Tullstr

I have an upcoming flight in First on the 789 with my family of 5 and are currently the only ones booked in the cabin (5/8). Whilst we will all be pre-ordering our main meal, having reviewed the full menu there is only 1 of the 2 "primary" starter options that all our group would eat + we would all like soup as a second course.

On a recent 789 F flight only 4 of each "primary" starter were loaded + 2 soups (i was handed the menu with load amounts!!). You see the issue here..... 1 person left without a stater and 3 without soup (also assuming no more bookings).

Is it of any value contacting BA GGL and requesting that sufficient starter numbers are loaded in order for our group to enjoy a full meal service on an F ticket.

LondonCanuck

AFAIK, GGL won't be able to help you with that. I have had many experiences in First with insufficiently loaded meals (usually mains), and it varies on the route with what load (3 Wagyu beef on NRT-LHR in F cabin of 8, as an example).

When it comes to the soup, I wouldn't worry though. These are provided in large coffee-style thermoses, and there is usually plenty to go around...

I would just make sure that you all pre-order your mains to avoid disappointment...

Aus_Mal

It is sad that a First Class passenger has to post this! Sigh BA, Sigh.

710 77345

Sadly not, if you're not able to enjoy the 'other' starter I would suggest maybe taking some of your own starters on board - if you are the only ones in the cabin, and have friendly crew, they may be able to plate up and serve them to you.

orbitmic

Basically no, you will merely be wasting your time and increasing your own frustration. Better start negotiating hard with the team on a fair system of sharing or deciding who will not get their first choice.

Ancient Observer

And this is supposed to be First Class?
BA - really?

orbitmic

To be honest, I don't think BA is unique on that front. Apart from true exceptions like Garuda which will let you place pro-active orders in F, I can't think of many airline that would accommodate the OP's type of request. In fact I think that AF informally would (I'm amazed by some of the personalisation that their P line has proved capable of of late though I won't go into details) but with very few routes/planes with F and 4 pax per cabin in the 77W, they can engage in that level of personalisation; they also want to be 'best in class' (with far more crediblity than I admit I was predicting when they announced it) but at the cost of having few promotions (though there is one going on at the moment!) and highly protected and expensive award seats. Most other 'excellent' F products - including LH, JL, CX, LX, QR and SQ (bar their couple of book the cook starters) would likely politely explain that availability of specific starters cannot be guaranteed and stick to their usual loadings (which are admittedly more generous than BA's).

themax

Maybe a simple email to YouFirst the week before the flight might work? When my children were young Mrs themax used to email YouFirst to ask about what would be given to the children in the children's meals, and they were very accommodating (for a while there every children's meal in F was chicken nuggets and chips with chocolate dipped strawberries). YouFirst made sure that the kids got a decent meal instead of the usual junk food, and proactively did something. I don't know if this will be any help to the OP, but YouFirst CAN do something if they want to.

Often1

Pre-ordering benefits the carrier too. Starters are simply one more container. Once the technology is in place for one part of the meal, no reason it could not be done for other parts as well. If it comes to pass that OP's family are the only F pax and they all were able to pre-order their entire meal, that is all BA would have to load.

Jonnyboy68

worldtrav

Ha ha ha ha plonk.

That's me laughing my head off.

Tobias-UK

Aus_Mal

Well you are easily pleased. I'm sure many paying hefty F fares disagree with you...

Tobias-UK

Not sure what price a person pays for their ticket has to do with the topic, and they can't really disagree with my own personal experience because that is fact. I am pleased quite simply because there is no reason for me to be displeased.

LTN Phobia

I haven't either.

However, I have given up my choice a number of times for others who were disappointed, or offered to take whatever's left (it's good when I am undecided, and help the passenger and crew, so it's a triple win). I'm pretty omnivorous as well as indecisive when it comes to food, so it's to my advantage.

Not having the beef usually helps to avoid being disappointed with the choice issue, as well as avoiding being disappointed, full stop. I normally leave the beef disappointment to other passengers on all airlines, unless it is braised

I like my steak blue, so it's not something I can get on an aeroplane as it requires really high temperature to produce a desired result and the oven wouldn't do it.

I do think BA should encourage pre-selection more, and widen the coverage of pre-order routes so that there is less waste and disappointment.