Tag Archives: british airways

Should we get free food on a short flight or is buy on board food best?

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When I started flying regularly from London to Edinburgh there was lots of free food on board. Massive breakfasts, three course hot evening meals, and lovely afternoon teas with warm scones and sandwiches.

In fact BA and BMI’s caterers were falling over each other trying to out do the other with the amount of their grub.

And this was in economy not business or first class.

On an hour-long flight you would get a drink before dinner, a hot meal with dessert, wine, and coffee or tea afterwards. Breakfast would include cereal, full English, warms rolls and big glass pots of marmalade or jam.

The downside? Fares were high.

Then Easy Jet, Ryan Air and Go came along. They were no frills airlines and they were about cheap fares. They gave no free food away.

If you wanted a coffee you had to buy one – you still do. If you were hungry you could buy a sandwich. You still can.

From then on BA and BMI’s started to cut the free stuff. Hot evening meals became smaller cold salads. Huge breakfast trays became smaller ones with tiny sausages, a couple of mushrooms, and a wafer thin slice of bacon.

buy on board food

At all other times the service is simply a free drink and a packet of nibbles (or birdseed as it is affectionately known by travellers on domestic routes), a tiny drink from the bar or a thimble full of coffee.

By continuing to offer a token free drink BA claims it’s a “full service” airline. But this is stretching it a bit isn’t it?

If I can’t eat before an evening flight home I go hungry on BA but I could buy a meal on Easy Jet.

So is it better to have a buy on board service or pretend to offer a full service which challenges the word “full”?

I think I am now in the place where I think BA should stop pretending with their economy product and consider a move to buy on board food.

Over to you: Do you prefer to buy on board food? Or perhaps you take a picnic? Do you need serving anything at all? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

A guaranteed way of avoiding airport baggage check-in queues

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What’s the most tedious thing about travelling by plane?

Is it the security search? There are some mornings when I think I might as well go to the airport in my PJs and get dressed after the search. They seem to make me take everything off before letting me through anyway. But most airports are quite efficient at security and barring the odd power hungry individual barking orders it is usually tolerable.

No for me it is the baggage check-in queues. Doesn’t your heart just sink when you see those endless zig-zagging lines of miserable people pushing cases big enough to fit a kitchen sink inside?

avoiding airport baggage check-in queues

When I travel British Airways my Silver card means I get to use the Business Class desk which can be quicker than being stuck with the masses in the Economy line. But when flying Jet2 or whichever low cost airline there are no such perks.

For years we’ve put up with it. A hour to check-in a case (for which I had to pay an extra check-in fee of course) from Edinburgh to Palma. 70 minutes wait on the return flight in Palma’s chaotic sauna of a terminal. Even the “Bag Drop” lines (when you have already checked-in on-line) don’t seem to move any faster.

So this year required innovative thinking for our week in the sun. How could we avoid starting a relaxing week’s holiday with a stressful stew in the check-in sin bin?

The answer was obvious of course. There is one guaranteed, foolproof method of avoiding airport baggage check-in queues. It came to me when I was about to click the box on Jet2’s website asking how many items I wanted to bung in the hold. I stopped myself before parting with another forty quid for two of them.

My guaranteed method of avoiding airport baggage check I queues is……. not to check-in any bags. Go hand baggage only.

I know what you are thinking. It can’t be done. Where will I put my 20 pairs of shoes? There won’t be enough room for all my outfits.

avoiding airport baggage check-in queues

It is possible though. Yes you can get three day outfits and three evening outfits into a cabin bag and still have room for a couple of pairs of shoes. And most hotels and villas have laundry services don’t they?

What was the result of this approach?

  • Got to the airport only one hour, not three hours, before each flight
  • Walked straight past the thronging thousands in the endless zig-zag mazes in both directions
  • Didn’t have to wait an hour at baggage reclaim at the other end so we beat everyone to the car hire company. Similarly on the way back we were first out through customs (and quite telling that we were obviously the only 3 people from a plane load of 150 that hadn’t got bags to wait for)
  • Saved £40 on hold baggage fees

For a week in Europe this is the surely the modern way to travel.

Over to you: For many I guess the thought of going away without the comfort of several heavily laden bags is unthinkable. What do you think?

British Airways UK domestic two minute trip report video

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Here’s a little travel experiment. I set myself the challenge to create a trip report video that lasts less that 2 minutes. It’s harder than I thought to get across all the experiences of the flight in that time. And of course you cannot use electronics during take off and landing so there’s no footage of that.

So here is my two-minute trip report video of a British Airways UK domestic flight from Edinburgh to London Gatwick.

If you liked this video please click this link to Tweet it.

Over to you: I hope I’ve started something here and will find other travellers making two-minute trip reports. If you have one please post a link to it by leaving a reply below.

Here’s a picture from the return trip.

British Airways UK domestic trip report video
BA Lounge T5 Heathrow

How the other half travels – BA FIRST Class review

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First Class and Business Class air travel is a very expensive luxury, all very well if your company is paying for it, your name is Simon Cowell or Victoria Beckham, but for most of us, is usually reserved for honeymoon treats or lottery wins,

In my earlier blog  “Why I am in debt to frequent flyer websites” I explained how I had learned how to earn enough airline points to travel in big seats for just the cost of the tax as opposed to the very high fares. I signed up for a British Airways Amex card and use it to buy everything. And every year I build up enough points to earn a “companion voucher” which means that I can buy two posh seats with Airmiles.

This year’s destination was Phoenix, Arizona. I knew that British Airways were installing brand new seats in their FIRST class cabin – the so called “New F”, but the chances of travelling on an updated aircraft was still quite low.

BA First Class Review

Hence why I was utterly delighted to see the aircraft pictured above – the gap between every second window in the nose section tipped me off that this one had the new seats installed.

So I decided to make a little video of the experience. Please click on the picture below to see my BA FIRST Class review, including the lovely “Concorde Room” at Heathrow, fine dining silver service at 35,000 feet, snazzy window blinds and, of course, fully flat seats.

Over to you: What is the most luxurious way you have ever travelled. I would love to see your pictures or videos. Please leave a comment or post a link. If you liked this video please Tweet about it by clicking here.

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