Thousands of British Airways passengers will have to go without inflight meals or drinks on Thursday as an operational meltdown at the airline’s catering provider persists for at least the third day.
The embattled carrier which has faced chronic staff shortages, IT woes and now catering shortfalls, emailed affected passengers telling them that an “unforeseen issue” at its catering supplier meant some flights wouldn’t be loaded with any food or drink.
A British Airways spokesperson told us earlier this week that “unforeseen operational issues” were behind the problems, but the airline did not explain what the actual reason for the meltdown was or when it might be resolved.
British Airways has all of its inflight catering provided by the upscale Austrian-based catering company DO&CO. The airline switched to DO&CO after its longstanding partnership with Gate Gourmet ended in late 2019 and passengers have raved about the quality of the updated meals.
At the end of last month, British Airways returned to pre-pandemic service in its long-haul Club World Business Class cabin, and while a spokesperson says the rollout has gone smoothly, reports of catering issues emerged soon after the switchover.
On Thursday, all of BA’s shortest domestic and European flights won’t receive any catering at all, while some longer European flights under an hour and a half in flight duration may also go without food.
Thankfully, the airline says long-haul flights are not affected by Thursday’s disruption and affected passengers will be provided with refreshment vouchers to buy food in the airport before boarding their flight.
