Oh dear. There’s one thing a lot of British people love – it’s Tea. However, it seems some members of staff in British Airways lounges are getting snippy with the amount of tea bags one has, and if one takes them out of the lounge.
Want two bags of tea? You uncouth person… and cause #teagate (Tea and coffee station, British Airways Galleries First Terminal 5 – Image, Economy Class and Beyond).
According to the FlyerTalk Post:
I was looking when a staff member who was clearingtables and looked at me insistently. I smiled, she did not move. ‘Are you all right sir?’ — ‘yes, thanks I’m just looking at what teas you have trying to decide’.
Since she was not moving, I took one elderflower Darjeeling, one elderflower apple, and the cup of hot water I had just poured. This did not make her happy: ‘sir, just to inform you that it is only one tea bag at a time and for lounge consumption only’.
Sadly, The Telegraph which reported this doesn’t know the difference between a blog and a forum. I’m sure many of you will know that difference. The paper quotes British Airways spokesperson stating:
“As Brits we have strong feelings about how we like our tea, so we’re disappointed that someone would dare to stand in the way of our customer producing the perfect cuppa.
We’d like to assure all our customers that they are, of course, free to blend their tea as they wish.”
So what is it? Revenue protection gone mad? An overzealous lounge cleaner? A clamp-down on borrowing stuff from a lounge for consumption on the plane? Or a sign that everything will be for sale in an in-lounge branch of Marks and Spencer soon?
But it seems beyond petty to me.
The term “To Fly, To Serve” seems to be fading more than ever in the land of British Airways… especially with #teagate.
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