LTN Phobia

President and Elle et Vire have been making occasional appearances before on LHR/LGW respectively. I am thinking that they may well be just a temporary fill-in as they have been doing from time to time.

And even then, I don't particularly rate President butter highly. It's not exactly Echire... I'd rather have normal salted English butter in any case, uncouth as it may be.

I do very much object to the loss of fruit for breakfast though. I'm happy to give up the muesli in return for getting the fruit back.

(If I remember correctly, muesli has been part of Band 4 breakfast for LGW for some time anyway, so assuming the fruit is gone from Long LGW breakfast flight, it is a net loss in any case.)

Totally random comment but Kerrygold seems to be the main brand of salted butter stocked at Arkadia in Malta. I like it (I get my stock for Italy from there).

JetSetC

Dang, I came across your post earlier but scrolling quickly through just thought 'oh, that's the new starter option, nice enough I guess'. I'm stunned how anyone can call 3/4 of a tomato and some pieces of mozzarella lunch

Found myself on a Luxair flight the other day which had coffee, cremant and a salad sandwich in economy, for a flight under an hour. When I get pretty much the same service on an economy flight for half the price as I do with BA CE, there's a bit of a problem with the 'premium' offering. Heck, Luxair even threw in newspapers and the now-possibly-enhanced refreshing wipe.

When I get a full meal on a plate, at least it feels premium. Alas, not anymore. If the meals stay the same and with no means to avoid them, I think it will be one more CE flight for me, to get silver, and then sitting back in ET from then on out...

acjflyer

For comparison, this was today's business class meal on a Lufthansa flight from FRA to LHR with a 10 am departure. The only cutback I've seen on Lufthansa in the last few months that they no longer have cloth napkins, but now use paper napkins on domestic and European short-haul services since the beginning of the year.

ukgooner

Yes - their business Euro food was always more minimal. Im glad Ba don't mix sweet and savoury on the same plate! That passion fruit yogurt thing is better than the BA pot equivalent though.

ba_cityflyer

Hello from Heathrow, where I have just flown in from Prague. Naturally I was delighted to learn that British Airways have made big improvements to Club Toastie Europe on my flight today.

Previously, I would receive a hot meal on such a band 3 lunchtime flight. For example, it may have been cod with mash and minted peas, a fillet of salmon with tagliatelle, or perhaps a piece of pork belly. These meals were often vastly too filling, resulting in wastage and the associated damaging environmental concerns.

So, how was the new-improved flight?

The first noticeable improvement was that I was offered my meal choice before any drink. It is great to see that BA have removed this cumbersome drinks run. As all good restaurant-owners knows, diners should always be served their meal before any water or wine.

The second improvement I discovered was in the new improved meal choice. I was offered a choice of a salad, or a cheese and tomato panini; BA are assisting with my weight-loss programme. Excellent! Thankfully the panini was sufficiently unappealing that it forces me to take the healthy salad option - top marks here.

The third improvement was the reduced portion-size, thus furthering my weight-loss programme. After years of complaints about the three-prawn salad on short-haul, I was delighted to learn that BA have finally listened to this feedback and improved this.

The solitary prawn in my one-prawn salad was firmer and tastier, albeit a tad overcooked. It was well complemented by the sweet and succulent half-slice of a baby cherry tomato, which was plump and with improved flavour. The sprig of a salad leaf added a beautiful bouquet of colour, and the empty side plate improved the Feng Shui of the amuse-bouche meal.

The fourth improvement was the removal of miniature wine bottles; assisting with my New Year's resolution to reduce my alcohol consumption. As I discovered to my delight, serving wine by hand into thimble-sized glasses limits the amount I can consume, as it requires frequent top-ups from an otherwise busy crew. Furthermore, the round-catering and inability to chill wine makes me even more likely to avoid the Champagne or white. Splendid!

All in all, a big improvement. ^

I love BA!

dsk7

Took the BA 817 yday from CPH to LHR which departs at 1630. Dislike BA's afternoon tea so had gone for the Gluten Free special meal. Was expecting the normal chicken and faux-rice Asian inspired salad, but instead got a mozzarella, tomato and pesto dish which was awesome. Standard afternoon tea was offered, as was a "Ploughman's", which had a scotch egg, stilton, and cold cuts.

I like the new service routine but I can't help but feel like it's wasteful. Hate the idea of them having to pour out an opened bottle of champagne after each flight.

shefgab

I was on the inaugural TLL-LHR yesterday, what would have been Band 3, now "long". Departure time was 1355, so narrowly missing old afternoon tea time.

[OT, but no lounge in TLL, and there won't be a contract signed (apparently on any new seasonal route)]

7 of us in Club, and 2 crew serving on this A321, so a good crew/pax ratio.

No menus handed out, magazines were, but only much later on in the flight when they were discovered. The crew had no idea they were loaded. Menus might have been hidden away somewhere. Blankets (but no pillows) were on the seats.

First drinks run, no champagne on the trolley, but I guess it's on demand (I saw an open bottle in the galley later). I was asked if I wanted a "small or large" rum & coke. I went with a large.


Next the (small) tray came out, complete with starter, cheese, dessert and cutlery. I didn't notice much difference with the cutlery, maybe not worth a multimillion pound investment. Bread was offered. The starter was melon with single prawn, pre-peppered with raspberry sauce. I thought the pepper ruined the dish. Speaking to the crew clearing, she agreed that it was an odd mix.


The cutlery set came with S&P and wet wipe (someone mentioned it had vanished?). Butter was French


Next the main came out, a choice of cod (?) or chicken with rataouille and cheesy gnocchi (bizarre mix), but it was all pretty tasty. More bread was offered.


Zoomed in


The cheese wasn't to my taste. It would have been nice to have two half portions (didn't there used to be two proper slivers?) rather than one bigger one in case you don't like that type of cheese? Dessert (some sort of chocolate cake) was delicious.

Tea/coffee offered after lunch. I went with a peppermint, which was good. I don't like the rim on the new cup, but the overall shape makes much more sense. I do miss the nice blue pictures on the cup though.


The drinks were free flowing for the rest of the flight, and the crew were very friendly and approachable.


Overall, I thought the new system was pretty good, there was plenty of food. I thought that bringing out the starter/dessert/cheese at the same time was a little odd (but certainly not unknown in Business Class catering). I don't understand why desserts and cheese can't be loaded separtately from the starters, then brought out on their own at the end. Seeing as the trays are so much emptier now, they could even get rid of them entirely, and just use the existing tray liner as a place mat. That would seem more premium?

I was talking to the crew later in the galley, and whislt they seemed happy with the improved food visually, they said they were embarassed to serve the new medium food, as there just wasn't enough loaded. One of them also said she was very sad to see the scones go ("isn't that what afternoon tea is all about?!").

hugolover

Ooo, PRG was the sweet spot in the RFS that it always had a nice hot meal.

I think BA is actually trying to get you to pile the weight on with those delicious premium carbs from the panini but don't worry too much, the panini gets only one brushing of premium pesto paste to not overbear the flavour and the extra few cals. I'm happy you took the delicious salad, but can you comment on how firm the chicken was? Would you judge it to be free range? I note it to be very delicately placed, real care and attention was given to this before it was dispatched from the Luton (or wherever it is ) premium BA kitchens.

My BA three prawn salad moniker has really taken off!

Commendations for managing to fill so much space cataloguing subtle improvements that only a true regular would notice .

Tobias-UK

Firstly, many thanks for the excellent review of the product. Well written and very useful.

Are my eyes deceiving me or do I see new cocktail glasses that have actually grown in size?

Lefly

I am sad for the PRG flight, as I will have one late August on brunch time with the family. I think no one will be happy with that quantity...
On the other side, the TLL flight seems to have a nice meal with good portions.

It's a real shame for the outcome on medium flights...

edi-traveller

Can we ask for the wine and champagne to be served in one of those giant glasses rather than the thimble shaped wine glasses.

shefgab

No problem! Glass size? Hmmm, if they are larger, then I didn't notice. They're still half the size of the one I'm drinking out of at the moment! (and it's not a pint glass!)

Tobias-UK

Hahaha. not a bad idea!

Tobias-UK

Looking at your photographs, the G&T glass does look significantly bigger than the Bacardi glass. I was told bigger glasses were coming, but reports above say that they are not. Your photo suggests there are larger glasses available, I hope so. The normal ones are just too small to mix a decent G&T.

shefgab

I haven't actually flown CE since last summer so my memories of the previous glass are not terribly clear, especially as you can see the normal contents!

You certainly can't put 2 ice cubes in + can + bottle though, so still not massive glasses.