In this post:
Buy on board (BOB) menu enhancements
BA introduced buy on board in January this year on short-haul flights from Heathrow and Gatwick. Flights operated by BA CityFlyer to and from London City, London Stansted, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh or Manchester were due to implement the BOB menu in October. The date was originally July but was put back after a legal challenge by a customer. Now the latest from BA suggest it will be introduced in 2018 but no firm date is given.
I wrote about the introduction with the menu in this article. BA at the time promised us a ‘seasonally inspired menu’. They have now introduced a new menu which appears to suggest that people don’t eat salad or healthy foods in the winter as quite a few items have gone! The sandwiches have all changed too apart from the bacon roll. In addition to the items below, there will also be a Christmas style turkey sandwich which used to be pretty good from memory.
Fresh food available (if you are lucky):
| Smoked British bacon roll – served hot | £4.75 / 600 Avios |
| Roasted falafel and spinach wrap | £4.40 / 550 Avios |
| Buffalo mozzarella and tomato focaccia – served hot | £4.95 / 625 Avios |
| Honey roast ham and farmhouse cheddar cheese sandwich | £3.90 / 500 Avios |
| Maple syrup porridge | £1.30 /175 Avios |
Gone are the fruit salad, chicken couscous salad, yoghurt parfait and beef sandwich.
Savoury snacks:
| Fruit and nuts | £1.60 / 200 Avios |
| Tapas bar meat and cheese platter (not M &S) | £4.95 / 625 Avios |
| Cashew nuts | £1.60 / 200 Avios |
| Wasabi peas | £1.60 / 200 Avios |
| Sea salt and balsamic vinegar hand cooked crisps | £1.15 / 150 Avios |
| Lightly sea salted hand cooked crisps |
The tapas platter contains olives, Spanish cured sausage, Iberico cheese, crackers and serrano ham.
Sweet snacks:
| Percy Pig™ – soft gums made with fruit juice | £2.00 / 250 Avios |
| 4 Finger KitKat™ | £1.20 / 150 Avios |
| All butter shortbread – pack of two biscuits | £1.35 / 175 Avios |
| Mini Jaffa cakes | £1.40 / 175 Avios |
| Salted caramel hazelnut millionaire – gluten free biscuit |
The alcoholic drinks are pretty expensive and quite a few favourites have disappeared including Baileys and Bacardi:
Alcoholic drinks
| Sipsmith London Dry Gin – 50ml | £6.00 / 750 Avios |
| Bombay Sapphire® Gin – 50ml | £4.50 / 575 Avios |
| Smirnoff Red – 50ml | £4.50 / 575 Avios |
| Grey Goose Vodka – 50ml | £6.00 / 750 Avios |
| Johnnie Walker Red – 50ml | £4.50 / 575 Avios |
| Jack Daniels – 50ml | £4.50 / 575 Avios |
| XO Brandy – 50ml | £4.50 / 575 Avios |
| Heineken – 330ml | £4.45 / 575 Avios |
| Old Speckled Hen – 330ml can | £4.45 / 575 Avios |
| Adnams Jack Brand Crystal Rye IPA – 33ml can | £4.45 / 575 Avios |
| Magners Irish Cider Original – 330ml can | £4.45 / 575 Avios |
|
Woolloomooloo Australian Red Shiraz – 187ml
|
£5.50 / 700 Avios |
| Belles Vignes French Red GSM Grenache-Syrah-Marselan – 187ml | £4.50 / 575 Avios |
| Deep River South African Chenin Blanc – 187ml | £4.50 / 575 Avios |
| Mirror Lake New Zealand White Sauvignon Blanc – 187ml | £5.50 / 700 Avios |
| Bottega Gold Italian Prosecco DOC – 200ml | £6.50 / 825 Avios |
| Bottega Rose Gold Italian Sparkling Pinot Noir – 200ml | £6.50 / 825 Avios |
| Heidsieck Monopole French Blue Top Brut NV Champagne – 375ml | £16.00 / 2025 |
Soft drinks:
| Coca Cola – 330ml can | £1.80 / 225 Avios |
| Diet Coke – 330ml can | £1.80 / 225 Avios |
| Sprite – 330ml can | £1.80 / 225 Avios |
| Highland Spring sparkling water – 500ml | £1.80 / 225 Avios |
| Highland Spring still water – 500ml | £1.80 / 225 Avios |
| Vita Coco coconut water – 330ml | £2.70 / 350 Avios |
| Pip Organic apple juice – 200ml | £2.70 / 350 Avios |
| Pip Organic orange juice – 200ml | £2.70 / 350 Avios |
| Big Tom Tomato juice – 150ml | £1.50 / 200 Avios |
| Fever-Tree tonic water – 150ml | £1.50 / 200 Avios |
| Fever-Tree Naturally Light tonic water – 150ml | £1.50 / 200 Avios |
| Fever-Tree Ginger Ale – 150ml | £1.50 / 200 Avios |
Hot drinks are also available with tea and coffee at £2.30 including a new option of lemon and ginger tea.
If buy on board doesn’t appeal you can see the other options for picnics to take onboard here and the new Plane Food picnics here.
BA booking fees
In this article, I talked about how BA (& Iberia) are introducing a £8 fee for all flights not booked direct on ba.com. Understandably a lot of the large travel agent groups have been negotiating with BA to get rid of this fee. So far agreements are known to have been reached with American Express Travel, Dial a Flight and Flight Centre group. I would guess most TLFL readers would usually buy direct to get their extra Avios on the BA Amex card,. However, there are occasions, such as Amex card offers, where it may make more sense to book through Amex Travel. This looks like a positive sign that other agencies will follow suit.
BA hotel deals
There are a number of hotel deals available via the BA Executive Club this month that are worth considering. The best ones are:
Fairmont
Book a Fairmont ‘Suite Moments’ in the US and get:
- 500 bonus Avios
- Up to 25% discount off selected room bookings (suite accommodation, booked at daily rate)
- Complimentary breakfast for two
- 1 Fairmont cocktail per person
- Fairmont Presidents Club & Swissotel members get $25 hotel credit for each day of stay.
Atlantis the Palm
- 5% discount off the standard daily rate and triple Avios for eligible bookings for Deluxe and Imperial Club rooms
- 25% discount off the standard daily rate and quadruple Avios for eligible bookings for Suites.
Valid on bookings made between now and 18 January 2018 for stays between 14 October and 27 July 2018. Black-out dates apply.
Convert your hotel points for up to a 35% bonus
If you have a small amount of hotel points sitting in an account and don’t want to use them for a hotel stay, you may want to consider moving them over to BA Avios. Before doing so you should check all the other options as there is usually a range of other options such as experiences, including concerts, and gift vouchers to use up points. If you convert your points before the end of October 2017 you will receive up to a 35% bonus on the following points when transferred to your BA Executive account as Avios.
- Hilton Hotels
- Carlson Hotels
- Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
- Intercontinental Hotel Group
- Marriott Hotels
- Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts
Minimum amounts for transfer vary between hotel partners: Club Carlson – 2,000 points; Hilton Honors – 10,000; Hyatt Gold Passport – 5,000; IHG Rewards – 10,000; Marriott Rewards – 10,000; Shangri-La Golden Circle – 2,500. The conversion rates also vary. To get the bonus you need to log in to your hotel loyalty scheme account and complete the points to Avios transfer before 31 October.
More details on all the offers on ba.com under Executive Club.
