[canucklad]

Surely rferguson, BA being the best of British will have you all on a training course to pour that perfect cup of tea.
Now is it milk (fresh of course) first or is it hot water first?
That’s the £2.30 question : )

[BugAdvisor]

I already have BA short-haul economy flights booked post January 11th. When I booked, the BA site referred to free drinks and snacks. So I guess I can now cancel for free if I need to as BA aren’t providing what I originally paid for?

[MartynSinclair]

@Travellator, that option has been available for as long as shops have been selling food and drink airside… Iam wondering though whether the airport will allow signs “Last food stop before boarding”

[Travellator]

Martyn, I think there was a sign in Term One outside the bar just near the Aer Lingus gate that proclaimed – Last Pint of Guiness before Dublin !

[MrMichael]

Putting the principle of BOB to one side, I think the mark up compared to landside M&S is not too bad. I would have thought prices would have been higher than they actually are. Seems BA is charging around the same as Easyjet but less than Ryanair.

[SimonS1]

Our little friend Krug would have been in his element today, a world class airline in action, commanding the skies and all of that waffle he used to spout on behalf of BA Marketing.

I think on FT the thread is now over 20 pages of people getting steamed up.

It has been on the cards for ages and now we have it. Plenty of hot air this month but I predict that few of those criticising BA will take their business elsewhere, and those willing to do so have already moved long since.

Good luck to all concerned.

[Mark Caswell]

Readers can also take part in our latest poll on the subject of BA’s buy-on-board launch:

Is British Airways right to launch a buy-on-board service for short-haul flights?

[nigelchism]

As I have remarked elsewhere, EasyJet and Ryan Air must surely be celebrating a huge marketing boost. I always encouraged staff to fly BA, knowing they would be ‘fed’ and watered without our having to process dozens of expense claims. They may as well fly with anyone they like now.

I wonder if the lounges will be happy with a ‘to go’ policy?

[ViajeroUK]

I first read this thread whilst on a trip in The Balkans, just before boarding an Air Serbia short haul economy only ATR72 flight BEG to SJJ. A short while after take off for the 40 minutes or so flight free snacks handed out (beef salad roll and bottle of water), all waste/packaging etc cleared away then short while later descent started. BoB could not have happened in the time available.
A few days later Air Croatia A320 business DBV to ZAG, another short 40 minute flight but the ten pax in business were served a meal tray with a cold snack, smoked mackerel with small salad, chocolate and choice of soft drinks and/or wine, all without any rush, cleared away with time to spare before descent started.
It got me thinking about the comparison to BA and the M&S food options, just how long will it take the cabin crew to dispense food and drink to 100/150 pax, collect money/Avios, and clear away? Will extra staff be needed together with a large bag of small change for pax who want to pay cash?
Interesting times, maybe cabin crew who started with FR or EZ with experience of BoB will be recruited by BA to ease the introduction of the latest enhancement.

[thecartoonman]

Come on guy’s and gal’s is it really that big a deal?

While the forums on FT and BT might be ‘lit up’ with mainly business travellers getting very excited, the average ‘Joe’ travelling in WT will now notice no difference to the flights he has previously taken with Ryanair, EasyJet, Monarch, Thomson et al and wish caused no such angst.

The offering from Pret and others within the terminal is very good and you can if you wish bag a pretty good meal deal from Boots, of items of your choosing, for about £3.99, which should sustain most of us for 2+ hours without the need for BA to serve up a pretty dismal free offering, which most of the time was probably not expected from many travellers and in reality, must have cost a fortune over 12 months.

Give it 6 months and I predict there will be no such fuss, my main concern when flying in Europe is not the availability of free food but the competence and professionalism of the flight and cabin crew to deliver us all safely and in one piece something which BA has a good reputation for doing even if the coffee is now chargeable.

Now where’s that Pret Ploughman’s with pickle on artisan bread 🙂

[AnthonyDunn]

Hmm. I am one of those who has complained loudly and direct to BA about the utterly awful ET “food” offerings over recent years. The waste must have reached epic proportions. My most recent exchange with BA said either do it properly or just give up and tell people to pick up a sandwich or whatever in the terminal pre-flight.

BA has very definitely pitched itself as mid-market for some time now and in response to a very different competitive situation to that prevailing when the airline was privatised. What has happened to the real terms cost of civil aviation travel in the meantime? How much more competition from LCCs and the Gulfies is there now compared to the early 1980s? Could BA simply stand still and endeavour to ignore the advent of either (witness the recent financial statement from CX – despite its fortress-HKG attempt to keep the likes of Jetstar out) when the LCC sector has been far and away the most dynamic intra-European growth sector in recent decades? Perhaps we could do with some mutual acknowledgement and honesty around this point.

The LCCs have dramatically altered inter alia the intra-European market and it would be a brave CEO who had decided to ignore this fact. Putting it simply, BA is now attempting to straddle the LCC sector (with most things, beyond getting from A to B, now being an “add-on” extra) at the same time as providing a cheaper and watered-down Business Class offering (same seat pitch throughout etc). It’s a question of “you pays your money, you makes your choice…” It might also be called pricing and service delivery according to what the market is assessed as being prepared to pay. And just how have BA’s most recent earnings statements compared with their continental competitors (and those from further afield)? To those who object to the strategy taken by BA, I would ask just how much more are you prepared to pay for a return to “the good old days…” and just why would you expect other passengers to do likewise?

Personally, I have not noticed any diminution of the M&S Food brand in recent years albeit that I now have microscopically to examine all of their (and Waitrose – and every other food retailer’s offerings) products for traces of Palm oil/fat: cheap, high cholesterol, seriously disagreeable and almost ubiquitous across the UK processed food industry. One of the many reasons why I now appreciate eating abroad so much more.

[canucklad]

It’s an interesting tie up…..

And who benefits most.
Marks and Spencer’s who can expand their market reach
BA, who now don’t have to pay a caterer, thus saving money with Gate Gourmet or whomever

And If we were savvy, —-
Pret a Manager back in the terminal
Or Boots /WH Smith with their meal deal back in the terminal

And I wonder when BA will have their cabin crew cleaning the cabins and their aircraft not using air bridges, and I’m sure scratch cards must be somewhere near over the horizon : )
A low cost service at a premium cost price.

[AnthonyDunn]

Except that I have frequently found BA fares (on the routes we’ve been using to/from Italy) over the past year or so to be pretty much on a par with EZY much of the time. Now Flyanscare are very definitely cheaper than both… but it’s a case of “you pays your money….”

It has been interesting to see just how much impact EZY has had on BA’s pricing and ticketing T&Cs – with the ability to change flights same day something that is a direct lift from EZY’s practices.

[canucklad]

For me, as I’ve said before, it’s just lazy management….

Do as you see, not do as you do.
The BA team have put themselves in treacherous waters as far as protecting their brand.

As I said earlier, one of their blue riband routes, is EDI –LHR where they have fierce competition. Where people are prepared to pay £600+ to get to London.

Rather than setting themselves apart from their rail and LCC competitors they’re replicating the service offered by the competition at a premium price.
Driven by profiteering rather than balancing profit and service they have a linear approach to business.

And who benefits ……Short term it’s M&S .
Whilst BA cheapen and weaken their brand by racing to replicate FR and co, M&S generate revenue and open up their products to a market that haven’t yet sampled their fare.
Eventually though, the spark will go out and the Mark’s people will try and get out of the partnership when they realize they’ve devalued their sandwiches.

If I’d been at Waterside I’d have tendered for a food company, like M&S to supply cheaper than Gate Gourmet, with the agreement that their brand name would still be attached..
Suppliers that promote the best of British would be high on the priority list.
Similar to how hotels negotiate magazines and daily newspapers.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=761852]Our little friend Krug would have been in his element today, a world class airline in action, commanding the skies and all of that waffle he used to spout on behalf of BA Marketing.

I think on FT the thread is now over 20 pages of people getting steamed up.

It has been on the cards for ages and now we have it. Plenty of hot air this month but I predict that few of those criticising BA will take their business elsewhere, and those willing to do so have already moved long since.

Good luck to all concerned.

[/quote]

Don’t be so sure, these guys are losing their free inflight booze…..

And when lounge access for HBO pax is removed 😉

[Author]

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