Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
I fully agree that the pitchfork pile-on isn't helpful, and have said some nice-ish things about GStP, but the original articles have been edited back. I think I struggle a bit with the "fully corroborates" message. Two meals are served on A350 in all cabins on the relevant routes, and have since the service started, ice creams are available to YYZ and it would seem BLR too (accepting something odd happened there along the way). The core initial message was the A350 wasn't fit for purpose in terms of BA's service, specifically catering, due to cramming in too many seats, yet those of us who have been on it as passengers - or have worked on it as crew - haven't noticed this impact yet. That's not to say it's not tight, it truly wouldn't be BA unless all and any slack had been removed, but that wasn't the tenor of the original article.
Agree with this.
I flew the BLR outbound (BA119) a few days ago in CW, so I can add a couple of observations.
The plane is fantastic from a passenger perspective. I see the point about the narrow aisles being a nuisance to crew, and had the plane been full I could see that might have been a little bit of an inconvenience to passengers as well. We were served full two meals - the second meal was identical to what was served on the 772 last year. Wasn't offered ice cream, but I was asleep for a large part of the flight and as noted I have never been offered ice cream previously on this route. The Club Kitchen remained stocked till the end of the flight.
However, something I would note is that serving the first meal took a
long time. This is something I think needs some attention - as noted there were a lot of empty seats. Moreover the 119 is an overnight flight so a long first meal impinges on people's ability to get the sleep they need for a 5am arrival time. I should note I was in the main section of Club having avoided the mini-cabin based on the reports on here of it being served last (which seemed to be borne out).
In BA's defence, it is worth noting that all this is probably why this is the debut of the A350 on a route of this length - to help figure these sorts of logistics out. In GStP's defence, this probably explains some of the rumblings he was hearing from his sources.