Cap'n Benj

I was in F with 3 people, one of them then g/f and they run out of my first choice starter and main, they were hugely apologetic, so to say the shrug of the shoulders thing is a tad ott and obviously just your experience. I suspect others will say the same re- LX or wherever theyve suffered a bad experience/ crew

HIDDY

I much prefer the feeling of space rather than privacy that TG F offers maybe that's why I found it so relaxing.....BA 747 F is a bit claustrophobic when the cabin is full that's probably why I prefer the 777.
Let's face it not everyone is into privacy especially when you're travelling with someone. Look at LH F....you could be sitting very close next to a stranger in their 747 F layout yet people rave about how good it is.

Just comes down to personal choice in the end.

Jennyjo

Maybe I'm expecting too much, but I would have thought that in F you should be able to make your meal choice while on the flight (ie not be required to indicate your preference in advance) - and that sufficient meals should be loaded to make the delivery of that choice a reality.

I'm not at all picky - I would have been happy with fish, chicken (or vegetarian, or lamb - neither featured on the menu, unfortunately) but after 2 weeks of South African menus heavy on red meat I didn't want the only option left available to me of beef.

If BA policy is to load as few meals for F passengers as revealed by Can I Help You they should come clean and make it clear that their much hyped menu choice in F exists more in theory than practice.

AGuyAndADogInDFW

My GF and I will be flying LHR-JNB and back in F on BA's 747 (2A and 2K)using award tickets. My GF and I are both OW Emerald.

In reading through this thread, I take it that BA takes meal selections based on THEIR award tiers, which will mean we'll be close to (if not at) the end when it comes to meal selection.

Not that it's a huge deal for either of us; was just curious as to how's it done on BA.

Mutu

Actually it depends on the crew, some start at the front and work back (with separate crew for the left side and the right side), some work prems/golds then fill in the gaps (again lefthand and righthand separately)

I consider myself fortunate emough to regularly sit in BA F, its like a worn pair of slippers, you know its time to throw them out and get a new pair, but its just so like home!!

You will enjoy I am sure unless you are very unlucky (yes sometimes catering is insufficient to give everyone what they want, but other times you can have numerous main courses or starters because there is plenty, sometimes your preferred wine runs dry, others it flows freely until wheels down, and often the crew are fantastic with their understated professional friendly manner rather than the somewhat starchy formal approach welcomed in parts of Asia, but occasionally you will get a crew who make you despair { my last segment as an example, they were just rubbish, food and wine were great, but the crew....}

But theres good and bad in every busines.

I am confident you will have a great experience, just enjoy

Jennyjo

We're BAEC Blue so have no status but until our January JNB- LHR flight have always been able to order our first choice in F (which is maybe why I was so surprised to be given no choice in January). My impression has been that orders have been taken according to seating rather than status - if we had been seated in 2A and 3A on our January flight rather than 2K and 3K we would have been amongst the first to order rather than the last.

The outcome of my complaint was initially an email apologising for my disappointing experience in Club and 10,000 miles service recovery. I pointed out that we were actually in F, not Club, and they gave me another 10,000 miles, which I appreciated - but they didn't respond to my query as to why insufficient meals are loaded for F to give passengers a real choice (as confirmed by CIHY).

As far as cabin crew goes, our experience of BA for F and CW has always been fantastic.

jumpseat_jock

.....that the crew should get to understand how their customers would like to spend their flight, so yes taking a meal order but ensuring an understanding is achieved as to when the customer would like to dine - you do not need to eat when the crew want you to

it doesn't really matter in what order the meal order is taken, row1-row5; the reverse, all left handside then all right handside or taken by status. personally i don't like the meal order being done by status as this can involve a fair amount of running around the cabin and if you do not have status it becomes obvious that you are being left to the end however, regardless of how the order is taken there is supposed to be a short conflab in the galley to go through who has asked for what, when they would like it and how much there is of each choice. if there is a mis-match then priority should be given to BAEC status, followed by OW status; unfortunately this doesn't always happen.

out of interest on a recent trip to CPT (4 in the party all without BAEC status) we all achieved our first choice of every course ^

to the OP, i know what you mean about meat rich diets in South Africa, however I have to say that we didn't have a problem finding non-red meat offerings in a country's cuisine which was on the whole of a very high quality, so whilst it was unacceptable to be offered red meat or red meat in F, its hardly BA's fault that you had a meat rich diet on your SA trip and therefore one more red meat dish is hardly going to push you over the edge - although given the quality of the airline catering ex-SA (surprising given the quality throughout the rest of the country) it could well have been the proverbial straw!

JJ

Jennyjo

You're putting a lot of a spin on what I said - I didn't at any time claim that it was BA's fault that South Africa features a meat rich diet! The reality is that in many parts of South Africa, especially remote areas, the menus are very heavy on red meat/game. I'm happy for you that you didn't have any problem finding non red-meat offerings on your recent trip - but our experience on several trips there has been different, so I was pleased with the prospect of fish or, failing that, chicken.
Your comment that "one more red meat dish is hardly going to push you over the edge" is fatuous - I didn't suggest that I was in danger of being pushed over the edge. The entire debate has been around the issue of whether an F passenger is entitled to expect a real choice.

jumpseat_jock

to which i think you will find that i did agree in my comment =

"it was unacceptable to be offered red meat or red meat in F"

PUCCI GALORE

I am sorry - I got here late. Still better late than never.

Although truer words were never spoken I have one or two issues with the above interrution to the the meal availability issue.

1) 53? last time you saw 50-anything was on someone else's front door.

2) Old Layabout - these words will come back and haunt you. Trust me.

3) Just because you have jumped down the pit - that Sweet Young Someone does not necessarily belong down there with you.

Who needs a hairbrush when he hands this to you on a plate. Excuse Pun!