LH Menu to Poach BA Flyers.

[MOLWillie]

From today's London Evening Standard newspaper.

Lufthansa is to serve British food such as fish and chips and beef wellington in a bid to lure customers away from BA.
The biggest foreign carrier operating out of Heathrow has appointed a British chef for the first time in its history to create a menu for First & Business class customers.
Chris Staines, 32yr Michelin starred head chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel has devised a menu of dishes for the airline as it attempts to shed its stuffy image.
Lufthansa vice president for Europe, Dr Karsten Benz, told the Standard "We definitely want to give the British business traveller another reason to choose Lufthansa in addition to the fact we are the most punctual carrier at Heathrow."

Lufthansa has increased UK capacity by 15% over the last 12 months.

[llondel]

I'm not sure that serving 'British food' is necessarily a selling point. Mushy peas and soggy chips...

[BEagle]

In April 2004, Lufthansa dumbed down its UK-Germany Business Class service. The number of Flight Attendants was also reduced to the legal minimum....

So, out went hot food in reasonable quantities, out went the pre-meal aperitif and nuts, out went the post-meal offer of cognac or Baileys - but no change to ticket prices.

Lufthansa are rightly criticised for poor levels of Business Class cabin service - at the Apr 2004 dumbing-down, Economy Class was so dire that even the crews rebelled at serving only bread and water to their passengers - "Now they make us serve prison food!", one told me. Numerous poor experiments followed; now it's usually a tiny cheese and lettuce bun with a choccie bar...and limited beverage choice. Whereas before, on the LHR-FRA in Economy you would be offered a substantial ham or cheese roll and could have a glass of wine with it.

In LH, the policy is to leave the middle seat empty on a Business Class triple seat row. Which is most welcome, given the dimensions of many German businessmen!

The load factors from BHX to FRA definitely seem to be increasing, now that London Airways have abandoned both mainline ba and ba Con Air from BHX, the alternative being FlyBe...:hmm:

and soggy chips...

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/Internet/zxzxz.jpg

"And I don't vont any nasty, soggy chips. I vont mine crisp...und light brown!" (From the wonderful Dad's Army episode where they have to provide fish and chips for a U-boat crew - the famous misquote "Don't tell him your name, Pike!" was in the same episode.)

[Tony Mabelis]

Does this mean BA flyers will find themselves in hot water if the fly lufthansa!

[wobble2plank]

Perhaps BA could fight back with Scweinehaxe and Sauerkraut!

Couldn't taste any worse than the crew food!

[manintheback]

It will take alot more than hiring a British Chef to write up a new menu to get me back onto Lufthansa short haul business. Utter rip-off.

[newswatcher]

MOLWillie, I'm with Tony on this one. There was me thinking that BA Flyers might be a little tough, if just poached! ;)

[radeng]

My last LH flight was in Business Class Munich to Nice. They literally threw the meals out, you got wine only if you practically demanded it, then they disappeared into the galley, drew the curtains, and ignored the call buttons until the wheels went down for landing, whereupon they came out and collected trays. No coffee, no liqueurs.

I'll only fly LH as 'the airline of last resort'.

[MOLWillie]

LH is a very well run airline and deserves to succeed.

[B Sousa]

Hey Boys and Girls, want a treat, ride domestic in the states. Food? You want Food???...ha ha.
You buy plenty of it before you board and sell some to the rest of the pax. Could mean big money......... mini combo Pizzas sell better.

[radeng]

BSouza,

Compare business if Europe with first in the US. They're about equivalent. - in theory. But BA Club Europe far outperforms any US carrier's domestic First that I've been on. Of Lufthansa, however, the less said, the better.

US Domestic varies enormously, and can be better or worse than the European equivalent. It depends on the airline. I flew Southwest the other week from Phoenix to San Diego and was agreeably surprised at the amount of room, the rapidity of check in (even with an enormous line) and the general staff attitude. Especially when compared with America West, which has gone downhill rapidly since joining US Air.

[B Sousa]

Anytime through europe in the last five years for me has always been Business/First. Just been lucky I guess. Since they are long hauls vs. within europe I cant say what its like. The Long Haul International has always been good to me, be it Continental, BA, Air France, KLM. Due to try Upper Class Virgin soon JNB/LHR/LAX, I hear its pretty good.
Southwest as a cattle hauler is probably as good as it gets in the states. Same thing applies if your doing a leg over three hours, hit the pizza Hut first.

[viktor inox]

I, for one, would be immensely happy if LH could get its act together by serving German food on long-haul flights. How often do I hear "sorry, sir, only Indian vegetarian left" on flights to and from South Asia.

Frankly, what idiots do they employ in their marketing department? If I wanted Indian food, wouldn't I buy a ticket on AI or 9W?

Besides, I always thought that Hindu-vegetarian was a special meal option, so why force it down Westerners' throats?