British Airways announced on social media on Thursday that Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle champagne will no longer be available in its first class cabins or in its first class Concorde Room lounge at London Heathrow airport. “LPGS” is perhaps the most premium element of the otherwise surprisingly pedestrian British Airways first class experience.

BA is planning to substitute other premium champagnes in place of the one that it has been known for over many years. They haven’t settled on a new standard, and so there won’t be as much consistency to the experience.

Starting March 1, British Airways will be serving Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame on the New York – London route. Different routes will have different bottles which will lead to provisioning errors. La Grande Dame is an equally respected bottle, though of course different people will prefer different champagnes.

Concorde Room, London Heathrow

According to internal employee material,

• Starting Friday, February 2 the Concorde Room will serve Pommery Cuvee Louise 2006

• They’ll be serving Lanson NOBLE Brut Vintage 2005 on routes other than New York starting in March

British Airways promised “a new selection of award-winning Champagne from across the globe” which has been roundly mocked. Of course, if your airline isn’t from the terminal 5 region of Heathrow airport it’s probably far more sparkling than BA.

British Airways First Class

Paddle Your Own Kanoo attributes this to Laurent-Perrier no longer being willing to cut deals with travel brands rather than British Airways being unwilling to pay for the product.

BA is still selecting (so far) well-known top bottles of bubbles for first class in the air and on the ground. However they’ve struggled when rotating premium bottles elsewhere. The Chelsea Lounge at New York JFK, with similar first class entry requirements to the Concorde Room, began offering several premium champagnes and then only rotating a single top bottle – which they’ve had a hard time properly stocking.