It’s been a long time since British Airways put the head of a low cost airline in charge. Under the leadership of Alex Cruz, the company skimped on basic IT services and charged for water ($6 if you wanted your tea extra strong, even).
Today’s CEO Sean Doyle has tried to claim that British Airways ‘is still premium’ but when you’re explaining you’re losing. He’s tried to put a positive spin on things, but a year ago tried to serve breakfast for lunch in business class because it’s cheaper and tried cutting water bottles out of coach to save money. And they’ve just cut costs by devaluing their miles again.
A few weeks ago they surveyed customers on what perks to cut next like pajamas and amenity kits. Well, we know the first thing they’ve selected: business class on short flights no longer gets a hot breakfast.
You can imagine how this is going down over on flyertalk… pic.twitter.com/mF43Tdu4X3
— Andy Monks ✈️ (@AndythePandy_) December 31, 2025
Starting January 7, this includes flights between London and:
- Amsterdam
- Belfast
- Brussels
- Paris
- Dublin
- Jersey
- Manchester
- Newcastle
Fruit, yogurt and pastry is all that’ll be offered – no English breakfast from the ostensibly-still English carrier.
Connecting flights in what passes for British Airways business class in Europe (Club Europe) are already sad, offering less legroom than Ryanair.
London Heathrow terminal 5 remains a suboptimal place to connect, transit security can be miserable and getting packed into a train to head to and from remote gates suboptimal. British Airways lounges aren’t as nice as many competitor products.
The usual tradeoff with European business class is tight seating, but pretty good catering. It used to be better than what you’d see on a U.S. airline for similar-length flight. But perhaps they’re intent on changing that – although they claim the reason is so that ‘flight attendants spend more time with customers rather than preparing food in the galley’ which is silly.
Full English breakfast was a competitive advantage over European counterparts on similar routes. It remains to be seen whether this will hurt their ability to attract connecting passengers in the competitive transatlantic business (and first) class market.
“like pajamas and amenity kits from long haul business class.”
BA has never offered pyjamas in long haul business class, only FIRST.
This will only help Air France. On peak days, Air France 8-10 flights between LHR and CDG. They’re about to get a brand new lounge at LHR too.
While Air France doesn’t serve a hot meal between Paris and Heathrow, the food and wine that it serves on a 1-hour or so flight is way superior to BA. Better legroom too.
I disagree. Flight attendants will need to have more time to spend with passengers to explain the crappy breakfast and customer reactions.
What a pence wise, pound foolish move at the behest of some bean counter. These are British Airways. As such, an English breakfast shall be on offer in Club. Manchester and Newcastle could use all the support hey can get. Come on BA, this is about supporting Great Britain and making it an enticing place to do business beyond London.
I always preferred the onboard BA breakfast to the lounge offerings.
Just when KLM added more flights to the uk.
They did not cut “real breakfast,” they cut a hot breakfast which Gary seems to be obsessed with. I find BA’s cuts questionable, but this is OK with me.
Happy new year, fellas.
Hot or cold breakfast, regardless, the 3-3 middle-blocked is not ‘business’ class; it’s economy with a middle seat blocked and a meal.
@Rozvm — And, KL flies LCY, which is better if actually flying from/to City of London, so long as you don’t mind routing through Schipol.
LCY is better for OPM flyers
Others will fly just fly Ryanair with superior legroom and schedules out of LGW/LTN.
Noone is flying BA shorthaul biz out of LHR except connecting flights, so who cares
This definitely feels like a downgrade for short-haul business class. The full English breakfast was one of the few things that made Club Europe feel different from economy, especially on early flights. Replacing it with just yogurt and a pastry doesn’t really match the “premium” label, and frequent travelers will definitely notice this change.
@Alan — Psh, no, LCY is better, generally, regardless of who’s paying, unless you’ve got long-haul nonstop via LHR to somewhere beyond Europe. The ‘OPM’ commentary here is silly.
Delighted. I hate eggs!
I support this change. These are very short flights and I have found it stressful to have the meal served, consume it and then have the cabin prepared for landing. It is only 45 min to AMS. I prefer a more straightforward meal experience. Rushing a meal is not posh.
AF serves cold meals on all EU business class flights.
This isn’t a big deal.
BA Club Europe is a disgrace. I have NEVER flown on a business class flight which such tight seating. I am not a large or tall person but my legs barely fit. And if the person in front of me declines their seat my legs are almost crushed. JUST AWFUL.
In my opinion BA is just plain inferior. From Avios rule to amenities to customer relations (offshored to somewhere) empathy, I have never experienced a worse airline. I don’t own their stock so maybe penny pinching is benefiting stockholders. I recall a wise saying, “You can’t save your way to profitability.“ Very sad.