nh1980

Good to see the comparison, I expect there was a proper cheese board with that meal too as opposed to the tiny bowl of sorry cheese wedges crammed into the top centre of my one-trayer above. I forgot to take a pic of the AA transcon cheese bowl that they serve either after breakfast (or hold on to them to serve during the flight) - three cheeses, fresher and larger wedges, more crackers handed out once I'd run out (without needing to ask), figs and grapes...

VSLover

agree, the transcon aa re-introduction of service is fantastic compared to pre-covid. its off topic but yes i wish BA were back to normal sized trays to at least allow a decent salad or cheese course.

ozflier

Credit to AA, none to BA!

NoY

Well, I kept my expectations very low for the flight back from DXB, which departed at 10.20am, so this was a lunch service flight.
The food served for lunch was the usual one tray affair (hate this style of presentation) & was actually quite tasty. Laughably, I chose the beef & it was, of course, over cooked but was also reasonably tender & quite tasty as was the rest of the meal.
The afternoon tea was the better of the two meals IME. Decent sandwiches, flavoursome cakes & a delicious warm scone served with clotted cream & jam.
Thank gawd that the dreaded 1/2 a toasties/crisps combo was not on offer or the 2nd meal service!

CKBA

Being a miserable old sod, I alway find it better to have low expectations and have them exceeded than to have high expectations and have them broken. (Although TBF, the meal still looks like WTP+ rather than CW).

ENTP

That starter looks pathetic. I’ve seen bigger garnishes.

Speedbirdjclass

economy dressed as business

The _Banking_Scot

Hi

ba 107 to dxb

1225 dep

Roasted cauliflowers

roast breast of chicken
lamb hotpot
ricotta mezzanine

Apple and cinnamon oat crumble
Cheese board

Light meal

Chicken and tomato toasted sandwich

Grilled vegetable panini

Carrot cake

Regards

Tbs

efincomputer

I'm as big a fan of BA as you'll get (and I know i'm in good company on this board). Crews are nearly always fantastic, and I like the hard product (particularly the new Club Suite, having just tried it, compared to the old Yin Yang CW Seats). However (you knew there was one coming, didn't you), I do find the catering for a business class product to be sadly lacking. Now, it's not comparing EXACTLY like for like, but having completed two CW sectors in the last week to the US, and 1 transcon (slightly shorter length at around 5 1/2 hours), i'm really sad to say that the AA meal presentation was streets ahead of what I received from BA. The food from BA was fine - i'd gone for the Roast Chicken on my outbound (BA173) and it was ok - nothing to write home about. Drink before meal served (in a nice glass) with a packet of nuts. Tiny starter, main and desert all served on one tray (salad and desert still had the plastic on them) and why do BA insist on saying "Selection of Deserts and Cheese", or calling it a "cheese board" - there is no selection of deserts (plural) - it's one and if you don't like it, then tough. Cheese board is a misnomer as again, its two tiny pieces in a dish - no board involved.
I never thought i'd be comparing BA service to any received from AA, but look at the following in comparison:

Drink with a nice bowl of warmed nuts

Descent sized starter portion served as a separate first course

Starter cleared away and then main served (ok, portion size is nothing to write home about, and comparable to BA's mains - but you had a feeling at least of eating distinct, separate courses of food)

And finally desert - there was a choice of cheese if you wished instead (served with grapes, crackers and a decent portion size of cheeses - as i noted my seat mate had gone for this). For the ice cream - something so simple, yet served from the cart with choice of sauces and toppings


The difference it makes to the experience, and in particular to making it feel like a "premium" experience, versus what you'd get in WT or WTP; serving the dishes separately has such an impact.

I'm not making comparisons across all areas of service here, or on all flights - Transcon is not their typical service, and I know there are plenty of flights with AA and other US carriers where you'll get next to naff all in Business, even on flights of several hours or more (whereas BA offer full CE catering on even short domestic legs). However, on these premium long haul routes, I really do think they need to step up their game in terms of how things are presented. Such a small change, such as serving courses separately (as done in First) would make such a difference to the experience.

noFODplease

Please also take the time to feed this back to BA - its great to read of your experiences here but unless this is accompanied by an equivalent message to BA we will still be posting these miserable menus next year!

NoY

Oh I quite agree. And yes, the presentation sucks. To be fair it tasted OK though.

NoY

I hope to gawd I do not get this again at the weekend when I fly to RUH! So bored with it!

u01sss3

For what it's worth I got a generic response:

Your feedback to British Airways We're sorry to hear about your experience with the cleanliness and catering on board your flights to and from New York in Club World recently. I understand why you needed to get in touch. We'd also like to thankyou for your patience while we got back in touch. We don’t underestimate how important food and drink is to your enjoyment of the flight, and in our premium cabins, we aim to deliver meals, snacks and drinks that exceed expectations. We clearly didn’t meet our usual standards this time. We refresh our food and drink menus in Club World every month and use feedback like yours to guide us as we do. I’ve shared your comments with my colleagues in the Catering team to help us improve the choices we offer. We understand the importance of cleanliness on your flight, and it’s something we always take very seriously. However, we didn’t meet the standards we aim for. I can assure you that your feedback is already making a difference. I’ve shared it with my colleagues in the relevant team, and we use comments like this to guide us as we improve our service. Once again, please accept our apologies for your experience on this trip. We hope to welcome you back on board soon. If I can help with anything else, please contact me directly using the blue link below. Best regards XXXXXXXXXBritish Airways Customer Relations

No addressing of the fingernail or leftover menu from the flight before on an aircraft the airline claims is fully sanitised either.

efincomputer

Already fed back to BA.

Schwann

Are they genuinely this disingenuous?