flyingmonkie

Hi all,

I flew LHR-ICN yesterday on the way "back" to Hong Kong for a bit of a holiday. We were in WTP on the 787 (having heeded advice to avoid WT) and the crew were very friendly, personal greetings and champagne galore etc. but the dinner service was a bit different from what I have experienced before, this being my first BA787 trip I just wanted to find out if that's how they do things.

Drinks service etc. all normal and great but for dinner they appeared to be trying to achieve a CW light style service by asking us for our choices then bringing out the individual trays rather than the trolley. No issue with that, especially as it was a very lightly loaded flight except it meant that there was no drink offered with dinner to the entire cabin. I had the, excellent, shortrib with horseradish dumplings and it was crying out for a glass of red wine. I don't like to disturb the crew during service but after 20 minutes I pressed my call bell and had no response for another 20 minutes) when I set off back to the galley and asked for it directly, too late for the beef but I enjoyed it with my cheese! There were then several refills happily provided moments after the call bell later in the flight.

Breakfast they did similar, served all the food from the galley and then brought a tea and coffee trolley around (and then had to go and fetch orange juice from somewhere else).

Like I said, lovely crew and a good flight (although nowhere near enough sleep, my fault!) but it's just a bit odd. Has this happened to anyone before?

pythonisman

My understanding is the crew do a drinks service pre-meal which is meant to last you for your meal.

When we asked for a drink flying WTP, we were given double what we asked for I assume to 'make it last'.

The crew who serve WTP then man trolleys in WT and run the full service in that cabin, which is likely why you didn't get a response to your call bell when you wanted a drink - not sure if they came afterward (probably long after you were done) once they'd finished in WT.

I don't fly in Y+ very much and have only done it maybe twice before, but that time (with Virgin Australia) it felt more like the crew were dedicated to the premium economy cabin and that meals were served from a galley nearby, whereas my recent experience with BA it felt a bit weird.

Steve_ZA

Definitely had trolley service on a 787 in WTP, drinks run before the meal and then wine bottles on the trolley.

Having said that on my last 2 WTP sectors I had to ask for a wine both times, previously they were offered.

flyingmonkie

This has been my experience in the extensive WTP flying I've done on 777s, and indeed was the case five days earlier HKG-LHR.

All that is totally reasonable but only if they tell you that's the case, I've had it in the past on short night flights SIN-SYD where it's the "Would you like anything from the bar? And some wine for later?" whereas this time I just asked for a G&T in response to a "Would you like a drink?"... I don't want to have to double up all my initial drinks orders but if that's the new standard then I'll be asking for a "G&T and a glass of red" on the first pass just in case!

windowontheAside

Probably makes sense to double up. You can always decline the offer of more with the meal if it comes.

Bird in the hand and all that...

chriswiles

This is correct. The WTP serve this cabin first, then go off and serve/help with WT, so often they are gone for ages and busy with WT. When you sit in WTP, you often wonder where they have gone after serving dinner, but they are simply busy with WT for quite some time!

flyingmonkie

Yup, totally understand which is why I waited before pressing call bell but as others have experienced as well my usual experience of WTP is bar service then meal service with wine on the trolley.

Looks like I'm doubling up from now on

Steve_ZA

I guess forewarned is forearmed, if they aren't serving from the trolley ask for a wine when they hand the meal over.

pythonisman

On my last flight I wasn't drinking and it was pretty lightly loaded- at one point we were asked if we wanted more drinks and I asked for a ginger ale - I'm not sure what happened, but after quite a while I figured it'd been forgotten. When it eventually arrived (maybe an hour later) it came in one of the glass (crystal?) tumblers from club, which was a nice touch. Wasn't sure if it was as an apology for being slow, treating me for being Emerald, or if because I'd asked for something 'odd' it came from the Club galley.

It was a very quiet flight and at one point the CSM came and chatted to us (it was my partner's first flight after making Silver). He asked us about the service flow and asked for honest feedback, which we gave - apparently the crew forgot to mention an additional special menu item which he wasn't pleased about.

</slightly off topic>

sammyh25

The correct standard for WT+ is to offer a drink from the bar and then offer wine, or alternatives, when you are served your meal. In WT we offer a drink from the bar AND wine for dinner at the same time. It has been already mentioned that on the 787 when the crew have served WT+ they then have the rest of the WT cabins to feed and water. The crewing level on the 787 only has 4 crew in WT+/WT which means no one is in the galley during the service so it can be really difficult to hear when a call bell has gone off.

I have quite often "done the WT+ cabin by hand" but always make sure bread and wine gets offered at the same time...

ENTP

I'm not in WT often but in my last four legs there's always been a few wine bottles on the cart when the meal service has come out. This has been in tandem with no offer of wine "for the meal" on the first drinks run. Is this just a case of BA inconsistency?

sammyh25

Yes, crew not sticking to the Sevice Guidelines.... WT should have been offered wine for dinner during the bar round, the extra bottles on the trolley during the meal service will be for anyone who asks for another. Crew should not be offering wine at this stage, it should have been already done, and so speeds up the delivery of the hot meal.

corporate-wage-slave

As I understand it, the 10 a side 777s at LGW don't suffer this issue - which is actually boils down to the fact that there is simply no crew member in WTP during the main WT service. On the refurbished LGW services there is a dedicated WTP crew member for the flight, since it really would be impossible to juggle such a large WT cabin (252 passengers) with 52 people in WTP at the same time. Mid J 747s also have their own WTP crew. It may be the same on A380s (?). I think I was told that the A350 would also have dedicated WTP crew given 219 WT seats and 56 WTP.

I haven't done a lot of WTP flying but the service tends to go"what drink would you like (pause) and perhaps wine for with your meal?". I think Seoul is MF so perhaps inexperienced crew members there for not prompting, or perhaps thinking you already knew the ropes - WTP usually has plenty of Bronze and Silvers in it so the gilt halo on the OP may have been misinterpreted.

sammyh25

No idea how the LGW 777s are crewed, but at LHR only the Mid-J 747 has it's own WT+ crew member, all other aircraft WT+ is served from the WT galley using WT crew. As for the A350, watch this space....

VSLover

not WTP related strictly, but this sort of experience is exactly why i always order two wines (for example) at the first service in WTP or even club europe in row 1 because knowing how busy it can get, i don't want to be left parched for too long!