megaloman

This is brilliant:

xenole

Don't think it matters if people are happy or not. BA's "customer feedback" will tell them that whatever they decide is exactly what people wanted.

Smart advert
(although you could counter by saying a sandwich or G&T on Ryanair could or would cost more than the fare)....and that sort of fare is around Tuesday only?

Ldnn1

Question 2:

Little Johnny's uncle, Bob, is a much savvier flyer and so has access to the business lounge for his flight on 2nd February.

Bob has a carry-on case with internal dimensions 50x40x20 cm. His neatly-packed pile of clothes measure 30x20x15. A can of beer in the lounge fridge has dimensions 10cm height x 6cm diameter. How many beers can Bobby squeeze into his carry-on?

Bonus question: How can Bob do this without anyone noticing?

Cap'n Benj

I'm not saying they'll fall, I'm saying they'll likely be less than they'd otherwise be.

It's clear that people (in the main) don't want to pay for a full service airline at a premium.

BA will continue to extract as much money from us as they are able, it's their job.

If they are less attractive due to the loss of onboard provisions, they will have to match other airlines on pricing.

If their position at LHR means they don't need to, then we can all gnash our teeth as much as possible, its still the correct business decision, however nostalgic about the good old days we want to get

orbitmic

What makes you think that though? Frankly, airline pricing is wholly unrelated to costs so even if you assume that BA's costs will go down (which is far from obvious), it does not in any way follow that BA will charge any less as a result than they would otherwise.

Lolbert

I asked that question of a Purser last night in CE. I was told that I would have to pay like everyone else

shefgab

That does seem like the sensible thing to do. The only time I flew AY was when they were offering free soft drinks and a sandwich, with chocolate bards and booze available to buy. I believe since then it's gone all BoB (although with free drinks for OWE).

All the M&S Airport branches are before security, so no chance to take a single serving onto a plane (unless security is severely lax that day)

Me too, never had a problem with an empty water bottle.

Fitch

I really love this - sums up exactly how I am feeling

BTW, I have absolutely no doubt that lounges are in the firing line. My predictions for 2017 are as follows:

GC

- only 1 guest, no matter status level

- guest must be travelling on same flight

- no more champagne (or 1 x premium drink voucher a la Admirals Club)

- further "enhancements" to food offering

GF

- only 1 guest, no matter status level

- guest must be travelling on same flight

- no more free pour on champagne and spirits, these to be ordered from the oh-so-friendly-and-swift servers

- further "enhancements" to food offering

CCR

- guest(s) must be travelling on same flight

- meal offering futher "enhanced" as appropriate to the time of day

- cheaper brands of booze

Prove me wrong

Ancient Observer

Fitch,

It will be much more draconian than that.

gpb_croppers63

I have to say that this blatant lying about it being an "upgrade" and "in response to what our customers wanted" on twitter is really making me aggressive. So much so that I'm even tempted to open a twitter account just to tell them what I think of them. But then I stop to think and realise that many people have already told them that. It's not the poor guys manning the BA twitter account who made this decision and it's not their fault that they have to spout the same bunkum to everyone who complains. The best option is to stop reading twitter I reckon, as I've already decided to take my flying business elsewhere.

sondra_finchley

The pricing structure kinda makes sense - lower pricing for food to entice folks to buy something when they otherwise wouldnt or have brought on board from the airport, but higher for drinks, especially tea and coffee which are a) difficult to easily port on board or hide in carry on and b) almost a "must have" for a lot of people, who will pay the higher price (grumblingly).

The lack of free SOMETHING though - like at the very least a water cup, is pretty surprising. Dont the other partner airlines in IAG do the same thing?I once read IB charged for water and they are on my No Fly list because of that, so I guess I can add BA on there now too. To be fair, SK in Economy dont offer free water either, but I can always choose to fly Economy Extra and get quite a bit Extra than I would flying the next step up on BA.

I have been wondering if this is all part of a way to "standardize" service across the IAG airlines, to make them indistinct and interchangeable, with similar, smoothed costs, to be able to get higher cost concessions for larger bulk buying. Because frankly I don't see where else Cruz is going here, unless, as someone said before, its to mitigate a potential giant profit pothole.

EZ and Ryanair aren't really an option for my shorthaul flying because I really REALLY hate schlepping to STN and LTN, but I will happily switch to Norwegian because the planes are nice and clean, there is legroom, I love the wifi, and they use the main ARN terminal. Its just Thameslink services to LGW letting me down! We tried Germanwings to Berlin earlier in the year and they were fine, if a bit tight, although I will pay anything to not go through the TXL hellhole ever again.

The uproar over this is amazing though. Something along the lines of 1200+ comments on the Guardian article, mostly about how customers are pissed at being taken for fools. That will do more damage than any £5 BoB sandwich ever could.

gpb_croppers63

Oh I love this response to someone bemoaning the loss of her ham & cheese croissant:

Missing the point completely that the croissant was "complementary" [sic] and that she'll have to pay for all the wonderful food making the BA Lackey hungry!

dsf

They told me on Twitter that they are enabling customers to purchase food.

gpb_croppers63

Well they kind of are in the beginning by giving customers 1000 avios on existing bookings but I somehow doubt that's what they meant.

orbitmic

^