[CathayLoyalist2]

Here is a link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/06/11/boarding-schools-in-row-with-british-airways-over-axing-of-flyin/

You may have to copy into your browser

[IanFromHKG]

MrMichael – 11/06/2016 09:57 BST : The purchasing and serving of food from out stations is a huge and expensive challenge for Airlines.

And it should also be a worry for passengers. For a number of years each time I travelled to India, despite taking all the precautions normally advised (drink only bottled water, make sure you unscrew the cap yourself so that you know it’s sealed, don’t eat salads, etc etc) I used to be (very) ill shortly after coming home. And why? Because (I eventually realised) I would have drinks on board with ice, assuming that once I got onto the plane I was safe, forgetting that the ice was loaded in India.

“How about this though for nutcase economics from BA and the travel service I am bound to use:- Occasionally a Club Europe fare is cheaper than an economy ticket, that seems odd enough, but still my travel service will not book it but will pay more for an economy ticket because the rules say I have to fly economy for any flight under 5 hours. I take the view (public sector) I should take the most economic fare, but the rules to “ensure” that happens frustratingly are that economy should be booked. I find the whole thing absolutely bizarre”

As others have said, it isn’t just the public sector. I worked for nearly a decade for a bank whose travel policies were bizarre. One quick example:
* You can’t prefer one alliance/airline because of an FFP programme
* You must book economy for flights under 5 hours
* Even for flights over five hours there are [loads of] restrictions before you can fly business class
* Tickets should be booked two weeks in advance wherever possible
* Tickets MUST be refundable

So when I tried to book a RTW first class ticket on oneworld rather than a business class return to the US, I was denied even though (a) the ticket was cheaper, (b) I was taking the extra time as holiday, and (c) because of my FFP status I had exactly the same flexibility. Shortly afterwards, I was unable to book a business class ticket on a four-hour flight for the same reasons, even though it was cheaper than economy and even though I still had the same flexibility. Then, I was told that for a flight to New York I had to take an indirect routing on UA rather than a direct flight on CX, even though the fare difference was about US$100 and I was happy to pay the difference personally. All insane.

Fortunately my manager and I soon came to an understanding, that provided I was saving the company money I would be allowed to break the rules. It will probably come as no surprise that both I and he were made “redundant”.

Personally I would like every policy-maker in every company be required to endure the downsides of that policy ten times in quick succession before it comes into force. So if someone says that all flights under five hours should be in economy, they should take ten economy flights in quick succession WHILE STILL MAINTAINING THEIR ORDINARY VOLUME OF WORK. Any idiot who says that remote access to computer systems should only be done through work computers (another issue I had) should be forced to go home ten times in quick succession and told they need to go back into the office to do some emails. And so forth….

Perhaps sense would, ultimately, prevail…

[MrMichael]

Ian, I too have the emails only on a work computer. Being public sector the absolute obsession with security in my view goes just too far. I fully accept that personal data on people must be looked after, but 99.9% of my emails are not about people, they are about systems and policy, but still I have to go to hell and back to get my emails.

Interesting point you make about ice. I rarely use ice anywhere other than home, for two reasons:- 1. You don’t exactly how healthy/unhealthy it might be. 2. Ice nowadays is made by machines that pumps as much air in to it as water. This ice melts four times faster than frozen water, my drink very quickly watered down rather than cold!

I have no doubt, that if BA do go BOB, the ice will be pure frozen water with no added air, just as it should be 😉

[IanFromHKG]

MrMichael, I do agree. Nowadays it is so easy to have a system where you log in through a Citrix server or equivalent, and in effect only see a screen of something on another computer, so no data actually resides on your own machine.

One of my tasks at the bank was to review (from an international legal perspective) the “dangers” in having BYOD (bring-your-own-device, or to put it another way, remote access from a personal device). There were hours of discussion about the fact that even if you created an isolated “container” on a personal smartphone to house work data, which could be remotely scrubbed, the user might take a screenshot, which would end up outside the container and on the “personal” side of the device. I tried in vain to explain that anyone with a smartphone and a company-owned computer could achieve exactly the same by taking a photograph of the screen.

Sadly, however, the lunatics were well and truly in charge of the asylum…

ferguson – 17/05/2016 08:36 BST : Cheese and biscuits back on the Y class meal trays.
Does this mean that economy travellers can have cheese AND dessert??? Bl**dy hell…. LOL

[JohnHarper]

Should we open a book on how long it will be until the newly reduced offering is ‘enhanced’.

[openfly]

…….enhanced “due to passenger feedback”!!

[lesmclaren]

Openfly – the “passengers” of course being those sitting around the boardroom table at BA!!

[canucklad]

SimonS1, another sad soul for you….
Just back from a family day celebrating their town not being invaded by the hordes from Falkirk . Not knowing much about this mediaeval ritual I happily allowed myself to be regaled in everything from loyal black greyhounds to scheming Scottish queens.

But was once again perplexed to find myself engrossed in a posh ladies proud boast that she had foregone the cheap option of flying Qatar and was treating herself and her family to a proper flight on …….you’ve guessed it……. BA.

Oh,and in Y , all the way to Singapore.

[SimonS1]

Wow Canucklad. A bit of a shocker there.

I suppose with the rest of the UK&I busy with the football it must be a lonely existence. Long gone are the days of Ally’s Tartan Army when only Scotland could make the finals 🙂

[CathayLoyalist2]

“Ignorance is indeed Bliss”

[K1ngston]

I have joined the debate late I am afraid and have lost the will to live reading back so from me, I dont live in Europe so whether they introduce BOB or not on BA makes no difference.

Here in Asia the main carriers SQ, CX, MH et al offer food, Thai offer some disgusting mess in a box, I would much rather buy an M&S sandwich and eat on the plane than have to suffer the Thai mess.. The LCC’s Air Asia, Tiger, Scoot, JetStar offer great BOB food and is always far tastier than the traditional offerings

I have to add all this is in Y in the region, J does not justify the cost for a 90 minute flight from SIN when I get the benefit of J when I travel distances and overnight!

They have been doing this for years in the US buying good quality food in the airport and eating it on board, and the airline offering soft drinks for free and spirits in coach at a cost… Again the food sold from outlets is far better than the stuff most airlines serve up so whats the issue??

[UKGB_AG75]

I have no problem with buying my own sandwich airside when travelling short haul and taking it on board whether I’m flying on BA or Easyjet. I already do, knowing I’d rather have something of my choosing than a tasteless offering offered up by BA.

What I would resent to is not even being given a soft drink on board and having to pay for that. The US carriers have got the balance right. Pay for wine/spirits, complimentary soft drinks.

It’s the mid haul flights that are more of a concern.

[FDOS_UK]

UKGB_AG75 – 15/06/2016 08:36 BST

You raise an interesting point about complimentary soft drinks and the locos have an advantage in this area, as they have always sold everything, whereas the legacies are trying to downgrade the service and every cut looks mean to the passenger, even when logically the prices may be similar.

SAS provides tea/coffee and sells everything else, which is another approach.

To show that BoB can be a good thing, I flew from Italy to Manchester on easyJet last week and had a couscous pot (which was tasty) and a bottle of water for £5.10 – I thought that good value and reflected that to get a ‘free’ drink and sandwich on BA, I would have had to connect via Heathrow and pay a lot more for the privilege. My return ticket cost a shade over £80.

[Speedbird_ABZ]

I know this is slightly different but I’ve just had experience of BOB on BA on a charter from ABZ to AGP. A/C was an E190 with two crew, we were sitting about three rows from the back and the drinks/food trolley arrived at us 90 minutes into the flight. They did have hot food to handle on top of the fact the crew were saying it was their first experience of BOB so this was a bit of an exception. Trash was collected another hour after the food service had ended.
On a 3 hour flight there was only one round of drinks which I heard people complain about – a lot of people on holiday do look forward to a drink or two en route.
As I say, not a typical BA flight really, just an observation.
Nice looking menu, but everything was unhealthy to be honest.

[openfly]

Speedbird-ABZ……a very interesting observation! Love to see how BA LHR were to cope with a full A-321 to AMS/CDG/BRU with minimum crew!

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