Lucanesque

Apologies, it was unintentional and not malicious - I saw your words and my brain read 'carrier' not 'provider'.

I completely agree with your second point above. With LCC your expectations are set low, with any FCC, particularly when spending £2-5k+ for a ticket the expectations are much higher so when the randomness creeps in, which can be more often than anyone might like, it's a big disappointment.

Jimmie76

Even if she was booked in F it would have been the same as J unless things have changed recently. It probably would have looked better in a smaller higher sided dish. I was served something years ago as a VLML that was delicious but it didn’t look great.

guytp

Recently I’ve found different VGML in F to J - it’s three proper courses + canapés and the main is generally slightly larger in terms of quantity and better quality than I’ve seen on J on same routes. That being said it may just be beautifully presented slop

gw76

Regardless of any context, that looks like dog food. I’m not sure I would have touched it.

mguinness

Based on a post in Long haul in-flight catering | First thread, is it an attempt at the Traditional British breakfast on the first menu shown below?


scrambled eggs, pork sausage, bacon, portobello mushroom, plum tomato, potato rösti

flying_pig

It has been said many times: it's all about the captive market. As someone who flies long haul almost every week, I want the best comfort I can get and I do not want to connect. On direct flights from London to the US, the choice is therefore limited to BA First (I don't particularly like AA's seat and service). If I fly East, I fly other (better) airlines. If I need to connect, I fly other (better) airlines.

BA's onboard product is OK for a business traveller: the First bed is comfortable to sleep. What I find infuriating is the lack of ground services. That was somehow bearable when return fares were £6k a pop, but now my most frequent route (LAX) is £14k to 18k round trip. And remote stands seem to have become a regular occurrence even for JFK and LAX... Being routinely crammed on a packed bus after shelling out that kind of money for a ticket is just not good enough, and something that does not happen on other European airlines with a first class product. And, no, I don't buy the argument that it's impossible to offer car transfers or ground escorts at LHR due to congestion within the airport road system. The lack of service is even more annoying as AF or LH first class fares are lower on their direct LAX routes (CDG-LAX / FRA-LAX).

So, BA charges more for a worse product. Why? Because they can. The issue is that passengers like me who are not prepared to connect, don't have a choice. Anecdotal evidence: not a single seat in First on LAX-LHR next week. Full fare F round trip LHR-LAX-LHR is £18k, which I am embarrassed to admit that I am paying for. The day I'll have the time to stomach a connection (quite simply because I'll be flying less and therefore less bothered about the added inconvenience), I will definitely look more closely at the competition.

ermis177

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...omit-eggs.html It looks like the ‘breakfast’ photo was real. BA has responded too… I haven’t seen worst food photo in premium cabins before. We are talking for all time low.

subject2load

Scary to think that it was actually served up to pax. Would have been of major concern in any cabin - let alone in First.

Lots of reader comment (over 600 posts so far) below the DM piece, much of it revolving around speculation as to what the various items on the plate actually are (whereas slugs do at least have the benefit of being more readily identifiable )

Fairly standard reaction from BA, including a limp off-the-shelf apology that “we let our customers down” and “this clearly doesn’t meet our usual high standards”

As an aside : am I the only FT-er who had not (until now) come across the alternative interpretation, used by a DM reader, of ‘Best Avoided’ for the BA acronym ….. ?

HIDDY

Certainly not. It's been posted on here many times before. Usually by BA Goldies who keep renewing their status strangely enough.

golfer20

I have many long-haul flights to Eastern Europe where BA F is often 2000£ to 3000£ round-trip. It's impossible to find any other carrier that prices its F within that range, and so I think that the product BA provides is just sufficient. An example of "just sufficient" is the You First phone line, with which I've had good experiences.
For the prices other posters have mentioned, BA F does need to offer more.

subject2load

Apologies, guess I must have missed those posts (perhaps many by your good-self as a proud Blue ? )

Nothing strange about Gold renewal ! The associated benefits & privileges on offer - across all OW alliance member carriers - are much appreciated, and well-used. Well worth the effort of flying BA and OW airlines, I can tell you !

subject2load

I respectfully disagree.

They should offer more. However - for as long as people continue to book F revenue tickets in sufficient numbers - they have no need to offer more.

Ladyfliestheredwhiteandblues

I’m still not convinced. This photo was taken in what looks like a galley. Where is the photo of the food in front of a first class passenger? The “article” reads to me as if BA are looking into it and have issued their stock “not up to our usual standards” reply.
I’m no apologist for BA and believe they have let many of us down badly in recent years but I just can’t see this as being true. I await further information. Perhaps the First passengers on that route don’t read FT but it would be helpful to hear from them direct.
If true it’s something that will take more than a few thousand Avios to apologise for IMO.

fluffymitten

I've only done BA F (to Dubai) and LX F (to Hong Kong) and, I have to say, I much preferred the LX offering. All trips were well before Covid was even a tickle in someone's throat.

For going around Europe, I choose BA for the convenience and I have managed to get and retain Gold for several years so the facilities at T5 make it worth while. For long haul, I am ABBA

Globaliser

OK, I'll bite.

Two for the Price of One?