Financial Times article on BA wines. FT gets a mention.
Feb 22, 2019, 1:49 am
#1
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Financial Times article on BA wines. FT gets a mention.
Good column by Jancis Robinson (BA wine consultant during the golden age) re airline wines in today's online FT (will be in Saturday's print edition). This FT gets an honourable mention, BA doesn't come out well.
(link only works if you're a subscriber)
https://on.ft.com/2tzCCOZ
(link only works if you're a subscriber)
https://on.ft.com/2tzCCOZ
In 2009, Willie Walsh, then head of BA, abandoned the policy of choosing wines on the basis of what they tasted like, cutting costs by appointing a single exclusive supplier for each of the three classes.
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In 2010, I resigned.
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BA’s wine-buying is now in the hands of two young Frenchmen working for the parent company IAG. They seem to have had little experience of wine-buying. The dire state of their budget can be judged from a recent discussion on Flyertalk.com. The Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc on offer in BA first class was spotted in Morrisons at £5 a bottle, two for £9. (BA says it is no longer on the menu.) In a recent first class tender, submissions that were over €6 a bottle from the cellar door were rejected. (The budget for forward buying of claret used to be €25.)
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In 2010, I resigned.
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BA’s wine-buying is now in the hands of two young Frenchmen working for the parent company IAG. They seem to have had little experience of wine-buying. The dire state of their budget can be judged from a recent discussion on Flyertalk.com. The Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc on offer in BA first class was spotted in Morrisons at £5 a bottle, two for £9. (BA says it is no longer on the menu.) In a recent first class tender, submissions that were over €6 a bottle from the cellar door were rejected. (The budget for forward buying of claret used to be €25.)
Feb 22, 2019, 3:56 am
#2
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Just read it, a pretty reasonable summary on the whole
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I don't fly so much CW these days, but the drop in quality in F is quite noticeable, and not just the appearance of Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc (which I haven't seen on the four F flights I've taken in the last month). You can still find some decent bottles in the lounges, but not on a consistent basis.
one close trade observer describes the current state of wine-buying at BA as “rock bottom — there’s only one way for them to go”
I don't fly so much CW these days, but the drop in quality in F is quite noticeable, and not just the appearance of Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc (which I haven't seen on the four F flights I've taken in the last month). You can still find some decent bottles in the lounges, but not on a consistent basis.
Feb 22, 2019, 4:27 am
#4
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I think that it was established in that thread that it was not the £5 per bottle Villa Maria.
One might not think that what was actually on offer in F should have been there in any event, but I suspect that regular BA bashers probably never read enough of the thread to notice which wine it actually was, and perhaps did not get beyond what other BA bashers automatically assumed it to have been.
One might not think that what was actually on offer in F should have been there in any event, but I suspect that regular BA bashers probably never read enough of the thread to notice which wine it actually was, and perhaps did not get beyond what other BA bashers automatically assumed it to have been.
Feb 22, 2019, 6:44 am
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€6 as the threshold for exclusion. Wow....
Feb 22, 2019, 6:50 am
#7
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Feb 22, 2019, 6:56 am
#8
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BA shouldn't be paying duty for FC wines as they would all be served up in the air on international flights. I suspect that they might not be required to pay VAT either, assuming that those FC wines aren't produced in the UK. [Note that I'm not including predeparture champagne in this statement.]
Feb 22, 2019, 7:22 am
#10
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To be fair I've had a decent French white Burgundy in F which I'm guessing was £15-£20 in bond. 100 years ago (OK around 2000) I flew F LHR->BOG (stopping somewhere on the way) and was the only passenger in F. I quite liked the Premier Cru bordeaux so they gave me an unopened bottle for free. I think it was Chateau Palmer though my memory may be playing tricks. This no longer happens.
Feb 22, 2019, 8:20 am
#12
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Not sure BA would pay VAT and duty on airborne wine, but even if they did £15-20 retail is still a significant downgrade from not so long ago when Chateau Beychevelle and Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite were a regular feature in F, indeed I can remember BA pouring much of the former down my neck in the tent at Taste of London one year.
Feb 22, 2019, 8:45 am
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