Things haven’t been going entirely to plan for British Airways in the past few weeks. While the UK’s national carrier was named one of the best airlines in the world by both the Telegraph and Condé Nast Traveller, earlier in October BA was forced to cancel hundreds of long-haul flights including all flights from London Gatwick to New York.
Now BA is facing – some – backlash for something else: changes to its business class benefits. The airline has decided to stop providing three-course dinners for business class passengers on flights departing after 9pm. Instead, BA will offer just mains and desserts.
BA justified the move by saying that, at that time of night, most passengers have already eaten in the Club Lounge and that they’d rather sleep on the flight. On top of that, British Airways is serving a new ‘brunch’ menu on flights taking off between 8.30am and 11.29pm.
Some customers are angered by the in-flight meal changes. One in the Daily Mail said: ‘I would love to see the amount saved per passenger from these cost cutting measures… It surely cannot be worth the damage?!’
In the Independent, some flyers said they thought the changes were ‘cheap’ and a ‘major downgrade’.
A BA spokesperson said: ‘We’re incredibly proud of our premium dining experience, which includes a wide range of meal options to suit the preferences of our customers depending on the time of day they’re travelling.
‘We trialled our new brunch offering with thousands of customers across numerous routes and received extremely positive feedback on both the quality and variety of options offered.’
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.