Originally Posted by
crazyanglaisy
If BoB has taught me anything, it’s taught me that I will never ever pay for Club Europe with cash or miles again. Completely out of character, I POUGed myself to CE on a flight back from Madrid yesterday for a not insignificant amount of money as a little treat to myself. I was served Gordon’s (not the Bombay Sapphire offered for payment in ET), those god-awful mini bottles of Tempranillo (that brought back terrible memories of monthly WT flights to Singapore where it is served with abundance), unpalatable coffee (from the big silver pot of gloom), and a small (and barely edible, freezing cold) salad. When I asked to swap the gin and wine for those served on the BoB trolley, I was told “Sorry sir, Alex Cruz won’t let us”. I’m happy to report that when I replied “What a tool”, they nodded their heads enthusiastically!
Setting aside everything else, it now appears that, for status holders on Band 1-3 flights in Euro Traveller, if you are willing to splash out £15-£20 extra per sector, you will get better food, better spirits, better wine, better coffee, more legroom in the exit row, and the equivalent seat free next to you (~95% of the time with theoretical seating).
Surely even BA can see that this cannot continue like this. Would it really kill the airline to introduce CW-level alcohol to CE, or to give passengers in CE complimentary access to the BoB menu, at the very least? That would be a step in the right direction, but I don’t think even that would entice me back. They’d need to introduce long-haul meal service and free-flowing miniature bottles of LPGS and JW Blue to justify the premiums currently charged for those on point-to-point bookings. I certainly won’t be fooled again.
This post says so much about the CE product, and the way in which its already sub-standard quality is now being thrown into even sharper focus by the introduction of BoB.
Paying hard cash for CE is one thing, but I had an experience which - like you - made question the wisdom of even using miles for it.
When BA launched a new route to Mahon last year (seasonal only, from both LHR & LCY) I decided to try it, having regularly used a respectable Monarch service from LTN for many years. Used Avios for a friend & I to fly CE. No major criticism of the 90 min departure delay (stuff happens) but the 'late substitution' aircraft was about as tired & scruffy as any I've seen on BA s/h. About 4 rows allocated to CE, but only eight pax in all. Very pleasant crew. 'Meal' service consisted of the dreaded 'traditional afternoon tea'. All-in-all, satisfactory but pretty underwhelming.
Fast forward, and I'm now looking at dates in the first week of June. LHR departure time with BA would suit me better than ZB's from LTN ; but a return with ZB will be better timing-wise. But here's the thing : why would I pay £444 for a two hour sector in CE versus £72 in ET ....?? The food in CE will be inferior to what I can buy in ET ; an exit row seat will offer more legroom. And I can do a lot at the destination with the
£372 saving.
I'll be intrigued to see just what sort of promised 'improvements' to CE could conceivably make fare differences amounting at times to as much as several hundred pounds, between ET versus CE, a worthwhile proposition.