[passionateflyer]

BA are riding on their brand value, which has taken a very long time to build. It is a train which will shortly run out of fuel and to recover value in a brand is an incredibly expensive and long exercise. Reducing pitch in Club Europe to add more seats, charges to select a seat in premium cabins, hand baggage only fares and not updating a Y product since 2000 in a significant part of the long haul fleet seem to be short term profit maximising measures which will loose effect once the brand value has been drained. BA management seem to be out of touch in developing an effective long term strategy.

As for an improved meal on long haul in Y, I think that I would pay extra for that (as long as it doesn’t erode further the already poor offering compared to other carriers and I thus feel forced to pay for it). However, if the ‘improved’ meal offering isn’t good enough, or does feel like I have no choice because the standard meal is now so bad, I would turn to other carriers where it isn’t necessary to pay extra for an improved meal as the meal offering is already good and better than BAs standard one.

[canucklad]

Brilliant advert Ian…and you might be onto something passionateflyer
After it I clicked on to the adjoining Concorde clip by mistake……
BA spokesman at the end of that clip….

QUOTE….For 27 years she has been our flagship, and her inspiration will stay with us, as we take our standards of service still higher and higher…..UNQUOTE

rferguson your point about kayak is very insightful, although slightly disingenuous as arguably the most expensive fares on these routes are paid by businessmen with no luggage. If I needed to go down to my office on Friday… Hand Luggage only fare = £404

[handbag]

As an employee, I have not had any communication on this, but I look forward to seeing how it will work.

[LadyLlondon]

Just like a Premium Economy seat is pretty much what you used to get in Economy as a regular seat about 20 years ago.

[HongKongLady]

I really don’t want the bother of preordering my meal. However an improvement would be for BA to adopt the service given by Cathay, who have as selection of meals on a trolley. The advantage is you can actually see what you are getting, no more guessing if it will be swamped in sauce or as dry as bone ! You can always ask BA to bring you a meal so you can see what it looks like, which is what I tend to do, but it would be far easier to simply serve them from a trolley. Cathay also serve the dessert and cheese course this way.

[rferguson]

I think the pre-order thing is more about ‘guaranteeing’ people their choice of meal than getting to see the food.

I like the idea of food on a trolley to view and select but there is still the issue that if you are one of the last to be served you run the risk of not getting your choice.

For some people it’s extremely important to get their first choice of meal. For others, it doesn’t rank to highly on their list of priorities. At least with the pre-order tool it will enable those in F/J whom REALLY want their first choice to get it.

I love Cathay by the way. Their service in J is so simple yet effective. I was surprised the first time I flew them that they do not order a choice of starter but at the end of the day it doesn’t raise expectations of offering a ‘choice’ to then be told your choice of starter is not available (at BA there is a choice of starters but they are loaded at 100% of the booked load – so there is no over catering if one starter is more popular than the ratio loaded which is usually 70/30%).

Saying that I must admit i’m would have thought Cathay would have introduced a facility to choose one’s main course in advance. After all it’s something Singapore, Thai and Malaysian have been offering for some time.

[IanFromHKG]

I agree, rferguson, and SQ go a considerable step further with their “Book The Cook” service, offering a much wider range of choices if you pre-order, and MH have a similar offering. I don’t know if TG offer a wider choice as part of their pre-ordering programme.

Viewing things on a trolley is definitely better than choosing from a menu if you get the same number of choices. But if I were given 25 choices to pre-order as against three presented on a trolley on-board I would be on-line and browsing the menu in an instant!

Although I like the AA pre-ordering services just because of the certainty, the choices are exactly the same as those offered on board anyway. So one advantage, even if you decide not to pre-order, is that you can tell beforehand what the menu is going to be, and decide if you want to visit a restaurant before boarding!!

[rferguson]

@ hongkonglady – looks like Cathay will be introducing the ‘choose your meal online’ took as well as charging for upgraded Y meals too 🙂

[SimonS1]

Great way of making money.

Charge £10 to guarantee meal of your choice. Actual cost of an economy meal can’t be much more than £2.50/£3 so quids in and cut wastage at the same time.

[IanFromHKG]

I have booked Finnair business class for the first week of September and pre-ordered meals, even for short-haul sectors. Very easy, and an expanded range on offer at no additional charge

[HongKongLady]

Thank you rFerguson for that information, I would be interested how long in advance you have to make your choice. I am rather a fickle person and wouldn’t want to choose something only to want a completely different thing on the day ! It is great for those that find it easy to pick and stick to their choice !
My concern is that it will limit further the stocks carried onboard.

[Author]

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