[esselle]

Maybe Lidl and Aldi have already declined the offer to sponsor BA’s inflight food.

[openfly]

Will BA reduce the fares to compensate for the loss of “free” food and drinks? Will they hell….

Hey BA…look at the EasyJet product. They do it well and have had lots of practice.

[Andrew66]

Yes , it would be laughable if Waitrose did decline , after all being a business in a very highly competitive market where profits are squeezed harder every year they could turn down a lucrative offer to enhance their profits and place their products in front of passengers who might become future customers to their supermarkets and online shopping .
Yes , an increased turnover without the capital outlay of building a shop , just distributing from a centralised depot and free advertising !! I guess their partners ( employees ) would also welcome this to boost their year on year declining bonus ?

I think a great deal has changed over the recent years , in that passengers are drawn in by headline flight prices , I don’t think that they are drawn towards BA or other legacy airline by the offer of a free snack ( on a short haul route ) they would rather choose something to their liking from a retailer in the airport or even pay to purchase from a varied and interesting choice on the airline .
In terms of premium cabin on short haul , I think BA should concentrate on offering a good quality food menu to go alongside the premium drinks and a more personalised service that I’ve always experienced in the CE cabin .

[BusinessTraveller]

On the subject of buy-on-board, here’s a recent piece from our sister website seatplans.com, on Flybe’s in-flight menu, which the carrier says is now the largest of any European airline:

http://www.seatplans.com/news/cafe-flybe-champions-regional-products

[canucklad]

Andrew66, you’ve used a fitting word ….. “Squeezed”

But the trouble with BA ( And other so called full fare carriers) is that their recent business decisions ironically stress their business model even further. Hence my tipping point comment.

Squeezed between quality and mediocrity

If I was to advice BA, I’d simply say …..play to strengths and be yourself.
Sadly, all they seem capable of is copying others, and sadly the others are at the wrong end of the business market !

[SimonS1]

@openfly – you really want BA to reduce fares by the £2-3 it costs
to provide the Y class snack? Times must be hard I guess.

@johnharper – when put that crudely, probably not. However if phrased along the lines of ‘what aspects of economy travel at most important – price/frequency/baggage/food etc’ I doubt many people would rate the economy wrap or crisps very highly. You can get feedback to say anything you want really.

[MrMichael]

l this over the price of a coffee 😉

[lesmclaren]

O well, final confirmation to all those that remain in denial that BA’s “business strategy” is to emulate every other low service carrier – whilst no doubt trying to keep the fares as high as possible!

[canucklad]

As the old saying goes, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”
Which leads me to this thought….

Maybe the Waterside team should name the project……
“Bringing home the BAcon”

[lesmclaren]

TO BT – your mail page #5: Which is exactly the same “stock” response they gave to the Daily Telegraph on line article today [May 16].
One has to wonder if by “customers” BA actually means shareholders. I have yet to see the day that any so called “positive feedback from BA customers” leads to anything positive or customer beneficial.

[openfly]

@SimonS1

…..and why not reduce the fare by the current cost of supplying the food etc….probably more than £3 for a sandwich, coffee and two gin and tonics ( and a bottle of red wine ). Then with BoB they charge me £6 for a sandwich and a drink plus the original approx min £3…..equals effectively a £9 charge for a sandwich and drink. Think about it!!

Its a win-win for BA….

[Exskychef]

Lively discussion as always.
A short footnote on the demise of BD- I can assure you that BD`s move to BOB wasn’t driven by “Customer Feedback”, purely a need to reduce costs to stem the £1m losses incurred each day, a small plaster to cover a big wound, but it was fighting for its life along with the crew who did their best until the bitter end.
Maybe BA should engage their Ex BD crew on the perils of BOB?

[Edski777]

So much for the capitalism some of us advocate.
Get less, pay more! All benefits to the management and shareholders.

Squeeze every last penny from the customer!

There is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of employee wages and benefits, service, payment for seat selection, less legroom, more seats abreast, thinner padding on seats, no more complimentary F&B on short to medium haul, lower quality food on long haul (especially breakfast and afternoon tea0 even in premium cabins and probably the list will go on and on.

In the meantime: higher profits, higher bonuses, higher wages, higher stock prices.

Claiming to “have the customer in mind” is utterly nonsense, the only thing in mind is the bottomline, bonuses and the investor.

Unfortunatly I can’t conclude anything other than that BA is rapidly declining to the level of an LCC.

[dutchyankee]

I have to agree with all that has been said. It is a sad state of affairs for what should be a world class airline to be going this route. As I have mentioned before, I will be losing my BAEC gold status at the end of this year since first achieving Gold in 1992. the only flights I have scheduled with BA now are on Avios Redemptions, and I am doing most of my paid for flying now with LX and OS, and occasionally LH within Star Alliance, and then a variety of other carriers depending on my destination. BA’s rush to being an LCC is frightening for an airline that I have always respected so much in the past. The new Cancellation rules mentioned on another thread, The pathetic seat pitch in CE now on their airbus fleet, their reaction or better yet, non-reaction to the IT glitch highlighted by FDOS in a long running thread, and of course now the likelihood of BOB, its just a continual decline of a once very special airline to me. I still like BA on Long Haul, versus some US carriers, but even there, BA is losing it’s advantage and very much becoming an ‘also ran’ instead of the innovator it once was. Sad!

[BA744fan]

Why not just put the fares up £5 each way? I’d rather pay £10 extra for a round trip and have the perception of flying on a decent airline, than save £10 and know that I am not.

I have always been so loyal to BA and fly them whenever I can, but their race to the bottom is gathering speed and I am so close to avoiding them now at all costs unless I have Avios to burn.

Where is the pride? What happened to the world’s favourite airline?

Now it’s ABBA – Anyone But British Airways.

[Author]

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