[millionsofmiles]

@BigDog:
So my suspicion about “royalty in disguise” could bear a trace of truth?

And the regular mentioning of armies of nannies, and the use of public school language…..tsk tsk
Maybe the “hob.nobbing” in these levels is just a part of their daily lives, I mean, NOT with the hoi-polloi?

[SimonS1]

Will the new caterers be in attendance? With samples of their new offerings?

[AllOverTheGaff]

Is it Walkers individually wrapped Hob Nobs or the cheap & nasty ones?

[earplug]

it’s quite simple : since the merger with Iberia, BA has become a mass-market airline. It is absurdly easy to get to silver or even gold tiers, and to unlock the benefits that come with those, such as F lounge access. BA needs to re-think the whole Exec club set-up. What’s the point, when there are more passengers inside the BA lounge than outside in the regular departure lounge?

[flier74]

What puzzles me is that BA willingly gave out upto 10000 Avios to start with to GCHs etc who complained about the new lounge arrangements and now this has stopped, if people now complain thet just get a standard automated reply, guess that policy got too pricey for BA. I just hope they sort this almighty mess out vwry soon as it really is beyond funny now, 5 weeks on…..

[AllOverTheGaff]

I’ve not been in the lounges recently but have this observation; The lounges would be far less crowded and a more pleasant experience if only the people who had bought premium tickets for their flights were allowed access.

Giving access to Silver/Gold members on ALL flights seems a bit foolish to me, even though I’ve used the lounges many times whilst only flying on a £120.00 return from EDI – LHR, it makes me wonder what the family who’ve spent £10K + sat at the next table for business class must be thinking should it be their first experience of flying BA in their premium cabin.

As it is now I am no longer a BA exec member but will regain status later in the year with my AA flights and a few others, I have to say I’ve never (ever) found the BA lounges at LHR particularly appealing, WAY too busy for my liking and the food was always crap.

Rgds.
AOTG.

[seanyjmuclhr]

RE: @earplug “it’s quite simple : since the merger with Iberia, BA has become a mass-market airline. It is absurdly easy to get to silver or even gold tiers, and to unlock the benefits that come with those, such as F lounge access. BA needs to re-think the whole Exec club set-up. What’s the point, when there are more passengers inside the BA lounge than outside in the regular departure lounge?”

Dear earplug, I would be interested in understanding just how “absurdly easy” it is to get silver or gold status in BAEC. In all the years of flying economy and the odd club return across the pond, I have always found getting gold to be quite tricky… 1500 TP is quite a schlepp for us regular travellers. This is in stark contrast to many programs from Star Alliance carriers who actually reward Y flyers well for their loyalty.

Also, to say that there are more folks inside the BA lounge than in the main departure hall is wildly inaccurate, unless you have numbers to back up your claim?

[AnthonyDunn]

I will confess to a wry smile at some of the postings here suggesting that BAEC Silver and Gold status is thrown around like wedding confetti – and presumably that’s the kind of riff-raff now allowed into BA premium lounges….

At the very least, Silver (that’s 600 tier points) would require nearly eight return flights between LGW/JER as the cheapest route awarding 80 tier points per return. At a minimum of £200 per return, that’s at least £1500 as the very cheapest way of obtaining BAEC Silver status. As I dare say the overwhelming majority of BAEC Silver/Gold members are not habitués of the Channel Islands, I rather imagine that they have travelled on more expensive routes and have very probably (or more likely their employers have) paid rather more than this.

For those of us who pay all our fares ourselves, Silver (never mind Gold) status is not “absurdly easy to get” nor is it ridiculously cheap either. I do wonder at times just what kind of parallel universe that some BT posters inhabit.

[pdtraveller]

The following web site provides a detailed and evidence backed ( photographs) critic of the new catering arrangements. The pictures of the selection available at various times of the day is telling but the pictures of the guest book entries are damning.

Many may feel these are teething problems however It is hard to argue with the raw evidence.

The suggestions that passengers use AA and CX in T3 is a great idea but one wonders how long that can be sustained before those airlines take action to curtail access to those seeking something to eat and not flying on either CX or AA.

http://baloungefood.com

There is a link to the official BA position on this site and it is clear from that post that these changes were demanded by customers and these further enhancements are here to stay.

[VintageKrug]

I would imagine we could count on the fingers of one hand the amount of people who have actually switched their flights away from BA (or a JV partner) as a consequence of these changes.

I’m no fan of these changes, but it’s early days yet and we shouldn’t really pass judgement until the end of the summer when BS will have bedded in and will have full access to offsite preparation facilities still not available to them.

There are elements of the offering which have improved (sandwiches are nicer, and now square-cut), biscuits are now smaller-batch “home cooked” style, alongside things which are less good, particularly in absolute terms in the Galleries lounge and also in terms of lack of differentiation between Galleries and Galleries F.

It’s still a considerably better offering than many airlines give even at their home bases; my recent experience at a FlAAgship Lounge and at Air France’s woeful offerings in Paris are testament to this.

As far as the oft-used “in response to passenger feedback” – be careful what you wish for. Many on here declaim that BA is too expensive – it’s not. Other declaim it’s too cheap, and beg for prices to rise to deliver improved quality. Many are ill-informed and don’t have a clue about what’s required, or the broader impact of their demands, which is why we end up with situations like this.

Having said that, food onboard longhaul premium cabins is much better, which goes some way to alleviating the problem.

I’m impressed by the website linked above; it does highlight the issues and might get some changes made. Many of the comments on sites like Flyertalk were from people who hadn’t actually been in the lounges, so like the beef bourgignon, their comments should be taken with pinch of salt.

I’d urge those exercised about this to contact Baxter Storey themselves to highlight people’s disappointment with the offering:

http://www.baxterstorey.com/contact

….or if you’re a Gold or Silver Cardholder turn up and voice your concern to BA’s senior Management in the BA tent at this June’s Taste of London event in Regent’s Park from Thursday 20th-Sunday 23rd:

http://www.ba.com/taste

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

@Anthony – Agree with you here. There are many non business travellers out there who do not appreciate giving a company money to be cooped up like a battery chicken for up to 13 hours in Economy just because they are not travelling for business. For those whom the company credit card does not allow simply to book a full J/F class fare to get from A-B, obtaining 600 tier points a year is a very calculating matter. JER may be the cheapest way to do this, but not the most practical… over the course of a year a more realistic avenue for the leisure pax would be;

2x Club Europe return flights [160]
1x Business Class return [using the world offers when they come out to the Caribbean /USA/Dubai etc [290]
1x Premium economy return ,as above [180]

Or the quickest would be 2x Business return as above and 1x UK Domestic return which is spot on 600 points.

Either way this lot is around £3100 and would only be achievable to those who can afford multiple longhaul holidays a year, and are on the ball with knowing when the offers are coming out. How many of the UK population can say they are in this bracket? Not many, and those that are certainly will not be riff raff – it is not they who will be ruining the lounge experience for everyone else……. perhaps the focus should be on the business traveller who would have paid the same amount as this for one flight to New York and only getting 290 points of it?????

[VintageKrug]

AhMrBond should be aware that BA Silver can easily even for solely leisure flyers for under £700, and Gold for not much more than double that. It’s really not that difficult to get BA status, if you know what you’re doing.

This thread is, however, about lounge food, so if you’d like to discuss gaining status, then perhaps a new thread would be more appropriate?

[Travellator]

More like 7 CE returns and a couple of domestics – even at BA sale prices it is still £ 3k plus
!

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

Who was it giving a polite earful to a member of BA staff around 11:30 on Monday morning? Own up!! He was standing opposite the horse with a glass of Champagne in hand (the passenger that is).

[Travellator]

Michael O ‘ Leary ?

[Author]

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