Sorry to hear your mother found the flight disappointing. It's a very long way to/from Australia and as you say, quite arduous in many ways.
Originally Posted by
CaroFos
She said she couldn't really sleep and was desperate for a coffee so she asked a member of the CC how long it would be until they would be serving hot drinks. About Two hours was the reply. That's a long time to wait for a drink when you really want one!
I can't remember the last time I did a LH flight of that length 20 odd years ago!), but could the CC member not have offered to make mum mum a cup of coffee?
Actually, I suspect this was the case of miscommunication. It sounds like the crew member did not understand that your mother wanted a cup of coffee then, but misunderstood to mean she was asking about the service routine. I think your mother was a bit too polite in her expression for the crew to guess that she wanted one there and then.
That's not to blame your mother, because a "good" crew member will have said "would you like one now?" or something to that effect. So the service was poor in that the crew member could not read what your mother wanted. But it's worth being forthright about what we want on a flight, because I think many crew members get so used to being told "(I want) coffee", "(I want) water" etc without "please" or "thank you" - I suspect some no longer have the antennae for an extremely polite nudge! "Could I have a cup of coffee please?" should not be deemed to be too demanding. I know my husband has done so many times on BA WT and never had a snub yet. It won't offend the crew if we made a polite but direct request.
Mum also reported the panini served going into singapore was inedible. Rock hard and all she could do was salvage the couple of slivers of meat between the crusts.
That is one problem I find with hot bread on board. If it's served slowly, or you leave it on your plate for a while, by the time you eat it, it's rock hard.
I'm curious as to if it was wrapped in plastic or wasn't? BMI did their hot panini on short haul wrapped in a film (or some kind of a special wrapper), and that prevented the 'rock hard' effect, and I'm wondering if that's something that BA isn't doing in Y. Maybe you can find out, because really, it should be resolved.
She also said they were very slow clearing trays away after meals making it difficult to get out to go to the bathroom since she couldn't exactly plonk her tray onto an unknown companion.
I found the same with all carriers when I used to be a regular long haul economy class carrier. It's often a bit difficult to have it cleared quickly because of the number of trays that need to be collected. If you politely ask a neighbour if they could hold it for a moment while you get out of the seat (and once you get up, put it back on your tray table), most people will help.