HighLife shop to close on Euro services
 

I was speaking to a BA eurofleet crew member yesterday and was advised that Highlife Shop will be closing for good on all Euro services in January 2018. Apparently the soon to arrive A321 NEO's will have very restricted galley space and to bring all Euro services in line, on board purchases will be reduced to those of a M&S nature only.

I guess my RFS ciggie runs to Switzerland were good while they lasted ☺

Makes sense from a space rationalisation, customer bother and probably financially as well (rarely see anyone purchasing anything).
Arent your ciggie trips cheaper to buy at the GVA or ZRH duty free shops anyway (including arrivals which have great selections)?

There not a great deal in it cost wise - still worth a day out to ZRH/GVA/BSL compared to duty paid prices in the UK. The additional sweetener for me with Highlife shop is zero exchange rates/fees when purchasing on board in £ as opposed to at the airport in CHF plus the additional Avios earned with Highlife shop. My better half also usually finds something to purchase on most flights... usually some sort of cosmetic.

I am led to believe that the fall-out from this could be even more severe, as the space available is smaller than anyone had previously realised. There is quite a serious debate raging over whether it is better to cap CE at a certain small-ish row limit (and take a hit on CE revenue/Avios availability) or load even less BOB stock (and annoy ET pax some more). The fact that it could easily be resolved by a return to outstation catering doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone.

Or... larger galleys, considering that 180Y and a full load of bags will bring the plane close to MTOW in certain cases, with forced reductions in seat occupancy.

As always trying to do too many things at the same time and consistently failing.

Amen! Maybe slightly less ridiculous toilet issues in Y as BoB+shopping sometimes blocked the aisle for the entire flight!

Should not be issue on NEOs as no trolley tops will be used meaning you should be able to get past trolleys like on easyJet!

Here's a thought - if this happens they could perhaps install proper 2x2 seating. Like AA domestic F.

Won't the removal of Duty Free reduce the earnings of crew who, as I understand it, were paid commission on sales?

It all shambles. I work for a big IT/Network company. The thing you do in a transformation is to study the customer journey from explore and buying until checking out. You want to make sure that you don't forget any aspect of operation and customer experience as you do your transformation. One area of transformation might impact others you might have not thought about. BA has done the worst in that it focused on cost cutting everywhere without assessing the impacts. That's why they are not able to provide BoB at LCY, a decent meal in Y on flights to DME and Duty Free sales in Europe. Cramming more seats, reducing galley space, insistig on everything needed to be paid in ET has lead to operational difficulties and falling customer ratings.

Odd thing to do just as we are leaving the EU and (presumably) duty free shopping will return for UK - EU flights.

Is this really an issue? Wizz manages just fine - and with a significantly longer average sector length - and BA's AMM/BEY ex-BMED flights have a higher weight from the fittings and cargo and don't suffer. Well, it could become an issue if BA try to cut back on costs by declaring a lower MTOW again (as they did on some of the A319s...), but that's solved through paperwork!
It'll be capped 'up to', not 'at'... they will want to keep the flexibility to have more Y when required.
And yes, it probably will.
Companies are still hoping for a 'best case' Brexit (despite our government's apparent best efforts to move away from one!), which will mean staying in a Customs union.

It won't be missed by me. Mainly just junk I don't need being sold, so will be nice to not have it on short routes where most people don't buy anything.

Good news, always felt rather sorry for the crew dragging a cart of overpriced junk down the cabin to be ignored by 95%+ of pax.

It allegedly came from Airbus... I'm not involved in the project if not incidentally and marginally, but on certain sectors it seems that it might possibly create some sort of issue.

As for the MED... They do suffer, especially with excess bags on those lovely AMM and BEY and that extra fuel tank.

Thanks for the clarification ^