The Irish, Spanish and Belgians all do. It hasn't put them off their national brands. I see no evidence of anyone switching from BA in response to this. Considering reduced costs and the increased revenue potential, I'd say this was a good decision from BA.

BA catering was slowly reduced and rather poor toward the end. I'd say serving people crap does more damage than serving nothing. Although I do miss those little bacon muffins on the domestic runs they've served over the last few months, it hasn't stopped me flying them.

Unfortunately on GLA to LHR you cannot switch to another brand. BA monopoly, with near term prices through the roof. Next Wednesday at random, early flight down £174, mid evening back £202. Total day trip £376, and you're telling me you don't even get a 'free' cup of tea or coffee. That monopoly in the opposite direction shows all flights sold out in the morning. How times have changed from the BMA days of both airlines doing proper breakfasts and proper evening dinners with wine. Bad service at high prices and clearly hitting the business person if the monopoly airlines flights are sold out ! And this service includes the gate never available on arrival at T5 or the airbridge not able to connect or that day's other excuse.

It shows that LHR is a strong selling point for BA. Much more than a free drink and nibbles. On the same day Ryanair offer a return to STN for £60, easyJet to LGW for £100ish. People seem to be prepared to pay a massive premium for LHR. It would be cheaper to fly to another airport even with a longer taxi ride, but LHR is a massive pull. A freebie would be nice but the fact is they don't need to.

Buy on board,as a regular club passenger on the early flights out of lgw to proper euroland
places got bored up with the club food (still dont know how they can get an English breakfast wrong) so i asked the cc if i can purchase a sarnie any flavour "yes" was the answer great i say and decline the club grub.
Unfortunately no sarnie arrived,no excuse offered and ended up with no food at all.
Well thank you Ba...to fly,to serve,to forget,to upsell extras,to cram in more seats in small aircraft.
Travelling in 3 days and will try out bob if allowed and not forgotten about.

PIK, analyse your own post "both airlines doing proper breakfasts and proper evening dinners with wine".

Where are BMA/BM/BMI today? They gave you too many hot dinners and too much red wine, which they clearly could not afford.

BA has survived the Laker price fixing scandal, the Virgin price fixing scandal, the Cargo price fixing scandal, World Tails, Concorde grounding, the T5 opening cock up, penny pinching First and Club service, spying on its own staff and multiple strikes

They are not going to suffer much due to the lack of egg and cress sandwiches on short haul flights

I suspect they'll suffer steady erosion tho' - once you sound like an LCA, offer the services of an LCA and treat passengers like an LCA they expect LCA prices..

............which BA and Iberia can't provide across their network

I always find that the younger you are the less likley you are to default to BA these days

BA possibly can't offer it across the entire network but they did compete fairly well for economy prices wise on some routes I know of. With savvy booking it was often cheaper that the likes of Easyjet on some routes I know of but part of BA's problem was getting some to accept that fact. Many peoples browsers (especially the occasional shorthaul leisure travellers) seem to hard wired to only look at FR and Easy..and TBH I think that was a failure in BA's marketing, since all we ever seem to hear of is the drip drip of reduced Cabin Baggage allowances, BOB etc.

OTOH there are serious concerns in some places about the Premium Cabin(s). Some don't think the present management are really interesting in investing the money needed to retain market share.

The Vueling (SH) Norwegian (LH) seems to be the model being chased.

Planes are a commodity to most. They want to get there as cheap as they can. BA are easyJet with a different paint job, but the experience is just that little bit better plus LHR is a huge pull. I think they'll go all out and instead of offering a discount for bags, they be open and honest and start charging extra for bags and they'll remove free seat assignment. Free seat assignment and food obviously wasn't that great a pull for them and they were unable to command any price premium. Therefore they're LCC on short haul now. This, coupled with the densification of the cabin should hopefully allow them to generate some profit on short haul.

I still think every flight should have a club section. Vueling offer it on one hour hops in Spain, BA should do the same. It's a sorry state of affairs when a former tin pot LCC from Spain does it better than your national carrier.

wiggy, senior management is likely of the view that frequent flyers have too much invested in them to go elsewhere. They are likely right, to a point.

Working in central London for a big company/bank and prefering non-stop flights, where else are they going to go?

Just had feed back (not a pun) re Ba BoB from some of my colleagues and the comments have been very favourable.
Good points inc,a very good choice of food.(i like the idea of choice) The warm offerings were indeed warm and very tasty the cold offerings again tasty and fresh.Hot and cold drinks very adequate.Cant comment on the alcoholic drinks as they are not allow them during work time.
Not so good points,passengers not having the correct payment cards and having to search for their cards but not Ba's fault.
Maybe roll out (yes i know) the same food/drink offerings to Club,as a club traveller i would enjoy the choice but keep it foc.

I guess it was obvious that prices onboard would be more expensive.

BA goes to war in-flight sarnies, that cost 46% MORE | Daily Mail Online

The problem is BA has always sold itself as a 'full service airline' whereas EasyJet and Ryanair have always sold theirselves as Low cost airlines.

Gradually BA has shed the elements that made it full service and that is why it is going to get more criticism.

At the same time Easy are improving their overall offering whilst still charging for food. Where will the seesaw balance?

Exactly vctenderness, that is is how business' develop and then fade! BA is on the slow, downward trajectory and EZY is on the up. They may cross over - certainly in short haul. If that happens, then BA may not be sustainable, which is why IAG is trying to build up enough to feed each other. These groups and alliances are the next incarnation of long haul (as I have said before so I'll stop.)

The Daily M is subject to the same thing and, one day, it's star will fade too.

Why are their prices the same on their flights to Switzerland as on their flights to EU airports? (Yes, this is a rhetorical question- those bar-stewards are selling vat and duty exempt products for the taxes-included prices).

Did I say bar-stewards? I should have said thieves.

And yes they are not the first, but that doesn't make them innocent. Bar-stewards.

Given that you have as yet not provided any evidence of any airline charging different prices to and from Switzerland, I'd say that there's a lot of thieves out there.

That may well be true for an off airport supermarket, the prices are apparently the same as the M&S outlets at the airport which like all the other food providers are higher than the high street.

Just come back last night on easyjet say BA charge over prices 2.50 for a bottle of water 1.00 pound for a kitkat sainsburys 4 kitkats a pound 70 pence a bottle of water I say bring you own or pay after security

I notice T5 airside retailers now offering a selection of 'Take Onboard' light meals. Gordon Ramsay and F&M's packaging fairly decent looking food in hamper style cool bags from 14GBP. Bit more (but not much more than BoB) but three courses and a drink, as well as Caviar House, Itsu and Wagamama marketing similar. Handed a leaflet by a young lady who informed me that BA had recently stopped serving food on long-haul services :(. Heathrow Airport branding on the leaflet so good to see the airport busy promoting their most important customers.

G&T or a cup of coffee on a short flight at the end of a business day was the reason to fly BA. Overpriced M&S is no reason to fly anyone.

Given the second meal on long haul Y is now a Kit Kat, it's clear BoB is coming there as well, the service on Vs is a country mile better down the back.