Just days after introducing new inflight brunch menus, British Airways is looking at how it can roll back the changes after being deluged with complaints from passengers and staff who have accused the airline of stealth cost-cutting.
In an internal messaging platform, a British Airways manager has told staffers that the carrier is “scoping some adjustments to the recent changes” as various teams sift through complaints and feedback about the new catering.
Last week, British Airways introduced a new brunch menu that affects all flights due to depart between 8:30 and 11:29 pm, claiming that the changes had been made based on customer feedback.
The new brunch menu features traditional breakfast dishes like blueberry pancakes, ricotta and grilled mushroom omelet, and chicken breast.
It didn’t take long, however, for the complaints to start rolling in. Staffers were quick to point out that even if flights did depart on time at the 11:29 a.m. cutoff, passengers wouldn’t likely begin eating until gone midday.
Of course, by this point, customers are expecting a more substantial lunch menu with a choice of appetizer and dessert, along with traditional accompaniments such as wine and cocktails.
At the other end of the day, British Airways has also significantly cut back its choice of meals on the vast majority of long-haul flights departing after 9 pm by swapping out main courses of smaller, cheaper options like soup, sandwiches and salads in First and Club World Business Class.
Data crunching by Oliver Ranson who runs the Airline Revenue Economics substack reveals that the new changes affect nearly one-third of all premium cabin passengers, with Ranson concluding that the business case behind the catering changes was dominated by a desire to cut costs.
“BA’s reasoning is now clear. A business case to save money by serving brunch was proposed, and management will have pushed the service ending time back until it looked good,” Ranson writes in his analysis of the new service.
Serving brunch on long-haul departures before 9 am would have only affected 1 – 2% of premium cabin passengers, while serving brunch on departures before 10 am would only have impacted 14% of First seats and 11.8% of Club World seats.
The 11:29 a.m. cutoff, however, affects 25% of First Seats and just over 20% of Club World seats. Ranson believes 20% was BA’s “magic number” to save money, so it pushed the cutoff time until it achieved that number.
But while British Airways was willing to unilaterally introduce the new changes without first consulting passengers or employees, the airline now says that it cannot make any changes until it has received enough negative feedback.
Internally, the airline says that it might have further information to share on “adjustments” to the new service by next week, although there is no timeline as to when the changes will be introduced.
In the meantime, British Airways has taken the unusual step of offering cash vouchers to disgruntled premium customers who have complained of being left hungry on flights with the new brunch and ‘Goodnight’ menus.
It appears that British Airways has once again proved that its leadership team “knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
BA knew exactly the level of dissatisfaction this would cause but pushed ahead despite the feedback. The brunch menu was already being trialled on the LHR-IAH service for example, when contacted about my feedback I was told many pax had been complaining and I was compensated with 20k avios. Perhaps the BA strategy was to further devalue avios , but this reaction was entitled predictable and known by BA management who simply do not care.
I was in first on the “Trail” it cost BA 20k points as well..
The annoying thing was I had mailed the first team and been sent a lunch menu, I am a leisure traveller, so don’t get corp discount etc…
I had planned my meals, it was a treat… to be greated with “Brunch”…
I was not happy!
The decision to cut meals will be disastrous, especially to first and business passengers. British airways needs to get its house in order but NOT to the detriment of its passengers. It is becoming more and more like a budget airline with very few extras thrown in. Appalling
It’s appalling that BA is introducing such mean measures to its premium cabins, we are retired & use BA to keep our executive status in silver for the lounges & priority boarding. Medium & long haul flights we pay for club class . If BA continues this attitude we will use other airlines & partners who seem to value their customers. I’m sure I’m not the only person thinking this.
Food and flying should never go together. Too complicated, too many things can go wrong. Eat at a restaurant or at home.