chriswiles

Oh, wow, that really is poor. A lot of bread, too. How can that be served in Club World? Looks more like an economy snack?

nomadabroad

Any reports of the second hot meal service returning to WT/WTP? Hot wrap for mid haul flights and proper second hot meal on longer haul flights i.e. SIN/SCL?

Have read reports of someone flying from SYD a couple days ago and still seeing the dreaded cold half sandwich apparently.

Anyone with recent experience please comment

CKBA

They were dishing out 'hot' brrakfast (lattice pie thing) in WT BWI-LHR today. I declined.

chriswiles

Spoke with a senior crew member flying back from BCN last night in CE. He was saying that they've heard of no CW improvements coming 'any time soon'. And if/when they do, they will be fairly minimal changes. Maybe a starter option.

He was saying that the biggest issue with CW is the size of the cabin, especially on the newer planes.

Shame if we don't get any 1 November CW changes and it's still all on one tray. I said to him that my issue with CW isn't it's all on the single tray, it's the cut-down portion sizes and that it's more like you'd get on a tier-3 CE flight.

nomadabroad

I think at this stage we’ve all been given the whole range of excuses A to Z from “the tray won’t fit” to “we don’t have enough crews” to “the CW cabin is too large”…..

Fact of the matter is that CW has been highly profitable and even more so after their cost cutting catering decision to “enhance” onboard meals into the sad one tray affair that is today. People keep flying CW anyways so management is not in rush in any way to reverse a business decision that at the end of the day is going to impact their bottom line margins (catering being a big % of expenditure for CW)…so they’ll happily keep on raking in those extra £££.

Unless people stop flying BA and in my honest opinion that is the only thing that will get their attention away from their deluded dream that everything is perfect.

All it takes is a few catering upgrades from Do&Co (costing more £££), you have a better “one tray offering” delivered by the same crew that has been complaining thus far that the cabin is too large (you are still delivering one tray as before) or that the tray won’t fit, but as we know BA is cheap as well so that is just a dream and will realistically not happen (at least for a while now),

the crew is also used to the current lazy service standard today (less work load = works in their favour to chit chat and gossip more in the galleys) so not in any rush to voice their opinion or support change.

just my two cents

chriswiles

Totally agree. Why change quickly when demand is so strong? Also, two CE crew members have told me that crew isn't keen on too many CW changes as the cabin sizes are just so big and they are still understaffed, so they want to minimise the number of times they have to visit each seat.

Looking back, it's now a shame they decided to cancel the trolley service in CW where they brought starter choices with the drinks!

Stopwatch430

Do they realize that other airlines have large cabins? And BA previously served a better service in the same cabins including the 97 seat 380 J cabin and the now retired 86 J 747 cabin?

It’s a joke and we continue to avoid BA J long haul wherever possible.

KARFA

It’s more to do with the cabin size combined with galley layout on the a350. Cabin size on its own isn’t an issue.

sb1982

But the A350 was already in service for some time before covid struck and was able to sustain the full 3 course service in Club World.

KARFA

yes. However atm what is stopping the service reverting is the lack of crew. Many long haul flights are still going out short.

choosethedrew

Turn that frown upside down! Whilst it may be tempting, as other legacy airlines serve up fancy cuisine on designer crockery atop an individually-placed linen tablecloth in a direct-aisle access seat, to think of what you're not getting, let's list the benefits to be grateful for:

+ Lower calories and better pax health
+ Less emissions by lower weight, less laundry and lighter pax
+ Less stressful environment for CC which should reduce turnover
+ Protecting a national treasure's future by helping the finances
+ Greater opportunities to visit the WC as less time with tray in front of you
+ Fewer distractions to watch the IFE
+ Happier First pax as they have clear product differentiation

pythonisman

Got my “pre flight get ready” email for JFK in club next week.

Interesting that the promo photo for club world is essentially fiction, compared to the other cabin classes which are more in line with what’s actually delivered (when you click through that is)

chriswiles

Yep, I think some of us have forgotten what Club was like before 2020! Looking at that photo you'd mistake it for First.

I remember Club where you'd get your pre-meal drink served (and often a top-up), then a choice of starter + separate salad (effectively two starters), taken away, main course, cleared, choice of pudding, cleared, coffee and chocolate served. I loved this whilst watching a movie as it whittled away a good 1.5 of a long flight and felt like you were sitting in a restaurant, watching a movie.

Now? You've shoved once single tray in one serving with far smaller portions. And this is the new norm and we just accepted it. Seeing that photo above reminds me that Club was actually decent.

nomadabroad

++ bigger bonus pot available for BA management

Can I help you

The return to normal pre-Covid standards are still on track but there is no doubt that BA have created their own monster with small unworkable galleys, large cabins and untrained and demotivated crew.