BA f lights run out of food – and loo rolls!

After scrapping free meals for short-haul trips...

BRITISH Airways is facing a backlash from passengers after running out of food on flights.

The airline has also been caught out failing to stock enough loo roll.

The problems sparked a wave of complaints from customers, many of whom are still fuming over BA’s recent decision to scrap free food on short-haul trips.

One passenger flying to Fuerteventura, in the Canary Islands, from London Gatwick last week said cabin crew ran out of food by the time the trolley was halfway down the plane.

Tessa Evans Hurrell said that, having already endured a twohour delay, her family was then only offered drinks three hours into the four-hour journey.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, she added: ‘They just had a couple of packets of biscuits and nuts [left] ... Our 11-year-old daughter was in tears she was so hungry.’

Another passenger said the same thing happened on a flight back from Fuerteventura on Saturday.

Nancy Sproston wrote on Twit- ter: ‘Terrible flight. Ran out of food altogether by row 19. What’s going on?’

Another Twitter user, Rebecca Clifford, had a similar experience on another flight, writing: ‘ Rude staff at Geneva, unclear ski carriage policy, ran out of food almost instantly on an evening flight etc.’

On a flight to London from Innsbruck, Austria, last week, there were just three sandwiches left for 110 passengers.

And earlier this month a BA flight to Barbados was grounded at Gatwick for more than five hours because there was not enough loo roll on board. Passengers had to wait while ground crew restocked the plane.

The Boeing 777, which can carry 280 passengers, arrived at Bridgetown five and a half hours late.

Under EU law, those delayed for more than three hours can receive compensation of £520 (600 euros), saddling BA with a bill of up to £145,600. The return flight was also delayed, taking the potential total payout to £291,200.

The airline’s decision to stop giving out free food from January on flights of less than five hours has proved deeply unpopular.

The airline is now offering pricey M&S food instead, including a £7.55 sandwich deal. Passengers have complained that BA’s fares do not appear to have dropped to account for the loss of free food.

The airline has since fallen out of the top ten best value short-hall carriers in a poll of 7,500 members of consumer group Which?.

From next year BA also plans to reduce legroom from 30 inches to 29 on some of its planes – the same as on easy Jet and an inch smaller than Ryanair.

A BA spokesman said they ‘regularly adjust stock levels’, adding: ‘Customers tell us they really appreciate the choice and quality of the M&S range and have already bought hundreds of thousands of items, including 39,000 bacon rolls and 14,000 bottles of prosecco, since they were introduced.’

‘Terrible – what’s going on?’