flyboy777

I too can understand such logic, but only on long haul. Surely (in Club Europe) it is a convenience to eat onboard when there's nothing else to do with no laptop power, inseat phone & a seat that is definetly not fit for sleeping in. Surely then, the lounge time is more valueable & makes use of otherwise wasted travel time.

adrianjc32

It is airside, but not one level down. It is on the terraced area overlooking a lower seating area and across to the back of the Galleries Club and Concorde. I popped in the day before T5 opened to be nosy and the staff were really snotty and off. A shame really as the airport tends to be very friendly usually, even with competitor airlines so I would have expected Plane Food to be quite welcoming to BA staff. It has also been made clear that BA staff are not welcome to eat there, not that I planned to spend that much a day on lunch anyway . Has anyone actually seen Gordon there, or is this like a Virgin brand effort where they slap the logo on and expect that to be enough?

SchmeckFlyer

I don't see how one can compare Plane Food (or any restaurant for that matter) with lounge and/or food onboard the aircraft, either based on quality or price. Just because the price of food is included in the ticket, does not mean it is free; if I were to hazard a guess, I would say the meal one eats in J/F is much more expensive (for the passenger) than anything one might purchase in a restaurant.

I think we can all agree the quality will simply be better at a restaurant. Aircraft inherintly limit how good the food can be, and lounge food is basically a glorified all-day buffet (not exactly conducive to the best quality offerings).

Whether one is willing to pay £16 for breakfast is another story of course... we're not all accustomed to the ridiculous prices in and around London for food.

jhm

This more than the negative review in the OP has put me off trying Plane Food when I next pass through this Sunday. Of the other places to eat in T5:

http://www.terminal5.ba.com/en/eat-at-terminal-5/

I may give Amato a try instead if they (like the one in Soho) do hot food like pasta, croque monsieur etc.

(In any event, whilst I haven't tried the flagship GR at RHR, I've never been that impressed with other GR restaurants I've been to, e.g. Claridges, Boxwood Cafe, Maze etc. Much better food elsewhere IMHO.)

Gaz

In terms of the actual cost of the food to the airline, even F/J food is laughably cheap. I don't remember the actual amounts, but I did read an article on it once, and the average spend on a J passenger (not including drinks) wasn't much more than a large Burger King.

What the passenger actually pays for the food will never be known, as it's impossible to know the airline mark-up when it's provided as part of the ticket price.

Raffles

Its not impossible to know - Alpha Airports (before it was taken over and was still a PLC) which caters BA from Gatwick used to put the £ numbers in its analyst presentations which were freely available on its website.

ozzie

How does it compare to fre-flight dining in the CCR ?

BahrainLad

It's ironic that the point of Plane Food is that passengers can eat a gourmet meal on the ground before their flight, free from the constraints of aircraft galleys such as space, microwaves etc.....and then they ban naked flames in Terminal 5.

SchmeckFlyer

I wonder why they ban naked flames...

What can possibly happen? A terrorist convertly steals a stove for use as a deadly weapon? Someone lights a newspaper on fire with the intent of burning an aircraft, hoping nobody will notice. I just can't think of anything that could possibly happen.

Maybe igniting a bomb within the terminal itself, but there are far easier ways of gaining access to ignition sources than getting a table at Plane Food. Matches. Smuggled cigerette lighters. There are probably dozens of duty free items that could, either by themselves or in combination, serve as an ignition source.

Why not just seal off the area with open flames, and only permit access by authorised personnel with the appropriate security clearance?

Panic Stations

I seem to remember an F meal costing around the £10 mark when somebody last explained it me, but that was a few years ago. Having just seen Raffles breakdown of the typical cost of a meal in London I've suddenly realised how I've managed to fritter away so much money (and gain so much weight!!!)

Raffles

Thinking about it, Plane Food won't be paying VAT (and all restaurant meals are VATable in the UK) so the food should be cheaper than usual. And the beer and wine should at giveaway prices! I assume this is not the case ....

BA Meals - I've dug out my old numbers. In 2003, Alpha was paid £3.45 per BA meal (averaged across all classes) it provided at Gatwick. This was down from £3.60 in 2002.

Skimo

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fire in the T1 terminal a few years ago. Whilst I can't remember how it was started, doesn't Burgerking make a big thing about their food being flame grilled?

SchmeckFlyer

Why no VAT? The meals presumably are not being exported, and technically don't restaurant meals fall into the service category? IIRC, most countries do not permit VAT refunds and/or exemptions for services.

When I was comparing the cost of F meals and Plane Food, I didn't mean the actual cost (to BA, for example) but what it costs to the passenger as part of the ticket. Of course, it's impossible to quantify I would imagine, but if you were to break down a premium fare into fuel costs, crew costs, aircraft maintencence/ownership costs, seat maintenence/purchase costs, staff, cleaning, landing fees, cost to operate lounge per passenger etc. you probably come up with a fairly large number for the onboard meal. And my guess would be that it is much higher than the cost of a restaurant meal. Obviously I can't prove it, however.

railways

If they are not paying VAT - I don't know the regulations - then surely they couldn't reclaim VAT on the inputs, so they would only get the benefit of the VAT saving on their margin - not such a significant benefit.