Now Rolling Out Onboard: Perfectionist, Personalized British Airways Service In First Class

British Airways has comprehensively upgraded its First Class service, from the hotel reception style, individually seated check in desks at JFK’s Terminal 8, to that terminal’s highly designed Chelsea Lounge (including a la carte dining from the chef of New York’s in demand restaurants Shuka and Shukette) and Heathrow Terminal 5’s Concorde Room to the enclosed suites on board being progressively installed on its long haul fleet. The next step was the service and that’s getting an overhaul too due to a new training program being run at the airline’s Global Learning Academy near Heathrow.

One reason for the upgrade seems to be the change in demographics at the front of the plane—it’s no longer just upper crust British businessmen but also families and passengers on bucket list trips. And that means a change in service needs and expectations. “We have a number of different roles serving in First Class,” explains Tim Baxter, a 28 year veteran of British Airways service, 27 of them as a steward in First and a trainer in this program. “From food service to calming people down to being nannies, taking care of babies.” What’s expected overall as explained in the presentation that Baxter offers are personalized service tailored to the individual passenger’s needs, service that is calm, gracious and unhurried and quick solutions to whatever issues that may arise.

To get into the four day course, currently open just to flight attendants, 12 at a time, already serving in First, aspirants have to write a 1,000 word essay explaining their reasons and goals for undertaking it. Once admitted, it’s part information absorption—there are six volumes of proper procedures and desired behavior to study—and part hands on training. As they demonstrated recently—and asked several journalists to try- in and around a 12 seat First Class cabin mockup at the Global Learning Academy, it’s pretty rigorous. Staff members are assessed on their uniform, skills, knowledge, overall demeanor, how they handle the china, how they stand, among other aspects according to project leader and occasional flight attendant David Mason. And details matter: passengers may not have noticed this before but when, for example, afternoon tea is served, every item should be facing four o’clock (the time the Duchess of Bedford decided that afternoon tea should be served) from the teapot and teacup handles to the scones on a plate. Since an odd number of ingredients looks better than an even number, passengers will always also see three sugar cubes, not two or four.

The earliest part of our training today (it’s usually day two for real flight attendants) is the easiest: sitting in one of the mockup’s seats and being served a typical First breakfast (the cabin mockup has a working kitchen). This allows the trainees to observe the desired conversational interplay between passenger and crew—silences aren’t encouraged- and the service itself, starting with the pull and drag technique of laying the tablecloth by only touching the corners to the napkin drop on a passenger’s lap. The do-it-yourself component comes in with the afternoon tea service (day four) and plating a typical dinner as part of the food and beverage training with the airline’s catering partner Do & Co (day three.) Today, that meal is composed of beef tataki wrapped around asparagus with apple and ginger ponzu; ricotta ravioli topped with five pieces of kale and two pieces of asparagus topping it; braised lamb shoulder with pomegranate sauce and a passionfruit tart topped with a blueberry, raspberry and chocolate curl and surrounded by a ring of fruit coulis. After attempting to recreate Do & Co chef Terry Keates’s precise presentations, I have great respect for flight attendants who can pull together artistic looking dishes in the air. Mine looked like they were done in turbulence—which they obviously weren’t.

Another aspect of service that looks easy but isn’t is turndown service: placing the mattress topper on the seat in lie flat position while only touching the corners, placing the pillows in proper alignment and pulling the duvet back at a sharp 45 degree angle while leaving the seat belt accessible and not crushing the passenger’s shoes or Birkin bag deposited alongside. But there is compensation for any frustrations that might pile up during the day: going through Master of Wine Tim Jackson’s introduction to wine, learning about and tasting the three sparkling wines, three reds and three whites that are carried on board.

As Mason explains, all attendees in the program so far have passed, one even earning a golden ticket in the air, an award that frequent flyers can give a crew member who has given exceptional service. He or she must have excelled in turndown, coulis drizzling and 4:00 handle placement at the very least. And with more flight attendants going through the program, passengers can expect to see that even more.