BerksFlyer

I had what I would describe as a very poor CE experience last week going to Oslo.

The seat belt sign went off after take off and the curtain was drawn at the front. Some 20 minutes later the food trolley came out and my immediate thought was ‘why no drink first’?. The choice was quinoa salad or prawn salad and the starter turned out to be quinoa salad!

Half way through my meagre prawn salad the second member of cabin crew appeared (no idea what she’d been doing all that time) and I was asked what drink I wanted. Both me and and my friend and I asked for a BrewDog beer. Two small glasses arrived and she proudly announced “I’ve shared a can between you, let me know when you want more”. She then had another seven rows to serve so the likelihood of me getting more when I wanted it was obviously slim. I’d finished my 165ml glass of beer fairly quickly and had to wait another 30 minutes before my second 165ml glass of beer turned up. I managed to ask for a third drink before landing and on this occasion I was given the can along with “why don’t you share it yourself”.

I noticed that the people in 1D&F had coffee served in a paper cup rather than China, all very premium.

Contrast that to my journey back on the early flight today where the service was excellent. Drink served first, top up when breakfast was served and plenty of further top ups offered.

lon_flyer

I also 'enjoyed' the prawn salad with the quinoa starter on the outbound - the crew, to their credit, did also offer crisps from ET to go with it, along with a second salad to anybody that wanted one (it looked like there were some no-shows).

BA should really re-think Oslo's catering band - a tiny salad is not appropriate for that flight, especially as Stockholm, just a few minutes further, gets a full hot meal.

PGberkshire

But you also have the chance to eat the in the lounge....how much food do you need in a 3/4 hour window?

James121

I had a GF meal at this time LHR-MUC in early March and it was gluten free sandwiches I'm afraid!

South London Bon Viveur

Picking up on one of the above posts, I also got served tea in a paper cup the other day in CE- very odd. Service was decent though, better than most recent BA CE experiences. Is the paper cup a new enhancement?

KARFA

There are supply issues for the normal CE cups, so there have been paper cups used for the last few weeks.

lon_flyer

Assuming you have time to eat in the lounge, which I rarely do. BA advertise a meal, so they should serve one. I don't know whether you've seen the salad in question but suffice to say the presentation is doing a lot of heavy lifting for its lack of substance.

KARFA

This salad? Seems fairly substantial to me. The problem is there will always be these cutoffs where we go from one band to another in catering terms, and usually everyone flying to the shorter route will always complain.

MaxFlyer

I don't understand the supply issue. The cups were there before and supplied to the aircraft so what's changed to cause a supply issue? Have hundreds of cups been destroyed/lost? Is there a cleaning issue?
I'm not a logistics expert so apologies if the question is basic.

KARFA

i don’t know much more either tbh - other than there are not a enough cups available atm so we have paper ones.

bafan

3 prawns and an eighth of an egg does not make a salad ‘substantial’ in my book…

KARFA

there seems to be more on that tray than three prawns and an eighth of an egg though.

lon_flyer

Three prawns, an eighth of an egg, two cherry tomatoes, two shredded lettuce leaves, half a mushroom, two olives, and a third of a stick of charred asparagus. I suppose whether it's substantial is subjective, but certainly my five year old eats more than that for her lunch. For me, as a meal served at dinner, it was far from substantial, and judging by the unprompted apologetic nature of the FAs, they found it lacking too.

BerksFlyer

It is subjective but I certainly felt underwhelmed, and this was probably highlighted by the poor way in which the drinks were delivered. If I’d asked for the quinoa salad and got it for both starter and main I’d have been even less happy.

I’d tend to agree that with those who feel it’s inadequate for a flight like Oslo. It feels like a domestic/very short hop (AMS/CDG) type of offering.

I had no issue with the breakfast service though.

abraxias

Breakfast this morning on BA800.