Sep 29, 2016, 2:55 am
Last edit by: Aus_Mal
This thread is for opinions on the concept of Buy on Board, concerned with the rights or wrongs of the decision to introduce it.
An information thread exists for your questions, particularly if they are on factual matters, here:
Buy on board: Information guide for BA shorthaul economy services
There is a separate thread for experiences, anecdotes, reactions and related comments, which is to be found here:
Buy on board: Experiences and reactions from BA's shorthaul economy services
Useful sub-links
chongcao posted a comparison of other oneworld airlines' BOB prices
Not happy about these changes?
If you have an existing booking, you may be able to complain and get 1000 Avios or cancel for free until 28 days before departure. BA's complaint form.
However, in November 2016, phone calls to BA indicated that "no refunds would be given as food & drinks were complimentary and not part of the T&C."
An information thread exists for your questions, particularly if they are on factual matters, here:
Buy on board: Information guide for BA shorthaul economy services
There is a separate thread for experiences, anecdotes, reactions and related comments, which is to be found here:
Buy on board: Experiences and reactions from BA's shorthaul economy services
Useful sub-links
chongcao posted a comparison of other oneworld airlines' BOB prices
Not happy about these changes?
If you have an existing booking, you may be able to complain and get 1000 Avios or cancel for free until 28 days before departure. BA's complaint form.
However, in November 2016, phone calls to BA indicated that "no refunds would be given as food & drinks were complimentary and not part of the T&C."
Buy on board: Implemented on BA short haul - opinions on the concept
Sep 30, 2016, 3:10 am
#736
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DWC
Programs: OWS, *A G
Posts: 626
I think the key here is actually the omission of the connection between the two questions (as I marked in your quote).
Sep 30, 2016, 3:11 am
#737
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,737
Sep 30, 2016, 3:14 am
#738
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DWC
Programs: OWS, *A G
Posts: 626
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! 
Sep 30, 2016, 3:21 am
#739
Join Date: Feb 2016
Programs: BAEC, FlyingBlue, IHG Gold Amb, Kimpton whatever
Posts: 88
Just got my first booking itinerary showing
"Meal: Food and Beverages for Purchase"
"Meal: Food and Beverages for Purchase"
Sep 30, 2016, 3:22 am
#740
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,347
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
Sep 30, 2016, 3:26 am
#741
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,583
I noticed that brandy is also gone from ET/Domestic thanks to this. That is my usual tipple.!
Sep 30, 2016, 3:30 am
#742
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,809
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?
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?
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!
Sep 30, 2016, 3:36 am
#743
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Scotland
Programs: not a lot
Posts: 1,774
[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.
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.
Sep 30, 2016, 3:42 am
#744
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: London
Programs: Many. Too many. I came here to cut them down. I failed.
Posts: 2,999
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..
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..
Sep 30, 2016, 3:43 am
#745
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: London
Programs: Sir Ratechaser Seigneur de la Patience d'un Saint (Mucci), BA Silver, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 2,562
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?"
"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?"
Sep 30, 2016, 3:51 am
#746
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 7,464
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.
Sep 30, 2016, 3:54 am
#747
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: BAEC silver
Posts: 775
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.
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.
Same BS, different industry, with mugs for investors and sheep for end product users.
Sep 30, 2016, 3:55 am
#748
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver, IHG Spire, Radisson Gold
Posts: 991
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.
Sep 30, 2016, 4:06 am
#749
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,531
Sep 30, 2016, 4:12 am
#750
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,531
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.
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.