Skipcool3

Well I have just looked at SINGLE flights to AMS from London before lunchtime Friday.
CE is £506.00
ET is £143.00
That is a lot of money extra for band 1 catering, some mediocre fizz, an empty middle seat, fast track and the galleries lounge.....

dodgeflyer

Well the difference is full flexibility and full refund (J) vs. no cancellation permitted (L). People often need that flexibility even 14 hours before the flight.

zkzkz

I always thought "appropriate to the time of day" was a silly thing for an airline to consider. They're a global business and have customers on all different time zones. They have no idea where you've originated from or where you're en route to.

What would be really impressive service would be if they had full range of meals from breakfast to dinner available to select on every flight. That's the kind of service I would expect if I was spending a mortgage payment for a longhaul connection. Sure it would cost money but you have to spend money to make money.

bafan

In the hotel scenario, you have a choice whether to order afternoon tea or something else from the menu. On BA the only choice is to eat the (frankly insulting) afternoon tea or not.

nwmgc

On my recent travels, CE has been packed out - there were 9 rows to AMS and back last week, always full for NCE and JER on the short routes - so I'd be very surprised if it were to be abandoned. On longer flights like IST I find CE to be rather good value.

The new seat pitch is, however, most unfortunate especially as the seats themselves are (I find) rather uncomfortable already.

T8191

MLA was rammed both ways in CE last week too ... 8 rows filled, so there's clearly some sort of demand. I doubt they were all on TP runs.

Some of us appreciate the 'spare seat', and the food and beverage offering.

paulwuk

CE for Malta is a fairly reasonable markup (not £300 more like some routes). Random date in August for a mid-week break, with the first leg at £206 for ET (K class), £278 for CE, no wonder it's full at that price.

However remember a spare seat can be bought very cheaply if you're happy to phone up and book for Mr C.Ello.

Looking further afield to MLA, you can book three seats in economy next june for £466 (£102 for the spare seat)

The exact same seats in CE will set you back £682.

That's a £200 excess for afternoon tea, some battery acid in a bottle, and 60tp each.

p.s. I see that flying non-HBO is now a £34 premium for a return flight, as predicted the price difference just increases and increases.

V10

At the moment I can pay the princely sum of £326 to upgrade my next BRU-LHR flight to CE. For a 1hr 10 minute (if that) flight, and taking the original ET ticket cost into account, that's around £400 an hour. At those rates, BA ought to be forgetting about dressing its aircraft up as pandas, and instead go with a black robe and a silly wig draped over the cockpit.

T8191

@ paulwuk ... we just 'liked' the CE pax who kept ordering mini-champagne bottles, two at a time. Classy, eh?

jackr27

Despite the general negativity towards CE on here (which I can certainly understand) I have to admit I do quite like the service, providing the price is right and length of flight justifies it.

There is no way I'd pay for it on a band 1 or 2 flight - I just don't see the point. On longer band 3 flights, and band 4 flights I do think it can be a good option - this though, for me, is largely dependent on crew (and of course, there is no way of knowing how they will be when booking..!) Did have a superb crew on the way to Sofia this morning though...

Generally though, in CE I do feel I get a more personalised service, and on the longer flights it is nice to have the middle seat vacant. I do enjoy the slightly better catering - although I'd actively avoid the afternoon tea and brunch services - which frankly I see as insulting considering the premium paid - epitome of this was last week on flight back from Lisbon when I was served a tiny soggy croissant with bacon accompanied by a solitary bread roll.. the flight actually landed just before 2pm - so in my books a proper lunch should have been served.

I think the general problem with CE is the constant 'enhancements' which continually devalue the service.. for example the band 4 replacement of canapés with a pathetic plain salad.. or enhancing away drinkable champagne with a drink which actually makes me feel quite unwell due to the acidity.

The sad thing is, it wouldn't actually take that much for BA to improve CE without breaking the bank, and I actually think they'd see margins increasing with more people choosing to upgrade, as it is the constant devaluations lead customers to conclude there is little worth in paying the premium.

cme17

MLA is band 4 which is a hot meal all day. Very nice too!

KeaneJohn

BA Futurelab are asking some very interesting questions at the moment.

Calchas

Can you be more specific?

KeaneJohn

Afraid not because participation of the programme is confidential but they are asking some very interesting questions about the moment about premium short haul flights.

layz

The only possible reason anyone would do that is if they were making their own batteries to keep their devices charged.

I have to think anyone who drinks that stuff to excess must be the type of person who thinks that as long as it says 'Champagne' on the bottle it's a mark of quality and doesn't care what it tastes like.