BA 'Long-Haul Hunger' - The Times
#61
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#62
Join Date: May 2009
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*dons tinfoil hat...
#63
Join Date: Aug 2013
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Where in the article does she refer to starter/main/dessert?
The specific enhancements she mentions are all correct: pretzels, cheese/biscuits, galley snacks.
I can certainly believe that a crew member said to her "we don't serve dinner any more", whether or not you personally choose to interpret that as implying they used to serve a three-course meal.
I can also certainly believe that the portions were small and the pizza was crap.
I can also certainly believe that she was very hungry throughout the flight because of the enhancements and this was not previously her experience on BA.
The specific enhancements she mentions are all correct: pretzels, cheese/biscuits, galley snacks.
I can certainly believe that a crew member said to her "we don't serve dinner any more", whether or not you personally choose to interpret that as implying they used to serve a three-course meal.
I can also certainly believe that the portions were small and the pizza was crap.
I can also certainly believe that she was very hungry throughout the flight because of the enhancements and this was not previously her experience on BA.
#65
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Yes three courses.
#66
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I'm grateful that [a] I have a metabolism that, at my age, that only requires one main meal a day, and [b] that I don't fly l/h Economy.
My sympathy to those who have to do it.
My sympathy to those who have to do it.
#67
Join Date: Jan 2016
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On my LHR-LAX 11 hour flight, I felt the food was plentiful in Y Jan 2016. As canihelp you says, 2 full meals over the course of the flight. Drinks had started running out by the end of the flight though. The only thing I really didn't like was the awful nachos.
The tuckbox was decent, but of course that has been enhanced away.
The tuckbox was decent, but of course that has been enhanced away.
#69
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DMV
Posts: 2,092
It might generally be advisable to eat lightly on long plane journeys, but that's not stopping a lot of people
I think it's pretty obvious that something is happening that BA probably should have foreseen would eventually happen: a narrative is building.
They got away with quite a lot of cost reduction without it being reflected in public perception. Instead of treading more cautiously as they went on and profits grew, they thought that they could do anything to the product and nobody would pay attention. We're getting to the point where notions like : "Oh BA, they're rubbish now." or "BA for Bloody Awful" are appearing (again) and not just in frequent flyer circles.
The comparison to Tesco which has been made in this thread and in previous threads is bang on. It's obvious BA fancies itself a bit more high-class than that, but they really aren't anymore. And I think that's really a process that you will start to set in motion every time you look for savings by making your product objectively worse. And it's really impossible to pull that off as a brand that's coming from a 'blue chip' perception. It's really quite simple market psychology: convergence always hurts the more highly rated brand. BA is converging with the LCC and BA is actually helping them with that because it allows LCC to look good in comparison even if their product is objectively still 'cheaper'.
I think it's pretty obvious that something is happening that BA probably should have foreseen would eventually happen: a narrative is building.
They got away with quite a lot of cost reduction without it being reflected in public perception. Instead of treading more cautiously as they went on and profits grew, they thought that they could do anything to the product and nobody would pay attention. We're getting to the point where notions like : "Oh BA, they're rubbish now." or "BA for Bloody Awful" are appearing (again) and not just in frequent flyer circles.
The comparison to Tesco which has been made in this thread and in previous threads is bang on. It's obvious BA fancies itself a bit more high-class than that, but they really aren't anymore. And I think that's really a process that you will start to set in motion every time you look for savings by making your product objectively worse. And it's really impossible to pull that off as a brand that's coming from a 'blue chip' perception. It's really quite simple market psychology: convergence always hurts the more highly rated brand. BA is converging with the LCC and BA is actually helping them with that because it allows LCC to look good in comparison even if their product is objectively still 'cheaper'.
#70
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There is also the small matter that all their main competitors - AF/KL/LH offer more substantial meals, a snack with the pre-dinner drink, ice cream on many flights, snack boxes, and more than a manky piece of pizza for the 2nd meal on flights the same length as this one. BA are very noticeably inferior to anyone who travels both.
It's rather sad isn't it if BA have fallen so far from grace you genuinely think people should just be glad to get from A to B, especially when paying for all the thrills and glamour the airline likes to portray.
By the way - people have nearly always focussed on the experience of air travel - indeed it was far more glamerous back in the early days. Nothing new there, and it's the airlines that have encouraged it.
#72
Join Date: Jun 2014
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BA is a budget airline in both longhaul and shorthaul. They are members of European Low Fares Airline Association like easyJet, Vueling and Ryanair.
Their constant cost cutting have got to me with the introduction of BoB. Have put up with the slow deterioration of their service in longhaul as mentioned in this thread. Found myslef taking with me crisps to go with my first drink, cheese and crackers as a replacement and keeping the bread of the dinner for my full english breakfast on my routes to and from South Africa. I also buy a big bottle of water as the cuplet won't do it for me and eyeshades as they are penny pinching that they say you have to ask for them. It has become a lot of work especially that my average ticket price to SA was between £1300 and £1900 in Y (last minute without saturday night stay). And let's not ralk about the filthy old 744s. Had the pleasure to try AF to SA and it was great. Great food and plentiful. Eyeshades and better headphones are handed to customers. And you can even double upgrade to Business for 25.000 points if you are on the highest Y fares. Day and night.
Now shorthaul and longhaul are all AF or KL. Will probably downgrade from Gold to Silver on BA. Will probably stat silver thanks to Royal Jordanian. But hey there is a life outside BA. I hate penny pinching airlines. Sad cause BA was my favourite and was using for most of my business travel in the highest Y fares, you know the ones that have the biggest margin.
Their constant cost cutting have got to me with the introduction of BoB. Have put up with the slow deterioration of their service in longhaul as mentioned in this thread. Found myslef taking with me crisps to go with my first drink, cheese and crackers as a replacement and keeping the bread of the dinner for my full english breakfast on my routes to and from South Africa. I also buy a big bottle of water as the cuplet won't do it for me and eyeshades as they are penny pinching that they say you have to ask for them. It has become a lot of work especially that my average ticket price to SA was between £1300 and £1900 in Y (last minute without saturday night stay). And let's not ralk about the filthy old 744s. Had the pleasure to try AF to SA and it was great. Great food and plentiful. Eyeshades and better headphones are handed to customers. And you can even double upgrade to Business for 25.000 points if you are on the highest Y fares. Day and night.
Now shorthaul and longhaul are all AF or KL. Will probably downgrade from Gold to Silver on BA. Will probably stat silver thanks to Royal Jordanian. But hey there is a life outside BA. I hate penny pinching airlines. Sad cause BA was my favourite and was using for most of my business travel in the highest Y fares, you know the ones that have the biggest margin.
#73
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Join Date: Oct 2014
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I agree, some good points there Nallison. The airlines themselves glamourise the experience in their marketing - so people are bound to notice when they fail to deliver.
As for the comments about the Times - Isn't this simply Just a Parent who took her kids on holiday and wanted to report how disappointed they all were with the flight? It must be a bit difficult to explain to your children that there's no more food - and 11 hours is a long time. I must admit that I'm surprised, though - in WTP two weeks ago we had a hot meal plus afternoon tea on the 8 hour LGW- BGI flight. Presumably you get a lot less in Y.
As for the comments about the Times - Isn't this simply Just a Parent who took her kids on holiday and wanted to report how disappointed they all were with the flight? It must be a bit difficult to explain to your children that there's no more food - and 11 hours is a long time. I must admit that I'm surprised, though - in WTP two weeks ago we had a hot meal plus afternoon tea on the 8 hour LGW- BGI flight. Presumably you get a lot less in Y.
#74
Join Date: May 2010
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I didn't say that! Far from it. I love the 'thrills and glamour'.
#75
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By full meal my definition would be at least three substantial courses. In this article the journalist mistakenly, and without explanation of the assumption, believed that she would get a full (i.e. multi-course) lunch and later in the flight another full multi-course dinner.
My point is BA have never offered two full meals in any cabin on even the longest routes - a point which could easily have been fact checked.
My point is BA have never offered two full meals in any cabin on even the longest routes - a point which could easily have been fact checked.
I mean seriously, this is faintly ridiculous; a large meal can still be filling no matter how many servings into which it is partitioned.