[millionsofmiles]

Esselle, what did she do in the toilet?

Fill the water container of the espresso machine? lol….

[Bucksnet]

They do in a Hong Kong branch of Starbucks: –

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/10088930/Starbucks-toilet-water-coffee-prompts-anger-in-Hong-Kong.html

[JohnHarper]

esselle – was it a mixed fleet crew?

[esselle]

JohnHarper

To be honest, I am not sure if it was mixed fleet or not, but the stewardess who made the comment was definitely a long standing member of staff.

I have often compared the food/service on BA F as reminiscent of Berni Inns, but in this instance that would be unfair to Berni.

[Henkel.Trocken]

Well, I find myself in the first class lounge yet again.

A couple of very successful meetings which lasted less time than I thought they might and I was driven to the airport. On arrival I was met at the door by a porter who had my bags out of the car and on his trolley by the time the concierge opened my door. I was met by a member of airline staff and escorted to check in where I was offered a seat, a cold towel and a drink while my bags were tagged and my boarding card printed.

That over I was escorted to the lounge by a very friendly lady who made sure I was comfortable and she immediately sent over a waiter to see me. He brought me an extensive menu. The lounge is very pleasant with lots of comfortable seats in various arrangements. There are lots of beautiful flowers too.

I’m sitting back with a Singapore Sling and I think in a short while I will have Lobster Thermidor as an early dinner. This really is, like my experience earlier in the week how first class should be. I’m confident my flight to London later this evening will be pleasant and the crew will be friendly and do their utmost to make sure I have a relaxing stay on board.

Oh, the lounge is TPR, the airline, Singapore Airlines and the airport of course is Changi. An unmatched experience IMO.

[JordanD]

Henkel – With the greatest of respect, whilst that is a lovely story (pleased to hear you are having a great journey); what exactly does that have to do with a BA T5 Lounge Disaster? (Open Question – I’m not flamming here).

[SimonS1]

esselle – the good old Berni Inns, eh. Once upon a time a very successful operation, much loved by the British public.

Unfortunately they did not move with the times and after being taken over by new owners (Grand Met and then Whitbread) the new owners found it losing money and closed it down.

A good case study for other British companies that get involves in takeovers, find what they have bought is not that palatable and end up making losses.

[carlton]

I passed through LGW last week and popped into the galleries lounge

Arrived just as breakfast was finishing and lunch starting so greedy as I am I tried a bit of both.

The breakfast was excellent with yoghurts, cereal, a variety of bread, jams, turkey etc etc plus the pastries, cookies and crisps.

Lunch was pasta with either a tomato/garlic sauce and vegetables or quiche (ham/mozarella), all very delicious and presentation flawless.

The bar was fully stocked.

I appreciate there has been issues at T5 LHR and that it’s not ideal but I think with time the food and beverage proposition will get much better and we’ll all get what we want, when we want it.

[Swindoneric]

I was in the Galleries lounge last night for three hours (thanks to our friendly French air traffic controllers) and would have to agree with Carlton. The quiches and salad bar looked and tasted pretty good and certainly better than the previous offering.

[openfly]

Methinks VK knows Carlton very well!! :-))

[VintageKrug]

The key problem with Baxter Storey is not breakfast, which in Galleries at least is by-and-large acceptable.

It is the afternoon offering until 3pm, and then the total lack of a substantial offering 3pm-6pm as well as a lack of differentiation between Galleries and Galleries First offerings.

I am hopeful things will improve at Heathrow shortly after July 1st, when BS gets its hands on the proper preparation facilities, and should be able to deliver on the full range of planned improvements.

We are already seeing elements of the improved offering, but there are specific issues which are sub-par.

It is, however, nothing like the Seventh Gate of Hell which some of those commentators (many of which haven’t been near a lounge in months) would have us believe.

Until then, it’s an opportunity to sample the outlets in T5, which apart from a single visit to Plane Food in the early days and a Picnic to try them out when they were first offered, I confess I have not had cause to frequent.

[Swindoneric]

Openfly – it was OK, honestly! In fairness I’m a lowly silver card holder so haven’t been in the hallowed environs of the first class lounges for a long time. It sounds as if there has been a significant downgrading there. I arrived in the Galleries lounge with a degree of trepidation – late in the evening, lounge packed with delayed people, more of whom were eating than usual as they wouldn’t arrive home in time for dinner, etc. – and was pleasantly surprised. I genuinely felt that the offering looked better than before.

[esselle]

Loaves and fishes.

If BS end up doing a better job than RA were able to, on what is a reduced budget, they will indeed be performing miracles.

[VintageKrug]

Do you know this new contract has a reduced budget because you work for BA, esselle?

Because unless you do, your post is a guess, or simple misinformation, as you could not possibly have access to such contractual detail.

As a shareholder, I would hope that the budget has been focussed better, but any reduction would be away from the trend we have seen in recent months at BA, where budgets for catering in premium cabins have been increased after a year or so when things had been reduced too far to manage a tricky budgetary pinch.

[esselle]

Good morning VK

Thanks for the thinly veiled assertion.

No, I do not work for BA, and once again I am afraid your presumption about what I could or could not know is both pompous and silly at the same time.

I will not reveal to you how I know, but suggest you have the simple courtesy to accept that I do.

[Author]

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