British Airways is telling its flight attendants to stop saying “sorry” for catering cuts as it attempts to slash catering onboard even as its competitors improve meals onboard.
As British Airways Cuts Premium Cabin Catering, It Tells Its Flight Attendants Not To Say Sorry…
In systemwide flight attendant training at its Global Learning Academy near its London Heathrow headquarters, British Airways is showing flight attendants how little the catering budget actually goes and telling them to stop saying “sorry” for it.
As reported by PYOK, British Airways flight attendants have been told to say they will pass on feedback to management rather than apologize if a customer complains onboard, particularly about the catering.
Flight attendants were also shown how little BA has to work with in trying to maximize its £5 per passenger meal budget in economy class…in a mock exercise, flight attendants were given a list of food items and their prices and then asked to best assemble a meal while not exceeding the budget.
The context of this training is recent cutbacks to onboard catering in business (Club World) and first class, which include:
- Brunch service for flights that depart between 8:30 am and 11:29 am (breakfast dish[es] replace lunch more lunch items)
- Reduced menu on longhaul flights that depart after 9:00 pm (Asia flights exempted) with no appetizers, no dessert choice, and main courses reduced to paninis, soup, and salads
I held off on writing about the catering cutbacks because I figured they would be reversed quickly…apparently British Airways is scrambling to reverse these cuts, even as it preaches the wisdom of austerity to flight attendants.
The airline business is indeed cutthroat and even in the best of times, margins seem thin. But British Airways charges a substantial premium over its budget competitors and yet offers a budget product onboard.
The cutbacks in business and first class are just silly. Having a brunch option on a flight that departs at 11:00 am is not a bad thing: but cutting lunch choices is foolishness when most will have already eaten breakfast. Offering only lighter meals on late-night flights makes sense for some passengers: but passengers who may not have had a chance to eat should not be denied an appetizer, salad, or heartier entree.
I truly do not understand what British Airways is thinking right now…as Qatar Airways adds caviar and even United Airlines improves catering onboard, what is BA thinking by cutting back choice at this point? In any case, it is not the way to win business or win loyalty from passengers and employees.
image: British Airways
The rationalization of cost cutting in catering doesn’t seem logical when confronted with the lavish spending in other areas. Why not tell Airbus to discount new aircraft? Eliminate advertisements and marketing. Reduce executive pay by half. Place crews on Airbnb listings. Eliminate health insurance payments. Flat pay for all employees regardless of seniority.
The executive pay does need to be cut , especially as some BA executives are in other countries , incl., Espania .
Myself , I remain loyal with BA because (a) they have always gone extra miles for my physical difficulties ; (b) they use correct and proper English language , are educated , interesting , and polite ; and (c) they have literate newspapers and magazines to read .
Perhaps this is why Charles and Camilla broke protocol and used an Australian carrier on their recent trip.
Things will change when customers start talking with their wallets. Once business goes sour for companies they will come back quickly to apologize.
You are correct and folks are upset…I just don’t understand why BA could not figure out this would backfire spectacularly. And why not ADD more options instead of subtracting them? It’s just penny wish, pound foolish.
I worked with British people for many years. They always saw BA as a convenient airline rather than something to be proud off. It was one of those things that of living in London you usually get more flight options and non stop flights but I knew some people that would fly other airlines with a stop in another European city vs flying BA.
Most British people outside of London see BA as a rather inconvenient option. It’s easyJet or KLM for work travel, Ryanair/Wizzair/TUI/Jet2 for European VFR and leisure, and the middle eastern airlines for long haul. There’s a relatively small amount of people who will fly BA because they collect avios and take advantage of the credit card vouchers, but for everyone else they’re an irrelevant carrier.
Indeed, from the UK regions, easyJet offer something much better because they at least are honest about what they offer and they manage to load the BoB food which BA systematically fail to do while at the same time, talking up the offering that you can’t buy.
I like how they make it sound like 5 pounds as a budget for an economy meal is a mandate from god and no one can change it. Come on BA, don’t try to make it seem like your company as a whole doesn’t have a larger budget that is parsed out to cover things, like economy meals or business class meals, and CEO payment, etc.
If your largest profit margins are on the pointy end- spend your money there. If your largest profit margins are in the back, figure out how to make those folks happy. Regardless- stop acting like it is not within your control to make other choices.
Agreed!
I’m flying BA on a 7 hour flight on Thursday. Let’s see if I arrive hungry or not.
Food is not to my taste , but I remain a fan of BA , because of the fundamentally decent employees .
Do yourself a good favor and bring along some good food which you prefer for yourself .
For seven hours I always eat both before and after a flight , and then drink alcohol and sleep onboard .
[ Depending on airline food is a bad bet , in my experience . Personally I cannot stand airline seafood , cheesey or buttery food , eggs , sausages , sweet cakes or other sweet concoctions .]
I also find BA crews lovely. I understand your reasoning.
Could it be Alan Joyce got a job at British Airways??
Sounds right up his alley!!
When airlines start to skimp on the cost of business class meals they don’t understand that this disproportionately affects people’s willingness to buy tickets on that airline. It’s like going to a conference and the catering is bad.
And what I just don’t understand, considering the cost of business class tickets, British airways can’t add the 10-20 pounds per passenger in business class to in order to provide a decent meal service? Is that a joke?! And the question could be asked of Lufthansa or KLM who skimp on the quality in European business.
The quality of the meal is one of the few things people will remember about a flight. Why does any airline want to risk that this impression leads to passengers picking a different airline? It certainly influences my decision when buying a business class ticket.
Hopefully BA didn’t slash the catering budget at the arrivals lounge at Heathrow! On the eastbound transatlantic that has previously been a way to maximize sleep and get a decent breakfast.
Honestly as long as there is no third runway at Heathrow and UK government no longer allocates those slots to BA automatically, BA has no incentive to improve its premium products. BA has a near monopoly on premium markets between Canada/USA and London Heathrow.
I never really understood why the airlines have to run a food business like a restaurant so it doesn’t affect me. I don’t eat when I fly.
When TWA had it’s kitchens and provided top quality food , it was an attractive reason to choose them .
Now , unless they watch outside catering very closely , ( as does JAL and SQ ) , the catering outside vendors are not worth beans to the customers .
Since the time of the odious Walsh, BA has only been focussed on ‘shareholder value’ and maximising profits and executive bonuses while treating all passengers with contempt, believing that no matter what, they will fill their aircraft. This is just another example of the same practice and it is now in the DNA of BA which now stands for Bl**dy Awful, Best Avoided and lots more things besides and the truth is they are now racing so fast to the bottom one of these days they will crash and burn and it can’t come a moment too soon.
I’m glad most of my travel takes me eastbound and so I have plenty of choice and quality and for westbound routes there’s Air Canada.
$2.9 billion profit in 2023 evidently wasn’t enough to keep BA from slashing catering…