makin'miles

CWS you're referring specifically to the training on the new meals/food, correct?

I would hope that now that we've seen additional routes announced for the bedding and amenity kits, the pace of rollout would clip up quickly. Can't imagine that this needs very much training.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes, for the Do&Co offering. There is a lot of new equipment involved, and a different style of service too. From past experience (e.g. the 787 launch) it may take some time for the crew to get the necessary level of experience. I think I've already made this point but for the crew it's like doing a completely new menu but also in a new kitchen - it's tricky to work out where everything is stored.

JAXBA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Can I help you

Bedding only.
Newark 5th December
Boston 8th December

Quote:

Originally Posted by T8191

Thanks for the update.

It still seems incredible that this is being rolled out so slowly, and in piecemeal fashion, and favouring the short TATL sectors instead of the more substantial (9-12 hour) ones. Do you have any clues as to why this seems to be so difficult to implement fleet-wide?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nuster

a very good point - why not the longer premium routes? Each set will deliver more bang for its buck that way.

I imagine a reason that EWR/BOS are following JFK is because those routes can be somewhat interchangeable (JFK/EWR more so than NYC/BOS of course), and BA like to group things together in the same way that JFK flights get new products first - someone making a date/time change between JFK flights would hope to have the same product on their new flight - adding EWR/BOS means those flights get closer to the JFK product, slowly but surely.

Yes, pax do change flights between JFK/BOS. And back again.

Yes, pax can make decisions on which BA flight they choose based on blankets, catering, etc.

Yes, the bedding roll out is slow!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Can I help you

The fifth and sixth route for the new bedding will be San Francisco and San Jose.

Again, somewhat interchangeable. LAX is probably not too far behind those. I'd guess we'd then see other long routes progressively added, with PHL/BWI/IAD mixed in to complement EWR/JFK and then mid-Africa routes and LGW towards the end. Depends how long the rollout is strung out I suppose.

Can I help you

The new destinations are bedding only so I think this will be introduced on other routes fairly quickly, however the new catering and service routines are a huge problem, they are badly thought out and difficult to deliver, BA has some serious rethinking to do before any other route is introduced.

subject2load

Sounds like the rollout will almost certainly take quite some time. I’m disappointed and think it’s a real shame, but can see your point re logistics.

Feedback from those experiencing the new catering on JFK sectors has been extremely positive - albeit with concerns about the slow pace of service. Looks impressive in photos.

I was very hopeful that this long-overdue revamp marked a big step forward, along with the (for me) much bigger, more important step of the promised new seating & all-aisle access. But now it seems that a genuinely improved CW product (one which could tempt many of us away from other OW options) is a fair way off.

Can I help you

I predict that there will be some major changes in the service before it is rolled out to any other route.

Toxigal

I flew LHR to IAD (after my BWI flight was cancelled) last week and had an excellent Italian red wine. I was too lazy to dig out my phone to take a picture of the menu and of course i don't remember what it was.

If anyone can help me out there might be a bottle of excellent Italian red wine in it for them

corporate-wage-slave

Teanum Otre Primitivo 2016, Puglia? It's got a section of a compass on the label.

sts603

wait seriously? Has JFK gone the way of PHL with just sandwiches and salads in the club dining room?

Toxigal

you are my hero! That is it!

I'd seriously love to send you a bottle but you should know, i do not have refined wine tastes or anything. I just looked it up and it's a ridiculously cheap wine!

rossmacd

No, in fairness, it has not. But the offering when I flew this week was very poor. The usual salad was there (not bad as far as salad goes), the (in)famous grilled cheese sandwiches and a chicken breast dish that was swimming in grease, served with roasted new potatoes. Then the horrible crumbled cheese as normal.

So still better than PHL overall.

corporate-wage-slave

I'm a notorious total abstainer in this parish, so I think you are off the hook on this one.

nh1980

From a catering perspective I had what I believe was a modified version of the new service on BA114 sleeper last night i.e. hand delivered from galley to those eating only rather than wheeling the trolley out. The 2 staff on the UD managed this really well between them, walking briskly back and forth in the dark to deliver the service and very pro-active. The presentation was excellent, the new menus are beautifully done and the new crockery looks great - really liked the salad, bread bowl and salt/pepper/butter trio at the top. Whilst I like the water glass, I prefer wine glasses with stems rather than tumblers. I had the salmon avocado with yuzu starter and the ox cheek main both were really good though I didn't personally feel shiraz or pinot noir suited the main well.

The bedding was great, the soft duvet and new pillow were definitely an improvement and nicely presented in the White Co grey bag rather than just plastic wrap, I was less impressed by the weird shape and thickness of the mattress pad. The amenity kit bag was a big step up from the hideous shoe bag though still tiny servings of toothpaste and no mouthwash, nice new eyeshades though!

(As for the pre-flight dining at JFK, it has been downgraded from what I remember 2 or 3 years ago. There used to be staff pro-actively dishing out food, even yesterday there were supposedly custom "grain bowls" that staff were meant to mix up, or you could request specific combos of curry and rice, but no one was around in kitchen whites to provide - instead dried up forlorn-looking bowls of curry and rice had been pre-filled and left under the heat lamps. The roast chicken however was delicious and in fact, the toasted turkey sandwich was really good! I didn't drink much in the lounge but it was rather sad to see that while AA offers a jumbo sized ice bucket full of Bollinger and Taittinger bottles in the T8 flagship, the best BA offered was what looked like (from afar, identical green bottle and orange labels - the resemblance is surely not a coincidence made by Purchasing department) a couple bottles of Veuve, but turned out to be a bad prosecco which I felt like spitting out after one sip).

T8191

So far it seems all my personal hopes are dashed. We don't do NYC and the others around there, so as far as catering is concerned I will just have to hope I live long enough to experience it (once it has been debugged).

As to the bedding, I gather there has been some sort of problem with the roll-out fleet-wide. Oh, God, if BA can't even procure and distribute new blankets and pillows, what are they doing running an airline?

I'm just so disappointed, when things seemed to be starting to look up. Our future plans continue to include as little BA l/h as practical, although not easy to avoid given their Caribbean coverage with the random old 777s

nh1980

I may have missed some chat on this but I'm failing to see why the bedding and amenity kits can't be rolled out very quickly across all routes at both airports now - it's surely just a supply and distribution issue? From a training perspective I imagine staff need to be prepared and firm on stowage for landing (making announcements, reminding or being aware of any unused space elsewhere to stow it quickly) as the bedding does get bulkier once unwrapped. It was fine in the civilised low density environs of the UD but might be a shambles if not managed properly in the 8 across 777 dorm. It doesn't make the seat any bigger or the cabin feel less dense vs. the competition but it's a small improvement for now.