Why not preorder-prepay BoB ?
Feb 21, 2019, 3:21 pm
#1
Original Poster
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Why not preorder-prepay BoB ?
Today I was on a packed A319 from LHR-DUB with a flight time of just 50 mins. There were probably over 20 pax in Club, so presumably two staff servicing that cabin.
This meant the BoB trolley barely made it half way down the Economy cabin. Whatever your view of BoB - this is not a good experience for Economy passengers.
In my experience with Ryanair or EasyJet - the trolley always makes it through the full cabin, even on a short flight (presumably because they don’t have a business cabin to deal with).
So why not allow Economy pax to order and pay in advance - with a sensibly timed cutoff. This would transfer the processing work from staff to passenger - so those passenger eager for a coffee could get one as soon as the service started.
It it might even allow in-flight sales to be made to the whole Economy cabin - for those pax who hadn’t pre purchased.
What’s stopping BA from introducing this - increasingly their sales and delighting more passengers ?!
This meant the BoB trolley barely made it half way down the Economy cabin. Whatever your view of BoB - this is not a good experience for Economy passengers.
In my experience with Ryanair or EasyJet - the trolley always makes it through the full cabin, even on a short flight (presumably because they don’t have a business cabin to deal with).
So why not allow Economy pax to order and pay in advance - with a sensibly timed cutoff. This would transfer the processing work from staff to passenger - so those passenger eager for a coffee could get one as soon as the service started.
It it might even allow in-flight sales to be made to the whole Economy cabin - for those pax who hadn’t pre purchased.
What’s stopping BA from introducing this - increasingly their sales and delighting more passengers ?!
Feb 21, 2019, 3:35 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2010
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I’m guessing the flight time prohibits this, will the stock be on board, what about irrops or aircraft swaps or passengers changing the flight on the day.
I do think however at the time of booking or on,Inez check in you can purchase a prepaid voucher for say a hot drink and snack or sandwich and beer etc as this surely has got to make processing payment quicker and saves the problem of say school kids travelling with no card or an elderly person whose luggage is in overhead locker or someone who only has an authorise all transaction card typically found on basic bank accounts thst don’t allow offline transactions to be processed.
I was on a packed A321 to Manchester the other day and trolley made it through but not many people purchased of course this was only 28 mins wheels up to landing.
I do think however at the time of booking or on,Inez check in you can purchase a prepaid voucher for say a hot drink and snack or sandwich and beer etc as this surely has got to make processing payment quicker and saves the problem of say school kids travelling with no card or an elderly person whose luggage is in overhead locker or someone who only has an authorise all transaction card typically found on basic bank accounts thst don’t allow offline transactions to be processed.
I was on a packed A321 to Manchester the other day and trolley made it through but not many people purchased of course this was only 28 mins wheels up to landing.
Feb 21, 2019, 3:45 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,579
Probably operating with just 3 crew if there was under 24 passengers in Club on a A319. With the senior cabin crew member running the Club service, that leaves the other 2 to run the Traveller cabin of BB items. On a short sector like Dublin with full cabins, you can pretty much see this isn't going to end well can't you. At least for purchasing items on board. With regards to pre-order, if the crew can't get around the entire cabin as it is ob a full flight before they need to clear in and prepare for landing, how is pre-ordering going to simplify the logistics in your view? 1 aisle, 2 crew. How would you propose to male that work? I'm curious.
Feb 21, 2019, 3:51 pm
#4
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IIRC BoB is provided by an outside caterer not from the usual caterer for CE food so you’d be adding in an extra complication to the system.
Plus the crew would have to make two passes down the cabin one to serve the preBoBs then have to go back down for the on the day purchasers which would I think cause more complaints.
of course you can pre order yourself by buying your sandwich at one of the shops in the terminal
Plus the crew would have to make two passes down the cabin one to serve the preBoBs then have to go back down for the on the day purchasers which would I think cause more complaints.
of course you can pre order yourself by buying your sandwich at one of the shops in the terminal
Feb 21, 2019, 3:52 pm
#5
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With regards to pre-order, if the crew can't get around the entire cabin as it is ob a full flight before they need to clear in and prepare for landing, how is pre-ordering going to simplify the logistics in your view? 1 aisle, 2 crew. How would you propose to male that work? I'm curious.
BA could cap the total number of orders per flight if they chose - but I suspect they wouldn’t often need to.
i reckon cabin crew could double or triple the number of Economy pax serviced if requests were pre ordered and pre paid.
Feb 21, 2019, 5:20 pm
#6
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 614
If you saw the level of IT we deal with from Tourvest (the company that manages Bob), you really wouldn't want to go down this road! How many of you have managed to retrieve your pre-ordered Duty Free on long haul? With the super duper new galleys, we have no spare stowage space for these pre-orders, so the stock would come from the main trolleys and there's often very little stock. Believe me, the organisation behind BoB could be described as flaky at best. There's no way it could cope with any more complexity. It's sad to say, as I'm on commission, but bring food and drink with you.
Feb 21, 2019, 5:34 pm
#7
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If the cabin is staffed by just one, on a 50-minute flight, this simply is not going to work. Either sell it at the gate or eliminate the concept of the micro-haul flights so that passengers know that they will need to bring their own. The problem does not lie with BOB but with either limiting CE to a one-person service or adding staff to the aircraft. Neither will happen.
Feb 22, 2019, 2:53 am
#8
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Technology would or will probably solve this, however it’s dependent on many variables and incredibly complex when you have third parties involved.
They could always revert back to free snacks and drinks, at least everyone would get served as per pre-BoB days!
Taking payments was always going to slow service down.
They could always revert back to free snacks and drinks, at least everyone would get served as per pre-BoB days!
Taking payments was always going to slow service down.
Feb 22, 2019, 3:01 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2012
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Easyjet do pre-ordering, but only for a few limited food items and champagne https://preorders.easyjet.com/ . Unfortunately I really can't imagine BA being able to cope with this at all given that they struggle so much with the basic BoB.
Feb 22, 2019, 3:30 am
#10
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Agree with others; it's a nice enough idea, but just I can't see BA coping with pre-orders or anything more complex than what they already have. I think everyone already knew that adding the complexity of taking orders and payments means not everyone gets served on short flights.
Just pack your own lunch while wistfully looking out the window, longing for the days when you could watch CC sprinting down the aisle throwing Lemon Melts and miniature Smirnoff to everyone's general direction before it was time to strap in again, on a 45-minute LHR-AMS hop that's so short you wonder if launching the plane over the channel with a trebuchet would have saved on fuel.
Just pack your own lunch while wistfully looking out the window, longing for the days when you could watch CC sprinting down the aisle throwing Lemon Melts and miniature Smirnoff to everyone's general direction before it was time to strap in again, on a 45-minute LHR-AMS hop that's so short you wonder if launching the plane over the channel with a trebuchet would have saved on fuel.
Feb 22, 2019, 3:42 am
#11
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Feb 22, 2019, 3:45 am
#12
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EZY have more crew.
Pre-ordering would impact the flexibility of the current approach. Ease and flexibility are more important than customer satisfaction.
Pre-ordering would impact the flexibility of the current approach. Ease and flexibility are more important than customer satisfaction.
Feb 22, 2019, 3:48 am
#13
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I'd hate to prepay for something that I might not really want when it comes.
Feb 22, 2019, 4:03 am
#14
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Maybe it could work like tickets at an arcade? Everyone carries a spool of tickets with them on all short-haul flights, and if you happen to fancy a coffee, just exchange 2,500 tickets for one.
Feb 22, 2019, 4:16 am
#15
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Amazing that companies can build a car, with thousands of parts, some of them in specific to an individual vehicle, with supply chains which extend across continents, with as little as 30 minutes worth of stock onsite. Yet other companies can get a sandwich to you...
This is what I don't understand about BA, they focus on cost cutting but give no thought to revenue generation. The true LCCs make significant revenue for ancillery, but BA don't appear to do this from food and are getting rid of duty free just in time for Brexit, where they can start actual duty free on EU routes again.
This is what I don't understand about BA, they focus on cost cutting but give no thought to revenue generation. The true LCCs make significant revenue for ancillery, but BA don't appear to do this from food and are getting rid of duty free just in time for Brexit, where they can start actual duty free on EU routes again.