In short, mhum, no, the onboard service is not J quality or anything approaching it now. Everyone is very nice, but it's not the old J service of yore. Catering seems to be the most affected aspect.
If you need more information about this, look at
www.flyertalk.com and go to Miles and Points, then to the British Airways section. Look at the extensive thread that was created for pax to share their comments and complaints about strike-period service. The F service is getting the most discussion, but they talk about J too.
It should give you the information you want.
If food is important to you, eat in the lounge beforehand and leave enough time for a good meal there. Many pax are purchasing Plane Picnics at LHR to take on board.
My experience has been that meal selections aren't available as before. No menus. The drinks selections are spotty.
Crew are working below the staff they usually have, so the service reflects that. It's not their fault. They didn't choose to have that now infamous curry meal loaded!
I don't care as I do it for business and this too shall pass, and BA will eventually get back to normal.
But if you are using this J experience as a treat, you'll get the comfortable flat bed, lounge access and expedited boarding--that is if your airports honor that and many don't. Even at LHR it's spotty. And if the IFE breaks, which it always did constantly even before the strike, the crew may be so busy they can't restart it right away. And take the newspaper you want to read on board--those also might not be there.
I do miss that relaxing time before take-off with a glass of champers, topped up, with a newspaper whilst the rest of the plane boarded, sigh. That was nice.
