British Airways is set to cut back offers of hot breakfast in business class on some of its shortest flights – claiming the aim is to offer ‘better service’.
The airline will alter its breakfast offering onboard certain flights starting from January 7, 2026.
The changes will affect passengers travelling in the carrier’s Club Europe business class.
Until now, BA has offered two or three hot options, such as a full British breakfast.
But this will soon no longer be the case, with the new policy offering just one breakfast option: a fruit plate, yoghurt and pastry.
The aim is to give cabin crew ‘more time in the cabin with customers’ to offer a ‘better service’, and to make it easier to deliver meals to passengers, Live and Let’s Fly reported.
This will apply on flights to and from airports including Amsterdam, Belfast, Brussels, Dublin, Jersey, Manchester, Newcastle, and Paris.
These are some of the airline’s shortest and highest-frequency European services, with several having flight times of just an hour – and spending as little as 35 minutes in the air.
All other routes will continue to receive a full hot breakfast.
A statement from British Airways said: ‘Following successful trials in September, we’re updating the meal options on our shortest flights.
‘Due to the limited time available on these journeys, serving and enjoying a hot breakfast has become challenging.
‘To ensure a more comfortable experience, we’ll now offer a continental breakfast on these routes.
‘Hot breakfast will continue to be available on the vast majority of our short-haul flights, as our crew has sufficient time to prepare and customers can enjoy their meal comfortably.’
These changes only affect eight of the airline’s express flights. The Full English breakfast will remain unchanged on the majority of other short-haul destinations.
The continental breakfast has been trialled on a small number of BA’s shortest flights (around 60 minutes in the air) and received positive feedback from crew and customers, the airline explained.
BA added that customer and crew feedback suggested cabin crew are unable to deliver the best possible service in this time when factoring in the time it takes to heat up and serve a hot breakfast. BA said it is not a cost-cutting measure.
Offering a continental option allows more time to focus on consistent customer service.
BA trialled the removal of hot breakfasts from some of its morning flights in Club Europe earlier this year, when it stopped serving traditional eggs, bacon and sausages on domestic routes.
It comes after BA fared well in a recent ranking of the best and worst plane food on various airlines.
According to a survey by YouGov: Self-serve, BA was the fourth best airline for food, and the top UK-based airline on the list.
