Another passenger comments on British Airways’ Club Europe service

Sometimes another passenger will strike up conversation with me on a flight, and of course I will reply and engage in chit chat. On a flight from Stockholm to London, the guy next to me made comments about the on board catering which I found worth repeating.

Since I fly regularly enough, it was interesting hearing his perspective on what was being offered. It turned out he had links to the industry and was a frequent flyer on British Airways as well as other airlines.

BA786 – London Heathrow to Stockholm (LHR-ARN)
28 November 2019
Airbus A321neo – G-NEOW
Seat: Club Europe 2A
Departure: 19:10 Arrival: 22:45

Once on board, the cabin crew handed out the menu for the evening. These are printed on card and have a quality feel to them. It includes a welcome, as well as the food and drinks available.

Hot towels are then offered and they’re collected again immediately. Cabin crew swing into action giving the manual safety demonstration as British Airways elected not to have drop down screens installed on the Airbus A321neo.

Dinner Service Tonight

I selected the Yellow Chicken Curry for my meal and it was duly delivered by the polite crew. As you can see below, the tray has every course served at once.

A closer look at each element reveals a salad starter, the main dish, a dark and white chocolate mousse for dessert and a cheese course to finish. When the crew offered the bread, I declined as I had come off two flights from Sydney to London and wasn’t particularly hungry. I found the curry to be decidedly flat and lacking taste. To add insult to injury, the chicken was dry as though it was overcooked, and the curry was unable to mask that. The rest of the meal was perfectly fine.

Passenger Comments

When the Swedish guy beside me struck up conversation with me, he opened asking why I was headed to Stockholm. Eventually he made comments on British Airways and how meagre the meal courses were. He specifically commented on “the tiny salad” and the single tray service. His opinion was that things would probably get better again in future, as it seemed to go in waves of cutting and adding back things.

You can see above, from a flight I took from London to Stockholm in 2018, that things were different in the past. I can categorically state this particular meal was far tastier than the curry. Having the starter course separate comes across as more in keeping with the travel class, in my opinion.

Overall Thoughts

The passenger had no idea that I write for a blog, so his comments were off the cuff and not designed to give me fodder for an article. I definitely agreed with his remarks, especially as the curry I ate wasn’t particularly good. Things won’t go back to how it was in the past, partly because there isn’t space in the new aircraft to have that many catering items on board.

Despite the weak curry on this flight, the food on the five other flights in Club Europe I took during November 2019 was fantastic! Very tasty and bursting with flavour, so this one really was the odd one out. I do agree that calling the tiny salad a starter is a bit of a stretch!

What do you think of the Club Europe meal service? Do you think it was better before or is now the way forward? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Simple Flying.