[esselle]

The accountants are running the BA asylum. Algorithms rule. Even if F you are at risk of not getting what you ask for.

Haven’t gone anywhere near BA J for years.

[Cloud-9]

Fancy Christmas in Chengdu?

BA will fly you there from LHR in J for a little over £1300 return.

Desperate fares before they cease flights there…

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=776174]Tony-UK:

It’s worth remembering you can also order your main course ex LHR in F/J/W.

[/quote]

The OP flew ex LGW.

[DerekVH]

The pre-order service is available on long-haul routes from Gatwick with exception of indirect flights that go via another destination. These include Grenada, Providenciales (Turks and Caicos), Saint Kitts and Tobago. – See more at:
http://mediacentre.britishairways.com/pressrelease/details/86/News-1/6235#sthash.Vv3CYSyc.dpufn

[Tony-UK]

We had two meals on our outbound flight (dinner and breakfast), we could only order our dinner (main course). Agree with previous comment, surely it would reduce costs considerably if all meals and options (starter, mains and dessert) could be pre-booked in both directions, even if only available a few days before the flight. Less wastage and also less chance of options not being available… I suspect the airlines could even offer more choice if this was fully implemented. This is surely the way to go?

[rferguson]

Pre ordering is definitely the way forward. I think the problem the airlines have is getting passengers onboard with it. I’d say only one or two passengers in J or W pre order their main on each flight. Often none.

Friends at Qantas tell me it’s the same there (and they even allow pre order in Y). Passengers disappointed to not receive their choice when they could have pre ordered.

And of course meal ratios are constructed by algorithms. I can absolutely guarantee you that there is no airline out there that caters full choices for every F and J passenger. I know this thread is BA specific however it only takes a read of reviews online of airlines such as SQ CX QR EK where passengers in F and J have also been disappointed to not receive their first choice. I was gutted to not be able to have the Japanese option on a JAL flight a few months ago as they had ran out of that option.

I guess one way of motivating passengers to pre order is to offer an extended menu only available online. SQ has ‘book the cook’ MH has a crazy number of options and Qantas always has an ‘online exclusive’.

[TominScotland]

FDOS, I am sure you know far more about airline pricing than I do but surely the fact that BA can ask prices like that (horrible as they might look) means that they are filling their aircraft on the routes in question. TK (hardly surprising at the moment) clearly are not.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=776203]FDOS, I am sure you know far more about airline pricing than I do but surely the fact that BA can ask prices like that (horrible as they might look) means that they are filling their aircraft on the routes in question. TK (hardly surprising at the moment) clearly are not.

[/quote]

Non-sequitur, Tom.

I can quote a client £35,000 for a day, doesn’t mean they will give me an order.

[JohnHarper]

[quote quote=776203]FDOS, I am sure you know far more about airline pricing than I do but surely the fact that BA can ask prices like that (horrible as they might look) means that they are filling their aircraft on the routes in question. TK (hardly surprising at the moment) clearly are not.

[/quote]

I wonder what you are basing your claim about TK on Tom?

I probably fly with them far more than anyone else who posts here regularly and in so far as I can see the planes are well, full. Times may be hard but services have been reduced to a level where profitibilty will be maintained. There has been no visible reduction in service standards either.

[EU_Flyer]

[quote quote=776156]With BA its best to manage your expectations and come prepared:

I fly club world regularly and always reserve window seat (it’s like having your own little pod), bring my own soft blanket (use the provided one as mattress topper), bring my own noise cancelling headphones and at T5 I pop in to Fortnum and Mason to stock up on inflight treats (also English tea for the destination).

As for running out of meal choices – I wish BA would extend its pre-ordering service to all long haul flights. This could be the best solution if BA are able to organise this?

[/quote]

[EU_Flyer]

[quote quote=776156]With BA its best to manage your expectations and come prepared:

I fly club world regularly and always reserve window seat (it’s like having your own little pod), bring my own soft blanket (use the provided one as mattress topper), bring my own noise cancelling headphones and at T5 I pop in to Fortnum and Mason to stock up on inflight treats (also English tea for the destination).

As for running out of meal choices – I wish BA would extend its pre-ordering service to all long haul flights. This could be the best solution if BA are able to organise this?

[/quote]

[quote quote=776156]With BA its best to manage your expectations and come prepared:

I fly club world regularly and always reserve window seat (it’s like having your own little pod), bring my own soft blanket (use the provided one as mattress topper), bring my own noise cancelling headphones and at T5 I pop in to Fortnum and Mason to stock up on inflight treats (also English tea for the destination).

As for running out of meal choices – I wish BA would extend its pre-ordering service to all long haul flights. This could be the best solution if BA are able to organise this?

[/quote]

Sounds like Buy on Board is becoming Bring On Board.

That said, I will always have a soft spot for BA even if they’re not up to par with many other similarly positioned airlines these days.

[FDOS_UK]

AlexF, I’m genuinely interested in why you would have a soft spot for a large corporation?

Personally, I don’t have soft spot for any airline, but I’d be interested why others might – for professional reasons (am currently assembling a seminar on brand management, so your comments are intriguing).

[MrMichael]

Good morning FDOS, I might be able to help you here. Having a soft spot for an organisation can seem odd, but I have had numerous soft spots for organisations, not BA however it may surprise you to learn. The BBC is an example, the old British Caledonian, John Lewis. I think it is where you like a brand, it has similar values to ones own and you respect it. It must meet or exceed your expectations every time. Have you not mentioned in the past a soft spot for the likes of CP Air & Wardair the defunct Canadian Airlines. I have a soft spot for the DC10 too, I know it was a dodgy old bird but I liked it, and a DC10 in BCal colours really rocked my boat. Bizarrely I also have a soft spot for the B757. So I think you can have a “soft spot” for pretty much anything.

[Agamemnon]

I’ve had this problem in the past too, even as a GC holder. I think with pre-ordering, airlines are using it as an excuse not to load as much choice on board. Last time I flew with AA in Business Class, an online glitch meant I couldn’t check in online or pre-order my meal, so I sat at the front but was asked last for my meal choice (they go back to front rather weirdly).

I was told what was left (and what would have been my fourth choice of main) and that was it. I voiced my extreme disappointment and asked why as a GC holder I hadn’t been asked my choice earlier in the process given that I was sat at the front of Business and I merely got told that they go back to front and no other reason.

Without wishing to throw my toys out of the pram (though desperately wanting to as it had been a pretty poor pre-flight experience service-wise until that point), I said ‘Well that’s really disappointing’, hoping the steward might get the hint to maybe find/ suggest an alternative, but he didn’t. On BA, I’d like to think he might have done, but on AA, clearly I was too subtle…

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

Also just back from longhaul trip ex LGW…… out Club, didn’t have any issue with meal availability…. Returned back in WT+. Noted that no menu was given out with club options listed as I expected, was just offered beef curry or raviolli. I found a used club menu on leaving the flight and those items were on there [dressed up in fancy lingo] but the meal itself was distinctly average and surprised if Club was the same item.
That aside, the breakfast in WT+ was just dire….comprising just a cereal bar and a rock hard, cold stale croissant, wrapped in a very thick plastic wrapper. It was simply laughable, and an embarrassment for the crew to hand out.

[Author]

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