In this post:
First look at New First class food and Sleeper Club service
I will be flying First next week, but in the meantime, my friend Ben has kindly captured some photos of the changes to First service. You can see the full changes in this article.
The major changes such as the brunch menu and express service do not seem to have landed well judging by the comments I have seen online.
In first class you now get more snacks when you board which is not a bad thing given how often you are delayed on board. In addition to the warm nuts, you also get olives and a very generous single cheesy biscuit! I have seen other pictures where you get a whole bowl of them though.
Overall this is an improvement.
Here is the menu for flight:
The amuse bouche is not an amuse bouche, as these are meant to be a small mouthful but you can’t say they are giving you less food with the removal of the canapes. Personally, I’d much rather have the canapes, though. A bit of salad is not an amuse bouche and rather dull in my opinion. I really loved having a glass of fizz with the canapes which felt fitting for First class.
If you want to see the other dishes, here is the salmon starter and the chicken Wellington:
Brunch
Here is an example of a Club World menu for brunch, which is served for flights departing between 8.30am until 11.29am.
THE GREAT BRITISH BRUNCH
When you’re up in the air, it doesn’t matter what time it is. Celebrate your brunch in typical British style with a cheeky Buck’s Fizz or Bloody Mary on the side.
- Buck’s Fizz – Enjoy our twist on a British classic, made with English sparkling wine.
- Bloody Mary – A zesty brunch cocktail with vodka, tomato juice and a kick of spice.
- Fresh orange juice
Starters
- Fresh seasonal fruit
- Rosary Ash goat’s cheese and grilled artichoke – Marinated courgette, spicy tomato and coriander chutney.
- Severn and Wye smoked salmon – Dill and lemon cream cheese, egg, caperberries.
- A selection of artisan cheese served with savoury crackers, apricot and fig and honey chutney, Snowdonia Red Storm, English Brie and Wensleydale Blue
Main course
- British mixed grill – Herb roasted chicken, Surrey Hills pork sausage, mushrooms, hash browns.
- Sharp cheese frittatta
- Homemade baked beans, red onion potato hash, mushrooms, four cheese sauce.
- Belgian waffles – Chocolate sauce, custard.
Dessert
- Chocolate marble slice with Strawberry coulis.
This menu is just the weirdest one I have seen. No choice of dessert? A cheese plate as a starter? No non-breakfast main courses unless you count the mixed grill? Waffles with custard? This is not brunch. It’s a mess, quite frankly, and not what BA needed to introduce after pledging that they would be returning to a premium airline with a massive billion-pound investment. None of this screams premium to me.
Here is a sample brunch menu in first:
À LA CARTE BRUNCH
- Buck’s Fizz – Enjoy our twist on a British classic, made with Hattingley Valley English Sparkling.
- Bloody Mary A zesty brunch cocktail with vodka, tomato juice and a kick of spice.
- Fresh orange juice
Amuse bouche – Heritage marinated beetroot, horseradish cream, cider and maple dressing
Starters
- Balik style Loch Fyne salmon lemon crème fraîche
- Roasted artichoke whipped celeriac, goat’s curd, truffle honey, Parmesan
- Butternut squash and coconut soup chillis, coconut flakes
Main course
- Free range chicken Wellington pumpkin and baby courgette, creamy peppercorn sauce
- Poached egg on fresh sourdough with smoked salmon, lemon cottage cheese, green asparagus
- Seared prawn Niçoise salad
- Pancakes – fresh berries, maple syrup, mascarpone sauce
There is only one non-brunch dish. A couple of rubbery poached eggs on toast is not my idea of a main course, and neither are pancakes, given that you will be eating them at lunchtime on many of the flights included in the time frame. I would also be concerned as to how many chicken they load as if everyone wants them, some people will be disappointed. If I got left with just pancakes as my only main course I would not be amused.
Supper service in Club World
The other thing that has changed in the Club World menu for night flights departing after 9pm. You no longer get a starter. It is not clear exactly which flights it applies to, but so far, I have heard of it on shorter US East Coast flights as well as very long South American flights departing from Heathrow. While on the shorter flights I can understand why they may want to do this, on a 10 hour+ flight there is no reason not to offer a full service.
Here is an example menu:
ANYONE FOR SUPPER?
You can’t beat supper before a good night’s sleep. Take your pick from an assortment of seasonal dishes. If you’re feeling tired and can’t wait to cosy down, then just choose your main and dessert and a night cap of your choice. There is only one hot main course as well.
Main Course
- Sunblushed tomato and goat’s cheese on ciabatta with Cream of cauliflower soup.
- Roasted paprika chicken Cobb salad – Baby com, egg, cucumber, blue cheese.
- Beef pie – Green beans, mashed potatoes.
- A selection of artisan cheese served with savoury crackers, grapes, dried fruit chutney – Brie, Manchego
Dessert
- Vanilla cheesecake, Dark chocolate shavings.
- Warm chocolate chip cookie
- Fresh seasonal fruit
Now that we are seeing the full details, what do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments below.
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26 comments
This is utter garbage. When I heard the changes I was thankful my next flight in F is 12:10 departure!
I always gave BA the benefit of the doubt although other OW airlines are far superior (Qatar etc) but I will now 100% be opting American travelling west and Qatar heading east.
No excuses BA with the profits being posted. Do better.
Yes I agree that the menu in general is a big disappointment. The non brunch menu is the almost the same as the menu served on the last Concorde Services so not much creation there!
The brunch menu would be great…if I was flying in Economy but does not feel premium in any shape or form. For an airline which was once known as “the worlds favourite airline” its now more like “the worlds favourite cheapskates”
I think you summed it up perfectly with one line: it’s a mess.
Why would an airline which is just starting to regain its reputation as a premium carrier want to roll the dice with its premium customers like this?
And just as we were starting to settle down after the pointless Tier Point year change fiasco
Another move from hospitality to hostility? Either someone senior has decided they can get away with it as the customer base becomes more leisure orientated or it’s not been seen at that level.
Perhaps it should be offered at a few Compass House board meetings. It’s certainly nothing like any business lunch I’ve ever had.
They are monitoring other carriers offerings?
You can’t fault BA for effort. It appears that they’re trying their outmost to upset their most loyal customer base which provides them with the highest revenue. I’d love to have sat in the meeting where everyone round the table thought that this was a great idea…
Seriously this is Ba’s new idea. From who ? People who never fly. To pay the business and 1st fares these days is extortionate to say the least. Then bang
Cut the menu down to yes a mess while there competition go up Ba go down.
That’s if your lucky enough to fly with there delay and cancelations these days. Worlds favourite airline long gone.
An incoherent jumbled mess indeed. I’m sure no chef worthy of their name would think this abhorrent change is sensible. “English mixed grill” is a pathetic attempt to cover what is essentially “Breakfast again”. BA, you do lots of things very well – but this looks like a mad bean counters revenge…
BA = Breakfast Airways
Very, Very disappointing! A huge backwards step, after making progress in recent years. I want to be proud to fly our national flag carrier but they do make it hard with cost cuts like this!
Own goals seem to be a BA super power! One step forward and 10 back.
I would really like to see “who” provided the feedback that they base these decisions on. I think it’s a finance grad rotation in the catering department!!!
Looking at the new menu makes the choices on Ryanair (for which you pay around€11) exciting.
To Fly, To Starve
“However, the downside is that you can’t use it anymore with Curve which I find very annoying”.
You can still link this card with curve?
Fly F yesterday, London to Chicago with an afternoon departure.
Amuse bouche was a cream cheese, beetroot small salad. Main had the Halibut, delicious.
Second meal was a little odd – a delicious prawn and mushroom salad, which was amazing in taste. Main was a steak and cheese hot panini. Ok, but had been hoping for a cream tea / scones and sandwiches somewhere.
Menu had a heavy Indian theme which I think BA have been celebrating in October, but a little odd on a N American route.
Food was good, service excellent but not quite what I would expect in F
This seems a very retrograde, penny pinching step.
It has certainly attracted a great deal of condemnation across the various sites , if this is directed to BA they may rethink this idea.
It does seem odd this doesn’t appear to be trialled first because if it had I’m not sure it would “ have got off the ground”
Flyer talk indicates from various, reliable, sources that No Dinner For You will be on flights up to 12:00 hours blocked time.
If they get away with it even remotely though it’ll probably be brunch only, served once for SYD itineraries by Jan.
Seems this supposed £7B in customer experience improvements is being funded by customer experience downgrades
“A mess” is a great description and I love the BA = Breakfast Always reader comment!
I read this menu as a regular Club and First GGL flyer and for the first time I’m thinking the American airlines are actually going to better BA now on the TransAtlantic routes – why pay £3k for an economy food service on BA when you get a half decent luxury one on an American airline – and this despite the terrible service the American airlines regularly have.
This was clearly a cost cutting idea that was never run by Marketing or any remote sense of a customer focus group.
On a couple of long haul US flights over the next couple weeks and am now not looking forward to one of the key features I pay for, the meals.
Please tell me the cream teas haven’t been axed as well?
BA = Bl..dy Awful as far as I am concerned & that is why I refuse to fly with them. There are much better airlines especially flying East.
For someone that doesn’t/cannot eat cheese this is a huge disappointment as 3 in every 4 dishes seems to have some form of cheese within. Currently a gold card holder but not for much longer as it’s goodbye BA.
Looks odd and needs refining. I suppose if you have eaten in the lounge beforehand a lighter main meal might be appealing to some.
unbelievable mess – if you are paying the extortionate prices they are asking then you absolutely need Premium food & drink offerings – the other airlines must be rubbing their hands looking at how this is going to pan out only in one direction
BA = Best Avoided.
Another service reduction to further increase the obscene level of profits and executive bonuses.
Eggs are cheap, so if BA can serve more egg based products they will. I can’t even stand the smell let alone the rubbery taste and texture, it brings back memories of revolting powdered scrambled eggs in economy. On the other hand, at least they didn’t try to market this with greenwashing…
Its a total joke. The supper menu only has one actual main dish and if you have a connecting flight no time to eat before flight. What exactly are we paying for? We have 2 flights booked which leave after 9 the first in 2 weeks at 9.15 and only a short time to transfer at heathrow so looks like a boots meal deal for us!!!!!! Hopefully this will have changed before the next one. Does not make for the premium feeling start to a holiday.
We flew to Antigua and it was their first service of this menu.
No post take off drinks or nibbles in club world and I was told I couldn’t have the cheese as a dessert on the brunch.
Feels like a really poor alternative to the previous service
Truly awful. With an inbound connecting flight and time in the lounge you can end up with 3 breakfasts in a row. “Lighter” option of 2 poached eggs on sourdough toast is totally lame and I have no idea who orders “Waffles” other than my kids (maybe!). Recent flight in F LHR to IAH had “bacon roll” which was a single piece of bacon in a brioche roll and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING else on the plate. The choices were 4 types of egg dishes and bacon roll. Complaint resulted in a $420 voucher.
No-one wants “Brunch”, the Premium Services claimed it was trialled over thousands of passengers (I highly doubt) before being rolled out.
They could easily keep the lighter dishes in the “Light Meals” section. Qatar Airways offers both lunch and breakfast options for early departures from Doha. BA could learn a few things.
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