British Airways Finds Another Way To Cut Costs On Food And Drink For Business Class On Short Haul Flights

British Airways has found yet another way to cut costs on food and drink in its short-haul Club Europe Business Class cabin, by reclassifying some destinations so that passengers are served smaller meals and are proactively offered fewer drinks.

The change was revealed just days after BA’s controversial decision to axe hot breakfast on more than half a dozen routes attracted a furious backlash from angry frequent flyers and once loyal customers who vowed to take their business elsewhere.

British Airways changes ‘catering bands’ to cut costs

British Airways serves different-sized meals across its short-haul network depending on the length of the flight. Destinations are categorized into so-called catering ‘bands’, which then determine the type and size of meal that passengers in the Club Europe premium cabin will be served.

Bands range from 0 for the shortest flights in BA’s network, such as London Heathrow to Manchester and Jersey, up to Band 5, which is the airline’s longest flights served by single-aisle ‘short-haul’ jets to destinations like Amman, Jordan, and Cairo, Egypt.

Until this month, passengers traveling on flights categorized as Band 3 to Band 5 were served pretty much the same amount of food.

In the morning, a full hot breakfast was served, and for the rest of the day, drinks and nuts were first served before being followed by a full four-course hot meal, comprising a small salad appetizer, hot entree, sweet dessert, and cheese course.

British Airways has, however, now introduced several subtle changes to cut the amount of food served to passengers on many mid-length short-haul flights:

• Band 3 flights have now been regrouped with the removal of the salad appetizer and cheese course from the meal service.
• Several destinations have been recategorized from Band 3 to Band 2 to remove the initial drink and nut service.
• The affected destinations are: Budapest (BUD), Krakow (KRK), Madrid (MAD), Split (SPU), and Warsaw (WAW).
• These destinations also now get a smaller hot breakfast, and an afternoon tea completely replaces a hot meal during the mid-afternoon.
• Band 4 and Band 5 flights no longer get a salad appetizer, although a new cake service has been introduced on the longest flights in BA’s short-haul network.

These are relatively small changes, and while BA will likely argue that the introduction of a cake service on a small number of flights represents a significant investment, overall, it looks like these changes have been made to slash catering costs.

Hot breakfast is being axed on eight routes

The changes to catering bands slipped by relatively unnoticed as BA’s decision to axe hot breakfasts on eight routes stole the limelight in the run-up to the New Year.

Traditionally, British Airways has served at least two choices of hot breakfast, as well as a third cold plate option in its Club Europe cabin on the vast majority of short-haul flights.

On January 7, 2026, however, that changed when hot breakfasts were removed on eight routes between London Heathrow and Amsterdam (AMS), Belfast (BHD), Brussels (BRU), Paris (CDG), Dublin (DUB), Jersey (JER), Manchester (MAN), and Newcastle (NCL).

Instead, passengers now receive a one-size-fits-all fruit plate, accompanied by a small yogurt, and a warm breakfast pastry like a croissant, pain au choclate or pain au raisin.

Frequent flyers have reacted with fury to the decision, although it’s been pointed out that rival ‘full service’ carriers in Europe don’t generally serve a hot breakfast in their short-haul Business Class cabins either.

BA says changes will allow cabin crew to spend more time with passengers

British Airways claimed the decision to cut the hot breakfast was to give cabin crew more time to engage with passengers, saying that it had become increasingly difficult to serve a hot breakfast on shorter flights.

One reason that the service has become so challenging is that BA has maximized the size of its Club Europe cabin in the last few years, with nearly 50 passengers to be served in just 20 to 30 minutes.

Rather than limiting the number of passengers to ensure that everyone gets a good service, British Airways has, instead, chosen to make cuts to the onboard experience.