Apr 16, 2017, 1:12 pm
Last edit by: corporate-wage-slave
Club Europe Catering Guide 2017.
This thread outlines the new arrangements for Club Europe catering, introduced on Sunday 26 March 2017 and due to end on Tuesday 11 September 2018, based on 3 zones. A new Club Europe catering product is due to be launch on Wednesday 12 September 2018, and this is based on 4 bands. The main information piece - in terms of timings and the distance zones for the meals can be found in post 1. The following cross references the photos below against the matrix of options. In addition to the photos, some FTers have written extensively on their experiences so there is more to this thread than the pictures. Also note that there was an increase in food offered on some combinations shortly after the start-up, so the more recent photos may be the best place to start.The previous shorthaul catering guide, now locked but which had the previous 4 band system, is to be found here.
Numbers relate to the post number. Vegetarian means the alternative option provided as standard rather than the pre-ordered versions - which are VLML (Lacto-ovo), AVML (Asia) and VGML (Vegan) . There are differences between the offering in/out of LHR, LGW, LCY+STN. Last update: 833
-------------------------
Note posts before 1-832 are typically the April 2017 menu. 833 and above is from the menu for May 2017.
----
Chef's Chat sheets for:
CE LHR Summer 2017 - Rotation A
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28338151-post954.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28339641-post958.html
-----.
Short Band (UK, France, Ireland, BeNeLux, Germany)
Breakfast: 279, 570 (vegetarian), 629, 674, 821 (Express breakfast for MAN and LBA), 1343 (Vegan), 2285 (Express for LBA and MAN), 2445
Brunch: 180, 289, 469, 563, 685, 716, 2625 (AVML)
Lunch: 207, 545 (diabetic), 644 (first photo), 680 (VLML), 802, 928, 1322 (Kosher), 2284
Afternoon tea: 339, 404 (vegetarian), 480, 600 (VLML), 710 (including low lactose), 800, 882 (gluten free), 1281, 1322 (Kosher), 1673, 2679 (Kosher), 2792
Dinner: 563, 630 (VGML), 669 (Kosher Passover), 771 (VGML LCY) 799, 819 (AVML), 833 (May 2017 menu), 1283, 1287, 1674, 2446, 2616 (Kosher), 2793
Comments on difference between AVML and VLML here.
-----
Medium Band (e.g. Madrid, Nice, Prague, Copenhagen)
Breakfast: 645 (vegetarian), 724 (vegetarian), 1003
Brunch: 199 (VLML), 600 (VLML), 659 (Kosher Passover)
Lunch: 239 (child), 251, 425, 641, 733
Afternoon tea: 332 (also includes vegetarian), 426 (GFML), 813 (Muslim)
Dinner: 456, 551 (also includes VLML), 666, 1004,
1278
-----
Long Band (e.g. Lisbon, Rome, Warsaw, Stockholm).
Breakfast: 195 (vegetarian)
Rest of the day: 306 (LFML), 345, 427, 443, 468, 597, 676, 687, 695, 783 (VLML)
======
NOT MAINTAINED AND OUT OF DATE: The complete Short Haul meal structure for the longer flights as of October 2017 is:
LHR
Meal 1: Chicken / red pepper risotto
Meal 2: Beef cheek
Meal 3: Chicken supreme / gnocchi
Meal 4: Miso glazed cod
Meal 5: Chicken khao soi
Meal 6: Hot smoked salmon linguine
LGW
Meal 1: Thyme roasted chicken
Meal 2: Spicy corn and paneer masala
Meal 3: Thai Penang chicken curry
Meal 4: Roasted red pepper tortellini
Meal 5: Beef and mushroom caserole
Meal 6: Tomato and four cheeses tortellini
Structured into:
Rotation A
LHR outbound
Meal 3
Meal 4
inbound to LHR
Meal 5
Meal 6
Rotation B
LHR outbound
Meal 5
Meal 6
inbound to LHR
Meal 1
Meal 2
Rotation C
LHR outbound
Meal 1
Meal 2
inbound to LHR
Meal 3
Meal 4
===
October 2017 = Rotation C
November 2017 = Rotation A
December 2017 = Rotation B
January 2018 = Rotation C
etc
This thread outlines the new arrangements for Club Europe catering, introduced on Sunday 26 March 2017 and due to end on Tuesday 11 September 2018, based on 3 zones. A new Club Europe catering product is due to be launch on Wednesday 12 September 2018, and this is based on 4 bands. The main information piece - in terms of timings and the distance zones for the meals can be found in post 1. The following cross references the photos below against the matrix of options. In addition to the photos, some FTers have written extensively on their experiences so there is more to this thread than the pictures. Also note that there was an increase in food offered on some combinations shortly after the start-up, so the more recent photos may be the best place to start.The previous shorthaul catering guide, now locked but which had the previous 4 band system, is to be found here.
Numbers relate to the post number. Vegetarian means the alternative option provided as standard rather than the pre-ordered versions - which are VLML (Lacto-ovo), AVML (Asia) and VGML (Vegan) . There are differences between the offering in/out of LHR, LGW, LCY+STN. Last update: 833
-------------------------
Note posts before 1-832 are typically the April 2017 menu. 833 and above is from the menu for May 2017.
----
Chef's Chat sheets for:
CE LHR Summer 2017 - Rotation A
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28338151-post954.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28339641-post958.html
-----.
Short Band (UK, France, Ireland, BeNeLux, Germany)
Breakfast: 279, 570 (vegetarian), 629, 674, 821 (Express breakfast for MAN and LBA), 1343 (Vegan), 2285 (Express for LBA and MAN), 2445
Brunch: 180, 289, 469, 563, 685, 716, 2625 (AVML)
Lunch: 207, 545 (diabetic), 644 (first photo), 680 (VLML), 802, 928, 1322 (Kosher), 2284
Afternoon tea: 339, 404 (vegetarian), 480, 600 (VLML), 710 (including low lactose), 800, 882 (gluten free), 1281, 1322 (Kosher), 1673, 2679 (Kosher), 2792
Dinner: 563, 630 (VGML), 669 (Kosher Passover), 771 (VGML LCY) 799, 819 (AVML), 833 (May 2017 menu), 1283, 1287, 1674, 2446, 2616 (Kosher), 2793
Comments on difference between AVML and VLML here.
-----
Medium Band (e.g. Madrid, Nice, Prague, Copenhagen)
Breakfast: 645 (vegetarian), 724 (vegetarian), 1003
Brunch: 199 (VLML), 600 (VLML), 659 (Kosher Passover)
Lunch: 239 (child), 251, 425, 641, 733
Afternoon tea: 332 (also includes vegetarian), 426 (GFML), 813 (Muslim)
Dinner: 456, 551 (also includes VLML), 666, 1004,
1278
-----
Long Band (e.g. Lisbon, Rome, Warsaw, Stockholm).
Breakfast: 195 (vegetarian)
Rest of the day: 306 (LFML), 345, 427, 443, 468, 597, 676, 687, 695, 783 (VLML)
======
NOT MAINTAINED AND OUT OF DATE: The complete Short Haul meal structure for the longer flights as of October 2017 is:
LHR
Meal 1: Chicken / red pepper risotto
Meal 2: Beef cheek
Meal 3: Chicken supreme / gnocchi
Meal 4: Miso glazed cod
Meal 5: Chicken khao soi
Meal 6: Hot smoked salmon linguine
LGW
Meal 1: Thyme roasted chicken
Meal 2: Spicy corn and paneer masala
Meal 3: Thai Penang chicken curry
Meal 4: Roasted red pepper tortellini
Meal 5: Beef and mushroom caserole
Meal 6: Tomato and four cheeses tortellini
Structured into:
Rotation A
LHR outbound
Meal 3
Meal 4
inbound to LHR
Meal 5
Meal 6
Rotation B
LHR outbound
Meal 5
Meal 6
inbound to LHR
Meal 1
Meal 2
Rotation C
LHR outbound
Meal 1
Meal 2
inbound to LHR
Meal 3
Meal 4
===
October 2017 = Rotation C
November 2017 = Rotation A
December 2017 = Rotation B
January 2018 = Rotation C
etc
Club Europe catering guide
Apr 22, 2017, 12:39 am
#751
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: UK
Programs: BA Gold, AA 1MM lifetime gold, Starwood gold, Marriott Gold Elite
Posts: 719
I was quite impressed with the CE offering on MAD-LHR, where the actual flying time was 1 hr 50 min. Consisted of a cold salad of 3 slices of chicken, a tablespoon of coronation chicken, 1 large prawn sitting on some sort of (? cucumber) coleslaw, a bit of lettuce and a half cherry tomato. The warm bread roll accompanied it well. The tray also contained a cheese plate that contained a single piece of Stilton, single oatmeal biscuit and some chutney. There was also a tiny but adequate dessert (cinnamon apple crumble).
Overall, i was not hungry afterwards and it was a lunchtime flight.
I do prefer the previous system of giving out individual 1/4 bottles of champagne rather than the current system of pouring from a large bottle. Under the old system, on a flight of around 2 hours, I would happily have enjoyed a couple of 1/4 bottles (and rarely a third one if my wife wasn't looking) but under the new system, with in excess of 50 passengers to serve on a 777 (both CW and F cabins used), I only managed 1 glass of champagne that was served just before my meal. No water was served nor were there any top ups of drinks. The crew were working hard so I think this was due to high volume of passengers. I did pop to the galley and get a second glass as the captain announced 40 min to landing.
Serving champagne from the full bottle may look more 'premium', but I think overall, BA will save more money this way as customers simply won't have the opportunity to drink as much as before.
Overall, i was not hungry afterwards and it was a lunchtime flight.
I do prefer the previous system of giving out individual 1/4 bottles of champagne rather than the current system of pouring from a large bottle. Under the old system, on a flight of around 2 hours, I would happily have enjoyed a couple of 1/4 bottles (and rarely a third one if my wife wasn't looking) but under the new system, with in excess of 50 passengers to serve on a 777 (both CW and F cabins used), I only managed 1 glass of champagne that was served just before my meal. No water was served nor were there any top ups of drinks. The crew were working hard so I think this was due to high volume of passengers. I did pop to the galley and get a second glass as the captain announced 40 min to landing.
Serving champagne from the full bottle may look more 'premium', but I think overall, BA will save more money this way as customers simply won't have the opportunity to drink as much as before.
Apr 22, 2017, 7:48 am
#752
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 116
Question now is whether to go for diabetic for the veggie sushi as it looks so yummy
Apr 22, 2017, 8:38 am
#753
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,426
Lhr Muc today the beef panino or the salad with prawns, had the panino but left most of it. Spoke with crew later, who admitted they thought the M&S is much better and indeed some CE customers buy on board and we agreed the new pastrami sandwich from M&S is really good. I said if I pay for CE I am not going to pay £5 for my meal as well, which they admitted was fair enough and even suggested that it would make more sense to make the M&S part of CE catering for free, to which I replied bingo.
Apr 22, 2017, 8:41 am
#754
Join Date: Nov 2011
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,222
Lhr Muc today the beef panino or the salad with prawns, had the panino but left most of it. Spoke with crew later, who admitted they thought the M&S is much better and indeed some CE customers buy on board and we agreed the new pastrami sandwich from M&S is really good. I said if I pay for CE I am not going to pay £5 for my meal as well, which they admitted was fair enough and even suggested that it would make more sense to make the M&S part of CE catering for free, to which I replied bingo.
Apr 22, 2017, 8:48 am
#755
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,426
the current panino and some ... on the side can't cost him more than £2 by my reckoning.
Apr 23, 2017, 5:11 am
#756
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Surrey, UK
Programs: BA Gold, *A Gold, IHG Platinum
Posts: 653
BA992 LHR-TXL, Brunch service. From what I remember not too much difference from the previous brunch offering aside from the presentation. The other option was the panini:
BA987 TXL-LHR, Dinner service. Went for the cheese and tomato panini and I don't really understand what people are complaining about - I quite liked it. My only gripe is that its almost identical to what I was served on a TK flight between IST-SKP last month in Economy. But other than that, I enjoyed it more than what I was served on my previous CE flights in January.
BA987 TXL-LHR, Dinner service. Went for the cheese and tomato panini and I don't really understand what people are complaining about - I quite liked it. My only gripe is that its almost identical to what I was served on a TK flight between IST-SKP last month in Economy. But other than that, I enjoyed it more than what I was served on my previous CE flights in January.
Apr 23, 2017, 5:20 am
#757
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: EL AL Matmid, BA Executive Club GfL, GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Avis President's Club
Posts: 2,085
2) In my experience, having flown mainly EL AL for more than 10 years in business and first, and BA for the past 2 years, the BA meals in business and first (KSML) are more generous than the EL AL ones. Our children report the same for economy.
Another major difference, which is a significant bonus for very frequent flyers, is that EL AL always serve the same menu, whereas the KSML on BA has a degree of rotation built in, at least for the main course, but also to a lesser extent, for the starter and dessert.
Apr 23, 2017, 6:59 am
#758
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,188
BA987 TXL-LHR, Dinner service. Went for the cheese and tomato panini and I don't really understand what people are complaining about - I quite liked it. My only gripe is that its almost identical to what I was served on a TK flight between IST-SKP last month in Economy. But other than that, I enjoyed it more than what I was served on my previous CE flights in January.
Apr 23, 2017, 7:37 am
#759
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,499
1) Hermolis does NOT supply LY (EL AL). There was a period when they did supply LY First Class meals (and no other classes) from LHR, but that ended about 10 years ago.
2) In my experience, having flown mainly EL AL for more than 10 years in business and first, and BA for the past 2 years, the BA meals in business and first (KSML) are more generous than the EL AL ones. Our children report the same for economy.
Another major difference, which is a significant bonus for very frequent flyers, is that EL AL always serve the same menu, whereas the KSML on BA has a degree of rotation built in, at least for the main course, but also to a lesser extent, for the starter and dessert.
2) In my experience, having flown mainly EL AL for more than 10 years in business and first, and BA for the past 2 years, the BA meals in business and first (KSML) are more generous than the EL AL ones. Our children report the same for economy.
Another major difference, which is a significant bonus for very frequent flyers, is that EL AL always serve the same menu, whereas the KSML on BA has a degree of rotation built in, at least for the main course, but also to a lesser extent, for the starter and dessert.
Apr 23, 2017, 8:21 am
#760
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: London
Programs: BA LtG, Flying Blue Plat
Posts: 274
Afternoon meal is again the weakest: Sandwiches have reduced(!) in portion size. Ploughmans comes with the packaged, rock-hard rye bread - how can we be offered fresh warm bread at breakfast and with the dinner panini on a band 1, but not when it would be most appreciated, maybe they could throw in some scones while they're at it?
On all band 1s I've had it's been warm towel on the ground, food out on the trolley immediately after TO followed by drinks run - trays hand cleared and no issues with 2nd or even 3rd drinks run (even with 7 rows of CE on a 40 minute flight).
Apr 23, 2017, 8:40 am
#761
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: EL AL Matmid, BA Executive Club GfL, GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond, Avis President's Club
Posts: 2,085
Ah. I forgot. I think that EL AL do use Hermolis for their Saturday night flights from London. All other flights have their meals sourced from TLV, but as they do not fly on the Sabbath (from Friday evening for 25 hours) those meals would be expired by the time of the return flight so they source them in London from Hermolis.
Apr 23, 2017, 9:14 am
#762
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,550
Had this once - refused it 2nd and 3rd times. on GLA, CDG and TXL routes. Processed rubbish.
Afternoon meal is again the weakest: Sandwiches have reduced(!) in portion size. Ploughmans comes with the packaged, rock-hard rye bread - how can we be offered fresh warm bread at breakfast and with the dinner panini on a band 1, but not when it would be most appreciated, maybe they could throw in some scones while they're at it?
On all band 1s I've had it's been warm towel on the ground, food out on the trolley immediately after TO followed by drinks run - trays hand cleared and no issues with 2nd or even 3rd drinks run (even with 7 rows of CE on a 40 minute flight).
Afternoon meal is again the weakest: Sandwiches have reduced(!) in portion size. Ploughmans comes with the packaged, rock-hard rye bread - how can we be offered fresh warm bread at breakfast and with the dinner panini on a band 1, but not when it would be most appreciated, maybe they could throw in some scones while they're at it?
On all band 1s I've had it's been warm towel on the ground, food out on the trolley immediately after TO followed by drinks run - trays hand cleared and no issues with 2nd or even 3rd drinks run (even with 7 rows of CE on a 40 minute flight).
Apr 23, 2017, 9:21 am
#763
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 11,550
BA987 TXL-LHR, Dinner service. Went for the cheese and tomato panini and I don't really understand what people are complaining about - I quite liked it. My only gripe is that its almost identical to what I was served on a TK flight between IST-SKP last month in Economy. But other than that, I enjoyed it more than what I was served on my previous CE flights in January.
Apr 23, 2017, 9:54 am
#764
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: EMA
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 78
Domestic Low Lactose Dinner
Flying back to LHR tomorrow then connecting to MAN on an evening flight (in CE).
Can't book a special meal online so Mr M17SST called the gold line;
The - verbatim - response was:
"It's buy on board so you have to pay for it"
Explained we were in CE.
"It's only a 40 minute flight, you'll get whatever we've loaded on the plane"
Asked if that was the case for vegetarians etc.
Was put on hold.
"It's a bacon roll or a croissant and fruit"
Asked if that was definitely the dinner menu as it sounds like breakfast.
"Yes, definitely".
Hung up and I called the GGL line.
"Meal choices aren't available on this flight"
Asked to check.
"Oh yes I think we can do that - I'll try and see how".
Whole exchange was baffling. I think I've got a low lactose dinner booked for LHR-MAN but not entirely sure what I'll end up with!
Can't book a special meal online so Mr M17SST called the gold line;
The - verbatim - response was:
"It's buy on board so you have to pay for it"
Explained we were in CE.
"It's only a 40 minute flight, you'll get whatever we've loaded on the plane"
Asked if that was the case for vegetarians etc.
Was put on hold.
"It's a bacon roll or a croissant and fruit"
Asked if that was definitely the dinner menu as it sounds like breakfast.
"Yes, definitely".
Hung up and I called the GGL line.
"Meal choices aren't available on this flight"
Asked to check.
"Oh yes I think we can do that - I'll try and see how".
Whole exchange was baffling. I think I've got a low lactose dinner booked for LHR-MAN but not entirely sure what I'll end up with!
Apr 23, 2017, 10:12 am
#765
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Bridport, Dorset
Programs: Mucci, BA Bronze, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,127
They were serving 1/4 bottles of Champagne on my recent LHR EDI flight