There was a time when British Airways could make a short-haul business class meal feel genuinely civilised. Real crockery, metal cutlery, and a warm main course gave Club Europe a sense of occasion. Fast forward to 2025, and BA Club Europe catering has become a shadow of that promise. Despite fares often topping £500 (€570) for a return seat, the “meal” proudly advertised as part of the business class experience now feels more like a technical obligation than a perk. Compared with the full, plated hot meals served by rivals such as Aegean, SWISS, Lufthansa, LOT, and Austrian, BA’s version looks increasingly out of step with the rest of Europe.
The most recent trays doing the rounds on short-haul routes have been quietly depressing. One featured two prawns perched on limp lettuce leaves beside a bread roll pretending to fill the space where an entrée used to live.
Note the chewy, warmed then cooled bread already placed on tray to fill the space.
Another, a cold beef salad, arrived still shrouded in cling film, served by a crew member wearing the apologetic expression of someone who knows what’s on the tray isn’t doing the brand any favours. The Do&Co quality is still there somewhere beneath the shrink-wrap, but portion control has become an art form. It feels like each meal has been designed by someone armed with a spreadsheet and a stopwatch, rather than a chef.
When I pay £500 for business class, I don’t expect luxury – I’m realistic enough to know this is a 90-minute hop, not The Ritz. But I do expect a meal that gives the illusion of care and value. Instead, BA Club Europe catering now feels penny-pinched and oddly hollow. The bread roll, once an afterthought, has become a space filler; a cheap way to pad out an increasingly bare tray. It’s a symptom of a broader issue: British Airways is cutting costs in places where passengers can see and taste it.
Contrast this with what’s being served across Europe. Aegean Airlines hands out hearty Greek dishes with a warm smile – a full hot meal, a dessert, and often a glass of local wine that doesn’t taste like it came from economy surplus.
Aegean Airlines Business Class Food
Warm main course, side salad, cheese plate, and a separate dessert service. Optional bread.
Austrian Airlines Business Class Food
Austrian, catered by Do&Co too, manages a proper warm dish with vegetables, a dessert, and even a sense of presentation. Warm, nutritionally balanced main course and dessert. Optional bread.
Lufthansa Business Class Food
Lufthansa still believe in the art of the three-course meal. Starter, followed by nutritionally balance warm main course and dessert. Optional bread.
SWISS Business Class Food
SWISS also offer an impressive three-course meal. High quality warm main course, containing protein, carbohydrate and vegetables. Side salad, dessert and cheese. Bread, again, optional.
LOT Business Class Food
LOT serves a protein, carbohydrate, and vegetable combo that would make a dietician proud. All of these airlines still offer bread after the tray is down, rather than using it as camouflage for the absence of food.
This is what makes BA’s cost-cutting so jarring. The airline isn’t losing customers because they got two prawns instead of three. But when business class passengers notice that pattern of frugality repeating – lighter portions, fewer drink options, cheaper wine, and presentation that looks like it came from a budget supermarket – it chips away at loyalty. The business-class cabin depends on repeat customers who justify paying extra for comfort and consistency. If even that illusion of care disappears, so does the premium perception that BA once commanded.
The irony is that passengers don’t demand extravagance. A well-balanced hot meal, presented neatly, with genuine attentiveness from the crew, would do the job. Instead, the airline’s cost-cutting logic has created the opposite effect: it makes premium passengers feel short-changed. When you’re sitting in Club Europe staring at a tray that feels less like an afterthought and more like a bold, almost baffling exercise in cost-cutting, the £500 fare becomes harder to justify – especially when the competitors are still delivering something that looks and nourishes like lunch.
It wasn’t always this bleak. Back in 2020, BA still served a proper three-course meal in short-haul business class – a warm main, a small starter/side-salad, a dessert, and cheese! The trays looked complete, the portions were sensible, and you could almost believe someone cared about the passenger experience. OK, the presentation wasn’t always great, but it felt like EU business class was meant to: functional, efficient, yet comfortably satisfying.
BA Club Europe catering has fast become a reflection of the airline itself – relying on past prestige while steadily stripping away what once made it feel premium. Nobody expects caviar and chateaubriand on a hop to Frankfurt. But a little generosity goes a long way, and right now, British Airways seems determined to prove how far it can stretch the definition of “premium” before passengers start voting with their wallets.
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