Free cups of tea now available in British Airways short-haul Economy – if you bring your own teabag

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• Daniel says:

  5 May5 May 08:34

  Other tea (such as the Earl Grey that I would normally get) have always been served as a teabag in some water in a paper cup. Does this mean that technically we could have done this all along?

  • Shoestring says:

    5 May5 May 08:38

    Free hot water has always been available on request on BA, you just had to ask – the same water is used as for paying customers in case you’re worried on that score – so yes, you could have done this all along but had to bring your own cup

    • Shoestring says:

      5 May5 May 08:59

      and in case you’re wondering, when I asked I was somehow being polite & deferent and asked if I should wait until after the paid M&S service – & the cabin crew said they’d rather give me hot water when they came round with the trolley

      • Alex Sm says:

        5 May5 May 09:47

        This makes sense

    • Rob says:

      5 May5 May 10:15

      Correct. BA had to buy some cups to serve the new tea.

• Tim says:

  5 May5 May 08:52

  Teapots is tea for people who don’t like tea. And the bag is plastic rather than paper so this is a step backwards

  • Peter K says:

    5 May5 May 15:33

    Do you mean teapigs?

    • Cat says:

      6 May6 May 09:02

      No, Teapigs teabags use actual tea leaves, rather than the dust you get in most teabags, and the bag is made of silk. They’re so much better than Twinings, whose teabags do have plastic in them.

      • Cat says:

        6 May6 May 09:03

        Sorry, aimed at Tim, not Peter K

• Nick says:

  5 May5 May 08:59

  What next…bring your own toilet roll…BA have lost the plot and treating people like mugs….glad I stopped chasing status a few years ago. Now I just use whatever airline I decide on which is cheapest/most convenient for my needs.

  • Freddy says:

    5 May5 May 14:01

    Same here! Been quite a few sales which make the use of points redundant. Quite a few people seem to be switching to hotel points, I have as availability doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue on hotels

  • the_real_a says:

    5 May5 May 18:13

    Saving the planet is quite trendy these days, and quite a few businesses offer a discount on your own cup. I dont like waste for waste sake so do usually take my own flask to the coffee house.

• Roberto says:

  5 May5 May 09:10

  Flew yesterday.. Had the new coffee bag in my own insulated cup.
  Two things to note (1) it was not as nice as the previous slurpy coffee and (2) they had no idea that it should be £2.35 rather than £2.50 and could not find a way of charging me the lower amount.

  • Shoestring says:

    5 May5 May 09:11

    stick in a compo claim 🙂

    we got 5x 1000 Avios compo for no hot water to make tea/ coffee the other week – European SH in Economy

• Mr Dee says:

  5 May5 May 09:40

  This is a good way to save some money!

  O/T anyone having trouble logging into IHG?

  • Alex Sm says:

    5 May5 May 09:49

    No, no trouble. I even finally got to see my Accelerate targets

    • Mr Dee says:

      5 May5 May 10:10

      Can’t login today at all :/

      • Brian W says:

        5 May5 May 10:30

        Me neither, but they posted this on Twitter a few moments ago:

        Hi there, Sorry for the inconvenience. The issue you are having online is already shared with our developers. They are working double time to have it resolved. Please try to access your account at a later team. Thanks for your patience – Ronald

        • Mr Dee says:

          5 May5 May 10:32

          Yes just been informed, was worried incase my account was shut down or something

• James says:

  5 May5 May 10:11

  Apparently the tonic water has been changed from Fever Tree to Schweppes. If so, that’s a major downgrade and hopefully not happening in club or the lounges. One step forward, two steps back!

  • Harpo says:

    5 May5 May 10:48

    But it was the Mediterranean tonic, not the ordinary one and many find it too citrusy. I think it’s ok, but it’s not a classic Indian tonic water taste. Schweppes is.

    • James says:

      5 May5 May 10:54

      As long as Fever tree light remains in club I’ll be happy

      • Rob says:

        5 May5 May 11:25

        Is a teabag ‘food or drink’? Technically it isn’t 🙂

      • Lady London says:

        5 May5 May 12:01

        I like the elderflower fevertree version. Has been trialled on planes I flew but now dropped. Lidl does an uncannily similar own brand to the fevertree line at some branches sometimes.

        • Mark2 says:

          5 May5 May 12:25

          I noticed yesterday that the elderflowers have started coming out.

        • Mary Berry says:

          5 May5 May 13:36

          Fascinating

        • Lady London says:

          5 May5 May 15:00

          It’s Sunday!! 😉

  • TGLoyalty says:

    5 May5 May 11:34

    Thought it was the premium 1783 stuff

    • Gin and Tonic Please says:

      5 May5 May 19:44

      It is, and it’s quite good.

• Alejandro says:

  5 May5 May 11:08

  OT: Can I book a family room (a family of four) at IC using Ambassador free weekend certificate? Thanks

  • RichT says:

    5 May5 May 11:14

    Depends on the hotel. Some offer all rooms at the rate, others restrict it. If you search on the Ambassador booking site you’ll see if the rate applies for your room type.

    I assume you mean the 241 voucher not a free night certificate (I.e. A points reward voucher)

  • Rob says:

    5 May5 May 11:24

    Officially no. HOWEVER a lot (most?) InterCons list most or all of their rooms as bookable with the ‘2 for 1’ voucher. When we were in HK last year we booked a Junior Suite for eg.

    If the hotel has a room that sleeps four, there is a fair chance that it is bookable with the voucher. If you have a specific hotel in mind, I’m sure someone can look it up (I can’t as I let my Ambassador lapse this year).

    • Lyn says:

      5 May5 May 14:30

      You should be able to look up availability without signing in first:

      https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/content/us/en/ambassador/free-weekend-certificate/book

      • meta says:

        5 May5 May 14:36

        You can even book Ambassador rate without having a certificate or membership, but obviously need to get the membership by the time you stay (and allow time).

        • John says:

          6 May6 May 06:50

          Certificates are electronic now
          The hotel may not like it as they sometimes upgrade you immediately and they might get confused if they see you aren’t Amb

• Qwerty Bertie says:

  5 May5 May 11:15

  Recently I’ve read so many things that put me off ever flying with BA. Please tell me at least their business and first classes are worth bothering with, and assure me I haven’t built up a stash of avios & voucher for nothing. I’m being serious, as I see so many people on here running down those BA classes too.

  • The Original Nick says:

    5 May5 May 11:30

    The new BA suites are worth waiting for though.

  • Leo says:

    5 May5 May 12:28

    BA is okay product-wise- there’s a huge culture of complaining about them. First is fine although as you will hear/read a lot on the net BA First is in some ways just a really good business product. The new business product is overdue but so far looks as good as any other out there. Their short haul product is pretty similar to any other European legacy carrier . Finding redemptions you actually want can be a pain, just try and be flexible.

    • Calvin says:

      5 May5 May 14:14

      I’m inclined to not comment on a public forum, but is BA First not just a business class product? Apart from the Concorde Room if you’re flying out of London Heathrow, there is no discernible difference between BA First and, say, QR/EK/SQ/CX Business, both in terms of hard and soft product.

      • Leo says:

        5 May5 May 15:45

        Well it’s subjective but I’d choose BA F over both QR and CX J. I’m not really a fan of QR though.

      • Rob says:

        5 May5 May 19:50

        More seat privacy, but not far off

  • Will says:

    5 May5 May 16:13

    With the right seat selection and a good cabin crew BA business is a fine experience, eh upper deck on a 747, or centre pair for a couple on a A380/777.

    You get a bed and the food is decent enough.

    Sure it’s not the best product but once you have a bed we’re talking relatively small differences compared to an economy/prem economy seat.

    These days I try to get some sleep and am less concerned with eating and drinking and more interested in arriving as fresh as possible for a holiday to make the most of it.

  • Artur says:

    5 May5 May 23:36

    Just to put you off a bit more .Yestardays flight
    from Gatwick to JFK in club world(BA2273) .Dirty table with some liquid spilled on it , wine and champagne served in water glasses , salad starter made of 2 cherry tomatoes and dry slad leaf ,no drink offered with the starter ,main course of beef fillet served with 2 pieces of broccoli and 2 potatoes (one of them half rotten ) some lumpy sauce in tin foil cup .Absloulty disgrace and excuse for an airline .Had a better service in air china economy

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