Poor service from Amman
 

On today's 5hr+ flight from Amman to Heathrow passengers were treated to a shorthaul A321 Neo with no IFE screens and no hot meal in economy - a roll and cereal bar was handed out and no explanation of the change in service offering compared to the outbound on Monday when IFE and a World Traveller style hot meal was provided. Some passengers asked to buy the M and S products as menus were in the seat pockets but no food had been loaded. Passengers in Club were treated to an even better deal with the same seat and configuration as a usual A321 to Paris or Madrid. Several passengers complained but all the crew could do was apologise and then be overheard in their new space saving galley/toilet, "it's so embarrassing this aircraft has been put on this route".

BA's website doesn't recognise midhaul flights and simply refers to food for purchase being available on shorthaul economy and a full meal service available for all World Traveller customers on long haul. Where does Amman fit and is it normal for BA to just hope no passengers notice a completely different product on the same route in the same week? Needless to say many passengers weren't happy at nearly £600 for a return economy fare. Be warned about BA if you are thinking of flying with them to Jordan - I won't be repeating it in Y or J.

Most likely one of the mid-haul A321s has had a tech problem and either the only available aircraft has been a short haul A321, or someone's decided that it'd be cheaper to pay out goodwill compensation to the passengers that it would've been to replace the aircraft with a spare higher-capacity long haul frame. It'll certainly be cheaper (and IMO better for everyone) than cancelling the service and paying out accommodation/rerouting/EU.261

I'd put in a polite-but-firm complaint about the lack of catering and IFE, they're almost certainly expecting them from the majority of passengers who flew on that flight.

It would be a logistical nightmare to put a different aircraft (i.e. non A321) on that route as a one off, as they'd need more cabin crew and different flight crew. This isn't feasible with a last minute tech issue. I think there are only 4 of these mid-haul A321s left, and they do DME/AMM/BEY and sometimes SVO/CAI/TLV, so the fleet is spread very thinly.

You should get the standard World Traveller service on AMM, so IFE and a hot meal - it's definitely worth contacting BA about it. Just be thankful you didn't book a J ticket!

I thought these were all planned substitutions? Did you book through BA or a travel agent? When these aircraft changes there’s usually compensation for no IFE and meal downgrade.

Thanks for the replies. I totally agree about tech issues as I fly a lot but BA needs to communicate with its customers or offer a simple acknowledgement by PA or similar. I'm also unsure whether one of these new A321 Neos really is suitable for the route given that Y and J are tight. A friendly warning to fellow travellers, I suppose.

It's not a tech issue, it's been planned for a few months now. There's a policy on ba.com I believe, for J pax to change dates / get 50% refund for BEY and 75% refund for AMM. Nothing for Y though.

My bolding.

This is very, very poor of BA.

Given the fuel savinings BA have by operating a NEO aircraft, surely they could have provided something more substantial to eat down the back.

they have no space for it even if they wanted. The NEOs are really an embarrassment. They are primarily used on longer routes where comfortable seating and more food are required. But BA decided that they prefer selling more seats than to improve the travel experience.

My partner was on that flight, in Y with an exit seat booked.
At Check-in he was offered a "special offer upgrade" to business class for c£300. He declined and was given a free upgrade anyway, though trading an exit row with a TV for a short-haul CE seat with 29" pitch and nothing to watch for 5 hours felt a lot like a downgrade.

That’s a tad mischievous, considering BA zeroed out J for sale over a month ago whenever the routes are operated by Neos.

I can only imagine how unpleasant that flight must have been. I find the seats on the NEOs appallingly uncomfortable for a relatively short flight, simply not enough padding. Can't imagine spending in excess of 5 hours on one :(

I think all BA A321 mid haul routes are being hit at the moment with substitutions to A321neos. On my flight back from DME last week, the CC commented on a TLV being operated by a neo and no ability to serve a hot meal in Y. A few BA237/236 rotations have also been absent from the timetable with a few BA233/232 & BA235/234 rotations being operated by A321neos of late.

According to the BA source, MEDF went into Madrid Mx on 31/01/2020 and doesn’t look as if it’s back in service yet.

It’s been mentioned before on here but the mid haul fleet is very stretched. It would have been a good opportunity to replace the old fleet mid hauls with A321neo aircraft (except with proper galley and toilets at the back).

I've never flown with our friends over at RJ, but just as a thought, would it be more comfortable flying with them (albeit in a 787) compared to the BA A321?

BA planned that they only needed 4 midhaul config A321s when they converted 3 of them to standard European configs. However they are at a point where they are due checks and as such EDF has been in Madrid for a month. With only 3 in service they can't operate the full schedule. Pretty disgraceful really. With that seating they are interchangable with a 319 pax number wise and all should have been kept in Midhaul config to prevent this sort of nonsense. BA really do seem on a mission to drive their regular customers to the competition.

They have no brake fans either so when regularly on the Aberdeen runs I imagine the crew prey for a bit of wind whilst at the gate!

I've flown on RJ in Y and J- hardly any memory at all of former so cannot have been particularly good or bad; J on the 787 was ok but nothing amazing. However even with a mediocre crew and service I would say that an RJ 787 in J would be miles better than what the OP had to put up with. This really is very poor from BA. I hope that as many people as possible complain, not necessarily to get compensation, but to let BA know that the service was unacceptable (although they probably don't care much).