FlyerTalk Forums - Buy on board: Implemented on BA short haul

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- - Buy on board: Implemented on BA short haul - opinions on the concept (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1793630-buy-board-implemented-ba-short-haul-opinions-concept.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arctic Troll (Post 27283413)

1. Are you happy with the current short haul catering and bar offer?

2. (If no, )are you willing to pay for an enhanced offer of premium and luxury food and drink?

I think the key here is actually the omission of the connection between the two questions (as I marked in your quote).

Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave (Post 27283426)

The menus so far issued have been headed with the word "some". I've been told that tomato juice will be available.

They probably haven't sourced a tomato juice supplier yet that can get their prices down to the level that BA are prepared to pay!

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0herbie (Post 27283291)

Even empty containers of greater than 100ml are technically banned.

I have a 0.75L Sigg bottle like this that I always fly with and not once I have been questioned about it. This includes the one occasion I (accidentally) carried it through security full at MPM without anyone saying a thing! :D :D

Just got my first booking itinerary showing
"Meal: Food and Beverages for Purchase"

Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave (Post 27283426)

The menus so far issued have been headed with the word "some". I've been told that tomato juice will be available.

Someone had better tell the BA twitter team that, as they were basically telling people they'd need to get used to drinking something else yesterday

I noticed that brandy is also gone from ET/Domestic thanks to this. That is my usual tipple.!

Quote:

Originally Posted by KARFA (Post 27283299)

They are?

https://www.gov.uk/hand-luggage-restrictions/print

I note it says partially full containers over 100ml are not allowed but where does it say empty containers over 100ml are not allowed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by zat_dude (Post 27283448)

Containers can be any size, it is the liquid that needs to be under 100ml, and if there is liquid in a container greater than 100ml then that container is not OK while it has liquid in it. If empty, anything goes. A few countries don't like empty bottles (e.g. Turkey). There was a debate about this internally within the Commission Directorate at the time, but if you think about it, all sorts of things can potentially contain liquid. For example a box used to hold cables or tin or tub holding pharmaceuticals. So it's impractical to ban empty containers, the target is the liquids, plus not having a debate as to whether the liquid amount is more or less than 100 ml.

[QUOTE=o0herbie;27283291]Even empty containers of greater than 100ml are technically banned./QUOTE]

No they aren't otherwise you wouldn't be able to put all your liquids in a transparent resealable bag as that is a container over 100ml.

I regularly take empty containers over 100ml in capacity through security.

Is anyone flying Jan 10th short haul? I presume that BA won't be doing much buying of tipples that aren't going to be offered as BoB, and that before the introduction staff will be plying you the spirits that never get used.

So you won't be able to get London Pride, but will be plied with 15 rum miniature? What rarely drunk spirits do BA offer now that they won't offer on BoB? I rarely make it past G&T and Brandy..

I can just see the new SATs question...:

"Little Johnny's dad is flying with BA on the 1st February. At the airport he buys 3, 187ml bottles of wine from M&S because he has heard there are no free drinks on board. How many 100ml bottles will he need to decant the wine into, in order to get them past security?"

I just had a chance to listen to the Radio 4 interview - Alex Cruz comes across very poorly, and I can understand why the staff do not like him or his viewpoints.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatlander (Post 27281648)

Easyjet do not always manage to finish the service on the short STN-AMS route. I usually sit in the exit row and if I'm on the early morning flight I think I only get served about 2/3 of the time. (I do ~60 Easyjet sectors a year, mostly on that route). If the crew get more than a couple of slow people, they don't get all the passengers done before it's time to secure the cabin. The crews are pretty efficient at their part of the service, too (dithering customers or complex requests is the slowdown).

Lounges are something BA controls, but loyalty is not. So only one of those differentiators is under his control. He seems to think they are both things he controls that differentiate BA from Easyjet and that is a dangerous delusion.

Charging BA's short haul fares from LHR for point to point traffic with the service levels of Easyjet is looking more and more implausible to me.

As a single data point, my company's limit on air fare on short hauls (without approval from on high) won't even pay a BA fare when the cheaper fare buckets are not available - £400 LHR-AMS gets met with laughter from my company's finance department and that's not even the highest fare. By way of comparison the highest Easyjet fare on a LON-AMS route costs about £280.

Setting my personal derision and disappointment aside, I have to ask what, as a business manager, Cruz is playing at here in the long term. I can try to guess - perhaps he wants to try to reserve all SH for LH feed, or he is concentrating SH on those for whom the advantage of flights to/from LHR is so high they will pay a very large premium simply for location, or concentrating on SH connecting to SH where he can do that and the LCC's can't, or something else. I honestly can't work it out. Investors in BA (I am not one) should be asking just what his plan is here - and they should be asking now, not when some deleterious effects from this on passenger numbers show up.

As a side-effect, this only enhances the fact that LCCs are great if they fly between your origin and destination, so they are great for people who live in very large cities and fly to other large or medium cities (or vice versa). They are bad for anyone who flies from a secondary destinations to diverse secondary destinations, as they won't do connections. You're stuck paying BA, or another large carrier who probably has similar pricing and attitudes, for your travel. That's not good for distributing economic growth away from very large cities, and without such economic growth distribution, BA can't rely on SH-SH connections or filling LH with SH feed to LH.

He and other Airline CEOs already have the perfect excuse for investors to cover up theor blunders, "over capacity in all markets". It is our fault as passengers for airlines having too many seats and therefore we should all be punished. It is our fault and not theirs so really all he is doing is protecting their investment.

Same BS, different industry, with mugs for investors and sheep for end product users.

Quote:

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave (Post 27283399)

BA currently allow people to bring and consume their own alcohol on board, there are occasional reports of Mixed Fleet crew of previous airlines' heritages getting this wrong - but obviously it remains against the law to board or be on an aircraft whilst drunk.

I've been told I can't consume own alcohol on board when I brought an ale along from the lounge once. Non-MF. Not done it since but might be time to try again once this comes into place!

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmo74 (Post 27283423)

It's actually a downgrade of the drinks as there's now less choice, eg no tomato juice.

I've no doubt it will be there as one of the mixers (ie tiny can)

PS: as we'll undoubtedly see many more "upgrades" in months to come, I can only restate what I did earlier to people who said pre-announcements: "I don't mind food to go BoB if it means we keep the G&T", etc. BA is into a divide and conquer strategy and has been for months.

Every time you support a cut to something that you are not using because you personally don't care, remember that someone else will be supporting a cut to the product or service that you yourself would least like to see going because it doesn't matter to them personally. I'm sure that I am making this point for nothing but I still believe that it is at the heart of the collective action problem.