Legacy airlines - general comments on British Airways and other wanderings

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juddles

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G´day there all,

have just done a bit of a weird circuit, starting in Colombia where I live, to visit Ghana. Actual routing was MDE-MIA-PHL-MAD-LHR-ACC there and ACC-LHR-MAD-LHR-MIA-MDE back. I purchased it as two tickets as this was cheapest, and due to my hard work I did it in J all the way.

CONS:
1.- the metal! Did three long-haul in 747´s. The planes are truly showing their age. Really badly so. And those ¨fully lie-flat¨ pods may be that, but IMHO they are cough - horrendously uncomfortable to try to sleep on. Very limited amount of content for inflight entertainment. I now realize I have been spoilt with LAN and Qantas.

2.- catering. I did LHR to MIA today. 9 hour flight. I had two Jack Daniels then they ran out!!

3.- The amenities kit. Truly ridiculous. A soft bag with a couple of tiny moisturizers, the cheapest toothbrush I have ever seen, cough eyemask and socks, and a one cent pen. If those kits cost them more than 50 cents each I would be amazed. IMHO when you buy a multi-thousand dollar long haul business ticket, it would be nice if they spent maybe 5 bucks or so on a much better kit.

PROS:
1.- General treatment of Premium pax. BA seem to do a bloody good job of making J class, etc flyers get better service. Fasttrack security, etc, and boarding control was all good. When I arrived in Heathrow on an A320 from Madrid, there were only two of us in business, and the plane stopped away from the terminal. We were given a bus just for the two of us before anyone else deboarded.

2.- Staff. Just like Qantas, I experienced quite a few of the older staff that I like. I am not into the 20-something smiling girls - I prefer a more serious and generally competent person. The staff I had on most flights were older, and absolutely fantastic. But for some reason the staff on the LHR-MIA flight were completely different - Young things with far less carisma or style.

3.- Heathrow First lounge. I was on a J ticket but accessed this lounge on the back of Qantas WP status. It does not have the feeling and perfection of the QF SYD flounge, but it still has excellent facilities and food. I ate an amazing traditional english hot breakfast today. Then I went and for followup I had a Johhnie Walker Blue whisky. (For the record I am not a lover of Scotch - am a quality rum or red wine man - but just had to try that JW Blue)

Anyway, the feeling I got from this small taste of BA was that they had some great staff and some good services and philosophies, but unless they change the hard product they are doomed. Seriously, that ¨fully flat seat¨ was cough.


I just dont know how to put it any other way.
 
I have flown BA sporadically for many years - they were real leaders with flat beds in F when Qantas still had recliners and fully flat beds in J years before Qantas put in their sloped beds. I think they have have slipped a bit though. They are a bit like Qantas and running a mishmash of refurbed and unrefurbed 747s and I think even the refurbed ones aren't that great by today's' standards. I do like their staff though - even in CE which most people rubbish. Like Qantas there is a fair bit of inconsistency and I have had one or two bad experiences in J - never in F though.

I think there are plans to retire the 747s but it is all about dollars...
 
I've never seen the JW Blue in BA F lounge. Is this new? Maybe I'll have some for breakfast in a few weeks :p
 
... running a mishmash of refurbed and unrefurbed 747s .....

In fairness to them London-Accra is probably not their showpiece route :) And on the LHR-MIA flight I saw something about them being about to commence A380´s on that route.
 
2.- Staff. Just like Qantas, I experienced quite a few of the older staff that I like. I am not into the 20-something smiling girls - I prefer a more serious and generally competent person. The staff I had on most flights were older, and absolutely fantastic. But for some reason the staff on the LHR-MIA flight were completely different - Young things with far less carisma or style.

Probably a mixed fleet crew as opposed to worldwide.
 
I still prefer BA J over QF slope/MK2. BA F SYD-SIN-SYD beats all other OW offerings - easy to get award seats as well. Oh, how I miss BA 10/9 :( (SYD-BKK-SYD)
 
In fairness to them London-Accra is probably not their showpiece route :) And on the LHR-MIA flight I saw something about them being about to commence A380´s on that route.
I think they are running them to the west coast alreadn't aren't they? We are on a 747 to JFK in May - hopefully at least a New First one :)
 
2.- Staff. Just like Qantas, I experienced quite a few of the older staff that I like. I am not into the 20-something smiling girls - I prefer a more serious and generally competent person. The staff I had on most flights were older, and absolutely fantastic. But for some reason the staff on the LHR-MIA flight were completely different - Young things with far less carisma or style.

Just like QF means inconsistent? ;)
I had the "pleasure" of flying BA a few times and I can tell you that VS had some "young things" with far more charisma and plenty of style, so young isn't always negative.
 
The best thing about flying BA is the tea. You can stand the teaspoon upright in the cup. The way tea should be served! :D

I thought the BA lounge in Heathrow that I last used (en route to Barcelona) served excellent bacon butties and was spacious.
 
Those BA bacon rolls with brown sauce are delicious - try getting one of those on QF1...
 
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I'm in T5 Galleries F now and there's a massive range of spirits including JW Blue. Heading over to the CCR shortly and will see what's there too.ImageUploadedByAustFreqFly1427034057.634155.jpg
 
I've never seen the JW Blue in BA F lounge. Is this new? Maybe I'll have some for breakfast in a few weeks :p

The BA Galleries First lounge in T3 has had JW Blue for a few years now. Lovely stuff.
 
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