British Airways to bring back free tea and coffee – but not for everybody

British Airways to bring back free tea and coffee – but not for everybody

British Airways is bringing back free cups of tea and coffee for economy customers on some of its short haul flights this summer, six years after a cost-saving drive axed the service. Sean Doyle, chief executive of BA, announced the measure by telling staff “we want to surprise and delight customers,” in a message first reported by the Sunday Times. “What’s more delightfully British than a cup of tea? We’re looking at introducing this on some of our longer short-haul routes.” Flights such as those to Cairo in Egypt or Amman in Jordan are typically four to five hours long, and it is those customers who will benefit from the summer offering. Following the pandemic, which hammered airlines as borders were closed and some travellers became wary of taking flights, BA brought back some refreshments, initially as a temporary measure to welcome customers back on board and then as a permanent step. Now teas and coffees are back on the complementary menu, on the longer-distance short haul routes. When the refreshments were initially chopped back in 2017 , the move was described as “the end of an era” and was deemed to put the premium airline more closely in competition