BHDATC

I had breakfast last week from the buffet and it was definitely on a plate.

TabTraveller

The OP is forgetting that GF is a OWE lounge not a F lounge. BA therefore have little incentive to put resources (i.e. money) into making it the pinnacle of culinary excellence.

Many of those in GF are there by virtue of their company paying for them to fly OW (somewhat) regularly. If BA served dog food would this affect the bottom line? No.

Others have obtained a BA gold card through cheap MRs that earn BA diddly squat. If they stopped flying BA would this affect the bottom line? No.

The rest I expect are largely happy to be in GF rather than GC (or outside in the terminal) as it is still a step up from GC. Those who have paid for F or are actually high value FFs are of course elsewhere.

By international standards I would say that GF is still one of the better top tier FF lounges available.

Petrus

So we should settle for mediocre at best when it used to be excellent? GC used to be what GF is today, bar the a la carte and better champagne. The race to the bottom must be stopped.

The grey portacabin that is the ARN menzies lounge serves more substantial food than GC these days.

Finally, there are many high value FF's which do not have CCR access which appears to be what you are implying. They are stuck in GF, despite hitting anything between 2500 to just under 5000TP per year.

orbitmic

+1.

I would also add that technically, it is an F lounge even though people flying BA F have access to another lounge (the CCR). So for instance someone flying JL F or QF F connecting to a BA flight would use GF, not the CCR.

vibguy

I am afraid that this is what most people on FT agree on. We should put our expectations very low when flying First/CW and when visiting the lounges. I disagree with this. Premium passengers need some pampering. It is no excuse that some people travel on discounted tickets or on reward tickets to deliver poor in terms of lounge food and on board food, ground handling, boarding, seating, cleanness, IFE, service in the premium cabins. If one rates the BA LHR lounges rather poor, then many BA outstation lounges are to be rated very poor. I agree that it used to be much better in the past but BA must feel confident that they can lower the standards pretty much without jeopardizing the business of their premium customers.

onobond

The ingredients for scrambled eggs nowadays comes in 5 liter plastic containers and do actually contain eggs and milk, but no cream. Xantan gum and modified corn starch together with yet another 3-7 additives with E-numbers makes this product storable in room temperature. Poured into a form it's baked in the oven. Before serving the pudding-like product is homogenized with a blender tool for the soft chopped-up Moomin appearance, bearing no resemblance to the creamy consistency of real scrambled eggs.

Made to order eggs, be it omelette or scrambled/poached/fried for me too !

http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/egg.../scrambled.htm

onobond

Although I've actually been able to find plates (rather small), clearly outnumbered by the bowls, at all my recent visits to GF. The reason for changing is, of course, spelled c-o-s-t. Unless you actually want it all to resemble a dog's bowl, you don't stack as much food in a bowl than you would on a plate. Given a smaller plate, the effect is the same.

In T5, where there are no competing airline lounges to be seen, the supply of wines can actually differ between the T3 and T5 Flounges. In T5, I was surprised to find a red Bordeaux last week, until seeing the label (57th cru?), settling with a New World Pinot instead. In T3 a classified Red Claret occasionally find its way out to the nowadays rather unsuspecting public that frequents the GF.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23071630-post184.html

TheBaps

Although I wouldn't describe it as dog food, I would agree that the quality of the offering can on occasion leave a lot to be desired, and that there has be a gradual decline in quality and variety (give me back my breakfast muffin!).

That said I do enjoy the chilli and the fish cakes and typicaly go for a bit of mix and match to turn something bland into something with a reasoable combination of tastes and textures, which generally isn't terrible for a freebie...

travelwithross

I usually always have the horseradish coleslaw, beetroot, carrot and pumpkin seed salad with some chargrilled chicken and a fish cake. If the menu was a bit more varied and more appeasing (at the moment I can only describe it as cheap and basic pub grub) I would sample more.

My real dislike for ordering however is having to deal with the lounge attendants, they are a misery in themselves.

layz

I've not encountered this.

mario

If I was served at my local Wetherspoons what BA serves in GF, I probably would send it back.

LTN Phobia

If I found the lounge food to be as bad as it's described here, I'd be inclined to eat elsewhere and just get some drinks in the lounge, like I do at most third party lounges at an outstation.

Admittedly I haven't been to the F lounge apart from during breakfast time for a while, so I cannot comment on whether the food is any good or not. But isn't there usually pretty decent fruit and salad on offer?

I think the main issue that we miss out when we discuss the F lounge is that it is NOT an F lounge. It's an OWE lounge and it is not really designed to cater for F passengers. Therefore we cannot expect it to be catered for F passengers. Considering the high volume of traffic and the ease of getting OWE depending on the travel pattern, I'm really not surprised that the lounge is not top notch.

bafan

Some of the individual items are ok (just) like the fishcakes. But I agree with the comments regarding the difficulty of making a proper meal from the food available.

Also, the slop is better presented in GC than GF in my opinion (and god forgive me for saying that). The GF serving bowls don't keep the food hot enough, and they aren't re-filled quickly enough.

And why the, otherwise ok, chicken pies are cold is beyond me.

TabTraveller

I don't buy this argument at all. There clearly isn't a race to the bottom as you must well know. Suggesting so is plain misleading unless you are privy to BA's strategy of turning over GF to Admirals Club management.

This is about BA offering a reasonably competitive product to their customers such that those who actually make the purchasing decision will not be tempted to use other carriers. It isn't about offering 'excellent' food to those who (I suspect) have largely not paid for it personally. As long as the food is better, the drink is better and the room is nicer than GC (which is all beyond doubt or GF would be empty) BA is offering a benefit to its more frequent travellers. What is BA's incentive to do any more than this? I would say none.

I think our definition of high value probably differs. Any individual spending £50k+ pa with BA is very likely to have a CCR card. If they don't then they are likely buying fully flex tickets which are generally purchased on corporate accounts meaning BA couldn't give a toss whether the passenger likes GF or not as they don't have much of a say in the matter.

travelwithross

I've also not encountered an STI. But they exist