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No More Headrest Covers in Club Europe
From today, the fabric headrest covers will be removed on all Club Europe flights. BA says this is to improve operational resilience, punctuality and sustainability.
Not having the covers (or antimacassars) is supposed to improve aircraft turnaround time. The Club Europe cabin is dynamically sized and changes depending on how many people book Business. If the Club Europe cabin changes from one sector to the next, ground teams need to add or remove covers each time.
The covers are currently one of the elements that differentiate Club Europe from Euro Traveller, and while removing them won’t make a huge difference, the news has caused outrage as it comes after plenty of other Club Europe changes, from removing hot breakfasts on some flights to trialling cups of water rather than bottles, with operational and sustainability given as the reasoning for all. These cuts really add up!
What do you think about this change? Let us know in the comments below!
New BA Amex Supplementary Card Bonuses: Up to 10,000 Avios
Until 30th June 2026, you can receive a big bonus for adding your first approved supplementary cardholder to a BA AMEX card, including:
- BA Premium Plus: 10,000 Avios (up from 3,000)
- BA AMEX: 5,000 (up from 1,000)
This is a great offer considering that adding a supplementary cardholder is free. They will be added to your account, and any spend will count towards your minimum spend, while all rewards and points are credited to you. They will even get their own AMEX offers.
It is also worth noting that supplementary cards do not count as holding a card, so they will not impact their future eligibility for Amex sign-up bonuses if they decide to apply for their own card later on.
Some people still seem to be receiving the bous when adding a second cardholder or when adding someone who was previously removed. This is at your own risk.
10,000 Avios can make a big difference for your next redemption. That’s more than halfway towards some of the cheapest Club Europe redemptions and a sizeable amount towards long-haul, especially if you use a Companion Voucher or Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher. You could also transfer your Avios to programmes such as the Qatar Privilege Club, Finnair Plus, Iberia Plus or the Aer Lingus Aer Club.
Lufthansa Launches Munich Stopover Programme
Lufthansa has just launched a Munich stopover programme, giving the option to spend 24 hours to 7 days in Munich.
Being so close to the UK, Munich wouldn’t be a stopover to recover midway through your journey, but it could just be a cheaper way to see Munich, especially on short stops if you can’t get the time off work for a separate trip. It’s also a great way to save on a trip to Munich, as Lufthansa offers accommodation, car hire and attraction discounts.
The stopover is currently only available to book on Singapore and US routes, but Lufthansa hopes to expand the list soon and, if successful, to other stopover destinations. If you input an eligible route on the website, a box will pop up:
It looks like, to the UK, routes such as Singapore to London or New York to London (both via Munich) are eligible. You must add the stopover at booking, and you can only add it to one leg of your trip. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to add a stopover to a redemption booking.
Some of the best discounts available are for hotels. You can get 20% off Leonardo Hotels, 20% off The Rosewood, 15% off Hotel Bayerischer Hof and more. Other discounts include 25% off a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle and Linderhof, 10% off baggage storage at Munich Airport, and 10% off the Munich City Pass. If you use these discounts wisely, your trip could work out much cheaper than a UK-Munich city break. For example, The Rosewood can be £600-£1,300 per night for the most basic room type.
Any discounts must be added within 24 hours of booking. Once you’ve added your stopover, you’ll receive an email with discount details that give you access to a tourism services platform.
The other caveat is that some flights seem to be much more expensive when adding a stopover. The fare for one leg, especially UK-US routes, is much cheaper on the non-stopover leg than the other.
This may not be as good as the stopover programmes that offer free tours and accommodation, but it’s always good to have the option to add a stopover, and the discounts are particularly good. This would create many opportunities if expanded to other Lufthansa Group airlines.
10 comments
Every time I board a BA business class flight something is missing
First it was the jam with breakfast, then the starter and cheese with biscuits went awol and now they are taking away the headrest covers
I do question what I’m paying for in BA business class as little by little it is disappearing in front of me on every flight
If you were to take out minimum of Silver status, and its benefits out of the equation, I now fail to see the overriding need to travel in “premium business class”. For example, I book an annual travel group of 5 to European jaunts annually (mainly craft beer testing!) In Nov the published economy fare to Warsaw is currently £42 pp one way in economy, and £145 in club. Return fare, a little cheaper. With a dep at 0800 (and hand baggage only) not much time or need for the lounge, if arriving at 0630. No seat assignment, same seat pitch, no covers, lol and a scant breakfast option, aside from fast track & priority boarding, all for a 3 hr of less flight, the money saving is significant. Just a thought you asked!
I hear they are removing seats soon as a further improvement. Honestly Ryan air provides a far superior service pound for pound.
Totally agree. On recent flights there was fortunately a hot breakfast but they had run out of choice by the time they got to row 10. People sitting in club when they only booked economy. Chaos at Lisbon airport check in, only 2 staff and they were checking in economy passengers before club. So despite arriving at airport the required 3 hours before had no time to visit lounge and had to run to the gate. Very little gained by paying for club.
I read the rationale is avoiding the cost of changing fitment when cabin make up changes. Then why not leave a full complement and occasionally enhance the experience of a few economy pax?
The CE experience that included hot towel, salutation, opening drinks, full 3 (4) courses, etc. is so degraded now it’s not worth it. I wonder how many potential CW pax look at what’s on offer and think twice?
I’m so glad I’ve bailed on all this 💩. For years, attaining BA Gold was ‘my thing’. As i dropped to Silver last week with the other minions, i actually discovered i couldn’t care less. Already Gold with QR and just booked KLM/Air New Zealand for Xmas.. BA can DO ONE, and put their headrest covers ….. somewhere safe 😜
I have never walked through Club Europe to economy and bemoaned that exactly the same seat will not have a headrest cover. Its just not a thing. Space around the seat, a position at the front of the aircraft for a swifter getaway, a free meal and a higher baggage allowance are the key differentiators for choosing CE over bog standard for me.
Having said that, the cost accountants have a tight grip of the airline, and like many other businesses on the slide, the image is one of determining the cost of everything while not understanding the overall value to the customer.
On my last CE flight a month ago, from Athens to London ( one of their long European routes), dinner didn’t include a starter. Not that the starter used to be huge and often was just a salad leaf, a tomato and humus!
Aegean does better meals on the same route.
As per Jonathan Peter Williams above, I will not mourn the loss of the covers, but do mourn the downgrade in the meals offered, as well as the poor quality of the cabin crew. I doubt that the situation will improve. One thing that could cause a fundamental rethink is if the government were to remove BA’s inherited slot rights at Heathrow and out them all out to auction for the highest bidder. then BA will be forced to be competitive versus competitors rather than exploiting their more or less monopoly position at LHR.
Dropped from silver to bronze @ the recent cull . Used to go business even on short routes eg ABZ-LHR, but go out of my way now to go via AMS as have gold Skyteam. Most of their fleet is 2-2 so always plenty of room etc. BA just loves to race to the bottom.