NEWS: BA’s Xmas treats & BA CEO chat plus new Cathay business suites coming to London

BA’s Xmas treats and my brief chat with Sean Doyle, BA’s CEO

Last night I attended the spectacular oneworld alliance 25th birthday celebrations and managed to have a brief chat with Sean Doyle. I am also attending a press briefing tomorrow, so expect some oneworld announcements soon.

First let’s take a look at what you can expect if you are flying with BA over the festive period.

On the ground

Customers travelling through the airline’s Heathrow and Gatwick lounges can pick up special gifts at pop-up festive stalls featuring original British brands, such as individually wrapped chocolates by Harry Specters and The Cocobean Company in its Club (business class) lounges, and hand-piped baked goods by Biscuiteers in the Concorde Room. Those visiting the Concorde Room between 23 and 25 December can also enjoy sampling Talisker’s exclusive limited-edition 45-year-old Scotch whisky. 

A bespoke winter picnic menu will also be available in all British Airways Heathrow lounges, including mince pies, brie and cranberry sandwiches, and a specially crafted Christmas cocktail. In the airline’s First lounge, Santa’s helpers will be on hand to offer to wrap last-minute gifts for customers, with specially designed snowflake wrapping paper incorporating the airline’s iconic speedmarque. I will definitely be looking out for this when I visit the lounges as that sounds great for any aviation lover.

Up in the air 

On board there will a range of festive touches from specially designed headrest covers, to a dedicated Christmas inflight entertainment channel. As usual there will be a traditional British turkey dinner featuring all the trimmings, alongside a vegetarian option, available on long-haul flights on selected routes. This will be available until 27 December.

Festive drinks are covered too, with Twinings Christmas tea and BrewDog Hoppy Christmas IPA. First and Club World (long-haul business class) customers will be given a special afternoon tea on board, complete with a chocolate éclair and traditional fruitcake, and a special winter warmer cocktail, featuring Johnnie Walker Blue in First and Johnnie Walker Black in Club World.

In First, customers can expect a limited-edition Alice Temperley amenity kit throughout December, with an intricate design inspired by flights through starry skies at 35,000ft. Continuing the tradition started last year, those travelling from 23 to 25 December can add another collectible Christmas bauble to their tree. This year’s edition features a beautiful, hand-painted design incorporating Indian and British landmarks to mark 100 years of British Airways connecting the UK to India. I would love one of these but sadly will not be travelling over Xmas.

Club World customers will be offered a bespoke box of British Cartwright & Butler fudge from 23 to 25 December and customers travelling in Club Europe can enjoy a festive menu on selected routes from 24 to 27 December.

In World Traveller (economy) will receive a complimentary Christmas hat and festive cutlery with their meal between 15 and 27 December. 

Children can enjoy festive chocolate treats, Peggy and Leon activity sheets and can send special mail directly to the North Pole by posting it through Santa’s letterbox in its Heathrow Terminal 5 lounges. 

Calum Laming, Chief Customer Officer at British Airways, said: “Christmas is such a special time, and this year is no different. We want to make it truly special, so we have pulled out all the stops to spread some cheer and create a truly British Original Christmas. 

“To our customers, wherever you are travelling and however you may celebrate, we hope that you enjoy our extra touches throughout your journey this festive season delivered by our incredible colleagues. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!” 

 

A quick chat with the CEO

I was enjoying sampling some of BA’s latest on-board wines with their full-time Master of Wine, Tim Jackson, when who should walk over but Sean Doyle himself? Sean was chatting about the improvements to the airlines punctuality which I know they have been working hard on. I have flown quite a bit recently in November and only had one delay which was an A380 technical issue. Hopefully, the trend continues as it is slightly easier at this time of year until mid-December to be punctual as it tends to be a quieter time of year. 

Sean also was talking about the new app for British Airways which is due soon. He said he was very pleased with it and was looking forward to the launch. It will be interesting to see whether it just a better interface or has lots of new features to make it a market leader.

Finally I asked him if the brunch menu would be back after Xmas. As we reported here, it is being widely said that brunch will not return although BA did not confirm it 100% at the recent press event. Sean said that they were reviewing customer feedback and would act on it accordingly. Hopefully, this means it will not return, or it will be at an earlier time of day when it is more acceptable. I also hope they don’t survey the same customers that said they wanted in the first place! Personally, I like brunch on the ground, but most brunch dishes do not translate well into the air, particularly those that have eggs, so I think they were fighting a losing battle from the start.

Cathay Pacific new business class

I also enjoyed a virtual experience of the new Cathay business class Aria suite which I wrote about here. It was very impressive and I loved the new muted colour scheme compared to the old green. This felt very premium. The really good news is that Cathay will be bringing this aircraft to the London route from Q1, so if you are booking with them, keep an eye out for the new seats. The new seats are available on some Boeing 777-300ER. Cathay Pacific will install Aria Suites aboard its fleet of 30 Boeing 777-300ERs at a rate of about one plane per month, with the entire retrofit expected to be complete by the end of 2027.

Remember you can use your Avios to fly on Cathay and book as normal on the BA website.