BA Scraps Hot Breakfast on Eight Short-Haul Routes

If you're a regular on British Airways' shorter European routes in Club Europe, I've got some rather deflating news to share. Starting 7 January 2026, BA is replacing the traditional Full English breakfast with a fruit plate, yoghurt, and a heated pastry on eight of its highest-frequency routes.

Yes, you read that correctly. The iconic bacon, eggs, and sausages that have graced British Airways Club Europe trays for years are being swapped for what amounts to a continental breakfast. The official reason? To give cabin crew "more time in the cabin with customers."

I'll let you draw your own conclusions on that one.

The breakfast downgrade applies to flights between London Heathrow and the following destinations:

Interestingly, Edinburgh and Glasgow have been spared from this change — and there's a reason for that. BA trialled the cold breakfast on the Edinburgh and Aberdeen routes back in September 2025, and by all accounts, the feedback was... robust. It seems Scottish passengers weren't too keen on swapping their full fry-up for fruit salad.

All other domestic and European Band 1 routes will continue to receive the full hot breakfast service.

From 7 January, breakfast on affected routes will consist of:

Gone are the days of choosing between a Full English Breakfast with bacon, eggs, sausages, and mushrooms, or a vegetarian omelette. For context, the full breakfast came in at a hearty 650+ calories — the new offering is reportedly around 500 calories.

British Airways says the change is designed to "make it easier to deliver" meals and give crew "more time in the cabin with customers." The airline points to the challenge of serving hot meals to increasingly large Club Europe cabins on very short flights.

There's a kernel of truth here. BA has been aggressively expanding its short-haul business class cabins — some flights now have 50 or more Club Europe passengers. On a Manchester to Heathrow hop with just 30-35 minutes in the air, that's a lot of hot breakfasts to serve, eat, and clear.

But let's be honest: BA crew have been managing perfectly well on these routes for years. Many passengers on FlyerTalk have pointed out that the breakfast service is often one of the smoothest, since there's little alcohol consumption at 7am. Former cabin crew have noted they "never had the slightest problem serving bacon rolls" on these routes.

The more cynical (and probably accurate) interpretation? This is another cost-cutting measure from an airline that's developed quite a reputation for them.

This breakfast change doesn't exist in a vacuum. Over the past 18 months, BA has been systematically trimming its premium offering:

It's also worth noting that BA's Chief Customer Officer, Calum Laming, recently departed after less than four years in the role — just a week before this breakfast change was announced. Make of that what you will.

As someone who holds BA Gold status and flies Club Europe regularly, I have mixed feelings about this one.

On one hand, I understand the operational challenges. These are genuinely short flights — Manchester to Heathrow can be just 30 minutes in the air. And if I'm being completely honest, I often grab breakfast in the lounge before boarding anyway.

But here's the thing: the hot breakfast was one of the tangible differentiators that justified the Club Europe premium over booking with a budget carrier. When you're paying significantly more for a business class ticket, you expect more than a blocked middle seat and some fruit.

What really irks me is the corporate spin. Just be honest about it, BA. Say it's a cost-saving measure. We can handle the truth. But "more time in the cabin with customers" is the kind of PR-speak that treats passengers like idiots.

It's worth noting that BA's European rivals — Air France, KLM, Lufthansa — don't typically serve hot breakfasts on flights this short. So in some ways, BA is simply aligning with industry norms rather than leading a race to the bottom.

The counter-argument is that British people care about breakfast in a way that the French or Germans simply don't. A pain au chocolat is perfectly acceptable continental breakfast fare. A Full English is a British institution. There's a reason it's called the Full English, and British Airways should be the last carrier to abandon it.

If you're flying one of these routes in the morning and want a proper breakfast, your best options are:

You can check estimated security wait times at Heathrow using our Flight Queue tool to help plan your arrival time.

Some passengers on FlyerTalk have suggested filing complaints and requesting compensation for the service downgrade. Whether BA will actually cough up Avios for cold croissants remains to be seen.

This change is symptomatic of a broader tension at BA: the desire to maximise revenue from premium cabins whilst simultaneously cutting the costs of delivering that premium experience.

BA has been selling more Club Europe seats than ever, expanding cabins to capitalise on demand. But if you're going to sell a premium product to 50+ passengers, you need to invest in the resources to actually deliver that premium experience. You can't have it both ways.

The irony is that BA reported an 11.7% operating profit margin recently. This isn't an airline struggling to keep the lights on. It's an airline choosing to cut costs in places that directly impact the customer experience.

I genuinely hope this one gets reversed like brunchgate did. But I'm not holding my breath. For now, if you're flying Club Europe to Amsterdam, Belfast, Brussels, Dublin, Jersey, Manchester, Newcastle, or Paris after 7 January — maybe eat before you go.

What do you think? Is this a reasonable operational change, or another step in BA's slow drift from premium carrier to flying bus? Let me know.

Safe travels,

Jack