British Airways has done a great job selectively investing in its passenger experience, especially in premium cabins. For example, in business class, the Club Suites product is a huge upgrade over the old Club World experience.
However, just as the airline is investing in some areas, it’s pulling back in others. British Airways has just made some massive changes to its meal service in first and business class on long haul flights, involving brunch and supper. While the airline claims that this is due to customer feedback, it’s hard to view this as anything other than cost cutting.
British Airways replaces lunch with brunch
As of October 15, 2024, British Airways has changed its meal service in first and business class on long haul flights departing before 11:30AM. Specifically, the airline is now serving a brunch menu on long haul flights departing between 8:30AM and 11:29AM. Previously, the airline served breakfast for flights departing up until 8:30AM, and lunch on flights departing after 8:30AM.
It’s worth emphasizing that this is based on the published departure time of the flight, and not when the actual meal is served. For example, on a long haul flight, you’re probably only going to be served your meal around 90 minutes after the scheduled departure time, since it can take 30 minutes till you’re airborne, an hour till the main course is served, etc. So with a departure around 11:30AM, many people may only be eating around 1PM.
While the brunch menu features some options that are more breakfast focused and some that are more lunch focused, the menu definitely leans more heavily into the former. For example, one business class menu shows the three main course options as being cornish chicken breast, ricotta and grilled mushroom omelet, and blueberry pancakes (here’s a sample menu).
What’s even stranger is that this is still being served with traditional starters and dessert, so you can have pancakes and then chocolate cake, for example.
Honestly, it’s hard to view this as anything other than cost cutting. Suffice it to say that eggs and pancakes are cheaper than most lunch and dinner courses that could be served.
It’s also worth pointing out just how many breakfasts some passengers will have. For example, if you’re connecting from a short haul flight within Europe to a long haul flight departing before 11:30AM, you might have breakfast in the outstation lounge, then breakfast on the first flight, then some sort of breakfast in the lounge at Heathrow, and then brunch on the next flight.
British Airways replaces dinner with supper
British Airways isn’t just changing meal service on its early morning flights, but also on its late night flights, with changes having kicked in as of October 15, 2024. For long haul first and business class flights departing after 9PM, British Airways is no longer serving dinner, but is instead serving supper.
With supper, there’s no starter or soup, but instead it goes straight to the main course. The main courses are also greatly scaled back, with options like salads, sandwiches, pies, or cheese plates (here’s a sample menu).
What’s wild is that this doesn’t just apply on short overnight flights, but also on long ones, as long as they depart after 9PM.
I’m curious if these British Airways changes stick
I love how airlines always love to describe changes as being due to customer feedback. Wouldn’t you be curious to know how exactly they tested these concepts with focus groups?
For the brunch changes, how do we think British Airways approached this?
- “On a flight departing at 9AM, would you appreciate the flexibility of being able to order brunch, rather than just lunch?”
- “On a flight departing at 11AM, where you’ll probably only eat at 12:30PM, how would you feel if two of the three meal options were breakfast items, like pancakes and scrambled eggs?”
I’d be even more curious about how the supper changes were described in focus groups:
- “On a flight departing after 9PM, would you like to have the option to have a quicker meal, so that you can get to sleep as soon as possible?”
- “On a flight departing after 9PM, how would you feel if we eliminated starters, and limited our main courses to things like salads and sandwiches?”
Something tells me that these changes were described somewhere along the lines of the first bullet point in each section, rather than along the lines of the second bullet point.
I am curious to see if these British Airways service changes last, because these really are some pretty drastic cuts that make British Airways’ inflight service uncompetitive in many long haul markets. Then again, when you dominate Heathrow, you don’t actually have to compete that much.
I’m guessing that British Airways thinks that people won’t like these changes, but won’t dislike them enough to book away from the airline. All too often, that’s the sweet spot for airlines.
Bottom line
British Airways has adjusted its meal service on long haul flights in a major way. On flights departing between 8:30AM and 11:30AM, the airline now serves brunch rather than lunch, where two of the three options are breakfast focused. Meanwhile on flights departing after 9PM, the airline now serves supper, which means there’s no starter, and even the main course options are things like salads and sandwiches.
But don’t forget, folks, this is due to customer feedback. This is what we wanted. So thank you, British Airways!!
What do you make of British Airways’ long haul flight meal changes?
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