Mere days after British Airways banned flight crews from drinking coffee or soda in front of customers – and told them that even water had to be consumed ‘discretely’ – they’ve been forced to roll back this policy.
- It’s now permissible to drink coffee in public again – but still cannot do so walking through the airport.
- The British airline maintains that they were never actually banning eating and drinking. They just said crew could only “consume food or any other drink apart from water in designated crew rest rooms or cafeterias, hidden away from public view.”
- But it’s rare to have access to a breakroom once the duty day begins. BA frequently doesn’t schedule crew with long enough sit times between flights.
In fairness, British Airways may have tried to deny everything but water to their crews, but they actually tried to eliminate water for passengers from long haul coach (years earlier they tried charging passengers for water).
What was the reason behind this ill conceived policy in the first place?
I credit our beloved Gary Leff for shedding light on this absurd policy, and leading to its ‘collapse’… huzzah!
Not sure if you’re repeatedly spelling discrete this way because that’s how BA spelled it in their announcement, but the word in the sentence should be spelled discreet. Very different meaning 🙂
Does anyone besides me think that British Airways is seeing if they can beat American Airlines to the bottom of the ladder? Here’s a, once proud, British icon sinking to new lows thinking that by punishing their personnel with stupid, inane rules will strengthen their bottom line?
To comply with British Airways’ social media policy, please refrain from posting selfies. Instead, ask another crew member or a passenger to take your picture for you. If you did not take the photo yourself, it does not qualify as a selfie or a self-portrait by definition.