I just had a glance, and even I'm shocked at some of the ratings in the last week alone! If that isn't enough to start alarm bells ringing at Waterside then I don't know what is.

On my most recent Euro Traveller flight last week, I was seated in the second row from the front of the cabin. The passenger next to me was the first of anyone to order food, and could not get his choice of cheese Plougman's.

So BA did not load a single cheese Ploughman's on the whole aircraft. At Heathrow, their home base. On a morning departure. :confused:

"Customers told us that they didn't want food on flights but we are delighted to offer our new range of Percy Pigs at really competitive prices for those customers who would like a snack" will be the reply.

Oh well at least he will know to visit Pret next time! :td:

Thank god T5 has good catering options!
I will refuse to starve on a 4 hour BA flight!

I think only a decrease in the cash rolling in (from short haul) will see alarm bells ringing, otherwise it's business as usual.

Went on a stag weekend to Spain many years ago and we were told we could make our own arrangements as regards travel. The only stipulation was that you had to be at the destination airport for a particular time. Someone suggested going with IB from LHR and the idea stuck with quite a few people so it became the party plane. I pointed out that there was a cheaper option from LGW flying with GBAirways (a BA franchisee for those not old enough to remember) and I'd be taking that.

I was fed and watered on the plane in ET and arrived ahead of the rest of the party. Who had suffered a long hot delay on the ground at LHR and were in less of a party mood by the time they took off. They were then very disappointed to discover that on IB you had to order and pay for food and drink from the TU menu and the disinterested staff. IB too had got a very limited selection of what was promised in the menu actually loaded on board the aircraft. When they arrived I was on my second drink at the airport bar and asked if they'd had a pleasant flight. The responses I got were along the lines of don't mention your trip was event free if you don't want an earful of abuse.

Anyway talking to someone last night who was on that trip they said that they'd flown BA shorthaul since BOB had been introduced. Said he'd had a flashback to the stag weekend when there was little available on board to begin with and they ran out before reaching him. Will be voting with his feet for the summer holiday based on this experience.

Well, either Cruz is delusional or maybe they are picking up share on the low end from other LCCs? Have fares dropped proportionately? Potentially at the expense of higher-value customers. Would love to get my hands on that data but they must have at least one point to support that statement, you would hope.

As someone said, Easter and Summer when you get the once a year flyers will be interesting. We are hardly big time spenders on BA, but we've shifted shorthaul to Norwegian and if I can't use the 241 next fall and have to pay cash to LAX (likely) then I am open to checking out offers in a premium cabin from other airlines (particularly VS)

Angry tweets are daily. Everyone is calling BA a budget airline. This one sums up what I think:

LHR to TXL yesterday (10/04/2017). There was a fair take-up of BoB on this absolutely packed flight, with one or two passengers in each of the first few rows buying something. But service was far from smooth, and quite slow.

The announcement was a little odd, making a big thing of the "fantastic" selection of food to purchase and that payment could be made by card or Avios but not (as far as I can recall) specifically saying that cash was not accepted.

The first passenger to buy something, in the first row of ET, wanted a beef sandwich. He was told that they didn't have them on the trolley and would have to get one "from the back"... and then there was a long wait for the crew member at the back to bring one. I don't know what was going on at the back, and whether the other crew member was also serving passengers from a second trolley, but the wait seemed interminable and it got a little awkward. The passenger then wanted to pay by Apple Pay, and there seemed to be a lot of passing the device back and forth before the transaction was successful.

Someone in the second row also wanted a beef sandwich... so another request went out to bring one from the back. It arrived more quickly this time. The passenger offered cash and there was then a bit of a delay while he found his card.

By the time we were flying over Amsterdam only the first four rows of ET had been served. I was in the third row so didn't see how far down the plane they got.

So, passengers seem to be getting used to paying for food and drink but there is still considerable scope for improvement in the speed and efficiency of the process.

They really should start accepting cash as there are those customers especially Germans who like cash transactions, and the crew should during pushback take all F&B orders and payment and then deliver the items on trays reducing cart blocking in the aisles.

What they should also do, is to give a free soft drink or hot beverage to those connecting to or from a longhaul flight. SN does this, and it can be beneficial for those who have a tight connection at LHR and no time to get a refreshment.

The experiences on this forum, Twitter and various review sites prove that BA cannot properly operate a low cost model. Its customer base, network and fleet variables are against it working efficiently but....

.... the idea that half a flight doesn't get served is probably strategic in the current Cruz world and I can see him saying, "passengers absolutely love the BoB. We sell out of products on every flight".

Loading 3 bacon sarnies and selling all 3 is a great measure of success. Not giving the context around how many passengers were denied their choice or any choice of BoB would never be admitted.

I do believe we have to accept a serious change in BA culture. Cruz is determined to make BA like the customer hating Ryanair and he will shout out his success until that is achieved.

Couldn't agree more.

Although I'm trying not to generalize here, as someone who grew up in Germany, I can definitely say that Germans value the bottom line more than the service they get. Here in the UK, people expect service even at Sainsbury's - not so in Germany, where you can be a nuisance to the cashier at times, and they will let you know. A colleague once went to a supermarket in Germany and was appalled at the grumpy 'service' he got.