In September 2018 British Airways yet again changed their Club Europe catering after only a relatively short period since the last change. This was mainly due to the lukewarm reception the catering was getting on medium routes which had lost their hot meals which only had a panini or the world’s smallest salads – that had virtually no salad!

The catering has definitely improved in terms of the amount of food on the shorter flights but what can you expect to get and when? We will also look at lots of examples from recent flights including reader photos.

Menus will now be changed more frequently with rotations every two weeks at Heathrow. 

What meals will you get when?

The meal that you get depends on two things – the time of day and the route you are on:

Time of day

• Breakfast until 09.59
• Brunch 10.00-10.59
• Lunch 10.59-13.59
• Afternoon tea 14.00-16.59
• Dinner 17.00-04.59
• Rest of the day for Heathrow bands 3 and 4: 10.00-04.59

What are the route bands?

Express

Leeds, Manchester.

Band 1 routes
Heathrow: Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Belfast, Berlin, Biarritz, Billund, Basel,  Brussels, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Grenoble, Geneva, Hannover, Hamburg, Innsbruck, Inverness, Jersey, Lyon, Luxembourg, Montpellier, Munich, Nantes, Newcastle, Paris, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Zürich
Gatwick: Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Friedrichshafen, Grenoble,  Glasgow, Innsbruck, Limoges

Band 2 routes

Heathrow: Oslo, Barcelona, Bergen, Bilbao, Bologna, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Figari, Mahon, Marseilles, Milan, Palma, Pisa, Pula, Nice,  Porto, Palma, Pisa,  Stavanger,  Salzburg, Turin, Venice, Vienna, Zagreb,
Gatwick: Bologna, Genoa, Mahon, Nice, Porto, Palma, Pisa, Salzburg, Turin, Venice, Verona, Vienna

Band 3 routes

Heathrow: Alicante, Almeria, Athens, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Faro, Gibraltar, Helsinki, Ibiza, Krakow, Lisbon, Madrid, Malaga, Olbia, Rome, Split, Stockholm, Warsaw

Gatwick: Alicante, Algiers, Bari, Dubrovnik, Faro, Gibraltar, Ibiza, Malaga,  Naples, Rome, Seville, Valencia

Band 4 routes

Heathrow: Athens, Bucharest, Crete, Corfu, Istanbul, Kalamata, Kefalonia, Kiev, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mykonos, Murcia, Palermo, Santorini, Saint Petersburg, Sofia, Tallin, Tenerife, Zakynthos

Gatwick: Aktion, Bodrum, Catania, Dalaman, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Madeira, Malta, Paphos, Tenerife, Rhodes, Skiathos, Tirana

The food

On the long routes you get a proper menu which now looks more aligned with the Club World menus and look much smarter than before.

Breakfast:

Gatwick – Bands 1 & 2

• Granola with yoghurt or porridge bar
• Choice of English breakfast, vegetarian omelette or continental cold meats and cheese
• Selection of bread and croissants

Gatwick – Bands 3 & 4

• Granola with yoghurt
• Fruit
• Choice of English breakfast, vegetarian omelette or continental cold meats and cheese
• Selection of bread, pastries and croissants

Menu:

Heathrow – Express

• Orange juice
• Yoghurt with fruit, seeds and grains
• Bacon roll

Heathrow – Bands 1 & 2

• Yoghurt or fruit
• Choice of English breakfast, vegetarian omelette or continental cold meats and cheese
• Selection of bread and croissants

Heathrow – Bands 3 & 4

• Orange juice
• Yoghurt
• Fruit
• Choice of English breakfast, vegetarian omelette or continental cold meats and cheese
• Selection of bread, pastries and croissants

Brunch

Gatwick Bands 1 & 2

• Granola with yoghurt
• Fruit
• Choice of frittata with salad or continental cold meats and cheese
• Selection of pastries

Heathrow – Bands 1 & 2

• Yoghurt  with fruit, seeds and grains
• Fruit
• Choice of quiche with salad or continental cold meats and cheese
• Selection of pastries

Lunch

Gatwick Bands 1 & 2

• Starter such as prawn cocktail salad
• Choice of two cold salads with one being vegetarian. Examples such as Caesar salad with chicken or giant couscous superfood salad
• Dessert such as orchard fruit crisp
• Selection of bread

Heathrow – Bands 1 & 2

• Starter such as grilled prawn salad (plain salad or crudites on band 1)
• Choice of two cold salads with one being vegetarian such as Antipasti  or Greek salad

• Dessert such as rhubarb crumble
• Selection of bread

Afternoon tea

Gatwick Bands 1 & 2

• selection of  sandwiches or ploughman’s with mini pork pie and selection of bread
• scones (plain or flavoured) with clotted cream and jam
• cake

Heathrow – Bands 1 & 2

• selection of  sandwiches or ploughman’s with scotch egg and selection of bread
• scones (plain or flavoured) with clotted cream and jam
• cake such as blackcurrant and lime meringue tart

Dinner – as lunch

Rest of the day – Bands 3 and 4 only

This will include a pre-dining round of drinks from the trolley.

Gatwick – Bands 3 & 4

• Starter such as antipasti
• Choice of three main courses such as beef massaman curry, penne pasta arrabbiata or Caesar salad with chicken
• Dessert such as orchard fruit crisp
• Two cheeses such as cheddar and brie with grapes and crackers
• Selection of bread

Heathrow – Bands 3 & 4

• Starter such as salad or crudites
• Choice of three main courses such as roast chicken with pigs in blankets, tagliarini pasta with panna sauce or a cold beef carpaccio
• Dessert such as rhubarb crumble
• Two cheeses such as cheddar and brie with chutney and biscuits
• Selection of bread

Drinks

Wine

Wine and champagne are served in small bottles except on Band 3 & 4 where Champagne is still served from a large bottle.

There will be a choice of 2 red and 2 white wines or Castelnau champagne. Although they only state a small number of spirits on the list they do have others such as Cognac and Cointreau.

Here is the drinks list:

What are your experiences with the new Club Europe service? Let us know in the comments below or on social media?