Originally Posted by
IAMORGAN
In BA's defence I think the one thing they can't be expected to do is have dedicated J seats, as opposed to flexible/convertable seating for EU flights. The routes they serve are so diverse; LGW-JER often has the curtain back at row 8 or beyond, whilst LHR-OTP tend to have less club pax.
It also depends on the time of day.
The thing BA IMHO should improve in Club Europe (which is already a fairly good product):
1. Food & Drink -menu would be good
2. Pre departure drinks? Even if they were soft
3. IFE -it would be great if their EU fleet had PTVs of some kind, although I know this is as expensive as the a/c themselves, we can always dream.
4. Crew -I'm getting a bit fed up of A320s LHR-CDG or AMS having 4 crew on board to serve a morning flight breakfast, it takes away the exclusivity.
5. Proper priority baggage, boarding and disembarkation
Of course, some I class fares are reasonable and an increased service would = a higher price, which would be unfortunate.
I've often thought that a route BA may like to persue is food/drink for purchase in ET, and full service in Club.
Many don't care about food on a 2 hour flight -personally, I do to be honest, especially if it's an evening flight and I want to go to bed when I get to my hotel, not call room service!
I disagree I think that fixed 2-2 business seating or at the very least adopting the same seating as LH or LX is essential for a real premium shorthaul product. There just is not enough difference in almost all respects between Y and C on shorthaul flights. I do not think that CE is a good product, IMHO it is very poor value for money which offers few real benefits for a Silver or Gold. The only tangible benefit is often the meal, and I have had so many awful meals in CE I no longer count that as a real benefit. I now choose CE to get off the aircraft a bit quicker and for the extra TP's, hardly a compelling value proposition.
The race to the bottom "to compete with the LCCs" is really quite depressing and surely almost completely counter productive. How does a full service carrier distinguish itself from LCC competition by copying the LCC approach slavishly? The sad thing is that this leaves little real Full Service choice on many routes.