Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

There are quite a few things I could say about this report, but I certainly thank the OP for adding to the information here.

I don't think FT regulars will be surprised since the BACF product is well known here, and HfP actively discourages people from booking CE on BACF services for many of the reasons you mention. BA don't advertise a lounge provision at Chambéry or LCY (and there is an FT lounge directory which identifies this too), nor an empty middle seat in the booking system. So in a sense the information about the Embraer seating and airport facilities is all online in multiple locations. BA isn't exactly alone in doing this, KLM and TAP have similar arrangements on their Embraer services too. The one thing BA does offer is a good use of Theoretical Seating for single passengers, which does generally work, in my case I've only had 2 occupied seats in my last 100 BACF services (that said it is a fairly impressive figure in ET too).

There is / was one wet lease aircraft with 1 + 2 fixed seating in CE but it is notable that it gets deployed on lower margin services - there isn't a business case for doing this generally on BACF. Chambéry is an extremely small airport. It's not even a quarter of the size of INV or LUX. The 10€ voucher is an improvement on what I got last year! I agree that the pulled pork isn't BACF's catering best option though for me it's OK to eat (see photos in the BACF catering guide elsewhere in FT) but typically Newrest will delete dishes which get negative feedback from the crew, I can think of two other corkers that are no longer offered.

I think there are two key benefits that haven't been mentioned so far. Chambéry is a ski resort location, so the extra baggage allowance for CE is important for many travellers and in some cases justifies paying the extra over ET. The typical uplift for CE over ET on that sector is around £55 if there is a Saturday night involved and two bags could be £60 to £85 each way in ET. Secondly for status passengers there is access to the lovely 2C and 2D,which must some of the longest legroom in European shorthaul aviation.

I guess the core point I'm trying to make is that CE on BACF or elsewhere on BA isn't for everyone, and those who are likely to be concerned about this can and should research the product before paying for it. Personally I like CE on BACF, and will continue to pay for it, it is popular on some routes, but I'm pleased that not everyone agrees, otherwise TS won't work!