First-World Problems.

[ian]

No free booze in BA cattle class.

Thusly civilization ends. It truly was the last bastion. May as well fucking fly Ryanair now.

[Mrs Pingu]

No free booze in BA cattle class.

Thusly civilization ends. It truly was the last bastion. May as well fucking fly Ryanair now.

OMG. Thank God I'm not going to USANIA frequently any more.

[Feanor]

No free booze in BA cattle class.

Thusly civilization ends. It truly was the last bastion. May as well fucking fly Ryanair now.

There's no free anything on the domestic flights any more.
Everything, even a cup of tea is now an M+S franchise paid-for thing, like the budget airlines.
No cash, cards only.

The long haul flights to and from Houston were still the same as ever, as of 1 week ago.
Where they come around before the food, and offer you a drink.
'Why, yes, a red wine would be nice, thank you!'.
'Here you are, sir, and have another, for dinner'.
Dinner arrives.
'A glass of wine, Sir?'
'Oh, Why not, thank you.'
'Here you are sir, and a spare for later!'

Dunno about medium-haul European flights.

[Thing2]

I believe it's still available on long haul (if I remember correctly from the in flight magazine) - wine was certainly served on our way to SFO on Sunday.

No free booze in BA cattle class.

Thusly civilization ends. It truly was the last bastion. May as well fucking fly Ryanair now.

There's no free anything on the domestic flights, even a cup of tea is now an M+S paid for thing, like the budget airlines. No cash, cards only.

The long haul flights to Houston were still the same as ever,as of 1 week ago

[andrewc]

My Easyjet flight home from Italy was delayed for 3 hours yesterday, strike action by the locals.   Free drinks were not offered by the cabin crew to cheer us up, we _were_ warned not to drink our own   


Last time I got free airborne booze was cattle class to Las Vegas on Virgin, a few years ago.   They didn't charge for the bike either 

[ian]

No free booze in BA cattle class.

Thusly civilization ends. It truly was the last bastion. May as well fucking fly Ryanair now.

OMG. Thank God I'm not going to USANIA frequently any more.

I think international is still immune (BA/AA and Virgin/Delta codeshares still seem to give out booze). But at least my flights to Berlin and Frankfurt were mitigated with a gin & tonic and ever decreasing snacks. Now it's M&S bullshit. I can expense it (it's work, goddammit), but it's the bloody principle of the matter. Someone has to stand up against this. Otherwise next it's the Ryanair experience and then – oh god – US domestic. Now the only benefit of Berlin on BA is Tegel (best airport ever, every year Brandenburg gets delayed is a happy one).

I'm off to Philadelphia at the weekend on BA and there had better be booze.

(My favourite flights were once on Singapore business where she left me an entire bottle of port and last year flying from Jo'burg to Nairobi when the steward handed me no fewer than six cans of lager – I must have looked thirsty.)

[ElyDave]

No free booze in BA cattle class.

Thusly civilization ends. It truly was the last bastion. May as well fucking fly Ryanair now.

That's been happening since the beginning of the new year.

Obviously you don't fly domestic often enough

[ElyDave]

No free booze in BA cattle class.

Thusly civilization ends. It truly was the last bastion. May as well fucking fly Ryanair now.

OMG. Thank God I'm not going to USANIA frequently any more.

I think international is still immune (BA/AA and Virgin/Delta codeshares still seem to give out booze). But at least my flights to Berlin and Frankfurt were mitigated with a gin & tonic and ever decreasing snacks. Now it's M&S bullshit. I can expense it (it's work, goddammit), but it's the bloody principle of the matter. Someone has to stand up against this. Otherwise next it's the Ryanair experience and then – oh god – US domestic. Now the only benefit of Berlin on BA is Tegel (best airport ever, every year Brandenburg gets delayed is a happy one).

I'm off to Philadelphia at the weekend on BA and there had better be booze.

(My favourite flights were once on Singapore business where she left me an entire bottle of port and last year flying from Jo'burg to Nairobi when the steward handed me no fewer than six cans of lager – I must have looked thirsty.)

Singapore airlines, business class, A380, music to my ears.  I can very easily arrive with a hangover.

[PaulF]

Don't get me started on the in flight service on BA!

Before they started charging the free food portions became so small as to be a joke. Now at least they're a decent size. If they have anything onboard. Last week the plane wasn't supplied with half the menu. Wasn't a case of them running out before they got to me, they just weren't given any salads etc..

Cynically I suspect it's a ploy to drop food all together: because they never have any they won't sell any so they'll drop it on the basis that there was no demand

[ian]

I enjoyed the diminishing portions. Mostly because I wondered when they'd hit a quantum threshold where they couldn't get any smaller. Here's a single pretzel. Molecule.

I'm not going to starve on a flight that only lasts an hour or two (and to be honest, I don't know why they bother, just hand out some snacks and bring back the bloody peanuts) but I did enjoy kicking back with a G&T after a long day thought leading. Gin is, of course, rocket fuel for thought leadership.

You need booze if you're going to Houston. Anything to soften the blow.

[mrcharly-YHT]

You need booze if you're going to Houston. Anything to soften the blow.

Do they have booze in Houston? I've never gotten over been quizzed about my purchase in a wine shop (in New Haven). I think I had two bottles of wine
"Do you really need that much alcohol, sir?"

All the shop sold was wine. I really wondered how they stayed in business.

[hatler]

Houston is, without doubt, one of the most hideous places on the planet. Everyone should be forced to go there to see what happens if you let roads dominate. My US colleague who was born and bred in Chicago was moved there and hated every single bit of Houston life with a passion.

[Mr Larrington]

I was contemplating starting and ending this year's USAnian road trip in Houston, but haven't booked anything yet, partly because I just bought a new monitor and partly because I'm concerned that Donald TЯump will make me Illegal.  How hard is it to escape from the airport to Deep in the Heart of Texas?

[ian]

Depends how much you like traffic and roads. Because that's Houston. Everything is large in Texas, other than the interesting 'downtown' bits of their cities, which are small. I think Houston is about two blocks of downtown and several million square kilometers of sprawl. It only exists so Dallas doesn't seem so bad. You can I10 out to San Antonio (not much there tbh, other than the Alamo and the Riverwalk which is just an outdoor mall but it's good for an evening's entertainment). Austin is the only interesting bit of a fairly dull state. Otherwise it's long drives between places that aren't especially interesting.

[ElyDave]

You can head East towards the coast towards Port Arthur and on the way you'd pass Spindletop, one of the first oilfields and refineries. The one that made Texaco all the money and fame.

[Feanor]

You can get out of the main city of Houston easily.
The major Interstates can get you out very quickly.

I10 East-West and I45 North -South, for example.
On my last trip, I did some cycling on great traffic-free roads starting from Brookshire, about 10 miles outside Houston, West on I10.
(Based on local advice. )

The great thing is, that all the heavy traffic is on the major highways.
Go away from those, and you can still find decent small-town Texas.

[hellymedic]

My Sainsbury's delivery today contained three times as much carrot as I ordered and a dozen oranges I hadn't ordered at all.
My fridge is overloaded.
They couldn't supply the steaks I ordered.

Maybe I'll turn ORANGE!

[Wowbagger]

That would trump everything...

[LEE]

When I clicked on some thumbnail images of French properties the resultant images that popped up were the same size as the thumbnails. 

Is anything more of a let down?

[Kim]

When I clicked on some thumbnail images of French properties the resultant images that popped up were the same size as the thumbnails. 

Is anything more of a let down?

If you click on thumbnail images of London properties, the properties themselves are the same size as the thumbnails...

[Mrs Pingu]

My Sainsbury's delivery today contained three times as much carrot as I ordered and a dozen oranges I hadn't ordered at all.
My fridge is overloaded.
They couldn't supply the steaks I ordered.

Maybe I'll turn ORANGE!

Sounds like an excuse to make carrot cake with orange icing!

[ian]

I want a BLT. I don't want the posh stuff from the restaurant. In my room. But the hotel doesn't serve the late night menu for another hour.

And there's only four bottles of IPA in my minibar.

[Jaded]

The check-in desks were not open when we arrived. We had to wait four minutes.

[Mr Larrington]

My earthenware Le Creuset oven dish has just snapped in half

[hellymedic]

My earthenware Le Creuset oven dish has just snapped in half

Full or empty?/ EMWLTK!