Introduction of "new" sleeper service on some flights
Sep 17, 2003, 8:15 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 37,486
Introduction of "new" sleeper service on some flights
Looks nice, I DO like the earlier lights out and larger pillows... 
In October, British Airways will trial this service on a number of our evening services out of New York as per the schedule listed below. Any other services operating on that day will offer the current Club World experience.
British Airways Club World Trial Schedule for JFK - LHR Flights
1st October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
2nd October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
12th October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
13th October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
18th October: BA176 (2001)
19th October: BA176 (2001)
20th October: BA176 (2001)
21st October: BA176 (2001)
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
British Airways Club World Sleeper Service
Enjoy an undisturbed night’s sleep in a quiet cabin
New Sleeper Service has been designed to enable customers to have a longer and more comfortable night's sleep. This includes the minimisation of trolley movements, reduction of cabin announcements, and ensuring the cabin lights are dimmed as soon as possible for as long as possible. The service routine is designed to minimise noise and disturbance within the cabin whilst still continuing to provide attentive and responsive service to those customers who need it.
Sleep properly on a full length fully flat bed
Club World features a 6ft long fully flat bed, allowing customers to have a longer and more comfortable night’s sleep.
Get to sleep sooner and wake up later
With the new Night Cap catering and reduced service time, your clients can enjoy a longer night's sleep on your overnight journey. They can also enjoy five delicious dining options - before, during or after their flight:
PRE-FLIGHT
Pre-flight dining in the Lounge
Savor a delicious hot buffet style meal before your flight in the following airport lounges: JFK, Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare, Toronto, Boston and Philadelphia. We encourage our passengers to take advantage of this service as they relax in the lounges, so they can get to sleep or work sooner on-board.
ONBOARD
Nightcap service
After departure, to minimise cabin disturbance, there will be no main meal served in Club World. Customers will be given a drink and a substantial snack and asked if they want to be woken for breakfast.
The "Nightcap" service will feature a beverage from the bar (hot and cold) and the choice of a sweet or savoury snack. For example, a customer may choose to have a mug of hot chocolate and warmed chocolate chip cookies. The reduced service time allows customers to get to sleep faster, maximising their sleep time.
All Night Deli
Should customers feel hungry or miss pre-flight dining, they can choose from a variety of substantial snacks from our enhanced All Night Deli, which is available at any time throughout the flight.
The menu will include both hot and cold food items which are available as self-service items from the galley. This may include items such as large sandwiches, salad shakers, soup, pizza calazone, and desserts.
Express Breakfast
The quick breakfast service will allow customers to enjoy a longer night's sleep by waking later in the flight. Express Breakfast will include breakfast items such as savoury muffins, pastries and bacon rolls.
The service time has been reduced from the traditional breakfast service length maximising the length of time customers have to sleep before arrival.
UPON ARRIVAL
Arrivals Lounge
Enjoy a full English or Continental breakfast at our Arrivals Lounge. On Middle East services a full breakfast service will also be available for passengers waking earlier.
Relax in comfort, with bigger blankets and bigger pillows
Sleeper Service will feature larger and more comfortable pillows and blankets. A new Molton Brown amenity kit will also be available featuring tailored contents to help customers relax and revive.
Refresh when you arrive at our Arrivals Lounge. Start your day feeling in good shape.
The British Airways Arrivals Lounge at London Heathrow allows customers the opportunity to refresh and revive. The lounge facilities allow customers to have a full or light breakfast, and include 38 showers, a business centre and a sanctuary area. The Arrivals Lounge is open at LHR from 0500 - 1400.
Molton Brown Travel Spas
The Molton Brown Travel Spa provides a range of free treatments to help customers relax and revive. At London Heathrow we offer a departure and arrival spa and at JFK we offer a departure spa (due to open April 04), allowing customers to wind down before flying or refresh themselves on arrival.
How is this different from the current Club World service?
The features marked with an asterisk * are also available on the earlier departing Club World services from JFK. In the current service, cabin lights stay on longer and come on earlier so you can work more during the flight. The meal service is a full, four-course gourmet meal served with fine wines and champagne en route.
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British Airways Club World Sleeper Service
Enjoy an undisturbed night’s sleep in a quiet cabin
New Sleeper Service has been designed to enable customers to have a longer and more comfortable night's sleep. This includes the minimisation of trolley movements, reduction of cabin announcements, and ensuring the cabin lights are dimmed as soon as possible for as long as possible. The service routine is designed to minimise noise and disturbance within the cabin whilst still continuing to provide attentive and responsive service to those customers who need it.
Sleep properly on a full length fully flat bed
Club World features a 6ft long fully flat bed, allowing customers to have a longer and more comfortable night’s sleep.
Get to sleep sooner and wake up later
With the new Night Cap catering and reduced service time, your clients can enjoy a longer night's sleep on your overnight journey. They can also enjoy five delicious dining options - before, during or after their flight:
PRE-FLIGHT
Pre-flight dining in the Lounge
Savor a delicious hot buffet style meal before your flight in the following airport lounges: JFK, Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare, Toronto, Boston and Philadelphia. We encourage our passengers to take advantage of this service as they relax in the lounges, so they can get to sleep or work sooner on-board.
ONBOARD
Nightcap service
After departure, to minimise cabin disturbance, there will be no main meal served in Club World. Customers will be given a drink and a substantial snack and asked if they want to be woken for breakfast.
The "Nightcap" service will feature a beverage from the bar (hot and cold) and the choice of a sweet or savoury snack. For example, a customer may choose to have a mug of hot chocolate and warmed chocolate chip cookies. The reduced service time allows customers to get to sleep faster, maximising their sleep time.
All Night Deli
Should customers feel hungry or miss pre-flight dining, they can choose from a variety of substantial snacks from our enhanced All Night Deli, which is available at any time throughout the flight.
The menu will include both hot and cold food items which are available as self-service items from the galley. This may include items such as large sandwiches, salad shakers, soup, pizza calazone, and desserts.
Express Breakfast
The quick breakfast service will allow customers to enjoy a longer night's sleep by waking later in the flight. Express Breakfast will include breakfast items such as savoury muffins, pastries and bacon rolls.
The service time has been reduced from the traditional breakfast service length maximising the length of time customers have to sleep before arrival.
UPON ARRIVAL
Arrivals Lounge
Enjoy a full English or Continental breakfast at our Arrivals Lounge. On Middle East services a full breakfast service will also be available for passengers waking earlier.
Relax in comfort, with bigger blankets and bigger pillows
Sleeper Service will feature larger and more comfortable pillows and blankets. A new Molton Brown amenity kit will also be available featuring tailored contents to help customers relax and revive.
Refresh when you arrive at our Arrivals Lounge. Start your day feeling in good shape.
The British Airways Arrivals Lounge at London Heathrow allows customers the opportunity to refresh and revive. The lounge facilities allow customers to have a full or light breakfast, and include 38 showers, a business centre and a sanctuary area. The Arrivals Lounge is open at LHR from 0500 - 1400.
Molton Brown Travel Spas
The Molton Brown Travel Spa provides a range of free treatments to help customers relax and revive. At London Heathrow we offer a departure and arrival spa and at JFK we offer a departure spa (due to open April 04), allowing customers to wind down before flying or refresh themselves on arrival.
How is this different from the current Club World service?
The features marked with an asterisk * are also available on the earlier departing Club World services from JFK. In the current service, cabin lights stay on longer and come on earlier so you can work more during the flight. The meal service is a full, four-course gourmet meal served with fine wines and champagne en route.
</font>
In October, British Airways will trial this service on a number of our evening services out of New York as per the schedule listed below. Any other services operating on that day will offer the current Club World experience.
British Airways Club World Trial Schedule for JFK - LHR Flights
1st October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
2nd October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
12th October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
13th October: BA114 (2100), BA116 (2200), BA182 (2300)
18th October: BA176 (2001)
19th October: BA176 (2001)
20th October: BA176 (2001)
21st October: BA176 (2001)
Sep 17, 2003, 8:42 am
#3
Join Date: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,140
In theory it sounds good (although hoping it isn't just an excuse to cut cabin service and food to a minimum...).
Wish that more routes would take passengers wishes to get a few hours sleep more seriously - DEN-LON seems to be a shocker in this respect... (surely if you are paying for a flat bed seat, it is often because you would like to use it to get some sleep...)
DEN-LON is probably less than 8 hours, but it STILL takes them about 3 hours to serve dinner and dim the lights in Club World (and that was without having dessert/coffee!), THEN they insist on wheeling duty free through the cabin. Did this route in economy once and it took over 3.5 hours to collect trays and dim lights... Maybe I have just been unlucky on this route (only flown once a year), but it seems like bad time management to me...
Still, Denver has no "preflight dining" either. :-(
Boo
Wish that more routes would take passengers wishes to get a few hours sleep more seriously - DEN-LON seems to be a shocker in this respect... (surely if you are paying for a flat bed seat, it is often because you would like to use it to get some sleep...)
DEN-LON is probably less than 8 hours, but it STILL takes them about 3 hours to serve dinner and dim the lights in Club World (and that was without having dessert/coffee!), THEN they insist on wheeling duty free through the cabin. Did this route in economy once and it took over 3.5 hours to collect trays and dim lights... Maybe I have just been unlucky on this route (only flown once a year), but it seems like bad time management to me...
Still, Denver has no "preflight dining" either. :-(
Boo
Sep 17, 2003, 8:47 am
#4
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: UK countryside
Posts: 1,031
This sounds like a great idea. It's also going to save BA a ton of money in catering costs if they have to offer less catering in the air.
Personally all I want to do when I get on the plane is to sleep. I only eat if I can't sleep, or if the sound of the trolley being wheeled past would keep me awake anyway.
Virgin have had the "snooze zone" concept for some time, but this sounds as if they're exentding it to the whole of J class.
Personally all I want to do when I get on the plane is to sleep. I only eat if I can't sleep, or if the sound of the trolley being wheeled past would keep me awake anyway.
Virgin have had the "snooze zone" concept for some time, but this sounds as if they're exentding it to the whole of J class.
Sep 17, 2003, 8:49 am
#5
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Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 37,486
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LondonElite:
Does this boil down to "no dinner on late flights", ie cost-cutting?</font>
Does this boil down to "no dinner on late flights", ie cost-cutting?</font>
Sep 17, 2003, 9:08 am
#6
Join Date: Sep 2002
Programs: Mucci Gold Class
Posts: 2,045
If this really was an enhancement they'd introduce VS-type snooze zones. Looks to me more like an "enhancement".
My most frequent night flight leaves at 6/7pm. If this gets generalised, I'll have to eat at 5 in the afternoon. Plus, the local pre-flight dining is crap. Even on the later flight, I eat on the plane - the food is better.
My most frequent night flight leaves at 6/7pm. If this gets generalised, I'll have to eat at 5 in the afternoon. Plus, the local pre-flight dining is crap. Even on the later flight, I eat on the plane - the food is better.
Sep 17, 2003, 9:23 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 941
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC:
No, I think it's just no food in ONE cabin, and considering the deli service is self service I assume they also get along with less staff. Very smart move.</font>
No, I think it's just no food in ONE cabin, and considering the deli service is self service I assume they also get along with less staff. Very smart move.</font>
So very smart move if you're a BA accountant... maybe not if you're a passenger.
Sep 17, 2003, 9:25 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 37,486
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Canista:
How does this contradict LE's point - it's still less food and less service... isn’t it?
So very smart move if you're a BA accountant... maybe not if you're a passenger.
</font>
How does this contradict LE's point - it's still less food and less service... isn’t it?
So very smart move if you're a BA accountant... maybe not if you're a passenger.
</font>
Sep 17, 2003, 9:29 am
#9
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: Sir CT-UK - Streaker pour les autres.
Posts: 5,901
I am reading this as a cost cutting measure and not an enhancment..... I for one do not always like to go to sleep at 7pm after eating at 5.
I think this is a very clever way of BA reducing overall costs but a lot of pax will see through it.
Doing this at the time VS bring out the new suite may not be a good idea.
Any BA lurkers want to be brave and come out to tell me/us we have it wrong??
I think this is a very clever way of BA reducing overall costs but a lot of pax will see through it.
Doing this at the time VS bring out the new suite may not be a good idea.
Any BA lurkers want to be brave and come out to tell me/us we have it wrong??
Sep 17, 2003, 9:32 am
#11
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 563
Its always "interesting" to see how marketing people are selling cut-downs and lowering of service as "enhancements", "exciting new features"... 
One cabin? Like: upper deck - no food, main deck food???
Not a smart move. Not everyone wants to sleep... maybe I will have a talk with my GF or some friends onboard?
I always hate it when the cabin crew decides that I have to "go to bed and sleep". I'm a bad child and dont want to sleep!
[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited 09-17-2003).]
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC:
No, I think it's just no food in ONE cabin, and considering the deli service is self service I assume they also get along with less staff. Very smart move.</font>
No, I think it's just no food in ONE cabin, and considering the deli service is self service I assume they also get along with less staff. Very smart move.</font>
Not a smart move. Not everyone wants to sleep... maybe I will have a talk with my GF or some friends onboard?
I always hate it when the cabin crew decides that I have to "go to bed and sleep". I'm a bad child and dont want to sleep!
[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited 09-17-2003).]
Sep 17, 2003, 9:43 am
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 37,486
[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Hammer:
Its always "interesting" to see how marketing people are selling cut-downs and lowering of service as "enhancements", "exciting new features"...
Don't forget, the sleeper cabin trials will be a "requested" cabin, not an assigned cabin.
Its always "interesting" to see how marketing people are selling cut-downs and lowering of service as "enhancements", "exciting new features"...
Originally posted by ScottC:
No, I think it's just no food in ONE cabin, and considering the deli service is self service I assume they also get along with less staff. Very smart move.[/QUOTE
One cabin? Like: upper deck - no food, main deck food???
Not a smart move. Not everyone wants to sleep... maybe I will have a talk with my GF or some friends onboard? I always hate it when the cabin crew decides that I have to "go to bed and sleep". I'm a bad child and dont want to sleep!
[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited 09-17-2003).]
No, I think it's just no food in ONE cabin, and considering the deli service is self service I assume they also get along with less staff. Very smart move.[/QUOTE
One cabin? Like: upper deck - no food, main deck food???
Not a smart move. Not everyone wants to sleep... maybe I will have a talk with my GF or some friends onboard? I always hate it when the cabin crew decides that I have to "go to bed and sleep". I'm a bad child and dont want to sleep!
[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited 09-17-2003).]
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Sep 17, 2003, 9:54 am
#14
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 941
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC:
Don't forget, the sleeper cabin trials will be a "requested" cabin, not an assigned cabin.</font>
Don't forget, the sleeper cabin trials will be a "requested" cabin, not an assigned cabin.</font>
I think what’s amusing is the level of cynicism this type of “service enhancement” generates from seasoned travellers.
The idea of a quieter cabin at night is nothing new and can be implemented easily anyway – by better timing of meals, and general guidelines to crew (not standing up in the galley chatting away with the lights on is a good start)… this goes a bit further by imposing a meal pattern and reducing choice, which may not suit all pax and clearly is designed for maximum crew use.
Sep 17, 2003, 10:00 am
#15
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: Sir CT-UK - Streaker pour les autres.
Posts: 5,901
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Canista:
The idea of a quieter cabin at night is nothing new and can be implemented easily anyway...</font>
The idea of a quieter cabin at night is nothing new and can be implemented easily anyway...</font>
