Having flown old Club Europe VIE-LHR and then returned in the new cabin a few days later, I’ve definitely noticed the difference between the two. My opinion is the same as the majority that have commented on the ‘New Shorthaul Cabins‘ thread here on Flyertalk – that as far as space and comfort go - the new cabin is inferier. Whilst I agree that the new interier looks great, the CE passengers are certainly getting the bad end of the deal. I now see the only difference between Euro Traveller and Club Europe is a salad and piece of cake, of course with an empty seat next to you. When you consider that the retail cost of...say a flatbread (not that horrible sausage croissant thingy!), can be about £2, whilst the cost of salad, cake, and lump of cheese would be about £10.00 max...then I can’t now see the point of paying an extra €130+ for a Club seat. It is such a shame that BA seems to have, in this case, shot themselves in the foot. Instead of setting the benchmark, they have decided to lower the standard to the level of others. Essentially diluting a premium service that BA is recognised for. I firmly believe, however, that the whole thing will go full circle, and that in time (not immediately, but in 2 or 3 years perhaps) they will restore the seat pitch/width/recline once again. Of course, nobody will ever admit that they got it wrong.

Now this takes me on to the point of this thread. 5 of my next shorthaul bookings are in Euro Traveller (with exit seats selected for every flight!). A friend of mine who works for Qantas and travels often with BA has told me that it’s perfectly OK to ask for a second drink. That seems perfectly reasonable to me, if you consider that a band 3 flight for example, can last about 2 hours. The thing is, is it being greedy? In the past I’ve always been reluctant to ask, feeling that it’s asking a bit too much.

Also, I’m quite a considerate person, and I know how hard the cabin crew work on some of these flights. The last thing that I want to do is put on my light to request another drink, only to start a domino effect of other passengers requesting further drinks!

So the main question is....Is it acceptable to ask for a 2nd (or even 3rd!) drink on a Euro Traveller flight?

Your comments will be considered very carefully in helping me decide