'World class' is a vague and subjective term anyway, and the same could be said of 'premium'.

Frankly, I have never heard of such a thing either. However, be that as it may, I would have thought that the crew could have done something creative with the F deserts if that was possible.

Stuff goes wrong - it always will - it is how you try and recover that that marks excellence in my view. A " Give me a moment, Sir, and I will see what I can do" and then even if it is just bar of chocolate from the kitchen - it will be seen that someone cared and tried.

Did no one speak to the CSD - who works that cabin (Lower Deck)? Did no one look on the tray the other side.

It may be that the idiot caterers just didn't load enough or loaded incorrectly and there was not time to catch this - but it could have been handled so much better. I'd have checked every tray in WT that had been refused and dished it up on a plate and an apology. I liked to keep my passengers happy if I could.

Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Seriously though, there are few airlines left where I would not take some "plan B" kind of food on board just in case. On long BA flights there would definately be something in my bag. Once in a while I need it.

Some crew are great with that. Some aren't and frankly, I find it hard to blame them when I see the way BA treat them in the first place. Good companies know how to motivate their staff. The companies which don't get the levels of motivation/pro-active behaviour that one could easily predict...

True - but why take it out on the passengers? They, least of all, are to blame. Happy passengers make a happy ship and life is much much easier. As my Mum always said - a smile costs nothing, and a little effort costs little more either.

Its been a while since i worked in a service role, but the kick/buzz you get from delighting someone in a front line role is apart from the motivational aspect of pay and benefits.

I would imagine most people who fly a premium cabin can understand the difference between a hard product issue (not staff fault) and service delivery (very much staff responsibility). And if not the British cheek can be used to humorously apportion blame to management/caterers etc.

Don't take me wrong, I agree with you both, but whilst a majority of my BA crew are still very good, I can see more 'depressed' looking crew members than before. Not mean, not unprofessional, but clearly unhappy with their jobs and it sadly feels even when they try to make an effort to smile.

I should add that it makes the miracles performed by some of their colleagues (a few of which I have already mentioned in other threads) even more noticeable and appreciated! ^

It would be good if pre-ordering was extended to cover deserts, I don't do gone off milk.

To be honest, my priority would be for it to be extended to return flights as opposed to being only ex-London!

Agreed, but technically more of a challenge than adding deserts due to multiple businesses involved.

Correct, BA is no longer a world class airline or it appears has has any desire to be one.
BA to me only wants to be profitable which is great but leaves customers and employees who remember when were great sad and disillusioned.

I wonder if BA should consider changing how the in-demand items are distributed.

In other words - quite often I choose something on the menu, but I don't really mind what I order and would happily have had anything. As I have comparatively high status with BA, it's unlikely I'll be asked to change (if the crew aren't doing first come first serve!), even though I wouldn't mind. Meanwhile someone else might be being. forced into a meal they can't stand as a result of my
decision.

A couple of (dumb?) ideas:
1) Go to the high status passengers first and ask them if they're sure they'd like <In Demand Dish X>. A proportion might not be that fussed, and it saves disappointing a customer.
2) Change the way ordering works, from selecting one item to selecting multiple items and receiving one of your selection.

Why make things complicated when they can be simple? Status prioritisation is an important benefit but whenever I do not really mind, I just tell the crew that I'd be fine with x or y (or with anything) so that they should feel free to let someone else have priority.

I think it's safe to say that most people have clear preferences so it is probably best to let people pro-actively surrender that choice if they do not care rather than give people feel that they are being pressured into choosing something else or making them worry whilst currently, people get their top choice in most cases and the crew can get back to them to ask for their second preference in the unlikely case the first in unavailable.

The whole CW Meal experience has really gone downhill over the past year. I hadn't been on a CW flight since June, and I am sure it didn't help BA in comparison that my last flight was on QR in business, but even the menu seems to have gotten smaller and cheaper looking. The experience is just rapidly deteriorating.

Or just load enough of everything so everyone gets their first choice?