Jan 9, 2021, 4:15 am
Last edit by: orbitmic
Complimentary offerings
Euro Traveller: water and an ambient snack (eg. cereal bar in the morning, packet of pretzels rest of the day)
Club Europe: full food and bar service
Speedbird Café
Pre-ordered food and beverage service on BA mainline short haul flights, begins 20 January 2021. Available to passengers travelling in Euro Traveller and Club Europe. Items must be be ordered online - minimum 12 hours before departure on services from London, a minimum of 24 hours from outstations. Some flights to London have a longer lead time of 30 hours - see night-stop info below.
Order online via the High Life Shop
Speedbird Café Menu
List of night-stop flights which require the longer 30 hour lead time for orders
Noteworthy information:
Pre-order only: no additional product will be loaded for sale on board and therefore no trolley service or printed menus
Crew will have new TourPOS devices for confirming delivery and taking pre-orders for future flights
Complimentary service first, then delivery of pre-orders. These will be assembled by crew - food delivered in paper bags, drinks by tray.
Not possible to earn or spend Avios on Speedbird Cafe however this option will still be available for Highlife Shop orders
Mainline only
Euro Traveller: water and an ambient snack (eg. cereal bar in the morning, packet of pretzels rest of the day)
Club Europe: full food and bar service
Speedbird Café
Pre-ordered food and beverage service on BA mainline short haul flights, begins 20 January 2021. Available to passengers travelling in Euro Traveller and Club Europe. Items must be be ordered online - minimum 12 hours before departure on services from London, a minimum of 24 hours from outstations. Some flights to London have a longer lead time of 30 hours - see night-stop info below.
Order online via the High Life Shop
Speedbird Café Menu
List of night-stop flights which require the longer 30 hour lead time for orders
Noteworthy information:
Pre-order only: no additional product will be loaded for sale on board and therefore no trolley service or printed menus
Crew will have new TourPOS devices for confirming delivery and taking pre-orders for future flights
Complimentary service first, then delivery of pre-orders. These will be assembled by crew - food delivered in paper bags, drinks by tray.
Not possible to earn or spend Avios on Speedbird Cafe however this option will still be available for Highlife Shop orders
Mainline only
New High Life Café catering on BA short haul routes
Jan 7, 2021, 6:15 pm
#31
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Aberdeen
Programs: BA Gold, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 650
I see mention of the new Speedbird cafe under shorthaul economy but nothing under club or first concerning the new catering that was due to be launched on the same date.
I hope it still goes ahead as planned.
I hope it still goes ahead as planned.
Jan 7, 2021, 6:30 pm
#32
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,440
From Simple Flying:
Maybe we need to rename this thread from BOB to POL (Preorder online)
Moving forwards, British Airways will be replacing buy onboard with buy before you fly. Customers will be able to prepurchase food up to 12 hours before their flight at the airline’s online HighLife shop. The model should mean that those at the back of the plane don’t go hungry. It also will help the airline to reduce onboard waste, as there won’t be excess food.
There will still be a benefit with the new menu for those who don’t wish to prepurchase food. Before the current situation, if you didn’t buy onboard, you didn’t get anything. During the pandemic, British Airways replaced buy onboard with free water and a small snack for everybody. This will continue with the new menu. Rival airline Lufthansa recently announced that it was scrapping its free snack for a buy onboard menu.
There will still be a benefit with the new menu for those who don’t wish to prepurchase food. Before the current situation, if you didn’t buy onboard, you didn’t get anything. During the pandemic, British Airways replaced buy onboard with free water and a small snack for everybody. This will continue with the new menu. Rival airline Lufthansa recently announced that it was scrapping its free snack for a buy onboard menu.
Jan 7, 2021, 10:25 pm
#35
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
IMO, BA would offer an onboard purchase option, however, like the M&S era, most likely no cash would be accepted and would be credit/debit card only.
If they do pre-order only, they would lose money.
If they do pre-order only, they would lose money.
Jan 7, 2021, 10:36 pm
#36
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,237
I for one applaud the idea of having water/whatever available on board and stuff on preorder only. My biggest chagrin with BoB was the incredible amount of time it took to serve people: sure, a lot was due to having a supplier (Tourpos) whose main business must've been turnip harvesting instead of processing orders quickly... but no onboard sales = no probs! BA should be making that VERY clear, though. A bit like Conformance is made very clear on the boarding passes, or like Ryanair does when they say that they'll go medieval on your wallet if you don't check-in online.
Jan 7, 2021, 11:28 pm
#38
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,237
I'd say that it'd be the same thing that happens today with a special meal on longhaul. If there's enough time to recalibrate catering then it'll be done, if not... it won't. From anecdotal experience the cutoff is around 6 hours as the catering infrastructure is off-campus and requires trucks to be driven along the Perimeter roads and, crucially, pass the security checkpoints. There are exceptions, though, as some stock is also held in-campus for things such as last-minute top-ups.
Jan 7, 2021, 11:55 pm
#39
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,595
I'd say that it'd be the same thing that happens today with a special meal on longhaul. If there's enough time to recalibrate catering then it'll be done, if not... it won't. From anecdotal experience the cutoff is around 6 hours as the catering infrastructure is off-campus and requires trucks to be driven along the Perimeter roads and, crucially, pass the security checkpoints. There are exceptions, though, as some stock is also held in-campus for things such as last-minute top-ups.
Jan 8, 2021, 1:05 am
#40
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, LH Sen, MUCCI, Junior Jet Club.
Posts: 8,101
Speedbird Café launch
It seems that ET passengers will shortly be able to preorder their BoB for delivery onboard, with dishes by Tom Kerridge.
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/food-and-drink/tom-kerridge-partnership
Presumably this replaces M&S and the useless Tourvest?
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/food-and-drink/tom-kerridge-partnership
Presumably this replaces M&S and the useless Tourvest?
Jan 8, 2021, 1:20 am
#41
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 587
Re-launch of crockery, glassware and the previous service level in Club Europe and all long haul cabins starting 20th Jan.
Jan 8, 2021, 1:51 am
#43
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: UK - Hampshire & London
Programs: Mucci de Guardian des Celliers des Grands Crus 1e Classé, plus BAEC.
Posts: 2,734
Jan 8, 2021, 1:56 am
#45
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Vale of Glamorgan
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 2,991