jonas123

I view BoB similar to inflight wifi. There is limited space onboard / bandwidth and so you have to manage the pricing so that enough people buy it without ruining the experience for everyone. If everyone wanted free wifi, then it would be slow. If everyone wanted BoB, then it would run out by row 8 and the rest of the plane are unhappy. The easiest way to manage that is find a price where you sell out of your last item on the last row of the last flight of the day.

subject2load

Interesting - and it's all so simple - er, in marketing textbooks theory at least !

You might want to let BA's inflight catering gurus into your "easiest way to manage" secret for BoB, because many first-hand reports from FT-ers would indicate that as yet they are some way from offering an efficient service.

As regards "running out by row 8" ..... on some sectors the trolley doesn't actually get that far - not because everyone is buying lots of stuff, but largely because the antiquated payment process is so time-consuming that the flight often comes to an end well before food stocks do.

Kgmm77

Last flight from LHR-DUB (BA824), no takers at all in front 10 rows or so of economy, think I heard someone querying prices a few rows back but not sure if there was a purchase.

BA6948

LHR-BRU BA402 27 January:
- 2 Beers sold before CC ignored by the rest of the cabin
- Total Sale: £8.00
- Total Sale Time: 10 minutes
- Lots of Bring on Board (water, coke, fruits and pret a manger hot sandwiches)

Very sad to see the previously glorious flight attendants turning into sad resellers being ignored by almost the whole ET Pax (for £8.00. So embarassing)!

Since I also refuse to buy anything on board and thus my interactions with the crews are now close to 0, I think it is time to move on. Have given BA BoB a try but I think I hate and I hate the whole BA Y traveling experience. Have seen all the cuts the last 15 months and I have found myself stocking up on snacks, crisps, eyeshades and water to make up for all what BA has cut. Why do I need to do that when last week flying AA domestic (LGA-ATL), I got pretzels and a big can of coke which were complementary to all Y passengers, and a wineand sandwich from the menu because I am BA Gold.

I will go back to AF. Better service all around both in shorthaul and longhaul. I won't pursue BA Exec Gold anymore. I am Silver and that should be enough if I ever fly BA in the near future but will prioritize AF and KL.

subject2load

@ BA6948 : That really does sound like a lot of wasted time & effort by BA in terms of all the logistics involved in actually ordering & loading the supplies.

Can relate to your sympathetic comments about the crew, and their new 'circumstances'. It must be sad for them in so many ways - and on that particular flight they didn't even have the consolation of making some worthwhile commission. I guess the one benefit is that they had far less work to do than in pre-BoB days.

I'm almost certain that, by comparison, very few EasyJet flights would see so little take-up - even on such short sectors ; I can only imagine the difference is that there is an inherent resistance (?) on the part of many BA regulars - perhaps due to a dislike for the manner in which the whole thing was 'sold' by BA, and the claim that it came about as a direct response to alleged feedback from pax. Not to mention the deceitful waffle about not overcharging like the LCC's (so I best not mention it .....)

Tobias-UK

I had a last minute roundtrip MAN-LHR this week (£351 x 2 HBO ) Outbound at 10:00 only 4 sales (40 empty seats on a A321). I heard one chap ask for 2 G&Ts and a complaint form! I refused to buy anything.

Return flight, 17:15 I ordered and G&T for Mrs T and myself (can't say no to my missus and it would be just wrong to let her drink alone ). Paid with AMEX and transaction completed in a couple of minutes. Whilst we were being served crew member from the rear came to the CSM to advise the payment machine wasn't working again. After about 10 minutes it started to work. Quite a number of sales but the front crew only got to row 7 (on a virtually full A320) when the '10 minutes to landing' was announced. There were a few moans at the crew as they took orders and one chap returned his Vodka and Tonic when he was asked to pay for it..

I am not impressed. I paid over £700 for the two of us to fly to LHR, I paid £26 to select seats and a further £12 for a G&T each. I felt cheated. I have a couple of First flights booked to SIN in the next few weeks and then to YYZ and SYD. It will irk me to pay for water/coffee/coke/G&T or whatever after forking out for First tickets. BA have not thought this out well, it leaves a rather unpleasant feeling.

Unimpressed by the concept and the application.

BA6948

I think the business heavy routes won't see many sales. Frequent travelers like me value the small thoughts and touches that make you feel welcome. On a short flight to CDG or BRU, nobody really needs to eat. But you had that free G&T and crisps that were for a welcome to BA before a long haul flight. It was nice, pleasant and most of all a way to start a tiring journey in style and comfort. I remember some flight attendants giving me 2 G&T as they recognised me from previous trips. These came with a joke and a laugh. That's the experience that's now impossible. Yesterday night, flying ATL-LHR with my colleagues which are all Silver or Gold, we rushed to buy crisps to go with our first drink (pretzels having been removed for both WT and WTP). Then I asked myself, what are we even obliged to do that. Fortunately, I still get that nice attention, interaction and welcome on AF. Sadly for BA, they will start missing on those last minutes super expensive Y fares as we move to other airlines.

Tobias-UK

I hear ya, brother. I hear ya ^

subject2load

Much as I can understand, and empathise with, your stance I really doubt that BA will miss you as a passenger - simply because retaining the loyalty of 'traditional' BA regulars is not a key part of the Cruz strategy & business plan going forward - certainly where short-haul is concerned. Today it's more about slugging it out on price and margins ; and BA are quite happy to battle - in the same way that a group of market stallholders do, all offering the same apples & bananas, with the result that many/most folk will buy from whoever has the best deal on the day.

Of course in terms of LHR, BA have the huge benefit of the most protected selling space within that market.

BA6948

Well if 2 passengers on expensive Y tickets per flight go to the competition, that will start hurting BA. These high Y fares are the ones where BA makes a big margin.

rockflyertalk

Agree absolutely! Surely if these high fare paying pax decide to go elsewhere as the experience just doesn't match the cost then this is bound to damage some of the BA Margins on certain flights. Over £700 on SH is a considerable amount of income to lose if its a few that do this...! I certainly can't afford that but I wouldn't be inclined to spend that amount given this new experience, that well lacks any experience.

On Wednesday LGW-GLA only 3 bacon rolls sold. It took 20 mins to serve 4 rows, with only 3 purchases in those 4 rows, so 3 out of 24 pax! I could just make out that there were only a few more sales! less than 5. As they came back up the aisle pretty quickly after that. They can't have made much more than £40 for the whole flight and it felt like a different airline altogether! Their customer service skills are now wasted as echoed from above and the customer is pretty much ignored, unless you need to buy something.

mrow

How is that with your status? Was £700 for HBO fares?

[EDIT]....Sorry, ignore my stupid question, I've now seen that you had HBO in the first line of your post. Doh.

This is the point. £700 HBO for 2 PAX is not cheap, there is no benefit to being loyal to BA any more.

Calum

Not sure how many more BA domestics I can handle without lemon biscuits

headinclouds

Was on BA 824 LHR-DUB last week. Lots of problems with payment machine. Only served about 4 rows. My solution for water is to ask for a cup of ice when the CC first ask if you want to buy anything rather than wait for tap water.

creampuff

I'll keep flying domestic or EU BA as its my only OneWorld choice from my closest airport, Heathrow. However I'm now so cheesed with BA in every dimension that the chance of me buying a longhaul ticket or any ticket where there is a reasonable alternative is a big fat zero. BA, once great, now overtaken by pretty much everyone.