New domestic CE standards (?)
 

Interesting one tonight on the (2 hour delayed) ABZ- LHR flight.

Asked for my usual vodka ginger after take off. It was taken to me pre-mixed. OK, I thought...... maybe they've thrown all the vodka in. Drank it. Asked for another one. Drank it again with the distinct lack of vodka. So asked for another one and said that the other two tasted like that had only sniffed the vodka bottle..... the response was:

"Sir, it's the new standard that we mix drinks in the galley and if you want the rest then we will give the rest of the bottle to you when you ask for another one."

I'm sorry, what? So BA are now giving their CE customers half measures from what they were used to in order to (presumably) cut costs........? Another race to the bottom story? Worth complaining? I'm fed up of the enhancements.

Ah, is this MF getting their service standards mixed up? On CW this is now the standard, but even on longhaul they should allow self mixing on request.

It's a joke whether its "getting their service standards mixed up" or whatever else.

We pay CE for a particular service, not half a service.

In Club World, the standard is to mix drinks in the galley, unless customers explicitly request to mix it themselves. It’s been this way for a little while now, since the beginning of the roll out of NCW.
I don’t believe this standard has filtered down to Club Europe but could be mistaken.
To be frank, on MF we operate on rather busy rosters with little down time between flights, both long and short haul. I’d say 70% of the short haul flights we operate, chances are we’ll be down the back anyway so we rarely work in CE, especially if we bid for and achieve a larger proportion of long haul trips. I think a little confusion about service standards is bound to happen, at least with less experienced crew.
Rest assured, we’re not deliberately short changing you or trying to cut your alcohol consumption. It’s also not BA cost cutting or whatever else. The crewmember has just made a small mistake, which is easily rectified by asking for the miniature to mix yourself (which is a double measure anyway, so you weren’t getting a half measure).

It's the same new catering, only newer.

I preferred their early stuff

There was nothing malicious in the drinks making (and certainly no cost saving drive), simply a confusion of standards between Club World and Club Europe. Longhual Club you shouldn't see any cans/miniatures in the cabin anymore.

I certainly wouldn't be getting unnecessarily upset by this. It probably won't happen again (until new standards, whatever they may be, do come in), but in the meantime if the drinks are being made in the galley (rather than served straight off the trolley), then simply ask to mix it yourself.

Training will consist of a few pages on the intranet, and hundreds of crew scrambling to find the one working printer that actually has paper and toner to print them out. We'll have a rummage around the trolleys when catering finally turns up to load the aircraft, and make it up as we go along. At least that's how it worked 18 months ago when they last 'enhanced' Club Europe.