British Airways has quietly ditched its unpopular brunch service on long-haul flights after the carrier was inundated with complaints from both passengers and staff shortly after it was rolled out last October.
Dubbed ‘Brunchgate’ because it proved so controversial, British Airways has been forced into yet another embarrassing u-turn over what many industry insiders viewed as a cost-cutting move to serve cheap breakfast items in its premium cabins.
British Airways previously limited primary breakfast service to long-haul flights departing before 8:30 am, but in mid-October 2024, the airline made the wildly unpopular decision to extend the cut-off time to 11:30 am.
The problem, however, was that flights set to depart at around 11:30 am probably wouldn’t be airborne until gone midday. Then there’s BA’s famously drawn-out meal service to contend with.
In the end, passengers who had already had breakfast at the airport were being made to eat traditional breakfast dishes like scrambled eggs and pancakes in the middle of the afternoon.
Despite a vocal backlash from frequent and not-so-frequent flyers over the brunch service, British Airways initially insisted that the extended breakfast service had been introduced on the back of customer feedback – We are yet to find anyone who will publicly admit to giving feedback even vaguely similar to this.
Within days, however, the airline told disgruntled cabin crew that they were already scoping ways to adjust the menus, and in December, the airline temporarily ditched the brunch service in favor of traditional Christmas lunch dishes.
BA now says that “on the back of more recent customer feedback,” it will return to a traditional breakfast and lunch service. The airline has suggested that customer preferences change throughout the year, and lunch service is more appropriate during the winter.
The airline is also partially rolling back a ‘goodnight service’ that meant passengers traveling in premium cabins on late-night departures after 9 pm could only enjoy lighter bite options like soup and paninis rather than a full meal service.
British Airways has confirmed that the full meal service will return to First, Club World, and World Traveller Plus on all longer flights, while some shorter flights to and from Africa will also get a full meal service.
Long-haul flights from the US East Coast with a late departure, however, will still get a light bites menu.
Of course, the Brunchgate drama was quickly dwarfed by BA’s sudden decision to make major changes to its loyalty program, which will effectively price out many customers who once counted themselves as BA’s most elite frequent flyers.
For now, at least, there is no suggestion that British Airways plans to lower the new thresholds to attain elite frequent flyer status, despite droves of once loyal passengers threatening to abandon the airline for rival carriers.
