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
Iberia is also now a budget airline.
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.
Not sure why you keep the loyalty…BA was th cream of the crop in Europe about 20-25 yrs, but this downturn is not a blip, this is happening for at least the last 10 years
We have also been flying with BA to maintain our silver status. This year we have had two cancelled flights, and on elengthy delay, and are wondering why we are bothering to stay loyal.
Food and flying should never go together. Too complicated, too many things can go wrong. Eat at a restaurant or at home.
I’ve been on a few domestic (US) flights of 3+ hours… and international flights approaching 14 hours in the air. There’s nothing “complicated” about an airline feeding its passengers, it’s a billion-dollar business with decades of history. Think about it: even a “short” international flight from New York City to Paris will have you in the air for about 8 hours. Add in the time required for airport access, check-in, security, baggage claim, getting to one’s home or hotel from the airport, and all the delays that are so common both on the ground and in the air, and it easily becomes 10-12 hours between meals. Should people (including those with medical issues) be forced to wait that long between meals because it’s too “complicated” for airlines to figure out? NO.
Basically, I agree. The food is pretty disgusting most of the time in 1st Class but, going without eating too much and with drinking no alcohol, seriously improves flying.
13-14 hour flights, excluding boarding and disembarking procedures, which can add another hour or two? Happy dieting.
13-14 hour flights, excluding boarding and disembarking procedures, which can add another hour or two? Happy dieting.
On a 10 hour flight? Why not just tell psgrs to pack their own food!
I remember flying with my Mom and Dad in the 1960’s. We packed a hamper of food. I kind of expect better now flying biz and first, but life is full of surprises.
You clearly have never made a series of flights that add up to 45+ hours. Maybe you have nothing to contribute?
BA’s ongoing cost cutting is well beyond good taste & customer respect & appreciation! It’s been going on for years now & the time will come when they’ll loose so many devoted customers that they will be forced into liquidation! Why wait for that, why head that way , they should know better !!
I am a mammal so I eat, and I fly lots of long hauls in business class so food is crucial. This article reminds me that the limbic system does have a hold on me because on my trips I look forward to a good meal, and when have multiple options for !ew bookings my memories of foods and wine will always be a big part of the choice (i.e. will fly Turkish, not United, etc.) even at a higher cost.
BA’s decision seems misguided, and the bad publicity costly.
That’s very true. It has gotten to the point where it’s best to fly a carrier like AF instead of BA into LHR because the service and food is better. Meanwhile, I’m not keen on TK. The pre-departure drinks are mediocre, the staff rarely comes by to check on you, and the food is just OK. If you ask for a fine wine they have listed, they rarely have it in stock. All of that in spite of a decent hard product.
British Airways .
It should be the best service ,with quality products.
Over the years quality has dropped and so has the service.
We need it back, leading the aviation industry, not following .
Leadership team ! Start leading and put British Airways back on top . I am proud to fly with our own Airline but it needs to make the experience a treat.
They forget Economy class, food could improve there as well as the dam cutlery which is a struggle to eat with but that gets overlooked. I’m a frequent flyer and all the times I have flown British Airways I get sent a survey to fill out and todate I haven’t seen an improvement for Economy class, unfortunately for me I cannot afford to upgrade on a flight. I really would like to eat with decent cutlery instead of something that is suppose to represent a knife, fork and spoon.
I am astonished that BA decided to pull this cost-cutting stunt in the two classes of service for which they aspire to capture tens of thousands of dollars in revenue per flight. I am flying from the U.S. to Africa in December in BA F for a very special occasion, and I’m now seriously considering a different carrier altogether.
To be honest— most of the time I would like a good sandwich and bowl of soup. Just plain good food. Forget the esoteric combinations and mystery soups.
A glass of water welcome aboard drink!!! For what is supposed to be a premium product. Poor food. I order gluten free in advance. On our last flight I got butter no bread. Piece of very dry chicken. 3 slices of melon. Even the crew were saying how bad it was .
Management trying to come up with Ideas to save
Money and there jobs ,false Economy , not thinking of
there passengers, , should look at there business structure
not there catering, it will come back to bite them,
if it hasn’t already
I use BA because at aged 83, I prefer a direct flight from Cape Town to Heathrow. The food in the economy class is unappetising, and the breakfast is p disgusting. I have only booked premium economy once and swore never again. The seat was the most uncomfortable I have ever experienced.
I have a flight booked very soon but have decided that I would change allegiance to BA if it does not improve.
This is outrageous! I contacted their customer service as my flights in business and first cabins are being impacted with this change, and they just read a verbatim response “We’re incredibly proud of our premium dining experience, which includes a wide range of meal options to suit the preferences of our customers depending on the time of day they’re travelling. We trialled our new brunch offering with thousands of customers across numerous routes and received extremely positive feedback on both the quality and variety of options offered. ”
Various social media platforms are filled with the complaints on this matter. Let’s hope BA realizes it soon and revert the service back to normal.
I always fly Club World and to be honest I only eat a starter and choose the cheese platter as dessert. Having lounge access means that I sometimes have a light meal there and as soon as the fasten seatbelts light is off I make my bed and go to sleep. But business and first passengers should be able to eat a three course meal if they want unless BA lower their fares.
Fairly soon, there will be no truly premium product on any carrier. All the food will be small and mediocre, you will have to pay for drinks even in business and first, and fairly soon lie-flat seating will be ripped out in favor of cradle seats. There will no longer be a real reason to fly up front, and there will be a contest to see who can fly economy and still arrive alive and breathing at the final destination. I think the best approach is to give the finger to the airlines, buy the cheapest ticket you can, and arrive a day early to enjoy a nice hotel room and fine three-course meals at a fraction of the cost.
The decline of services in Business Class with British Airways has been shocking in the last 15 years. You know it’s true when flight attendants say “we get complaints every day and all day long”.
I actually have a few more ideas for British Airways to rip us customers off. Keep charging thousands of Pounds for the flights but in addition you could just put 1 flight attendant in Business Class and replace the galley with a few microwaves. Passengers could warm up microwave meals as and when they are hungry (you could sell microwave meals at the gate). And put in the galley a refrigerator packed with lettuce. That’s the Vegetarian meals.
Drinks? No problem. Water from now on. You can find this next to your seat.
You also could charge for movies. £8 per movie. £25 for unlimited movies on long haul flights.
We experienced better service on any airline in Africa or South America. Ah wait, they are third world countries.
I believe that BA suggested, at first, that these changes were to help reduce food wastage. Now their customers have told them that they would prefer to pay for a premium product but receive a sub-standard experience. Could you imagine paying £300 for a meal at a Michelin stared restaurant and being served some semi-stale bread, rehydrated soup and a Mars bar!!!
If they were serious about food wastage why don’t they allow customers to order their preferred meal ( like reserving your seat ) pre-flight? They could then offer a wider range of dishes without having to load more than required. They would, however, still have to offer a limited on-board option for those who can’t ( or forgot ) to pre-order.
I’m travelling with BA in December to celebrate my 60th in S.A. It cost a fortune for 2x first class tickets but, to me, it’s a special occasion- they had better NOT ruin it!