British Airways’ New Economy “Speedbird Cafe”

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: October 17, 2022
Published: January 8, 2021

15 comments

In 2017 British Airways started charging for all food and drinks in short haul economy. British Airways became the first major, “full service” European airline to have such a policy, and it’s something that other airlines have adopted since.

During the pandemic British Airways temporarily introduced free bottled water and a small snack in short haul economy, in order to minimize contact between passengers and crew. Well, the airline is now permanently adjusting its short haul economy service.

In this post:

British Airways will offer free water & snack in economy

Going forward, customers traveling in British Airways Euro Traveller (short haul economy) will receive complimentary refreshments, consisting of a bottle of water and a snack, such as a breakfast bar or crisps.

While the airline has been doing this for the past several months after eliminating the buy on board service in economy due to coronavirus, this change is now “permanent.” I put that in quotes because nothing in the airline industry is actually forever. However, the point is that this isn’t just a temporary pandemic policy.

British Airways is restoring free snacks & water in economy

British Airways introduces new Speedbird Cafe menu

In addition to a complimentary bottle of water and snack, Euro Traveller passengers will continue to be able to purchase food and drinks… but only in advance.

With British Airways’ new Speedbird Cafe concept, customers can order a variety of food and drinks at least 12 hours before departure. Orders will need to be placed through highlifeshop.com, which is British Airways inflight retail website.

British Airways has dropped its partnership with M&S, and will now partner with Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge for the new menu.

Tom Kerridge, who is partnering with British Airways

British Airways claims that the new menu consists of gourmet food with a special focus on British provenance. Menu items include the following, and all are priced between £4.10 and £4.50:

Warm steak & ale pie
Ham hock & smoked cheddar sandwich
Spiced cauliflower tortilla wrap (vegan)
Chicken, bacon ,and celery Brioche
Brie Ploughman’s sandwich (vegetarian)

An example of British Airways’ new Speedbird Cafe sandwich

In addition to the fresh items, passengers can still purchase drinks and packaged snacks, ranging from soda to wine to nuts to candy bars.

Here’s a video featuring Kerridge about how he designed the menu:

The pre-ordering aspect is problematic

As the airline describes it, requiring customers to pre-order meals ensures that they receive their first choice, and also reduces onboard waste. However, it sounds like we should eventually expect food and drinks to be available for purchase onboard again. The airline states that Speedbird Cafe will “launch as a pre-order proposition,” which suggests that maybe that won’t be the case permanently.

I can appreciate wanting people to pre-order initially, to minimize contact between passengers and crews in order to process payments. However, post-coronavirus this would be an issue, in my opinion. Most people don’t want to decide 12+ hours before departure if they want a cup of coffee or not.

British Airways’ new Speedbird Cafe menu

Bottom line

British Airways will continue to offer complimentary bottled water and light snacks in Euro Traveller short haul economy. On top of that, the airline will continue to sell other drinks and more substantial food, but only if you order at least 12 hours in advance.

British Airways has introduced a new partnership with Tom Kerridge for the fresh items onboard. The meals look good enough and are reasonably priced, but there’s also typically quite a difference between how these menu items appear in press pictures, and how they look in real life.

What do you make of British Airways’ new Euro Traveller service concept?

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Adam Guest

January 25, 2021, 10:05 am

The other option is to just buy something from Pret as you walk to the gate for your flight. Who can be bothered to go online and prebook a sandwich the day before, from a very limited selection?

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The Jetset Boyz Guest

January 12, 2021, 1:02 am

This definitely a move in the right direction for BA to be able to distinguish itself from its LCC competitors. Two issues jump to mind... 1: IRROPs - what happens when someone misses their connection and they're put on, say, the next shuttle to Edinburgh. Quite sure they won’t be running around transferring that person's pie over. As they won’t be selling anything on board the pie will go on the original flight and then presumably be binned? What about that person's refund? Will they even get a refund? 2: You probably won't be able to get a second G&T or an impromptu bag of Haribo. AirAsia delivers the pre-ordered first, then runs the cart down with a smaller selection and the drinks. Some version of this would be most sensible.

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ChrisC Guest

January 10, 2021, 10:02 am

What people need to realise is that the BoB and this new pre ordering of extra food and drink is that it's not a BA company. 'BA Highlife' isn't actually owned or operated by BA. It's a brand of Tourvest. And they will be the one taking the orders and doing the delivery to the planes. It was Tourvest that took the risk with BoB hence why they stocked little fresh food because they didn't want to bear the cost of any wastage at the end of the day for items they couldn't use again.

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Fred M Guest

January 9, 2021, 3:27 am

A fellow business traveller colleague and I have been arguing about this for years re BA and LH Europe short haul. He holds that not providing a snack and hot drink ‘free’ is cheapskate, I hold that, rather than being served some thin filled snack if, I want it or not, I’d rather have my choice and pay for it. Or not. The M&S offer went pear shaped because it was too complex. Initially the airline failed to board enough food and half the cabin went without. Once they got stocking right, there’d be a huge rush at the start of the flight to get hot food pre-orders taken, then trolley service began. Even then, your preferred item may well have sold out before the trolley reached your seat and the time taken to process card only payments often meant the trolley hadn’t travelled the full length of a full cabin before it was time to batten down for landing. The free snack model works best because distribution is fast, and all passengers have time to eat. Adding pre order allows dedicated crew to then distribute the prepaid nosh to those prepared to pay. Kerridge is a great chef and though something will be lost between his development kitchen and BA’s flight kitchen, I’ll reserve judgement till I’ve tried a few items when travel resumes. The big question is if BA can deliver this new service without fouling it up initially, as they did with M&S.

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Gregg Diamond

January 8, 2021, 5:48 pm

Why any professional chef would put their name on airline food is beyond me. Regardless of how grand their intentions, what ends up being folded, stapled, and mutilated before being served to passengers is a far cry from the original item as envisioned by the chef. It isn’t rocket science. Offer simple, recognizable food and don’t attempt to market it as something it isn’t, or can’t be.

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