[Communipaw]

Onslow: “Hey Dais…Any more crisps?” :p

[Swissdiver]

Problems arise when one traveler is asking for colder temp while another one, warmer…

Back to the initial topic, on board on Sunday (last CW flight was in April) so looking forward to see a change (if any).

[Swissdiver]

As mentioned elsewhere on the forum, no change in food on the long haul flight is was on today (CW)… :-/

On the short haul, I had peanuts! But after the salad (good as usual). The hot towel came between the two. Weird…

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Perhaps they have a random service generator system?

[austline]

I recently travelled Y class with my wife, her brother and wife from SEA to LHR, on BA never again! Check in was good, I am Emerald and my wife is Sapphire so we could use the BA lounge it was okay except the drinks were rationed, the bar manager said that he could not allow more than 2 alcoholic drinks per pax, and believe me they were 2 very small glasses of bubbly!
Boarding, no welcome from the crew on boarding, we were seated last 2 rows 72 and 73, crew were grubby, uniforms didn’t seem to fit the girls and their hair was dangling out of bobby pins, not a nice site.
Aircraft was in need of a good clean, IFE mine didn’t work, I was told no other seats so tough nothing could be done.
Catering, well this would probably have to be the worst food I have ever had on any airline and that is a big statement! My wife had the curry which she could not eat and I had the pasta which was sheets of pasta with ricotta cheese and a strange tomato sauce over it. The bread rolls were so hard that you could have played cricket with them. The Spanish red wine must have been purchased from some interesting little bodega as it was undrinkable. Then 1 hour out of LHR a breakfast box arrived, no good morning, inside was a strange little muesli thing, muffin and an awful probiotic drink which I wouldn’t touch, but my brother in law keeps telling me he can still taste it. This was all followed with stewed coffee and plastic tasting orange juice.
The cabin crew talked between themselves when serving pax and I am still wondering if the middle aged one made it to Barbados!
Previous to this we had travelled up to LAX on the QF A380, lovely aircraft, great crew and food, then Alaskan to Vancouver and back from Anchorage, all enjoyable Y flights.
When we checked in at LHR for our flight to HKG it was full and they asked if we would mind travelling down to BKK in J and Y across to HKG on CX, delighted to say the least. The BA F lounge was crowded but we managed to find seats copious amounts of Grosset Rose and we floated down to BKK.
CX were very good in Y, awful Y class seats, but crew fantastic.
Home in Y, nice dinner out of HKG and a hot breakfast into Melbourne. Ironically same flight time as SEA to LHR. I cannot understand why BA was so dreadful; while crews can vary there is no excuse to serve such poor food and wine on a 9 hour sector.

[Swissdiver]

@DoS: LoL!

[rferguson]

I’m long haul cabin crew with BA and have been fortunate enough to travel on other airlines in J/W/Y class and echo many of the posts here.

I think Club and First catering is below average. WTP way below par with what I experienced on QF. And I’d say that economy catering is average in quality, perhaps below in quantity on longer sectors. I have to say austline, I had one of my worst Y meals on QF last year. A chicken curry with no chicken! I do appreciate their extra touches though….the hot chocolate and tea service after the main meal, menus, ‘snack on q’ bags etc.

Although BA was never really renowned for their catering (except perhaps for the famous carved roasts in First Class back in the eighties) it was the first areas to take a budget hit in our ‘fight for survival’ a few years back. Thankfully we are in much better times and although we have turned a corner, and wish to re-invest in catering it’s been made clear that the investment will be ‘selective’ not wholesale. So you are still more than likely to see that same meal on your LHR – SEA flight in Y for some time to come. Changes will ring in with WTP and J catering soon though.

In terms of Club World the main change is a £ increase in the amount spent on the CW main meal. If BA was previously paying say £3 per CW hot meal they are increasing this by X%. There has been some minor changes that have already taken place with the CW hots. For example where the sauces were already pre poured over the dish in the catering unit at preparation stage (usually resulting in some gooey mush by the time it’s been put in front of you) it’s now loaded in a separate foil and the crew pour it over the dish in the galley once it’s cooked. Also there were recent trials of a ‘customized sundae’ dessert service on the LHR – JFK route.

An area often overlooked as to why BA food in CW is not particularly good (and where they have missed the boat) is down to the hardware used on board in the galleys – and in particular their ovens they use. It’s no secret that airline food is cooked on the ground and reheated in the air for around 20-30 minutes. BA still use these hideous fan heating relic ovens that simply dry out food instead of steam ovens (that many other airlines use) that retain moisture and freshness. BA got very excited about installing a solitary steam oven in each First galley when it went in for it’s refit to receive the new First cabin. Why it didn’t install steam ovens throughout the aircraft at this stage (or at the very least in CW) I’ll never fathom. Even the brand new 777-300’s still have the useless old ovens.

Another limitation that we have in terms of the delivery of a better service in CW is the number of crew we have on board. In an ideal world we would do in CW what most airlines do in their Business Class cabins. Heat the components of the meal in the ovens seperately then ‘plate’ the food up in the galley and deliver it to the passenger. An enhances meal experience. But just for comparisons sake, on the large J class cabin on the 747 we have 70 seats and six cabin crew. This includes the CSD who often has to withdraw from the cabin service to deal with other issues. Compare this with Qantas for example where the food is plated in the galley and you can order your ‘Room Service’ breakfast. They recently reduced their Business Class crew complement from eight to seven. Plus they have the Cabin Manager to help also. When I flew SQ J class on the A380 they had eight cabin crew for 60 seats. In WTP on the jumbo on the ‘mid J’ aircraft (the one with WTP between First and Club there is 36 seats and one dedicated crew member. On the 777-200’s WTP is served by the crew that serve economy. In total for WTP and economy there are only four crew again limiting enhancements that can be made in WTP. Compare this with Qantas premium economy: 36 seats, fantastic product and two dedicated crew members.

In terms of WTP: as has already been mentioned changes are afoot here also. The hot dish will be a CW china hot dish with a choice of two meals. Printed menus will also be introduced. These changes should be introduced pretty quickly in fact a trial is taking place on this weeks LHR – NRT flights. Although I believe the initial stages of the trial only predominantly include the menu and CW hot, eventually the plastic cutlery and paper napkin is also to be replaced with proper cutlery and linen.

And if I may just interject about the cabin temperature issue. It is difficult when a solitary passenger in a cabin with many happy, non complaining passengers complains about the temperature. Because you can bet your bottom dollar that if that one person says it’s too hot and you turn the temperature down you will have three people ten minutes later saying it’s too cold and to turn the temperature up. Or, as is often the case….a considerably large person is complaining it is too hot (or the seats are too small). We are somewhat limited again in the technology offered on many of our aircraft. Particularly the 747’s where many are hovering around the quarter century mark. Whereas in the new 777-300 for example you can tap a lovely touch screen seat map in the galley and change the temperature of minute areas on the jumbo, a considerably bigger aircraft, you only have control over one particular cabin. And the temperature can really vary within that cabin.

Although we are receiving new aircraft with an existing fleet of fifty – something 747’s and 40 – something 777-200’s these issues aren’t going to be resolved quickly.

[FlyingChinaman]

Bravo RFerguson!

Your crew insight does help to clarify the situation wtth the food service on BA we all now know the real situation instead of having a false hope of a rapid and drastic improvement.

[MartynSinclair]

Regarding cabin temperature – this is very challenging, especially in cabins with enclosed style seating such as most first class and the majority of business class cabins.

If seats are reclined into beds and covers are used, heat is retained. The problem is compounded further when seats have leather as part of their design.

The problems passengers encounter are a design fault of the cabin or just natures way of telling a larger person, you retain more heat than a thinner person.

Without individual seat heating controls, this problem can not be solved as the heat has no where to go.

(not quite sure how cabin heat got onto this thread about BA food, but it did somehow!!!)

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

RFerguson

Do I understand that only the F galley on the new 777-300 has a steam oven?

Many thanks for sharing the info.

[RichHI1]

Sorry for staying off topic…
Martyn re temperature, this is a hobby horse of mine. FOr some reason it varies by airline. AA tends to be frigid as does UA (I guess used to fierce Air Con iin summer in US) whereas BA prefers the tropics. AA 777’s and 767’s have individual cold air jets (which I sometimes need under duvet if I am flying from somewhere where I have had too much sun. Would love to know from BA flight attendants or purser why BA run it so hot (especially as many long hauls do not have the individual jets fitted as an option.) Very strange.

[MartynSinclair]

Rich – transfered over to Cabin Temperature thread……

[LuganoPirate]

Thanks for taking the time to write that rferguson. Very informative and answers lots of questions.

[RichHI1]

rferguson you post is very informative , thanks. Your reference to 80’s reminds me of first BA First Class flight when I missed TW760 from LAX and I was switched to BA. Real scrambled eggs made fresh ,unlike the Omlette on TWA which resembled a chew toy for your dog. Those were the days. sigh………….

[rferguson]

Hey disgustedofswieqi.

All aircraft with First Class will be fitted with the new steam oven. As it goes in for it’s new First cabin refit it will also be decked out with a steam oven. The difference in food quality cooked in the steam oven is quite impressive. Why oh why did they not fit them in CW as well….. :-(. Food would have improved 200% overnight.

[Author]

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