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News: £150 brunch compo, Air Canada lounge closes, Tesco / Amex cashback deal

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News in brief:

Get a £150 voucher from BA if you’ve been served brunch

I’ve now had multiple readers contact me to say that British Airways is paying £150 per person compensation if you complain about the new brunch service (on Club World flights up to 11.29am) or the new evening meal panini service (Club World flights from 9pm).

To lodge your claim, you need to fill in the feedback form on ba.com after your flight. The money is paid in the form of a British Airways voucher.

Use the money to buy a takeaway meal to bring onto your next flight.

That said, I think the level of compensation now being handed out gives a good indication of how long we can expect these changes to last, given that you are receiving £150 to compensate for BA saving £2ish on your meal.

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge Heathrow entrance

Air Canada lounge in Heathrow T2 closes for refurbishment

It’s the 10-year itch …. the Singapore Airlines and Aer Lingus lounges in Heathrow Terminal 2 underwent refurbishment this year and the Lufthansa lounge is currently closed for a refit.

Air Canada has now joined in.

The Maple Leaf Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2 closed on Sunday. It is due to reopen on 13th December, give or take.

Eligible customers can use the Singapore Airways SilverKris lounge or the United Club lounge instead. These are also in the T2B satellite so it’s not much of a diversion.

Our review of the new Singapore Airlines lounge in here and our review of the new-look Aer Lingus lounge is here.

Our review of the Maple Leaf Lounge pre-refurbishment is here.

Tesco American Express deal

Save £5 at Tesco with American Express

Yes, you’re not getting rich here, but it is worth flagging that a Tesco cashback offer has appeared on some American Express cards.

My Business Platinum card, oddly, has it with £5 back on a £50 spend. It runs to 24th November. If nothing else you could pick up an Uber, Netflix etc gift card and use it yourself.

Weirdly only 2,679 people can register – and I had it on my Business Platinum supplementary card too, so that’s two gone.

A better value ‘£5 back on £40’ version is also available on some cards according to reader reports.

There is also ‘£10 back on a £100 spend at Battersea Power Station’ which covers a lot of brands you may be considering visiting. It is valid to 24th November.

Comments (91)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Andrew says:

    Exactly this – when chased up on chat, am assured they will process “within 30 days “
    Nothing like it used to …

  • Rui N. says:

    For the Tesco offer, just remember everyone can get 7% off all the time on Swipii. A maximum loss of £1.5.
    Check the thread on the forum about Swipii.

  • Will says:

    I boarded a 9.20am flight to Houston in CW last week with brunch service.
    I had smoked salmon and omelette, had not eaten breakfast and thought it was fine.

    Partner had chicken dish and said it was excellent.

    What I was massively disappointed with was one of my kids wanted some fruit, zero fruit in club kitchen and staff could not muster any up and then on a 9 hour flight to serve up 3 finger sized sandwiches and a scone for the second meal is just really really poor.

    The afternoon tea thing is more of a joke to me than the idea of brunch on a flight of that length.

    Was there never any demand for the fruit bowl or were they eating so many apples and bananas that it was too expensive to provide for people who pay thousands for a ticket?

    • Rob says:

      Clearly if you have an omelette served at around 10.30am it is borderline OK. Would you have been happy at 1.30pm?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        How’s that make sense? Breakfast should be your largest meal of the day!

        As BJ said this notion that certain foods should only be eaten at certain times is bonkers.

        • George says:

          “As BJ said this notion that certain foods should only be eaten at certain times is bonkers”

          So you’d have a pizza or a burger for breakfast presumably?

          • TGLoyalty says:

            You haven’t had left over pizza for breakfast? Have you even lived?

            Two of the 3 brunch meals are probably way higher protein than most menu item. High Satiety.

          • George says:

            “You haven’t had left over pizza for breakfast”

            No I’m not an uncouth oik

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        People eat omelettes at all times of the day.

        Never had one for lunch?

    • NorthernLass says:

      I brought this up the other day as it may affect some even longer flights and several readers said it was plenty of food! I’m with you though, especially when you factor in airport procedures and transfers at the other end.

  • Lady London says:

    On an 11 hour flight from SFO shortly before Covid the 2nd meal in PY was literally just some kind of small sugar-ladeñ oat bar wrapped up in its brand wrapping.

    i gave it straight back. It was an absolute insult.

  • Lady London says:

    desperate to keep another month’s worth of card fees I suppose. It could well go to 90 days till it credits.

  • Alexey says:

    Brunchgate is just really PR nightmare for BA , but the real issue with BA is that during last 8 flights with them I had 4 cancelled. In some cases I was able to reschedule to reasonable time ( not what they offered originally) in others don’t. Any 250 euro or whatever is it for short flights not going to compensate me ruined weekend or part of holidays.

  • RH says:

    I raised a complaint on the way to Dubai 10 or so days ago as my touch screen wasn’t working and got 5,000 Avios but had to agree on the iPad form that the matter was completely resolved on the plane. The Avios appeared on my Exec club a few days later.

    On the return I had the brunch served at 13:39 and took a phone to prove it. I raised a complaint at BA.com last night and got an email today saying £100 compensation voucher which is £50 each. We travelled WTP both ways. I just sent Rob a copy of my email.

  • Alan says:

    Given the random number generator that is BA compensation I wouldn’t be surprised if they then offer the next folks a couple of thousand Avios!

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