corporate-wage-slave

Been gone for about 5 years now. Comes up regularly on FT mind! Unfortunately I suspect BA has forgotten the web page's password.

camdentown

The last revisions of Sleeper services from East Coast USA, in my experience, had:
1) pre-flight supper in the lounge a special thing, not just lounge food - hot meals with some waiter service - quality of food and drink *very* variable depending on location. JFK definitely better than the others in my experience.
2) There was on board dinner service if you wanted, a slightly more limited choice than daytimes, but served quickly.
a) If you preferred to sleep, many people simply made their beds right after takeoff and ignored any service.
b) If you asked for it, the crew would bring a drink (even hot chocolate) soon after takeoff and you could then go to sleep.
c) if you wanted it, dinner served quietly and relatively quickly, cabin lights dimmed

My understanding of the Middle East overnight routes is that only a snack is served after takeoff, the main meal being breakfast before landing.

Betteronacamel

Dinner
Starter
Herb Barley Salad (tiny)
Mains
Fillet of Berkshire Pork (bit odd on a New York flight?)
Indian Butter Chicken - a lurid red colour, about 3 small pieces of chicken. Rice was good.
Fresh Mezze Rigatoni
Afters
Banana chocolate mousse (tiny)
Cheese 'board' - tiny pieces of Cheddar and Hazen Blue and Chutney

Very small bread roll.

Breakfast - slept right through this....some fresh fruit would have been nice.

Granola Bar
Green apple bircher muesli

Scrambled eggs, Cheddar cheese and grilled bacon panini
Scrambled eggs, tomato, sauteed spinach and Cheddar cheese wrap

Hope you all like Cheddar Cheese!

Some odd thoughts on the drinks (apply both sectors) - 3 Gins on offer, but no more Kir Royale and no more brandy - Liqueurs and Digestifs now limited to Baileys Irish Cream (really?) and Cointreau. Why not drop the Gordon's Gin and give us a better balanced list?

Good for BA 112,116,176,294,296

Recommendation - eat before you fly if you can!

SpurMan

Haven't BA just introduced Ryan Reynold's Aviation American Gin on board too?. Nothing like unbalancing the list a bit more!

krispy84

No Cognac????

I’ve been promised a night cap!!! 😁😁

Elegance645

yes it’s served onboard. Quite an interesting alternative to the usual offerings.

Elegance645

I joined the exec club in 1988 for the only reason I don’t eat cheese. The club was a way of recording my preferences. Over the years though on Long haul in club I was often served the same steak despite other offerings being suitable. I deleted my meal request for that reason. Tonight I’ve got nothing but cheese to look forward to tomorrow. My own fault but please I’ve had flights with all three main courses having cheese in them.

Betteronacamel

Yes, that was the third choice - Tanqueray, Gordons or Aviation - although when I ordered a GnT they didn't suggest the selection (I hadn't read the menu at that point).

The Club Kitchen now seems to have been enhanced to next to nothing - never saw anything other than a few small packs of boring Walkers shortbread. I think all the good stuff has now been rolled forward to F.

I had the beef main on the outbound - those of you with photos of 3 slices did well. All that was on mine was a small fatty slice, mostly soggy 'roast potatoes' and some claggy doughball that was described as Yorkshire pudding. Two cheeses that were essentially the same other than one was orange and one was yellow. In a blind tasting I wouldn't have known what they were as both were tasteless. Easily the best bit was the chocolate/raspberry mousse. Wines were 'meh'. Didn't take the second meal.

It's all about the seat now at BA. Personally, I loved the suite. If they could upgrade the headsets and bring back the decent bedding then I would be more or less ambivalent about the food/beverages. The tragedy is that actually, with a little bit of thought, the soft product could easily be improved (see most other decent airlines).

Unfortunately, to get this dross food on old club seating - and flying to or from a destination with no decent pre-flight dining would leave me seriously p!ssed off.

choosethedrew

In this instance I believe Berkshire refers to the heritage breed, rather than the UK home county.

Although, given BA's charming cost focus, it might be more likely heifers from Slough were frozen and flown out to the US catering outstations for the honour, than said rare breed served up.

Betteronacamel

Yes you are spot on there regarding the breed of pig - but I was thinking of the (possibly) relatively high incidence of passengers of the Jewish faith on that route, so pork would be an odd choice especially if you are limiting the choice to 3 things. I've flown the route for years and years and I don't think I've ever seen pork as a main choice. In fact, it's not often seen as it's either quite fatty or goes dry and chewy very quickly. But I suppose of the main meat groups - Beef, Lamb, Chicken and Pork I would think that pork is generally the most 'cost effective'. For the record I do like pork done properly - slow roast with crispy crackling with all the trimmings. I think it works OK on the Asian airlines too.

choosethedrew

I see! Surely Kosher special meals are available for this purpose? I love pork too and wish it was served more on board after breakfast. I did have pork on BA ex-BOM which I found slightly odd as I didn't see it much in India otherwise.

Greg66

LHR - YVR in J

In anticipation of disappointment I stocked up on the “afternoon tea” in the lounge - three finger sandwiches and some crisps is not afternoon tea!

Pre flight drinks on board were on offer, but water or OJ. No fizz (I am pretty sure).

Early in the flight the crew came round taking orders for drinks and for the meal. It needed a bit of initiative to know to say that the drink was to come before the meal, and that’s I’d have some wine with the meal.

V&T #1 was tap water weak whereas #2 was on the cusp of unpleasantly strong. Not sure how such variability is possible.

The meal was the cauliflower in lurid red sauce, beef rib or chicken, leek and mushroom pie, chocolate and raspberry mousse, and cheese. Plus a relatively huge (but cheap and filling) bread roll made of three different sorts of bread.

Cauliflower: liked that; could have eaten more. I steered away from the beef; the chicken pie was good (by which I mean as good as a supermarket ready meal, cooked according to the instructions). Mousse pretty good. Cheese tasteless, rubbery and left behind. Everything arrived on a single tray.

No offers of drinks refills during or after the meal. One glass for you sonny!

Afternoon teas was the sausage roll plus carrot cake. I skipped that in favour of a F&M afternoon tea hamper from the terminal, which was very nice but massively overpriced.

One small water bottle was proffered between meals. Nothing after that. The Club Kitchen was a poor offering - lots of biscuits that would go with a cup of tea, a handful of very small bags of popcorn, some Lindt chocolate sphere things dotted around the basket, and some crisps.

My impression having not flown for 2.5 years is that a scythe has (once again) been taken to catering costs on the ground and in the air, together with a very marked reduction in “soft” service levels.

britNY

Is there any inside info on when the inflight meal offering and service might improve in CW?

Harvey1

I think it really just depends on crew. Obviously they cant control the meals produced but in terms of service its all up to them. I have just flown LHR to the west coast CW and the crew were amazing! I was asked multiple times during the flight if I would like another drink or anything and that’s in addition to being asked before and after both meal services. Considering the cabin on the 787-9 was full I think they did a great job! As the food goes it was tasty and was cleared away within 2 hours of the flight. (Yes the cauliflower starter is strange but still tasted good and the bread roll was avg, but the beef and dessert were delicious, as was the pasta for the pre landing light meal) The club kitchen was stacked with loads of snacks (2 boxes full of Lindt!!!) as well as plenty other of usual stuff. I was concerned pre flight as to what should I expect however this flight has completely reminded me why I fly ba.

KARFA

I think it has been suggested possibly August/September.