British Airways are no longer offering a complimentary meal to passengers flying Euro Traveller. This means that if you are ticketed in economy class on services within Europe you will have to pay for your meal and any drinks you wish to consume on board. People seem very passionate about this and I completely agree with this change as I have written about previously.
Payment is by credit card and members of the Executive Club can pay using their Avios points. Cash is not accepted. People who fly infrequently will be able to put their small Avios balances to good use purchasing a meal for themselves.
Experiences Paying For A Meal
Today is day two of the new service and members of FlyerTalk have been posting about their experiences. I thought some were worth sharing here.
seattle29 wrote – “Many people on my flight today (mostly foreign tourists) were bemused and disappointed that only card was accepted as payment, not cash. BA lost out on 5 meal purchases from the family sitting behind me because of this. It seems like they had leftover Sterling and wanted to use it up on the flight home.”
Blueboys999 wrote – “Crew constantly making the point they had been trained in the new payment system 3 months ago and were struggling to remember how to work it which became increasingly apparent.”
CloudGazer wrote – “The M&S menus look impressive and are at every seat. There were three crew with the trolley and the whole process seemed to be pretty problematic. It looked like they were having problems with the point of sale unit I’d estimate at least 3 minutes per transactions. Two people within earshot tried to pay cash despite the earlier cabin announcement.”
Feedback On The Food
TeamStorm wrote – “My partner flies as Cabin Crew for BA and has just worked a short-haul sector. She said they had been pretty much cleaned out of food on the outbound sector alone. Very positive reaction to the food and the quality.”
hcuk94 wrote – “Although they were clearly being let down by technology and lack of training, the crew remained apologetic, polite and professional. I had a bacon roll and a coffee. I thought the quality of the bacon roll was great. The coffee is a glorified filter coffee where the ground coffee goes in the cup, and there is a filter on the lid for you to drink through. The quality of both items was in my opinion decent. I think the M&S partnership is strong.”
BA6948 wrote – “Big confusion around water. A guy on a flight from Milan was refused tap water and was asked for money. Same happened yesterday on a flight from or to Oslo.”
Overall Thoughts
I am pleased to read the food is of a high quality. The complimentary food previously offered was mediocre at best and laughable at worst. While it seems there are teething issues due to the new way of service I have faith things will settle down as time passes. I will be trying the new meal offering in a couple of weeks so be sure to check back and find out what I think of it.
Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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LOL I flew on BEA on a Vickers Viscount to Milan in 1958. We got a hot meal.
I decided to fly on TAROM to Bucharest instead of British Airways. The BA fare one way is 130 pounds with no free food. On TAROM it’s 90 pounds with a hot meal on a 3 hour flight. No AVIOS miles but no big deal.
I would love to have flown on a Vickers Viscount! That would have been amazing. With the prices of flights back then, I think you should have got a hot meal. For a £40 difference, I would have given TAROM a whirl as well. While I support buy on board for British Airways, I am certainly not against free meals if the food is decent. Thanks for the comment!
Trent, when will you comment on the absolutely awful seating in Business class on BA??? On the flight DUB to LHR the center seat is blocked with a tray, making it very awkward to get to the window seat, which by the way, is about 6 (wasted) inches from the window wall….would rather just have an empty middle and raise the arms for more comfort. Then, the 2-4-2 configuration on the LHR-PHL was horrendous with the rear/forward facing alternation. Yuck! The sides are rear at window/forward at aisle (which I was lucky enough to have.) I would HATE the center configuration of aisle-forward, 2 centers rear facing, aisle forward. Who the heck dreamed up this nightmare????
Yes, Club Europe has changed quite a lot from the previous seats. Seat pitch is exactly the same as Euro Traveller unless you’re in row 1 where you have more room. The tray in the middle seat differentiates the product and of course you get a meal which you don’t get down the back. Everyone has complained about the seat pitch – I find it is closer at face level (noticably) but leg room is similar to what it was before despite the reduction in pitch.
I quite like flying backwards in Club World, and it’s quite fine in the window seat and flying forwards in an aisle seat is fine too. I have not experienced the middle pairs, though apparently the two rear facing ones are good for couples or for one person travelling with a child as you’re sat next to each other. I find it quite a fine product as it’s private and so on. It’s not for everyone and it’s certainly not as nice as the new business class of some airlines with one seat by the window, two in the middle and one on the other side, all as single seats. Sorry to hear you didn’t like it – it’s always interesting to hear your opinion. Hope you had a good trip!!