Genius1

This is a sign of lazy or unknowledgable crew. The service standard is to remove foil and lids before presenting the tray.

calpelion

Jim72

I was about to post about the Afternoon Tea on today's BA2762 but you have beaten me to it :-)

A very pleasant suprise to see the scones make a return. I hope today's omission of the clotted cream was a catering oversight, the scones are not the same without them.

Although the wraps/sarnies were on the small side I did enjoy them, especially the salmon one. The mini desert was enjoyable too.

(On a side note, judging by the photo that looks like you were in 1A. If so, that would have been me sat next you today)

corporate-wage-slave

Band 1 Dinner

Last flight of the day for me, one of the late flights to Geneva. There is some big education conference on at the moment so hotels are even more difficult to reserve than usual. However the 19:45 hrs service BA973 LHR to GVA on G-EUOE isn't anything like full. It's a A319 with 16 in CE and about 50 in ET. Three EF crew so just the purser running the CE service. I guess the flight will be more useful for the morning service tomorrow back to London.

For some reason DHL turned up late with the catering - it was wheeled on at the end of passenger boarding. Plus the two Special Meals didn't get loaded at all.

The choice is the same as lunch, so this time I went for the goats cheese and beetroot salad, rather than the roast beef again. The crew haven't seen this meal before, and they are reading the wine labels so they can present the drinks properly.

Now for me this was the weakest offering of the day. Mainly because my carnivorous tendencies tend to kick in and I would have had the beef again in other circumstances. But still, it is better than the previous salad starter option and it was lifted by the bread and panna cotta. The greenery in the salad are mint leaves. A lump of cheese would have rounded off the evening nicely.

There was no problem completing the service. I got my tray over Dieppe and the last row was served over Paris. One of the ET crew came to help out towards the end, but that wasn't really essential. It did allow for more drink runs after the meal.

Enough flying for one day.

Ldnn1

Looks decent to me for a short flight but then I'm a fan of beetroot and goats cheese. Was any olive oil/dressing offered for the quinoa or was it reasonable as is?

corporate-wage-slave

It hasn't changed, so it's the same black sachet tubes. The tea and hot chocolate is also unchanged.

There was no dressing but the goats cheese was fairly moist and it is a generous helping, there was also some mango pieces in it too. It didn't feel dry. Salt and pepper is in the usual sachet with the napkin.

lost_in_translation

I have to say, every single meal posted above looks like an unambiguous improvement from what existed before - well done BA!

And if anyone from the BA team is reading the reactions in this thread, when in a few months time the bean counters come to you suggesting you should make a few small cuts to the service here and there since 'customers won't notice the changes', tell them politely to **** off!

Mapman

orbitmic

I suspect both your comment and my answer would fit better in the other (general discussion) thread, but I don't altogether agree.

- On all bands, I see the re-introduction of a cold plate breakfast as an improvement. The bread also looks nicer though I have not seen anyone post croissants, etc which worries me a little.

- On band 1, the introduction of a small starter is positive and the main course salads look a little nicer than previously (the beef looks nicer than the beetroot but maybe that's just me!) I'm still bewildered by the incapacity to offer some dressing if you are going to offer main course salads. For afternoon tea, that is no use to me, but the sandwiches certainly look a lot nicer than the previous version and many (again, not me, but that is a matter of taste) will be happy to see the scones back. I think that on the whole the catering for band 1 now looks good for the distance. ^

- On band 2, the exact same improvements apply (plus a slightly nicer starter for lunch/dinner), o definitely "better than before", but I personally do not think that it is adequate yet for flights which are typically 2-2.5 hours block time. The main complaints about catering in the previous installment was for medium flights, and it simply does not seem like medium flights have had any significant improvements. You get a quiche instead of a panini, a small starter or scones in addition to what you had before, and the afternoon tea that some of us dislike as a long serving window.

- On band 3, this time, this strikes me as an outright worsening of the offer. The former fairly sophisticated starters (effectively the main course salads from the short/medium flights!) have been enhanced into a small cup of coleslaw, however much anyone may miss school dinners of bangers and mash, that is definitely a bit of a cheapening of the main course, and even the pasta dishes have become a lot more basic (we move from chicken with pappardelle on lobster sauce to gnocchi with ratatouille). Moreover, as nordic mentioned in the other thread, if you end up choosing the "signature salad" option as main, you are effectively getting the band 1 meal plus two pieces of cheese. As I mentioned there too, it is, after all, fine if this is what you choose, but we all know that choice has its limits on BA, and that limit is usually about 2-3 rows before the crew reaches the end of the cabin, so some people will get that band 1 meal plus cheese without actually choosing it.

As always, with BA reforms of CE catering, we are talking winners and losers. Last time round, the big losers were band 3A (which was downgraded to medium and lost hot meals) and the big winners were domestic (who got CE) and band 3B (which service was joined with the former band 4 as part of long). In this new installment, it seems to me that the winners are band 1, who were actually not so inadequate given the short length and seem to be getting a significant improvement in quality. The losers are the former long (assuming band 4 is, as discussed, equal to band 3 though there might be small variations) who are moving down to a downgraded starter, something that looks like cheaper mains and a risk of getting the band 1 salad instead of the hot main against your meal if sat in the wrong place, and a one tray service. Medium now known as band 2 which was the "problem point" before remains the "problem point" now.

On the whole, my comment would be something like: "quality seems to have improved, but food concept certainly has not".

Bar Operator

corporate-wage-slave

Band 1 breakfast (Vegetarian)
BA723 GVA to LHR off a nightstop

The nightstop may be relevant to the fact that there were only two choices, the hot British as shown upthread, or the hot vegetarian omelette, which features in this post’s picture. There wasn't the cold plate option available. It's possible it wasn't loaded but my suspicion is that it isn't safe to keep this dish at ambient for an overnight stop in Geneva. It was 25c at midnight last night.

So I went for the cheese omelette with parmentier potatoes and asparagus tips. To be clear, this isn't the pre-ordered special meal. And it was much better than I expected with a good texture and a real taste to it It may be difficult to wean me off bacon but I would be very happy to have this again.

Note the fruit salad instead of yoghurt, the croissant and the flapjack, so plenty to eat.

BA235

headingwest

Maybe I'm just very fussy, but I don't like the idea of having to put the bread roll on the (most probably dirty) table. Those trays are ridiculously small and it lets the whole presentation down in my opinion. That said, the meals do look better quality, but bands 2-3 seem to be the losers again regarding quantity.

brentford77

Seat_1F