Trip Reports - BA Concorde service update

Concorde onboard service changes:
- no more caviar
- no longer have a stationary kit (either the nice Concorde kit or even the BA F kit)
- none of the usual BA F amenities (not even eyeshades, first BAg, pillows or blankets, but they aren't required for such a short flight)
- wine selection is limited to 1 white, 1 red, 1 champagne and port from an otherwise excellent cellar. Typically get one good and one less good wine. The high-end wines are excellent (up to USD 300 per bottle range) while the low-end ones are USD 100; matter of luck which ones you get, on my last flight the white was excellent, champagne mid-range and red low-end.
- bar is identical to F selections
- food is similar quality to F menu but less elaborate, eat in the lounge before boarding if you want a big meal
- baggage checked in at LHR is placed in zippered plastic bags for protection, connecting baggage is not
- service onboard is highly orchestrated and staffing is very lean (6 attendants for 100 passengers). The attendants work hard.
- pressing the attendant call button is pointless, it is ignored. A passenger in row 2 got so frustrated he started pressing the call button at 1 second intervals for about a minute, then got up and waved and finally shouted at the attendant, before the CSD finally came to his seat. I expected him to throw his Premier card next, but that did not come to pass.

GEE,,,lots of cutbacks and sub-par service concerns here it seems...OUCH.

It sounds like domestic 1st class here to me...lol

Mahalo...

------------------
Patrick A. Inouye, CMT
volunteer trip reports moderator

Concorde still has that aura of exclusivity and luxury, but it appears that if you really want to savor a luxurious BA product, you fly F.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by number_6:
- no longer have a stationary kit (either the nice Concorde kit or even the BA F kit)
</font>

Perhaps this is why the Smythson store on Bond Street was having a high discount sale on items imprinted with the Concorde silhouette a few months ago. All printed up with nowhere to go... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

...and of course, the fares have dropped to a more affordable level, commensurate with the decline in service.....

...or more wishful thinking?

Above all else, those who buy Concorde tickets are buying speed. Everything else is secondary, though as times get tougher, it's an increasingly distant second.

While the diminished service is unfortunate and frustrating, it's hard to imagine many regular Concordephiles being bothered enough to downgrade to BA First. Afterall, the plane still rockets along at 1350 mph!

as of when will these changes go in effect?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Pacha:
as of when will these changes go in effect?</font>These changes are in effect now. Presumably the cuts will not be brought back in the near future. Despite the cuts it is still a great flight, and well worth doing. Just don't expect the same luxury as in BA F. My flight was almost full (95 passengers) and the person next to me was flying on a Club fare that he had upgraded to Concorde in one direction (club return from New York) for a couple of hundred pounds ... that is how they are filling the Concorde these days.
I forgot to mention that the sterling silver luggage tags are gone too -- now it is aluminum. Actually very nice, in fact the identical design to the silver tag, just a bit less shiny.

I don't see any change here. This has all been true since the service was reintroduced.

The only questionable once is caviar, which comes and goes.

Hi,

I also don't see a huge amount of differences to a year ago here. The caviar was, long ago, reduced from a small pot to being somewhat symbolically garnished across the odd course. As for the stat kits - it was always a 50/50 thing anyway. Certainly, the leather diaries, sterling silver baggage tags and the like are only available from e-bay it seems!

I'm no good on wine and, originating from Brighton, I have grown up with the view that a "good" one is one that Threshers don't have in a current 2-for-1 promotion.

As for service, the staff do have a difficult job and some flights are better than others, I'll admit that although I am no expert here.

I'm essentially a Concorde fan and very aware that it may not be around for a lot longer. Gone are the days, I believe, that it was used as an exclusive business tool and making a good profit for BA - it does seem to be used now primarily as an "experience" and marketed as such. I doubt it makes a profit and I expect once the Full-fare CW promotion ends (or has it ended?) then BA will have to try something else to fill it's seats.

I've often read that it needs to sell only 40 seats to break even, but guess that's 40 full fare tickets - and I seriously doubt that is happening at the moment.

It's still an experience and if anyone gets the opportunity I would thoroughly recommend it. At least until they reduce the service down to Mach 1.5 or something!

S.

I have the same experiences as Merry, well, from a lot less flying at such speeds since 2001. He knows everything.

The only item BA should not shelve is the Supersonic Certificate for first time travellers. It is a unique souvenir in this elsewhere so homogenized industry and will be remembered and passed around for lifetime. A better (and even now affordable) publicity for BA and the speedbirds is hard to imagine (AF did away with it many years ago - I then asked the crew to sign a menu or some stationary as long as those items still were handed out).

Best wishes for BA and the SST.

On my 1st Concorde Trip, in 1999, I was given a nice Wedgewood plate as a gift. There was a nice info kit with stationary at each seat, even those without passengers. Caviar. Wines. Cockpit visit.

2nd trip was in 2002. No Wedgewood. Stationary kit upon request, but not as nice as prior kit. No cokcpit visit.

3rd trip in a few weeks. We'll see how it compares.

(Both 2nd and 3rd trips are thanks to the Inside Flyer/ *Wood/ Qantas thing!)

"the Inside Flyer/ *Wood/ Qantas thing!)"


what's this?
please enlighten me

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SPEEDBIRD:
"the Inside Flyer/ *Wood/ Qantas thing!)"


what's this?
please enlighten me </font>

Last year, Inside Flyer magazine gave 3000 Starwood Hotel points per subscription during a promotion. At the time, for ever 1 Starwood point, you got 2 Qantas miles. And when you tranfer 20,000 Starwood points to an airline, Starwood gives you a 5000 mile bonus.

So let's say you ordered 7 IF subsriptions. That means 21,000 Starwood points. Transfer those to Qantas at 1:2, and that's 42,000 Qantas miles. Add the 5000 bonus, and that's 46,000 miles. Do this three times and you get 138,000 Qantas miles.

It takes 125,000 Qantas miles for a British Airway Firt Class (including Concorde) ticket not exceding 10,000 Miles of travel.(at least, it used to. Not sure if they still allow Concorde).

At $60 per IF subsription, the Concorde ticket ends up costing less than $1200.

And what do you do with all those subscriptions? You donate them to airline lounges!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SPEEDBIRD:
"the Inside Flyer/ *Wood/ Qantas thing!)"


what's this?
please enlighten me </font>

A while back ago there was a great opportunity to fly Concorde at a price attainable by mere mortals, thanks to Randy and Inside Flyer.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum39/HTML/000752.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/003476.html

If you do a quick search on any of the related forums (Starwood, Quantas, BA etc.), you will find many more threads.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by zrs70:
...And what do you do with all those subscriptions? You donate them to airline lounges!</font>

Or donate to a fellow FTr!

Just got off Concorde yesterday and the CAVIAR is still there! We got a nice jar of it with the little spoon and toasts.

They also still handed out the certificates to first timers.

I'll be sad to see this product go away but our flight only had about 40 people on it and I can't imagine they were all full fare!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by olafman:
Just got off Concorde yesterday and the CAVIAR is still there! We got a nice jar of it with the little spoon and toasts.

They also still handed out the certificates to first timers.

I'll be sad to see this product go away but our flight only had about 40 people on it and I can't imagine they were all full fare!</font>


Yes - we had Caviar on Friday. Yum.

I agree, besides the writing kit I don't see any differences. There never were any F amenities anyway and the Wine Cellar always had the same size selection.

It's still an experience any FF should have had at least once.

ScottC, your 6000th post is next! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by olafman:
Just got off Concorde yesterday and the CAVIAR is still there! We got a nice jar of it with the little spoon and toasts.

They also still handed out the certificates to first timers.

I'll be sad to see this product go away but our flight only had about 40 people on it and I can't imagine they were all full fare!</font>

I was on the concorde on sunday as well. Flew JFK-LHR, NO caviar--flight certs handed out. our flight was quite full, I'd guess around 70-75 people, most of which did not look like full fare...

Maybe they only serve caviar for breakfast westbound and not eastbound anymore?

Related question... what is the consensus on taking the Concorde eastbound or westbound, which seems to be the better flight? (independent of arrival times). Thanks.

Probably against the consensus, I prefer eastbound. Maybe because I'm going home but I also find the lounge more welcoming at JFK. It tends to be less crowded and edgy. I think the timing has a lot to do with it though - do you want to chase the sun, or rocket into darkness? Despite some reports to the contrary, I find the (albeit tiny) view exhilarating.

I would like one day to do the BGI &gt; LHR trip - the idea of going straight to Mach 2.0 without the initial delay sounds great.

Oh.. but I thought the LHR-JFK was the better leg...?

Just my opinion! I'm aware it's not the majority vote, and if I was doing it just the once I suppose the "get there before you leave" effect would win me over. It's just the way I seem to feel about the few journey's I have done. Those "return" portions seem to be lighter as well.

The arrive before you leave effect can be obtained on the Eurostar for much cheaper anyway!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by onedog:
Concorde still has that aura of exclusivity and luxury, but it appears that if you really want to savor a luxurious BA product, you fly F.</font>

How about AF Concorde for food, caviar, wine?