kered

Hi All,

Mrs Kered & I were on the 275 LHR-LAS yesterday, travelling in the OF cabin as CW, which was really nice !!

We did get the pre take off round of fizz, water & OJ, as well as the post take off drinks service. However, no one in the cabin was offered any wine or water with the meal service !!

Our choice of starter was delivered, with no offer of a drink, so I thought that perhaps the CC were waiting until they dropped down our main course choice to "do the drinks". But when the mains arrived there was still no offer of a drink, so we eat our meal with no drink. When the CC member came around to clear the plates from the main course & to offer dessert, we asked for a glass of sparkling water, to which the CC replied with a cheery "sure no problem". I didn't detect any visible sign of an "oopps we forgot to do the wine with meal reaction !!" from the crew. I heard other passengers requesting similar when they were asked for their dessert choice.

Now it has been a while since I travelled CW, but wine and/or water with the meal has always been offered. I'm just wondering now have BA enhanced away the drinks with the meal in CW, leaving it as an "on request only situation" ??

This combined with my previous flight with BA in First some months ago, where I wasn't offered any water with my meal, makes me wonder where BA are going with their premium cabin on-board service

Can I help you

They should have asked you when serving your tray if you wanted and wine and water and then your main course and then kept the topped up until you said that you have had enough, they must have forgotten or been unfamiliar with the service.

UKtravelbear

Why on earth didn't you (or any one else just ask)

'Any chance of a glass of wine with my main course?'

BingBongBoy

Yes, it was forgotten.

G-BPED

So you sat there in silence all through the meal service and said nothing till the plates were cleared away?

Words fail me!

I guess your the type who would drive with the oil warning light on till the engine siezed up.

Whether the crew forgot or not just use the call button, quite simple really

Dan72

Indeed. I think a lot of problems expressed here could be avoided if people spoke up on board the plane, rather than on here afterwards. Sounds like an oversight. I know, I'm guilty of those occasionally...

BA235

Words fail me. How could the crew in a supposed business class cabin forget to offer a glass of wine with the meal? Really?

BA or bust

+1 The mark of a high quality customer facing organsiation is that they do the simple basics really well. Sadly in the last few years, through the great majority of the crews are great, the service is just not consistent. And that is the only real differentiator that you can truly have in the airline business. Hard product is (relatively) easy to copy or improve on. Service is the one area where BA should (and can) be really better than the competition.

vibguy

In CW one should not be supposed to use the call button for obvious things such as drinks with the meals. I have seen worse things than forgetting the drinks. Whilst in the past most crews were in the range good to very good, today most crews are in the range fair to good. You can have an exellent FA serving the left side of the cabin and a terrible one serving the right side or vice versa, inconsistency of the service is the right expression. It does not help to call the CSM or CSD, in most cases he/she will just say something as : ' Oh sorry, everything else was perfect isn't it!' if it is an issue with an individual FF. If you are looking for consistent and excellent service you have to look at other airlines. BA can still be a good choice if price or direct flights are of interest to you.

kered

Thanks for the clarification CIHY, it's been a while since we've travelled CW, so I was wondering if this was a "new thing".

Lovely to see you again BBB , I don't think I've seen a post from you on here for quite some time.

No I wouldn't drive with an oil light on, but then that has nothing to do with this thread has it !?

Oh & it was us & 13 other's (as far as we could tell) also had their meal "in silence" without a drink.

Anyway, I only posted on here to ask if drinks with the meal in CW were now on request only, as it's been a while since we've travelled CW.


Well I'm not one to kick up a fuss & as I say, I didn't hear a symphony of call bells from the other 13 passengers either. It's just the way it was I guess.

In any case the two girls looking after us "up front" were really lovely & we had a super trip flying out to Vegas in "Pseudo First"

windowontheAside

I tend to think the call bell should be for things above and beyond standard service.

I don't make heavy use of it, and I would be reluctant to use it during a meal service as the CC are obviously busy, and answering my request would impact the service to others.

So I'm not sure what I'd have done in this instance. Probably caught the eye of a CC while passing and asked.

Can I help you

I am more than happy for customers to use the call button whenever they need something, that is what they are there for.
As crew we should be doing our best to predict what our customers need, giving and give an individual personal service, this shouldn't be something so obvious as drinks with your meal.
As nice as the girls were they were not following our service routine or using any common sense.

Dan72

Glad you had a super trip. I like travelling in the nose of the 747 whenever I can.

kered

Sadly, I was only thinking yesterday, that the opportunities are getting fewer & fewer to be "in the nose"

It used to be the case that every long haul flight I took, was always on a 747. She really is the queen of the skies in my book & it will be a sad day, when I no longer have the chance to fly on one again.

Anyway, the sun is well & truly up over the strip, we've managed to catch up on the sleep that was eluding us at 5:20 this morning. So we're out to enjoy our first day, of this trip to Vegas.

I look forward to having a glass of wine on the 274 with my meal on Thursday night on the way home, now that I know that yesterday was just a "service blip"

Globaliser

But one probably wouldn't even have to do that, given the number of interactions with the crew during the meal service. For example, when the tray arrives but there is no drink: "Will you be bringing some more wine around in a minute?" Or when the main course arrives but there is no drink: "Do you know, I think I'm ready for a glass of red wine now with this." Perfectly natural interactions; no need for call bells, confrontation or anything like that.