Originally Posted by ianwall

As a minimum, bring it up to match the American Airlines offering.

Originally Posted by sammyg901

I think Air Asia has a pretty good model - a wide selection of extremely well priced pre order options that are handed out first, followed by the trolley. In countless flights I've never had an issue getting fed even if I didn't pre order. Admittedly its not M&S quality or many fresh options, but at least it's simple, quick and reliable

Originally Posted by subject2load

I'm a big fan of the Air Asia model, which I personally think is so far ahead of BA in terms of both concept and execution as to be embarrassing.

Whilst agreeing largely with your own comments here, I must say I certainly don't look at food on Air Asia flights and think "it's not M&S quality". No ....my overriding thought is how much more interesting Air Asia's pre-order, pre-paid hot food options are. There really is nothing remotely special about the M&S fare. It's perfectly respectable - but let's be honest, no more than that !

I have no illusions that BA are in any way minded to follow an Air Asia model ; and in all fairness, the logistics - and costs within Europe - could well prove to be prohibitive. So ..... as for suggestions on improving the current, very unsatisfactory BoB : I would say that a review of the most common criticisms and comments already made on the main thread will provide more than enough material. Addressing some of those would at least be a good start.

Originally Posted by secretplantofightinflation

Didn't we have this recently? I think a mod posted a thread asking for comments/thoughts/feedback on BoB (limited to one comment per poster).

I don't think the purpose of the thread was made explicitly clear, but I assume it was to feed back to BA. Perhaps one of the mods could provide the link, as it may be useful to OP?

Originally Posted by Sixth Freedom's Airline Pricing Strategy Co.

Airlines should avoid making these retail pricing mistakes
With the New Distribution Capability and it’s associated software coming on the scene, airlines are starting to think of themselves as retailers, selling a diverse set of products and services through their agents. But when airlines consider what prices to charge for their products, especially in the ancillary space, they should be cautious of seeking inspiration from the retailers because of three retail pricing practices that may be inappropriate for the industry.

Beware margins – focus on willingness to pay instead
At every stage of the retail supply chain, participants speak of margin as the be-all and end-all of pricing. For example, a chocolate brand owner may seek a 40% margin on sale to a wholesaler, who in turn will target a 20% margin on sale to a supermarket. Heading backwards through the supply chain, the supermarkets attempt to estimate costs for their suppliers and use these as part of an aggressive strategy to buy their goods at the cheapest “fair” price possible.

There are two general drawbacks with this approach:
(i) It is not clear why customer willingness to pay for a product or service should be related to it’s cost of production, which is what margin analysis is all about – airlines should consider carefully what customers may be willing to pay for ancillary products before trialling and improving a pricing strategy
(ii) Strict margins may not facilitate bundling into more profitable packages, which for a supermarket (or an airline offering buy-on-board catering) are meal deals, BOGOFs (buy-one-get-one-free) and other promotions – airlines should consider carefully whether they want passengers to buy products individually or as bundles before considering margins.

For airlines in particular, margin analysis is of limited value because:
(i) The intra-airline supply chain and associated costs of service (not least fuel burn and galley space optimisation) are much more complex than for a supermarket
(ii) Passengers may place widely varying values on the products offered due to different home locations and cultural heritages – ideally airlines will offer different bundles of products at different price points across all of their different routes.

Instead, airlines should use research and trial-improvement methods to gauge the customer willingness to pay that most profitably balances volume and yield.

Aggressive purchase behaviour can alienate suppliers
Supermarkets and airlines are well known for aggressive procurement strategies. And when airlines were including a product as free at the point of supply there might have been a case for this. However when passengers are being asked to pay for on-board food and beverage airlines may alienate their suppliers if they are seen to be pricing too aggressively, especially when the suppliers are used to standard retail prices and margins, which may be much lower than those required to successfully deliver a product in the logistically complex world of flight catering.

For buy-on-board catering, intra-product quality differentiators may be less preferable to inter-product variety
Supermarkets and airlines both love the good-better-best pricing model as whether a shopper is seeking to buy chocolate biscuits or cabin products, the presence of higher quality items (e.g. “Finest” for chocolate business, and business/first class for airlines) can cause some customers who would otherwise pay for the basic product only to buy up to a higher product/cabin because the presence of the higher tier makes the intermediate tier look like better value for money.

But when it comes to buy-on-board catering, limited galley space and potentially vast difference in passenger taste will most likely require that only one tier of each product can be offered. Airlines will have to think carefully about whether or not they should offer a higher quality product at a slightly higher price point (note that a high portion of the costs associated with airline catering are in logistics).

But most importantly, airlines will probably find that a wide variety of products (e.g. a pizza slice, a sandwich and a sweet treat) will cause passengers to provide more revenue than a selection of pizza slices of varying quality or just a pizza slice on it's own.