[Anonymous]

[Travellator]

Catering on British Airways flights will be hit for the rest of the month as a result of the strike by cabin crew which ended today, union leaders claimed.

Officials at Unite said passengers on long-haul flights would be served only cold salads and sandwiches, and no alcohol would be available.

This is a quote in the press today, can anybody cast any light on this. Dont fancy 12 hours in F to HKG with cold food and no Champers. It will apparently be March 30 at least before full catering is restarted !

[VintageKrug]

Can’t comment on the food aspect first hand, though I just cannot see catering being impacted that seriously.

Gatwick flights were still serving hot food on longhaul during the strike.

Colleagues who flew longhaul even during the strike proper told me they were served cold food which was very tasty and filling, Pommery in Club from the mini Club Europe style bottles, and plentiful miniatures. So the claim about no alcohol being available days AFTER a strike just doesn’t add up.

Would be interesting to hear other first hand accounts (mine are second hand). While I think there is bound to be some impact, I doubt very much this will continue until March 30 when the next strike starts.

Anecdotally I have heard a example yesterday of BA crews loudly blaming cutbacks for lack of available food/drinks and this might be a tactic being deployed by more militant crewmembers even after the strike. Suggest demanding to supervise them checking the galley for food and drink if they look difficult and suggest nothing has been loaded….!

Frankly the chicken salad (served on a China plate) is not all that bad, and worth stomaching to be rid of the union morons who seek to destroy the company.

This sounds like more Union tosh to me…

[Travellator]

The airline confirmed that no hot food would be available on flights until the end of the month, but said passengers would still be able to order alcoholic drinks on board

Now confirmed by SKY. So if no hot food after this strike until end of the month – NO hot food until say 7th April after next strike.

Dont understand this, more PAX changing flights now, regardless of my loyalty to BA this is a step too low to contemplate.

[BlackTower]

I find the food is rubbish even in first under normal circumstances. Take sandwiches!

Frozen Carpaccio at ICH Warsaw last night. Is a decent meal in Warsaw possible? I have tried almost all possibilities

[VintageKrug]

I enjoyed some delicious soup and a superb steak on my last F flight.

Does the no hot food apply to Gatwick; my understanding was these services still offered hot food even during the strike. Anecdotally several people experienced hot food exLHR during the strike too, so I cannot understand a lesser service would be operated in the interim between strikes.

There are still microwaves in the Club Kitchen for soup and noodles etc.

Frankly if eating a sarnie and a chicken salad is my little contribution to healing BA structural issues and ensuring those staff who remain are appropriately incentivised within adaptable and pragmatic working framework focussed around passenger needs then so be it!

I’ll continue to back BA.

Oh, and the news agencies coverage of this strike has been lametable; BBC sucking up an BASSA propaganda to fit their own agenda, and SKY never checking either sides’ facts and running outdated, misleading video and quoting out of context.

[Extranuts]

I flew BA from lhr to hong kong on Monday. Apart from leaving a bit late as the crew were bussed in from a secret location the flight was standard with hot food Inc breakfast. All credit to the crew who were in good spirits and not allowing themselves to be affected by arthur scargill and his cronies from the 70s who aren’t risking their own jobs but just love indusrial action. Great job crew!!!!!

[LHRtraveller]

My connexion informed me that normal food is served on all class, the only thing missing is the duty free bars (which are part of the catering),

[bacrew1]

Not completely true (surprise surprise!?).. why believe everything the media says!?…. Catering is as per normal on 747’s (and possibly 767’s) Longhaul… 777’s still have the cold food only option… Duty free trolleys have been removed until the beginning of april, but customers if they wish can still order DF’s except alcohol and cigarettes via BA.com/highlifeshop

[AdrianHenryAsia]

Having just flown back today from DXB in F I can categorically say the flight was a complete shambles.

No hot food, no second meal service, no wash bags, no sleeper suits, no duty free, and an economy bar with wine that tasted like vinegar. Not what I’ve paid several thousand pounds for.

The cabin crew offered my wife one of their meals as she is pregnant and couldn’t eat the utter slop they offered. The food was far from tasty and filling with the crew having to hand out biscuits like some form of school tuck shop.

The crew provided and excellent service with what they had and were polite and courteous – even when probed on the strike action they remained professional.

The plane was fully staffed – with no missing crew members and all experienced hires (i.e. none the new crew which they had trained up to cover in the strike). Therefore I can NOT work out what the plane which left LHR 24 hours ago was not carrying everything it needed – absolute lunacy. I absolutely refused to believe that the strike which ended 4 days ago has any bearing on BA being able to ensure the plane has all of the required items to provide the correct levels of service.

There is a 5 page letter already in the post to BA and a copy has been sent to WW – although I very much doubt it will do any good.

I will not be continuing to back BA in this farce unless I get some answers from the company as to why the service was so bad in a period not even within the strike with a fully crewed plane!!

I will however moan no longer – I will simply vote with my feet and take my business elsewhere, there are plenty of other airlines.

[Travellator]

Any updates on F catering on 747’s

[BAGoldcard]

I would also be interested in an update regarding 747 F catering as I have a long flight shortly after the strike finishes later this week.

[Travellator]

Yes our flight is early April.

The experience of Loyal BA is one I hope not to endure on 12hour sector.

[Extranuts]

am flying out of HK on Wednesday in club so will report but must say that with one flight canelled that night out of HK i’m just happy to be flying and would take a packed ‘lunch’.

Glad enough cabin crew are not supporting this lunacy from the union although do think if WW had said he would reinstate travel perks for those who don’t strike 2nd time round he could have got a better reaction from the more moderate/ sensible who would have ‘gone with it’ first time round.

I have some experience of Unite and know they strike first and think later and this could break them and force them to find a ‘settlement’ which they would call a victory but the world knows is a nail in the coffin to extremist behavoiur from the union movement

[Travellator]

Extranuts

Looking forward to your comments.

Also any info on the revamped lounge at HKG the old one was something like a BA one in Glasgow about 15 years ago !

[Author]

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