British Airways customers’ anger as airline ‘struggles to serve entire flights’ after scrapping free food and charging for M&S meals
Customers were left hungry with the airline promising they would be making changes where needed
FRUSTRATED British Airways passengers are going hungry as the flagship airline struggles to serve an entire flight with food and drink after scrapping its free in-flight meal service.
Two weeks after the airline began to charge for snacks on short haul flights, passengers have flooded the airline with complaints – with some claiming that half of people on flights are not even being offered food before landing.
One passenger, Simon Moxley, said he had been on two flights with BA this month - including one as recently as Monday - and noticed staff had been unable to serve the entire plane.
He told The Sun Online: "On 2 flights recently to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly there was not enough time for anyone who wanted food and drink to be served.
"I think half the economy section missed out, at least."
He said that with passengers unable to pay using a contactless card, the process was slowed even further by staff waiting for chip and pin machines.
But he was not the only passenger left disappointed by the change that sees passengers now charged for M&S food rather than being given a complimentary drink and snack.
Others told The Sun Online that they were now questioning booking flights with the airline in future - with British airways saying they were "making changes where needed."
Paul Nicholson, who said he was a frequent business traveller and a gold card holder, said the serving process on his flight from Glasgow to Heathrow on Monday was a “joke”.
He said: “(It took) 20 plus minutes to serve the first five rows of people and only half had asked for food.
"The main issue I have is that BA has become a bucket carrier, no reduction on flight ticket costs and a lousy service.”
The airline has apologised to customers who flagged complaints on social media, saying they "had one or two teething problems" with the service.
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Fellow angry passenger Tim Dobisz told the Sun Online he had gone for a weekend trip to Marrakech earlier this month – and was hit with service problems on both the outgoing and returning flights.
Mr Dobisz, of Surrey, he said: “I have always really liked BA but it was just madness and mayhem.
"By the time I got some food and managed to order a drink they had already gone into a descent and we had to sit there and eat it off our laps because the tray had to be up in position.
"I would have chosen BA over easyJet or Ryanair any day of the week – it just seems to me that they have gone from being a good carrier to a very bad budget airline.”
Brit Julia Willoughby caught a flight back to London from Berlin on January 14 – saying staff were “confused” and had no idea how to take payment for the food items, with it taking 10 minutes to purchase a cup of tea, Diet Coke and a chocolate bar.
Stephan Gasteyger also recounted his disappointment with the airline, with the 38-year-old saying: "On January 10, everything was normal, you got your coffee, glass of water and little sandwich.
"But on the flight back from Berlin on January 12, that had all of a sudden stopped. I found that quite disappointing - I hadn't seen any warning or information about it."
The main issue I have is that BA has become a bucket carrier, no reduction on flight ticket costs and a lousy service
Paul Nicholson
A gold member with British Airways, he said he was now reconsidering flying with them on short haul European flights.
He said: "Suddenly, you are flying with an airline which is almost like a low cost one - it isn't much different from easyJet or Ryanair."
A British Airways spokesman said: “Our new M&S On Board service is progressing well and demand from customers is significantly higher than predicted.
"Customers really appreciate the choice and quality of the M&S range available. In the first two weeks they bought more than 150,000 items, including 5,500 bacon rolls and 2,000 bottles of Prosecco.
"We're listening to feedback from our customers and cabin crew and making changes where needed.
"So we are putting more stock on certain flights, providing more payment handsets for crew members and we will introduce contactless payment soon."
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