British Airways is preparing to roll out a new electronic meal ordering system in its Club World long-haul business class cabin, joining the ranks of other airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways, which ditched pen and paper years ago.
The reason that British Airways has given for the new iPhone-based meal ordering app is, however, a little head-scratching to say the least.
Back in March 2017, we exclusively revealed that Dubai-based mega carrier Emirates had introduced an electronic meal ordering system for cabin crew using Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
Despite a lengthy testing period that started in November 2016, the airline faced some frustrating teething issues, with orders going ‘missing’ in the system, and devices failing to connect to the shared internet network so that an order taken on one device was shared with every other crew device.
Nearly nine years later, British Airways is adopting a similar electronic meal ordering system, replacing the traditional meal order system. The app, according to sources, is still being tested, but a wider rollout is now being touted internally by the airline.
Not only is the app meant to make the meal ordering process easier and quicker for flight attendants, but, rather bizarrely, British Airways says one of its main motivations behind the system is to help passengers get their first choice of meal.
Why will this app help? Well, British Airways claims the app will give them a better insight into what dishes are popular (which ones aren’t), and with the data, they’ll be able to better adjust meal loading ratios to match demand.
Until now, the airline has been forced to rely on cabin crew reports… Last year, the airline said it received 20,000 submissions of incorrect meal ratios, leaving premium passengers upset that they hadn’t received their first choice of meal.
While the app will improve the data flow in BA’s corporate headquarters, this will only happen after the fact: In other words, passengers will still be disappointed.
There are, of course, better ways to ensure passengers get their first choice of meal. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, British Airways offered a pre-order service for premium cabins, but this was switched off in early 2020.
A few years later, BA claimed it was preparing to resume meal pre-ordering, but the project has, so far at least, failed to deliver.
The app is loaded onto iPhones that British Airways issued staffers several years ago and, until now, has had limited functionality, mainly giving cabin crew insight into what passengers are on board any given flight.
The functionality of the app is fairly limited. It records drink and meal orders, but it does not remember customer preferences or suggest wine pairing with particular dishes. So no, British Airways crew members won’t be asking if you “want your usual” on your next flight.
An exact timeframe for the rollout of the app, dubbed iOrder, has not been set. For now, the airline is still gathering feedback, including from crew members who are concerned that their age presents a ‘digital divide’ that will make it hard for them to use the app.
What do you think of BA’s electronic meal ordering app? An obvious tech improvement or an unnecessary replacement of pen and paper? Let me know in the comments below…
Customers coming last… Again
Those remaining / forced to use BA’s plummeting service should insist on a functional pre order system or adequate provisioning