Chris_G

Stand to be corrected, but I believe that the air in the cabin is introduced at the front and circulates backwards to the rear before exiting the plane.

One of the reasons that F and J are located at the front is that those in Y have the opportunity to enjoy the farts and virus shedding of the great and the good...

rockflyertalk

My point was not so much about the food or delivery, or packaging, it was more about the environment and contact.

If you are needing to fly in the next 6 months for essential reasons then mitigating any unsafe processes or service elements that cause increases in transmissible rates, seems a sensible consideration in helping to a) build confidence back in your customers (granted not all) b) help reduce risk.

Going to a restaurant right now (as much as I’d love to but clearly can’t) seems like a very risky luxury to be putting yourself into. A restaurant is exactly that it serves food and drink. An airline is a not a restaurant it’s a means of travel.

BA will need to be seen, as well should be implementing standards that help what I outlined above in A&B. Flying is exactly why we have a global pandemic.

You’re right the food prep/eating on board has little to do with this, but saying in that case it doesn’t matter if they serve food, is increasing the contact points between people, if you can decrease contact between people and surfaces, that to me seems far less risky in these very risky circumstances until we have a solution to the virus.

P.S I’m very jealous you’ve had a pint or 3. I cannot wait for that day to come

crazyanglaisy

you could well be right. Though I'd need some pretty strong reassurance that this makes a significant difference to the risk profile before shelling out my money for a seat in the nose. Personally, I'd favour being cocooned in a Q-Suite. Just another cognitive bias of course, but it feels like the kind of PPE that could provide me with the necessary reassurance!

subject2load

A statement of the obvious at best ; but a salutary reminder nonetheless.

I personally remain concerned at the ongoing volume of air passenger traffic - dramatically reduced though it is, versus normal times.

Some journeys will be rightly considered ‘essential’, granted ; and a certain percentage will almost certainly not be. Currently no checks of any kind (whether as to the precise purpose of the journey, or a swab test) are made in relation to those departing or arriving into the UK and we hear that this could well change very soon.

I absolutely understand that everyone has their own individual risk tolerance / acceptance factor. The core issue is of course the potential for people to become infected whilst travelling, and then to potentially spread the virus within the wider community.

the810

If you propose scraping catering altogether, then I agree it makes sense, I was under impression we're discussing pre-packed food vs normal catering, my bad.

I'm worried about the strategy of restoring customer's confidence by making flying even more miserable. This is something many seem to be going after (it's not only airlines, but travel industry in general) and while I see where it comes from, I think it's bound to fail. On one hand, airlines are naturally worried when they see that over 80 percent of population is afraid to travel. On the other hand, I'm very sceptical whether they can fix it by some theatrics (e.g. compulsory face masks introduced by many European airlines). Ultimately, if someone is afraid of the virus, they will not change their mind just because there's no food on board. There will be far more human contact during travel than being served a sandwich. But at the same time, airlines will be losing those few people who would be willing to fly and pour their money into the travel industry, because they will make the experience miserable to the point, where staying at your own balcony becomes a more sensible choice.

There have been quite a few pandemics before planes were even invented.

ENTP

Spot on. BA won't be getting a penny out of me for leisure or business travel until a full-ish service resumes - I will choose another carrier

QG

The direction of recirculation of air in commercial aircraft is more lateral i.e. sideways than forward/aft, hence the risk of infection is usually limited to the two rows in front and behind the row in which the contagious pax is in. Bearing in mind physical contact with seats/surfaces/aerosol spread when said pax travels to/from the loo etc - all adds to the mix.

rockflyertalk

Interesting statement and insight into your perspective.

Can I ask...is a price a major factor when booking with carriers?

I ask because if you had a choice between say 2 airlines (for the sake of simplicity) and one was BA who offered very little, if any adds on service elements, like catering and no other amenities but the fare was far more price competitive, potentially a lot cheaper, up to let’s say 15-30% cheaper than the other choice of the 2 airlines, would you still avoid BA?

I could see BA offering very little in terms of service elements but extremely competitive priced fares, this could be a winning strategy to keep the business in the skies and bounce back post CV19. This would work well if people are more acutely aware of their spending in the aftermath of this but still want to fly to other countries.

I really shouldn’t give BA these ideas!!!

crazy8534

Some interesting posts but I’m surprised at the people saying they won’t travel in premium classes because the food is in a plastic bag...

The main concern for me is space and ability to sleep- I’d probably still pay for F if they were serving Taco Bell..!

ENTP

I live on the Piccadilly line in West London - so normally a very strong preference for LHR/BA.

My leisure travel is - as you would expect - entirely discretionary, often using Avios as I can't bring myself to pay the longhaul fuel surcharges. Using them is also, IMO, decent value in CE. I place a lot of value personally on the experience - lounges, CE food and booze to break up the monotony of sitting in a seat for hours. So until something more like what returns - then as the810 says I would rather sit on my balcony with a nice glass of wine than suffer a miserable experience a shadow of its former self - knowing that it is penny pinching hidden behind the guise of H&S.

For work travel I'm not particularly bothered about the cost, so I would rather choose someone who will feed and water me - fully understand that others would prefer instead to earn TPs/Avios instead

mcbg1

In a year or two nobody will care about what happened this year and things will be back to normal. Humans never learn and never change.

SteveF

For my wife and I the flight has always (OK, since we've been able to afford CW/F) been part of the holiday; we still enjoy the lounge, the flight, the food (yes even on BA) and drink, a chat with the crew, etc. If the future of flying is no lounges, wearing a face mask for 8-12 hours, cold food in a plastic bag and no alcohol then I'm 100% sure we won't bother. And until (if) there is a vaccine I'm pretty sure that's what long haul will look like for the foreseeable future.

That's why tomorrow morning I'm downgrading my BA Amex Premium Plus and Amex Plat cards to the free versions. I just can't see when I will need travel insurance or a 2-4-1 voucher again. At least that's Ł645 saved.

flatlander

You are not correct. Please rise.

Air circulation in aircraft cabins is mostly vertical, with air introduced near the ceiling and removed (or ducted into the hold and then fed to the recirculation fan and filter or to the outflow valve) near floor level. This is, not least, so that smoke generated by any fire at one part of the cabin does not immediately fill the entire cabin.

First Class Flatulence remains in First Class. The main exception to airflow compartmentalisation is the cockpit, which has a slight overpressure so that cabin smoke will not easily enter the cockpit. This will send some air from the cockpit towards the front of the cabin, which means that if the cabin crew are smoking then you may well smell it in row 1.

For example, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK143711/ for an explanation (in the context of tuberculosis transmission).

Chris_G

Very good...and I doff me hat to your superior knowledge on aircraft interior ventilation

This also means that on the occasions I have travelled in F and J, that my strenuous attempts to pollute the air to annoy the unwashed further down the aircraft have all been in vain...

I shall therefore cease forthwith (or whenever I get to fly again, hopefully UVF in October).

Nonetheless, and on a more serious note, as I said in one of my posts above...the liberal use of the seat belt sign (reduce service interaction for the cabin crew and passengers mixing) could mean that flying in the future will be a bladder intense experience.

Chris

BXK_Oz

How about Chicken McNuggets?