Originally Posted by
ajax
(I did search for this topic!)
I do like BA. I always have. But I was just a little perturbed this evening to be flying back in CE from a European city about 2:00 away earlier this evening and receive the following announcement (quoted as accurately as poss) about 30 seconds after takeoff:
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you are seated in our Club Europe cabin unfortunately there will be no meals this evening. We have recently switched catering companies and are experiencing severe teething problems. No meals were loaded from London. We will provide you with snacks from the Euro-Traveller service instead."
(Note there was no apology; simply a statement of fact.)
The lounge was quite amply supplied but naturally I held off because I was anticipating the on-board meal. If only they had at least said something at check-in or even in the lounge, I could have got something to eat. Unfortunately, no on-board food and an hour-long delay on the ground meant no dinner until 21:30 this evening.
Is this normal? Is this isolated? What would you do, if anything?
It is not normal.
DHL and Northern Foods recently took over the contract for short haul catering, and it is being done in stages. Each time they take over another group of flights, it seems to go belly up. So, write to Customer Relations and explain the situation and hopefully you will be offered some form of compensation.
I am not sure how much longer the contract chance is going on for, but this will be something that may happen on the odd occasion until they have the operation fully switched over and running properly.
I do agree that message should have been sent to the outstation and either a voucher issued or told to take food from the lounge. If there was no return catering, then it was know about for at least 2 to 2.5 hours before your departure, so plenty of time to sort out some form of sustenance or alternative at your departure station.