pythonisman

I think it's fair to say everything you would expect to happen does happen (including assessments from managers and peers on flights etc). You do currently have three fleets (Worldwide, Eurofleet and Mixed Fleet) which are now one, which (I believe?) had several subtle differences in their standards, training and duties on board.

The other big contributing factor is global labour shortages (particularly in the airline industry) coupled with two years of being treated pretty badly, so this is probably the perfect storm of factors which is likely going to take some time to right itself.

At the moment, I'm pretty happy if my flight leaves/arrives reasonably close to schedule and plans aren't thrown into disarray.

Smid

Last time back from Prague (2 hour flight), it was the basic service. No drink before meal. Drink with meal, refill when back from coffee. Curtain pulled. Nothing more. Having a natter and then eating.

People did used to say BA was consistent, whereas VS was very good and very bad. I think BA employed some VS staff.

AAL2887

Recent experience from MXP-LHR on the ~0800 morning flight took 50 minutes after take off to get the hot food served (I was row 1) and then one drink only followed - for me this was a coffee served in the new paper cups which means you have it finished after 1 sip. Had to push the call button for a top up which was a waste of time as we were nearly landing (flight time 1 hr 30 mins). General attitude of the crew was "couldn't be bothered" and spent most of the time complaining behind the curtain about how they didn't get their breaks the day before. With the fares BA are charging this summer for CE, i personally think its a disgrace.

Crismyth

3 G&T standard on almost every AMS LHR flight in CE on BA (50 min).

On Iberia on two flights at almost 3 hours each we were offered one drink. For those who know Iberia I then had to watch the crew sitting on the other side of the bulkhead that had a window in it sit and play on there phones the rest of the flight. Saw a lot of shocking stuff actually on our Iberia flights yesterday...

Concerto

How is it that they (BA) managed to do all this before (well, years ago, when I actually used BA), but can't now?

volar

The most consistently good (from a service point of view) flights at the moment seem to be the wet lease ones, since the crew there are clearly following the SOP to the letter. My recent Iberia Express and Finnair operated BA flights have been exemplary.

flatlander

My most recent CE flights were to ARN and back over the last few weeks, and on all four of them I got a drinks run before the meal, another drink offered with the meal. More drinks available on request, and offered a couple of times too in the rest of the flight. They definitely all lived up to the Beverage Airways service standard. This is a zone 3, I think? Full hot meal any time of day, anyway.

For the avoidance of doubt, I did not accept every drink offered!

Yorkshire Rich

I read this thread this morning whilst I was in galleries south before my trip to Sofia in CE. TBh I was prepared just to go to sleep all flight.
I had got through security in no time, the lounge was calm, the food was actually nice, I thought “this can’t continue”.

I then got onto the flight (we were in row 3), and we departed on time. Then, the breakfast came. The breakfast was actually nice, they gave us coffee and a glass of champagne. I observed cabin crew talking to other passengers and thought “I must be lucky again”.

All flight (well for the next hour and half or so), the champagne was constantly just topped up. I’m no expert compared to some on here, but this service certainly doesn’t seem consistent to what some people have experienced.
lastly, the flight arrived a few minutes early, and, most importantly, so did our luggage.

fluffymitten

The larger the better! Why BA don't bring magnums on board is a mystery!

PUCCI GALORE

Space Dearheart. You’d not get one in a bar trolley. Personally I’d sling the all beer out and make space but that’s just me.

The Geek

We came back from Sofia yesterday and the crew absolutely aced it in terms of how quickly they did the first drinks run, and never let the glasses run dry throughout. Best I've seen for a long while. Crew lead was defo old school.

I've seen so many variations in service between different crews over time though on the mostly zone 3 flights we do...

Some use passenger names / others don't.
Some do a drinks run before the meal, others don't.
Some give out menus before take off, others after.
Some do a nut & menu run together, others the nuts come separately or with the first drinks run.
Some deliver the food out direct from the galley, others do it from a trolley.
Some are pro-active in top ups, others you either have to ring the call bell / go to the galley.

And so on. Very little consistency when in theory they should run to the same standard. Interestingly was chatting with the lead { ex Virgin CC } of an all new crew out of Gatwick a few weeks back, and he said that BAEF had outsourced their service training to TUI.

hydro001

Prague is band 2 so there are no drinks before meal.

hydro001

Because a) the service standards change on a monthly basis b) service training typically only happens when you join so some might have done it in 1980 and some might have done it in 2022 c) even within the standards there are a lot of variables e.g. banding of flight, number of customers, time of day etc

hydro001

PMI is band 2 and there shouldn't be a drinks round before meal. It is frustrating as crew who are actually delivering the service correctly are being misunderstood as not following the standards !

hydro001

So just to clarify as it seems a lot of people are discussing whether a drinks round should happen before meal.
The standard is
​​​​Up to 150 mins block time are express, band 1 and band 2 flights, so no drinks before meal. You are offere drinks with your meal (cold meal, unless it is breakfast service), and you are also meant to be offered tea and coffee at the same time. No menus on these routes except domestic.

Over 150 mins block time (bands 3,4,5), a drinks round with snack precedes the meal service (hot meals), and menus are given either on the ground time permitting or in the air before the drinks round starts.

If there are less than 12 customers the service can be hand delivered, otherwise should be from a trolley.