LTN Phobia

A barrier that wouldn't open if they are not entitled to board early and it should go BEEP loudly to embarrass the offender

bernardd

And there was I, hoping for an army of ladies in tartan, all wielding hairbrushes....

FenLandK

The problem at LHR seems to be that there is no-one doing BP checks at the start of the tensabarrier line. Thus, by the time the pax get to the actual BP check there are a load of pax behind them and the gate staff don't seem to be bothered to send them back.

LTN Phobia

That would be an incentive for many to be naughty!


On a serious note, all they have to have is a tensa barrier diving the boarding with two desks and a sign pointing to one side for BA Gold/Silver, OWE/S and CE/CW and the other side for ALL OTHERS, and form two queues.

Once the 'premium' queue is empty, the premium side can take people from ALL OTHERS. If someone arrives at the premium queue, then that person will be taken in preference to the ALL OTHERS queue.

This is how they do it at BA CDG check-in/bag drop and it works!

T8191

<cough>

How did a CW Food Thread end up talking about Tensa barriers at check-in/Security? Come on guys, we're better than that, surely?

Trainee Moderators ...
Hope you're both enjoying your work-up here on the BA Rabble-Board


[PS, please Sir, it was FenlandK who did it, honest ... him over there, Sir, Post 68, and BBB was egging him on]

LTN Phobia

Maybe whoever started it felt that there may be a tensa barrier on board for food rations in CW soon

Betteronacamel

I'm going to stick my oar in here if I may

I really value the fact that for most main meals, BA offers a choice of starters in CW. All too often on other airlines there is no choice, and as often as not, you get a 'luxury' starter/appetiser involving, almost invariably, smoked salmon or shrimps/prawns etc. I have nothing against those items but unfortunately they don't like me. Having a choice is actually a real plus on BA.

I take it that the idea of 5 choices for mains out of LHR has now been canned.

One of the metrics I use as a measure of the decline in J catering is the chocolates. 4 years ago we had the rather nice discs in a box - rather strange but actually lovely combos like salty caramel. Then we went to the Lily O'Brien 2 items in a box and now we have the utterly pathetic cheap single item in a wrapper.

Given the current dross is just chucked on the tray at the start of the meal, I think it would be classier if the chocs are handed out with the coffees, brandies etc at the end of the meal. If nicely presented it actually feels more like a 'gift' (see LH or other airlines).

I'm sorry to say that, based on my own experience, food on BA J is no longer something to be looked forward to. I find the meaness rather annoying and lacking in imagination - which also goes for the daft concept of the wine list but ultimately minimal choice.

I'm in the camp of, if I am already paying Łxxxx for a J/I fare, please go ahead and charge me Ł10-20 and give me a meal and wine that lives up to your publicity. You can even call it a 'fuel surcharge' if you like

indianwells

In a nutshell sir! Pretty basic stuff i'd have thought?

Hubbabridge

What I like about BA is the service which is generally very good and the J accommodation. Almost all of my flights in the last year have been CE or CW. The CC are generally very good, I have had no complaints about staff in the last few years. However, I do not like the food most of the time. I don't think it is particularly getting worse but it rarely rises above mediocre. It is badly presented, you can't make food look good if you squeeze it into a 10cm diameter round dish. It is often very bland, pub food. Some people do like this I accept, it is a matter of personal taste.I would never serve that sort of food to people in my own home. Other airlines do this better: CX, NZ, LH (surprisingly), EK ( but this was F) and VS on its NRT flights. I am quite an adventurous eater so I know that I am not the average flier: for me one of the best breakfasts ever I have had on an airline was veal kidneys and mixed grill on NZ.

As I have said before BA does know there is a problem and is listening to what is being said, the difficulty is continuing to keep the SRG's and BBB happy whilst improving the lot of the leisure firsts; not easy.

FenLandK

I refer the Right Honourable Gentleman to posts #56 and #65, both of which raised the subject of security waaaaaay before I contributed.

Harrumph!!

BA235

Who decides which are loaded? Of the four whites listed on my flight on Thursday - a Chablis, a Pouilly-Fume, another (Chilean, I think) savignon and an Aussie Riesling - they had managed to load the two sauvignon blancs!

Swanhunter

Club catering declined 2000 to 2003 (my first Club flight in 2000 had monkfish on the menu), then plateaued with the odd up and down before beginning the current precipitous decline over the last 18 months. Truly the most recent offerings have been bad, really bad.

I don't eat on board all that often, but when I do all I ask is a simple, tasty, straightforward curry/pie/meat and veg made with acceptably good ingredients. Sadly recent meals have fallen short far too often.

It simply isn't good enough - compared to the competition (NZ, SQ, CX etc) BA is now way off the pace.

richie_ja

The current wine list is little short of a lie and is totally disingenuous. I haven't seen the said Chablis on what i think is 6 CW flights recently. A recent crew admited that they don't usually see the Chablis or the Riesling.

The top deck crew to JFK 3 weeks ago really couldn't care less. I went to sleep and woke up with 70 minutes before landing. Somehow I missed the lovely sandwiches they give you, but had to get up and ask for a coffee and sandwiches, along with 2 other passengers. One of the crew was reading the paper on the crew seat and couldn't be bothered to top up people's coffee or serve people who had recently awoken. 50 minutes before landing I can understand, but not 70.

richie_ja

And they've lost me recently: I was forced, by price, to use CX to HKG last month and was amazed at what a huge gap there is now between the BA CW food and service and that of CX. They are simply a whole class apart.

I went to HKG again this week and deliberately chose CX over BA for this reason.

gordon0808

On my way back from JNB earlier this week I had the worst meal I've ever had on a CW flight. It was a piece of undercooked fish that had the texture of rubber and tasted absolutely nothing. It was served with a mash so thin it could be classified as soup.
Of course I couldn't eat it, so I went to the galley and asked if I could have something else. They only had salad, which although not bad, wasn't very filling. I had to visit the club kitchen as I was starving. Hardly what you expect when you pay nearly Ł3000 for a CW ticket.