mjh0

Service was completed on my Monday flight. 7 Row cabin, 2 crew, about 5 empty seats. I was sat at the back, got my tray just South of Birmingham. Had been told to anticipate at least once round the Bovingdon hold, which was then cancelled, so the "10 minutes to landing" came a little quicker than expected - the crew who had relaxed a teeny bit when they heard there was ~5 mins holding, quickly got their skates back on. Cabin put away passing Wembley.

Everyone served, but you could see the crew had their work cut out to serve, not make it seem totally rushed, etc. What was really noticeable to me with that crew was the massive effort they made to make eye contact with you, despite being up against it.

stevebintley

KARFA

At the moment with one of the two jetbridges out of action it's a bit all over the place. It can differ based on what stand the ba plane ends up on, sometimes it is quite far down the line. sometimes boarding is gate 5, last friday evening it was gate 8.

There are usually stairs at both doors and often both are used to get passengers off - currently they are bussed to arrivals - although that doesn't seem the case from Dicksbits arrival. In terms of boarding I think sometimes they use the rear stairs and sometimes they don't.

KARFA

pacenotes

Last Manchester hop we didn’t get food, yesterday we got food but no drinks! We were handed our food just as the captain said 15 mins to landing and what seemed like seconds later said 10 minutes to go.

I’d be happy with just a drink to be honest on the short flight.

Just for reference 12 rows on a A321 with 3 crew for club.

gw76

GLA-LHR 8 row CE Cabin- excellent service, crew (particularly purser) worked well. I was in 4 and fed and watered by cruise (not Tom).
Didnt like remote gate but loved CE only bus and same purser held everyone else back until CE bus away. I did a staff Feedback.
LHR-GLA a different story. In 6 this time. Lots of faffing behind curtain. Was well into descent before I got a drink. Crew spent an inordinate time with one slightly annoying American woman explaining the contents of the two platters of sandwiches and then all the wines... come on, keep moving- she'll have the Ploughman's instead. Given jam and clotted cream on tray but no scone and no hot drink! Inconsistent offer of nuts to some people, and drinks (why do some get two cans and others one?)
All very rushed. Hard to do in 55 mins. zthe crew from ET had to come and help clear up at seatbelts on. Not as nice an experience.
I was getting annoyed at that baggage shenanigans also. What part do people not understand about yellow tagged luggage under seats (blatantly ignored by pax and crew), heavy jackets shoved in, wheelie cases flat or lengthways in... I despair. I wish I could make and reinforce the announcements.
Despite all that, I do like domestic CE.

snaxmuppet

I certainly cannot comment on the service in domestic CE but I am gobsmacked that BA even offer a meal service on such short flights. It seems like a task set up to fail. The fact that there are many people satisfied with the service is down to the CC who must go home from these flights totally knackered and quite possibly mentally frazzled. I salute them all

KARFA

If a flight with a 55 min flight time seems to have an overly rushed service I would suggest the crew need to organise themselves better.

From a regular on a 35 minute flight time route where I see well organised crews do the service with time to spare

scottishpoet

in the good old days an entire 757 would get a meal and a drinks run on 55min gla to lhr shuttle services

serving 6 or 8 rows at the front of the plane with nobody in the middle seats must be straight forward now

allturnleft

On my LGW AMS flight last week they food orders prior to take off and drinks orders when bringing the food ; all very efficient

Grace B

On a recent flight MAN-LHR, the CSM tried to force me to have 2 champagnes (plus the snack, of course). There was plenty of time, but I only had the one drink.

KARFA

2 is easily manageable on that route, 3 should be fine, 4 is a challenge but can be done - you may need the plastic cup for that

corporate-wage-slave

It can be a challenge, but I well recall a recent EDI-LHR where a highly experienced EuroFleet purser - a former CSD if I am not much mistaken - managed to do a round of drinks first, meal, follow up round of drinks, single handed to something like 12 rows of CE. And she made it look effortless. I can see what she did, a combination of preparation and making multiple tray / drink delivery look like a personal service when in fact she was multi-tasking.

I've managed 4 cups of tea from NCL to LHR quite frequently. I mean they're not proper mugs are they?

stephenjc

It would help if the choices of meal were announced to the CE cabin before the service starts. The telling and retelling on each row what the meal choices are slows the service a little (regularish on EDI<->LHR).

lcylocal

Taking orders on the ground if there is time definitely seems to help. I’m assuming this isn’t an official part of the routine though given the need for crew to draw their own seat diagram on whatever bit of scrap paper they can find.