BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  26 May 2008 : by David Ellis  (UK)

Customer Rating : 3/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

LGW-CTA-LGW. Online check-in and cabin baggage, so through security in minutes. BA terrace lounge comfortable with friendly staff. Priority boarding but no pre-flight drinks or newspapers offered. 1E and 1F seats but 1D also occupied as flight overbooked. Food and drink service reasonable and staff attentive. Return flight no so good, as VIP lounge at CTA closed and no priority boarding. 1E and 1F seats but 1D again occupied. Plane dirty because of fast turnaround. Limited choice of magazines offered. Food average, staff chatting amongst themselves too much and generally less attentive. Overall impression is that Club Europe falls short of a real business class experience.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  25 May 2008 : by A Mitchell  (UK)

Customer Rating : 4/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

GLA-LHR-ATH and back LCA-LHR-EDI. On arrival at Terminal 5, transfer from domestic arrivals area to departure area for Athens flight was a breeze compared to what process was previously arriving at T1. Used south galleries lounge (nicer and more spacious than north) before short hop to B gates, where unfortunately lounge was not open. Flight to Athens on A320 unfortunately had no IFE, as this was a Sunday afternoon flight which is usually operated by a 767 (the normal daily Airbus flights to ATH do have IFE, but this is the one weekly flight that doesn't). Inflight service was the usual Club Europe product, but was spoiled by the person in front of my travelling companion reclining their seat after take-off and the purser being quite rude when asked if he could request of the passenger that he put his seat upright till after the meal "He's asleep, what do you expect me to do?". Flying back from Larnaca, lounge was the Cyprus Airways operated one there. Good selection of drinks and plenty of space. 767 was showing its age and was absolutely packed, even in Club. Onboard service was as expected, but drinks were only served about 45 minutes after take off. Although my connecting flight to Edinburgh took off 45 minutes after we landed, both my checked-in luggage and I made it. All in all another good experience with BA, and transferring through T5 was a breeze.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  24 May 2008 : by Simon Smith  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

LHR-LIS return business class. Service from cabin crew great - helpful and cheerful. The meals were pretty good - choice of a hot meal or a salad. Getting a proper meal makes a big difference on evening flights and I'm glad BA has improved this - I had previously stopped using Club Europe when all you got was a small salad. A menu card would have been helpful in making the choice though. The LIS flights still leave from Terminal 1 at LHR; there is now a new (smaller) Oneworld lounge which is pretty decent and has a good range of food and drinks, but it is quite a trek from security. One negative: at LIS, BA uses the Air France lounge and this is pretty basic - no food, no natural light and you even had to pay for wifi.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  21 May 2008 : by Ian Waddell  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

LHR - Istanbul. Excellent flight all round. Plane and cabin crew in good nick, service as it should be. Highly professional all round.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  21 May 2008 : by J Earnshaw  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

LHR-MUC-LHR. My first visit to LHR T5 and I found it quiet, I was airside within 5minutes of arriving, though I had checked in online and did not have any bags to drop off, but impressed still the same. I found the BA Galleries Club (I used the South lounge - told this is bigger and better) excellent - good choice of hot and cold food and a vast selection of drinks and snacks. A big improvement on the other lounges at Heathrow that BA use to operate. Onboard A319, welcomed and hot towels provided. Only three rows in Business Class so only 12 passengers. After take off, a small cold prawn salad was provided, with a warm roll and chocolate mousse, two rounds of drinks - champagne was flowing and tea/coffee. Excellent service from Purser. Just wish BA would provide something more significant than a salad, this was a lunchtime flight with a flight time of 2hrs, so no excuses really! The return flight at 1910 left on time - before boarding I tried to find the BA lounge but was told one did not exist for BA business class passengers, Gold and Silver passengers can use the Delta Crown Room but not if you are travelling Business class, which seems very odd to me! Onboard the A320 only 5 passengers in Business class, good attentive service provided throughout, hot towels provided before take-off - a larger smoked chicken and potato salad was offered with a warm roll (these came around again for seconds) Mango mousse and tea/coffee. Two rounds of drinks offered. I feel BA needs to look at the food service it provides - I would have welcomed something hot as an evening meal rather than just a salad especially with a flight time of 2hrs. I remember when BA use to provide cheese/crackers and chocolates on these flights but no more. Come on BA when a passenger is paying £500 please provide something more significant and sort out Lounge access for Business class passengers.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  20 May 2008 : by Terry Blake  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Premium Economy

We were on flight no BA38 from China on 17/05/08. We had booked our seat in World Travel Plus three months before, we arrived at the airport in Beijing and were told we had been downgraded and BA would give us a refund of £75. As you can understand, we were not happy about this - we had paid a lot more than £75. When we asked why, they said that the flight was overbooked. We told staff that this was not our fault, and were not pleased as only 5 people had booked in before us. They gave us the upgrade we had paid for in the end, but we should not have had to go through this upset. We paid good money for those seats.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  20 May 2008 : by D Jarrett  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Premium Economy

LHR-SIN return premium economy. Good departure times and online check in saved a lot of time at both check-ins. Usual disappointing food but this is a wider airline problem not just BA. Seat selection only available 24 hours in advance, but when site opens 75% of seats already allocated, so very limited choice. AVOD on outward worked well, but 777 on return had limited choice and very poor choice of movies. Staff efficient but lacked any charisma. Seats Sin-LHR were in front of toilet and noisy. Surely it is possible to get better sound insulation or at least a quieter flushing mechanism. Overall good value for money but not fantastic.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  20 May 2008 : by M Ludolf  (Germany)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

DUS-LHR-LAX return. Flight to LHR was uneventful. Arrival at T5 went smooth and BA lounge facilities there are impressive. Flight to LAX fine, priority boarding, okay food, enough to drink at all times, served by friendly staff. AVOD needed two quick reboots but was great in the choice it offered. Upon arrival luggage took some time, obviously priority tags were ignored but still things acceptably quick. The return trip was much the same. Excellent experience LAX to LHR, went though T5 in no time and arrived in DUS after an uneventful, but slightly delayed, flight. All in all BA remains a great choice for long haul flights, plus the new Club cabin offers real comfort.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  18 May 2008 : by David Williams  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Premium Economy

LHR-MIA World Traveller Plus. BA product was pretty good. 2-4-2 seat config, ample legroom; cabin quieter than economy, both in aircraft noise and general atmosphere. Staff professional, stopping to chat, bringing extra drinks. Made you feel you were experiencing a different level of service to economy, even if the food was just the same and not terribly good. AVOD brilliant: huge choice of programmes on easy to navigate touch screen. Clearly, if other reviews on this site are anything to go by, BA has a problem with system reliability, but when it works it’s excellent. A comfortable flight with just enough extras to make the increased price worthwhile. That said, it’s a lot of money unless you get a last-minute deal, for what should be a basic level of comfort on any long- haul flight.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  18 May 2008 : by S Summers  (Belgium)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

BRU-LHR-BRU. First time to T5 and an excellent experience. Outbound flight delayed by an hour as inbound aircraft was late. Service onboard friendly, drinks and tortilla wrap tasty. Arriving in T5 was a breeze - through into arrivals within a matter of minutes. Return flight on time from T5B.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  17 May 2008 : by S West  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

LGW-FARO Return in Economy. Checked in online and as a silver EC member, was able to preselect my seats at time of booking for myself and my travelling party. Back drop was painless and security was ok. It is quite visible that since easyjet has moved to the north terminal, there are many more passenger in the terminal and the restaurants and bars are considerably busier. Flight very good - left on time, boarding was painless and the service on board very good for a short flight. The bags were very quick off at Faro. Had also reserved seats for the return leg at time of booking, but for some reason these were simply ignored and our party were scattered across the plane. Other than that, the return leg was very good - arrivals into LGW painless and bags off the plane in double quick time.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  17 May 2008 : by Keith Angus  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

LHR-JFK return, Club World. We managed to get seats upstairs on both legs and were lucky to do so as neither of us have any status with BA so our only option was to choose seats at online check-in 24 hours before. I would recommend the rear-facing window seats as they are very private and have lots of storage. This is a noticeable difference to the aisle seats where the only storage is the shoe/laptop drawer. When flat, the beds are a little narrow, but that's more than adequate pay-off to be able to fully stretch out without a problem. Bizarrely, the upper part of the bed (the seat back when not in bed mode) doesn't go completely flat but maintains a very slight angle. Not sure why they're designed like this, but then it didn't cause me great problems. The blanket isn't very breathable so I was too hot when fully under it. However, in context these are relatively minor drawbacks as the ability to lie flat meant I slept for over five hours on the overnight leg of the journey. The service from all cabin crew was friendly, professional and competent. Food and drink was good. IFE good - all on demand and I didn't encounter any problems with the system at all. Quality of headphones was excellent. The experience on the ground was a little more mixed: we flew from T4, which if arriving by car you can see is clearly being rennovated, and the first impression is poor. No signage to point us towards Club World check-in (perhaps they assume Club World passengers are all frequent flyers so know where to go). The other problem was that they'd closed the main Terraces lounge near gate 10 (seemingly not enough staff to cover now that many of them are working in T5), meaning that everyone was crammed into the 'Gate 1' lounge. And it really was crammed - it took us several trips around the whole lounge to bag two seats together. The New York lounge was superb - very well designed with a pleasant 'East Coast' feel to it. Check-in at New York was excellent - very polite and efficient. The pre-flight dining was okay - standard buffet selection and the hot food wasn't really up to much, but it did its job, I guess. The only other problem was after push-back at JFK - it was well over an hour before we actually took off due to congestion, which was a bit frustrating. Overall, I would recommend BA Club World.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  17 May 2008 : by H Jordskogen  (Norway)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

Oslo-New York (JFK) in Club. The Club Europe sectors were ok for a two hours flight, but service seems to have declined. Only one bar service, and no offers of coffee refills on the outbound flight. Meals were actually quite good on these intra european flights. LHR-JFK (Maindeck) Terrace lounge in T4 was packed, and offered little relaxation. Onboard the plane, service was ok, but not excellent. Meals were very bland. Slept over the afternoon tea. Temperature in the cabin was too warm and made the flight less comfortable than it should be. Seat and IFE-system worked fine. At JFK the the priority-tagged bags were very quick on the belt, and passing through immigration took 5-10 minutes. JFK-LHR (upper deck) taxiing for 40 minutes. Once airborne, they started the meal service. Once again the food was very disapointing. Only one option for starter, a mushroom salad. Main course there were three choices, I chose the beef. It was quite ordinary and once again lacked spice. The wine list consisted of two reds, an Australian and a Spanish and three whites. I wanted the Australian red wine, but they didn't have it. They had loaded a californian red wine instead. No cheese and port on this flight. Breakfast was served an hour prior to landing, and consisted of fruit or muesli and a bacon roll. IFE system and seat once again worked perfectly. Arrived LHR after a sleepless night, and in need of a shower, which I had in the new north-lounge in T5, which was nice, but packed, even though the long haul flights still departs from T4. Bags arrived safely. All in all an ok, but quite underwhelming experience. BA really needs to get their act together with the food and wine. The lie flat seats are fantastic, but it doesn't help if the temperature prevents a good nights sleep. Even though I am not too impressed with the product after one trip, I will give them one more chance before considering a change of frequent flier program. I love their lie flat beds and IFE system. The shortcomings are the food, wine and temperature, issues that should not be too hard to fix.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  17 May 2008 : by S Bradley  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Not keen on BA's current policy of booking seats on-line only 24 hours prior to flight. LHR to LAX was about one third full - had 4 seats each! Crew very attentive and food good. Even managed to find a meal without mushrooms for me. Not able to have Internet access in the US so had to queue to check in and await seat allocation at LAX. Return flight almost full but still looked after quite well in rows 30 to 40. Food not so good.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  17 May 2008 : by M Pickering  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Premium Economy

Edinburgh-Barbados via Gatwick. Outbound faultless. Well looked after, my wife is nearly 6 months pregnant and this was noticed early on and she was well looked after with a constant supply of soft drinks the whole flight. Coming back on the Barbados-Gatwick was poor. I picked up what I thought was just a heavy cold prior to coming home. Sneezing alot and runny nose-no big deal. However, once we were airborne and the pressure changed in the cabin I was in considerable discomfort in my ears and serious headaches. Asked the hostess in charge of our cabin if they had any decongestants I could have. She said I'll get back to you. 4hours later she hadn't. My wife went to ask again and she just said, 'No, we don't carry that sort of thing'. Why not say that to begin with? An older lady across the aisle was quite badly airsick. When this was pointed out to the same member of cabin crew all she did was go and get a plastic bag and told the lady to put her sick bag in it when she was finished. There was no sympathy, no offer to get the poor old girl some water, nothing at all.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  10 May 2008 : by F Tisner  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Gatwick to Barcelona Economy. Outbound leg with smooth check-in, flight slightly delayed but nothing exasperating. Service onboard good, two half-sandwiches. Landed on time in BCN without any major problems. Return leg also slightly delayed due to late arrival of aircraft. Good service, and better sandwiches this time.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  10 May 2008 : by Alan Thompson  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

Heathrow to St Petersburg, return. On line check-in and printed boarding card. No baggage but had to have visa checked before security by disinterested BA ground staff. T5 lounge very pleasant but will be a mess when crowded - very strange seating layout. Advised to take early shuttle to T5b as only one of 2 trains working! Flight slightly late, excellent cabin crew, good breakfast. Return fine, St Petersburg airport not as difficult as I expected. Flight on time, slightly disorganised cabin crew. Plenty of food and drink. But 3 hours each way with no entertainment is a long time.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  10 May 2008 : by John Fairclough  (France)

Customer Rating : 5/5

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Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Premium Economy

LHR-LAX return out in Economy, back in Premium Economy. Outbound flight was absolutely packed, recline in seat jammed and sound quality in IFE very patchy. Food OK, but very stingy with drinks. Only one bar run/water service. On return sector decided to upgrade ($300 pp) to World trav Plus as original flight booked was running 3 hrs late - which would have meant missing connecting flight at LHR. The WTP food/drink appears to be the same as in Economy. It's true that the seat is a little better than and legroom is welcome, but BA's Premium Economy service compares very unfavourably. At least the two trips through Terminal 5 were a breeze!

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  8 May 2008 : by C Doyle  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

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Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

LGW-DUB. Same day booking priced at £90 one-way which was much less than expected, especially as Aer Lingus were quoting at least £130. Checked in online and chose to pick up boarding pass at the airport. North Terminal was very quiet at about 15:00 and the bag drop queue moved quickly. Check in agent very friendly. Security was also very quick and I'd imagine the secondary shoe screening point helps things along at busy periods. Cabin crew rigid with very few smiles seen. Safety briefing PA was unbearably loud and high pitched. Flight deck PAs were informative. Fruit/nut/seed mix is edible but not the easiest thing to eat, nor the most filling. Granted, it is a wonder to get anything to eat on a 1hr15 flight but some variety would be nice. Flight was on time leaving Gatwick, and slightly early arriving in Dublin. Overall, good experience but nothing special on BA's part, though good value for money considering timing.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  8 May 2008 : by J Crichton  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

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Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Edinburgh to Toronto via Heathrow return (Economy/world traveller class). All flights on time The onboard service was excellent and attentive. The seats were quite comfortable but the 767 cabin looked dated and needing a refurb or replacement.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  7 May 2008 : by Keith Montgomery  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

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Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

Club World (Business Class) Round Trip / London Heathrow - Delhi. This was quite possibly the most comfortable long-haul journey I have ever encountered. I am 6'6" tall (2 meters) and I paid for Business Class out of a desire for legroom, but was truly impressed with the service. I found the food exceptional. I've never been comfortable enough to sleep on any aircraft, however I happily snoozed for the bulk of the journey from Delhi to London. The only negative part of the experience had to do with the chaos of Delhi Airport, however I'm not sure how much could be done by BA to alleviate the madness.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  7 May 2008 : by J Colton  (Canada)

Customer Rating : 4/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Economy

Manchester to London Gatwick Domestic Class. On time, friendly staff, even served hot breakfast. Excellent on a 45 minute flight.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  7 May 2008 : by Brian Hill  (UK)

LHR-LCA return : these flights seem to have a poor reputation for time keeping justified by our experience. Rather worn B767 with 2+2+2 seating in Business class; no seat back video, indeed no video at all on the way back. Catering is fine, at least BA have gone back to metal cutlery; attentive service but the Cabin Services Director seemed very harassed on the return with none functioning equipment although she didn't let it affect her customer service.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  7 May 2008 : by S Dovis  (UK)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

Handy tip - for UK customers involved in the British Airways Exec Club you require 600 tier points to reach silver and 1500 to reach gold, if you can use someones address in Germany change your details to the German address, you only need 400 tier points to hit silver and 800 to hit gold, I did it and am enjoying life as a gold member.

BRITISH AIRWAYS review :  7 May 2008 : by Wolfgang Jaeger  (Switzerland)

Customer Rating : 5/5

Recommended:

Value for Money:

Cabin Flown:

Business

ZRH-LHR-YUL in Club World. When I booked this trip I was aware that BA planned to move long haul flights to terminal 5 at Heathrow. Unfortunately they rescheduled the move which meant that I will land at T5 and have to transfer to T4, not a promising start. Online check-in very easy and got my favourite seat on BA 777 (3E). Departure in Zurich on-time so was landing in LHR T5. After a short walk I hopped on a transfer bus and at T4 about 20 minutes later. Security swift and flight to Montreal left on time. Food on plane was OK and overall service was professional with enough smiles from staff. Arrival in Montreal on time, fast immigration and priority luggage actually arrived first on the carousel! Montreal Trudeau is a fabulous airport, modern and easy to navigate. The return was trouble-free and I enjoyed my layover in wonderful T5. My next trip is ZRH-LHR-SFO (all flights to/from T5) and I look forward to it with a smile on my face, which I wouldn't believe a few days ago. Trouble-free travel experience with BA and BAA on this trip