-9s by now.

 

[gabrielhj07]

They're really feeling the effect of the 777X delays, possibly more so than some of their competitors. Had things gone to plan they'd have received a most, if not all, of their initial order of 18 777-9s by now.

Plus the rest of the 777 fleet wouldn’t have been working as hard in the period between Covid and March this year.

 

[Tetchytyke]

They're really feeling the effect of the 777X delays, possibly more so than some of their competitors

People warned BA at the time that scrapping (rather than storing) the 747-400s before the replacements arrived was foolish. But Alex Cruz obviously knew better.

 

[najaB]

People warned BA at the time that scrapping (rather than storing) the 747-400s before the replacements arrived was foolish. But Alex Cruz obviously knew better.

True. However, storing - and more importantly reactivating - aircraft isn't cheap. And while they probably expected some schedule slip with the 777X I don't think anyone thought it would be half a decade and counting. Had the pandemic not hit then maybe they could have stored them, but at the time they were haemorrhaging cash like nobody's business.

 

[Ted633]

True. However, storing - and more importantly reactivating - aircraft isn't cheap. And while they probably expected some schedule slip with the 777X I don't think anyone thought it would be half a decade and counting. Had the pandemic not hit then maybe they could have stored them, but at the time they were haemorrhaging cash like nobody's business.

If the pandemic hadn't hit they would probably still be flying now. Scheduled withdrawal before the world went mad was 2024, so with the 777x delays I would've expected at least some to still be in service now. Some were younger than the 777's and had recently had an internal refit.