Food, glorious food. Flying without eating is anathema to me, as I touched upon here. British Airways have announced new on board catering for the next few months.
It is better than the plastic grab bag of doom of the last few months. The new on board catering is a step up, but, to use a popular phrase in the aviation press, that improvement is from a very low base.
What Will I Get In The Next Few Months?
Depending on your point of view, economy class passengers are arguably the winners here. People flying within Europe no longer have access to the M&S Buy On Board menu. Instead it’s back to the future for EuroTraveller, with a complimentary bottle of water and some crisps, pretzels or popcorn. No alcoholic drinks will be available.
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- Your meal if you’re flying international economy class
Those flying in long-haul economy class, so World Traveller and World Traveller Plus, will get a cold meal. This will comprise of a salad, dessert, water and a sandwich. Alcoholic beverages will return, which should help make a flight more passable for drinkers.
How About Business and First?
For Club World business class, it’s cold options presented in a box. It appears to be just a slightly nicer quality of food. Just like during the pandemic, a hot snack or second meal will be served. This will be a pizza or Panini, so the offering is still somewhat behind the usual.
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- Club World passengers get more food and a more elegant box
First Class passengers will also get meals in a box, however they will get hot main dishes. These look somewhat like the usual business class hot items.
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- First class passengers even get hot food!
Of course, the same catering company is responsible for this interim offering. Do&Co produce decent quality food, so there will be no reduction in that area. Just on the style and type of the food, not to mention the Coronavirus friendly, but perhaps not so environmentally friendly, disposable everything.
Overall Thoughts
It’s British Airways, but not as we know it. While the boxes are pretty, it is all still quite basic. What the hell does “Enjoy your menu” mean, by the way? Since a menu is, by definition, a list of dishes available, I’m not entirely sure the BA usage is correct.
This will be the norm for the next few months for devotees of the English airline. Foodies would want to look at other oneworld alliance airlines, some of whom are serving a virtually unchanged on board service.
What do you think of the new British Airways meals? Will this make a difference to your choice of airline over the next few months? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via British Airways.
Meal images via Head For Points.
Certainly not any kind of inducement to fly in the near to mid-term.
I agree, it just comes across as “okay” more than anything. At least it’s a step up from the grab bag, so there’s that.
Meh! I booked last year to go to Japan in September in World Traveller Plus. I have no idea yet if Japan will have opened their borders at that point, but if it does go ahead I’ll be getting the exact same food as Economy, and no hot meal despite having paid the ‘premium’ for ‘Premium Economy’. I’m very underwhelmed.
I hear you on that, even if the main difference between the two is that you get a Club World main dish usually. I’ll be surprised if you get to go in September, but cross fingers. I’m due to go to Australia in November, but with their 14 days quarantine, I can’t see that happening either. Time will tell. Thanks for the comment!
I think ”menu” is a substitute for the word “meal” – I’ve seen it used like that in Europe before
I’m sure you’re correct, however I certainly haven’t seen it used in this context before. Not even in England itself. Either way, it’s a minor point in the grand scheme of things. Thanks for the comment!