Did a trip to BUD last week. Outbound the crew seemed to serve very quickly and did fairly brisk business. Some folk even managed a second order. On the return, much slower initially and then slowly picked up speed, though they were running out of things.

I noted yet another person not happy with the "sippy cup" coffee - where you have to drink it with the lid in place as that filters the grounds out of the coffee.

I suspect so much of the resistance is the fundamental cultural thing of separating Brits from a brew - or at least the charging for it.

One of my friends is a TA and when she books holidays the most common question is whether in-room tea & coffee are provided, and increasingly whether in-flight brews are complimentary.

In what way? I agree it is a bit of an unusual arrangement - for anyone who hasn't seen it you leave the lid on and there is a filter (the brown section) comprised within the lid. You basically drink through the lid/filter.

I thought the coffee itself was drinkable enough.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...921/sYZwCv.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...924/4g0wls.jpg

It looks like one of those plastic cups for toddlers. I can understand why people might want to remove the lid and drink from just the cup.

Travelling on an extremely cheap £65 rtn ticket to Nice last weekend, my friend (Blue) and I (Gold) attempted to pay for our drinks both ways with avios. Outbound was ok on a 767 as it was mid-afternoon and the aircraft had 40 people on it. All completed quite easily. On the return there had been an equipment change due to the 767 going tech and we were all crammed onto a 321. We were at the front of ET in row 14 and it was night time with subdued cabin lighting. When CC started Bob from my row one asked "drink and snacks..no?" and immediately went to the next row. I got the feeling of urgency and they wanted to get down the aircraft asap which is understandable. When I hollered for my G&T and produced the Gold card to pay she was much more accommodating (!) but struggled to read the card in the light. It was then handed to her colleague who loudly read out the name and the number. Twice. Eventually it was processed (and for my friend too with Blue status) but it took a while. I heard the crew complain that the iPad wasn't easy to operate and it took her several attempts to enter my details.

Non of this is meant to sound pompous - just a blow by blow account of what happened!

LOL about the hollering for your G&T^:D

Ah, is that what was happening down the back? :)

On the outbound leg the FA started explaining to me how important it was not to remove the lid. When she realised I'd used one before she started to explain that I'd be surprised at the number of people that either end up with a mouthful of coffee grinds, or coffee all over the floor!

politely!

I don't think that there will be a significant increase in the number of food & drink items loaded any time soon. It has been stated repeatedly by Alex Cruz that customers should not expect to receive their first choice from the BoB menu.

Eventually we will come to understand this and change our mindset. @:-):rolleyes:

Customers told us they preferred a 'lucky dip bag' for a tenner.

Of course:D^

My recent experiences have been improving, but yet again on the 491 from GIB this evening, an announcement in the terminal (after half the pax have boarded) that there is not enough food on board and recommend to buy food in the terminal (where there are basically no good options and they don't accept card).

It is crazy that this is still happening. I'm in CE so it doesn't affect me, but I would be very frustrated if I was in ET given this is basically a 3 hour flight at dinner time. Excellent crew so far though.

How long do these purchases take to post credit cards?
 

I have had two transactions show up on my credit card bill for transactions that supposedly occurred on May 9, 2017, but I haven't flown BA short-haul since the end of February. Do Tourvest really take 2-3 months to post these transactions? Or did mine simply get lost en route?

I don't think they're fraudulent, since I see no other Tourvest transactions and I definitely did buy something.

It just makes a mess of doing one's expenses!

I agree. They must be still dancing to the macarena over at HQ at the savings showing on the spreadsheet since the removal of complimentary food and drinks. I really don't think they care whether or not people in the last ten rows get anything (as happened last week) as the ££££ have been saved. I doubt they care about the crew getting verbally abused either (as seen by 3 passengers in row in front) due to having no beer left.

It would be nice to think that they do care ; but - given that these issues have been ongoing now for around four months - the most logical conclusion is that you are right. And that they don't.

The fact that BoB operates smoothly on many (and perhaps even on most ?) flights can in no way excuse, or compensate for, the fact that on countless others it clearly does not.

There was a time when BA would have been truly ashamed of making announcements, of the sort being reported here, to passengers just about to board a flight (we haven't loaded enough /any food for you, so get your own at the airport). But of course it's a whole different BA these days.

I can't help recall a recent FT thread in which a poster referred to BA as an airline which "lost its moral compass some time ago". It seemed to sum up so much, and in so few words.

If you have to give instructions for an adult to drink a cup of coffee, your design is too complex/over engineered, and you really didn't need to re invent the wheel.