Originally Posted by
Tafflyer
Indeed the issue on BA mid-haul is not just that the once lie-flat comfort has been replaced by economy seats called club, but that the service sold cannot be offered for the length of these flights on the equipment being used. The new 321 Neo’s with return catering and somewhere between 10 and 14 rows of club are totally inadequate. I was sat in row 3 and could not get my first choice of meal. Crew told me they ran out completely at row 11 of 14 and that drinks have to be rationed otherwise outbound and inbound would be drunk before the flight lands in CAI. Washroom facilities are also a disaster when due to the travel time everybody needs to “go” sometime and on my flight the toilet paper had also run out.
Yes, most US carriers have transcontinental flights in A321’s or 737’s too, but they do not return cater and they at least have wider seats and limit the premium cabin size to a level at which they can at least mostly offer the advertised service.
Having said all that, it’s our own fault for accepting this rubbish. We cannot possibly expect BA to up their game if we keep booking and flying it. Unfortunately, alternatives are also vanishing fast.
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Interesting points.
I suppose in a sense we do have a sort of collective guilt, and I include myself whenever making a CE booking (rare for cash, but occasionally with avios, or as part of an ex-EU trip). It’s also true - setting aside the rather unfortunate specific issues you encountered on your BA flight to CAI - that the actual inflight ‘business class’ product (with economy size seats !) now on offer by almost all the major European carriers has in truth become very mediocre, with just a few notable exceptions already mentioned upthread, such as Turkish and Aegean. With the ever-present and growing pressures from LCC’s who continue to extend their network reach, it’s unrealistic to expect any significant upward movement in quality ; certainly not for as long as ticket sales remain strong. And the newer aircraft models + config etc you’ve referenced don’t exactly help.
That said, there is a good level of comfort still to be had on full-service carriers in other parts of the world - notably Asia (and also on Australia’s longer domestics). Have just taken several short (mostly around 2-4 hours) regional / domestics out in Asia, with a host of different carriers (inc. VN, MH, CX, JL, TG) and you do still get a proper biz seat, and (for the most part) the extra space that come with the wide-bodies, often along with the sort of service standards normally associated with long-haul. There is of course pressure there too from LCC’s ; although the likes of Air Asia can be surprisingly good - not least in their highly efficient pre-order comprehensive hot meal options at very reasonable prices.
Typical fare levels in regional J within Asia have historically been a good deal higher than for equivalent distances intra-Europe ; but I do see evidence of that gap having narrowed significantly post-Covid, in part because European capacity seems still some way short of current high demand.