[FlyingChinaman]

This thread is about the quality of food served on board and isn’t it pathetic for some posters to suggest getting better quality food in either in the Departure or the Arrival lounge!!!!!

[rferguson]

Here is a bit of a background to the dreadful ‘breakfast’ on the east coast Nth American to London flights. As well as the much scaled down ‘afternoon tea’ on the outbound flights from the uk to north America.

Around two years ago during our ‘fight for survival’ all areas were looked at to see where savings could be made. One of these obviously was catering. Until then the second meal service to/from the east coast had been loaded on trays, in trolleys ready to be handed out by the crew. The trays were the same size as the main meal trays and consisted of a table cloth, proper crockery. A sandwich with a cake on the side for afternoon tea. And breakfast was essentially the same contents as today but in much better presentation (fruit plated on crockery, a side plate for breads and pastrys etc). In my humble opinion that offering was pretty basic. BA says it benchmarks itself against other European airlines and north American carriers flying similar routes. I can say that my J class flight on AF JFK-CDG had far superior offerings at breakfast. As the BA offering plus a cold plate of meats and cheeses. Perfect. Anyway, I digress…..

Fast forward to us being in a financial mess. BA decided that they can save £20M p.a by loading the second meal service equipment in ‘bulk’ form and having the crew ‘make up’ the trays in between services during the flight. BASSA and many crew were not happy with this, especially as the cost saving was being attributed to the catering budget instead of the crew budget. Most of us just got on with it. So that’s fine. But what they actually gave us to put on the tray was a disgrace. Firstly for no reason they reduced the size of the tray. Initially we had small trays, no tablecloths, a cutlery pack, a plastic container of fruit on top of a plate. And a butter and jam (plastic packaging) to place on the meal tray. After much complaining that this was taking the p@ss we finally got some table cloths bulk loaded as well. Then for a time the fruit was plated on proper crockery which in fairness looked quite good. Then we even got small glass ‘pots’ of jam. But most recently this has gone back to the dreadful pots of fruit.

And bare in mind this ‘service’ is carried out on flight sectors as long as LHR/MIA/LHR. All in all poor.

BULLFROG I sincerely hope that you fed back your opinions on the catering on your flight. It’s the only way it will ever change.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Pennywise, pound foolish.

£20m is petty cash for BA, but has an immediate impact on customer perception.

[VintageKrug]

£20m may be petty cash now, and therefore should indeed be used for catering improvements, but £20m two years ago was sorely needed and therefore it was the right decision to make the (regrettable) cutbacks.

It is clear that catering is improving, and I would hope to see the breakfast/afternoon tea improve as well, as funds allow.

Though I was very satisfied with my most recent “second meal”; just enough to tied me over until the next proper meal.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

When you read of changes like this being made you realise just how vulnerable catering is to cuts. I think when it affects customer perception so much then it is clearly the wrong decision to make after all, passengers in C are not usually travelling on cheap tickets and if they are alienated where does the money come from?

I wonder how long it will be until Height Cuisine is dumbed down.

[rferguson]

I totally agree with you LPPS.

However the only way to further reduce the Economny second meal on the east coast – uk flights would be to scrap it altogether. How can you reduce it to anything less than the current solitary muffin thats given out?

The frustrating thing is that BA could have made significant savings yet still maintain customer perception by having the trays bulk loaded and assembled by the crew yet still supplying something that is at least appealling to the eye and is of good quality. Granted, it may have lost them say £5M in savings but surely £15M in savings and maintaining customer satisfaction is better than £20M savings and offering something that is quite frankly not worth giving out.

[Bullfrog]

@rfergsuon .. how do I feedback on in flight catering please ?

@VK … You say ‘it is clear the catering is improving’.

On my recent LCY to JFK, yes I can say the meal service was very acceptable, although the afternoon tea a little minimal. As far as the Montreal to Heathrow service in Club World last Sunday night, the ‘catering was awful’. So no, it is not improving.

And those of you that recommended the last row in CW facing backwards .. ‘spot on’ .. great seat. Thank you.

I’m flying to the USA on November 4 … BA First Class, but maybe I’ll sneak my own picnic on board, just in case. I guess I could always give my tasty picnic to a hungry passenger in CW if the First Class meal service proves to be ok. I certainly don’t expect restaurant quality, just something edible.

[Senator]

A couple of things to ponder; but first a big thank you to rferguson for providing some insight to decisions made at BA.

There are going to be as many opinions about this as there are stars in the sky! My personal travel pattern means I travel mostly to the East-coast for personal travel. However, over the last year I’ve had three NYC to LON trips coming off holiday going to one day meetings in London. Let me share the different experiences:

Jan 2011: LGA-YUL-LHR on AC – no time to eat before, so a proper dinner provided on-board. Cold breakfast offered, but declined. However, Arrivals Lounge used with shower and breakfast consumed and ready for 09:30 meeting in town. Time table 06:25hrs, took about this long. Slept 4hrs.

April 2011: JFK-LHR on BA – proper meal in lounge, change to sleeping wear. Some delays, but as soon as airborne made bed in 60B. Skipped breakfast. Time table: 07:15hrs, took about 06:45hrs. Slept for 05:45hrs, quick shower and breakfast in Arrivals Lounge.

October 2011: EWR-LHR on CO – no meal offered in lounge. CO excel in F&B on-board, but given the announced 05:39hrs flight time, I opted for Executive meal option; get all of it on the tray (CO serves meals in BusinessFirst restaurant style). Slept for 04:00hrs, skipped cold breakfast and used the Yotel room for quick shower. Breakfast paid by me in Sofitel at T5.

So my verdict; as I am either a) connecting to somewhere else or b) have meetings in London when coming from the East-coast I would prefer BA with the Supper in the lounge, skip breakfast, but use Arrivals Lounge to freshen up and have breakfast there. I realise other fellow passengers may have other priorities, but this works for me. For the day flight across, I would prefer CO as their F&B experience overall is superior to BACW offering and as I tend to be on a personal trip, I like to treat myself to some downtime and therefore, enjoy the offering.

Unless I need to be in LON I would probably use a different connection point. I almost prefer a longer flight to be able to get more sleep. Hence, direct flights into ARN or using LX via ZRH is my preferred option.

[rferguson]

Bullfrog the new gentleman in charge of everything that happens on board is Frank van der Post. Managing Director, Brands and Customer Experience. In his pre BA life he led a luxury hotel chain. He seems very approachable and has a good understanding of what needs to be done to bring the onboard catering up a notch or two. Perhaps contact the exec club and tell them you want an email forwarded directly to him regarding your thoughts?

Here are FINALLY some details of the enhancements to CW catering. The first phase will be introduced on 30 OCT and focuses on the quality and provenance of the CW main dish and afternoon tea on flights ex LHR/USA/Canada. On flights from UK: Beef dishes: Only UK Hereford beef will be used. Chicken dishes: Only corn fed chicken will be used. Afternoon tea: Current triangular sandwiched replaced by finger sandwiches with a trio of mini patries on the side. EX Canada: Beef dishes will be AAA Alberta beef. Nova Scotia lobster, Alaskan Halibut (canadian?) and Artisian pasta from Ontario. US: Maine Lobster, organic chicken and Santa Barbera Smokehouse salmon.

There will also be a new wine list. Instead of showing the four that ‘might’ be onboard it will list only two reds and two whites…all of which will be avialble.

Also details of the new World Traveller Plus service which will launch on the same date. A menu card will be handed out pre take-off. The crew will then take the meal order after take off and before the first drinks round. The main dish will be a CW dish. It will be placed on the trays in the trolley and presented to the passenger in the cabin with the foil removed just before placing it on the tray table.

[Hippocampus]

Thanks for the update rferguson. Looks like a lot of thought and planning has gone into this.

To pick up earlier comments, is Montreal actually a sleeper service flight? I’ve never seen it listed as such on ba.com.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/cwsleepservice/public/en_gb

[BeckyBoop]

Will there be more healthy options and low-fat and less stodgy?
xx

[MartynSinclair]

@rferguson

any chance posting the detail of the NCW beetroot veggie dish on the BKK route. Guess it will be a different menu on the way back, but want to try and get Mrs S to create it for me!!

Many thanks

[JordanD]

Regarding the WT offering, I don’t know if this was an exception, but on my unplanned return flight from MEX earlier this week, the second meal appears to have improved (compared with the ‘second meal’ I had from SFO in Nov 08). The breakfast was a cold one, but consisted of a flavoursome muffin, a substanial ham and cheese croissant (with a fair amount of filling), a large-ish yoghurt and some orange juice.

Sure, not the largest breakfast ever, but hit the spot after a good night’s sleep, and what was a 2pm arrival … personally, I’d have preferred dinner & lunch to be served, but I know that’s never going to happen.

[LPPSKrisflyer]

Is there an eastbound service that does not serve breakfast as the second meal regardless of the time of day? I always hate being served it arriving in SIN at about 18.00, it’s not what I want but I’m usually hungry by then so tend to eat some of it. Lunch would be far more welcome!

[HonestCrew]

Martyn.
I served that beetroot risotto today going to the US. The only taker was a chef and said he liked it so much he plans to serve it in his gastro-pub.

I’ll check the catering company’s info sheet they give us, if the recipe is there I’ll post you the details on this thread.

@BeckyBoop. We are not informed of the exact nutritional value of most of the dishes we serve, however in all cabins it is possible to pre-request various dietary meals including low sodium, low fat, bland, gluten free, etc… but these do tend to be less flavoursome and the entrees vary from station to station. Club meals aren’t too bad from London right now, not particularly stodgy. Sometimes though the bread rolls expanding in the tummy can lead to to bloating.
Catering from outstations can be hit or miss. Sometimes there is no choice of catering company so BA can only use what is offered. Personally I believe things are looking up, if the words coming out of Ivory Towers are to be believed.

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