Stez

Oh for FFS! On the LHR-SIN sectors, I really appreciated the tuck box, even if my waistband didn't.

It goes to show really, my last revenue flight was January, each little cutback just further cements the decision to move away from BA. With the enhancements of the last few months, I'll be instructing the TA to avoid BA explicitly.

Just crap BA.

gustavmahler

AA does not have a starter choice, and it has often been shellfish (which sadly I cannot eat). The first time I asked whether there was another option and I got pretty short shrift. The CC added “there are plenty of courses in Business, you won’t notice”. I’ve always liked the fact BA has a choice and been impressed with the quality.

EDIT: OK, it sounds like AA does have a choice of starter these days. I'm thinking of my first couple of times on the 77W ex-DFW in 2013.

TheMajor

The price comparison sites are to blame, all airlines want to be cheapest as even being £1 cheaper drives so much click through traffic.

The same customer if they just went on BA.com and were offered the same flight (with a a second meal and few frills would probably chose to pay a £5 premium).

The price comparison sites are so black and white, they compare price and nothing else. I think BA want to charge a few quid more and offer better service/product (with the same margin) but these sites stop that.

kt74

I'd say about 1 in 4 flights I don't get my choice

Like I said, there's no choice of starter in J on SQ, so I guess you'd refuse to fly them on principle then

Calum

Only people on this forum will notice the changes.

dmp1991

In my dream world, this would only apply to tickets booked AFTER the anouncement. Alas, that isn't going to happen and those who've booked anything in advance are going to get a different product than they thought when they bought their ticket. Seems a bit unfair that this isn't a trigger for a full refund if you didn't like the reduced level of service. But, I doubt there's any recourse to that.

I want my CW Kitchen ice cream! :-)

ant1029

Referring to the inner child

Tiger_lily

Err yes

Cymro

The starter, I agree.

The ice cream, probably.

The missing second meal and the removal of the tuck box - anyone who flies semi-regularly in long-haul economy on any competitor will pick up on that one. As will their kids.

Oaxaca

As I'm not an insider, I have no idea if Alex Cruz is responsible for this or not, though I'd imagine the wheels of such things turn fairly slowly at BA, so I'd hesitate to blame him for everything that has happened in his first few months. That's not to say he's going to make things better...

I do note something WW said in the Q1 results call, when asked about plans in the event of soft demand. He just said (twice) that they would simply accelerate the plans already in place. Perhaps the current monthly salami-slicing of the product is this in action. Particularly poor for the WT/WTP cabins I think.

For CW, perhaps other airlines don't offer a choice of starter and get away with it, but they may also have other aspects of their product that make up for their shortcomings in certain areas. BA is busy making the list of areas where they outperform the competition ever shorter. I guess that will be tolerated by the market as long as they continue to deliver the numbers, the half year results will be interesting...

Andriyko

I agree about the second meal but what are tuck boxes?

dddc

The price comparison sites only offer comparisons on a few easy to measure points like length of flights and stopover times. On a long haul from say UK to Australia you want to know things like meal services, seat and entertainment options.

I had to book a trip to Australia at short notice last year just before Xmas and I was getting some stupid prices so manually hunted the airline sites and found Cathay offered a decent timing for the price on offer. Hard to find out it's meals options but was pleasantly surprised to find 2 hot meals served on each leg and snacks available on the LHR-HKG leg. Seats were 18" wide and had a decent recline. Very good crews. All meals were really tasty - didn't need salt and pepper to enhance it. They had soft and warm bread rolls, not the rock hard ones I got on BA CW. And ice-cream was was the desert in most cases. And this is CX Y for heavens sake!! I've already done a 2nd trip on them and was still impressed and so was did my other half who normally is pretty blase about these things. I've actually booked this xmas as well so impressed was I.

I am looking for another trip come September, but every time BA comes up in the searches, I just think I really don't want to sit in WT for that length of time, even if it is £100 cheaper than CX. Arrival/Departure times are much more preferable too, which plays a part. Something that is on the comparison sites.

BA needs to up its game or just become a low cost carrier. The glory days of the past seem to be in the past.

nufnuf77

Why would I be bothered about what Economy is getting if BA constantly keep cutting premium service and offerings? Are they trying to make me buy WT?

aidy

getting poor, im happy my next TATL is booked for the 31st July, so i can enjoy some ice cream before it's taken away

rossmacd

Well done BA ^

Even more reason to fly with QR and CX ^^^