British Airways

TXL-LHR-SFO. TXL-LHR on an A321 it was an uneventful flight drinks were served. Transfer at Heathrow was uneventful but I think that BA should give their gate numbers beforehand. LHR-SFO on Boeing 747-400. IFE was a little old and the volume was very low. Movie selection was okay. Overall it was a pleasant journey.

San Diego return business class (the seat was more comfortable than the first class one). As usual plane was fine service was OK but not attentive (i.e just about OK). Food was terrible -I have flown BA in economy business and first - and never had good or adequate quality food. If they upped their game on this they would be unbeatable. Entertainment pretty dire - at least first had a few good "box sets" of TV programmes. My wife was back in economy - her comment was that the world traveller plus seat gave her backache - the economy seat was better. Her food was inedible.

Flew British Airways from Sydney to Venice on 22nd April and return 20th May from Barcelona. From Sydney check in staff wonderful courteous and helpful. Cabin crew just as wonderful as Check in Staff. Food out of Sydney awful. Return journey was from Barcelona. Again check in Staff were wonderful and helpful. Cabin crew just as wonderful and food was fine.

Recently returned from Mauritius to Gatwick in Club World and have to say that the service was woefully lacking. Left on time. The cabin crew were obviously tired and the welcome glass of Champagne was served without smiles or a welcome. Throughout the whole flight the crew did the absolute minimum and there was very little interaction with the passengers. Breakfast was disgusting and served soon after take-off. A little round casserole dish of British Breakfast ingredients all piled together and searingly hot and overcooked and tasteless. Awful insipid coffee. After that some of the crew disappeared for a sleep and we were left to ourselves. Nobody asked if we wanted anything nobody chatted I rang for a drink and nobody came. The galley 'kitchen/snack bar' was almost bare and had two manky stale smoked-salmon sandwiches and a few bottles of water. On asking for a glass (there were none) for wine I was told to sit down and one would be brought as indeed it was ten minutes later with no smiles or nibbles. Throughout the flight I felt guilty asking for a G&T or wine because of the negative attitude of certain cabin crew. Lunch was just about OK and very good wine. After that for the next five hours nothing was served to refresh us before landing - no tea no cakes no nothing. The seating configuration was 2-4-2 (Boeing 777) and packed in like sardines - claustrophobic for some. To access the aisle from the window you have to climb over the legs of the person behind and the food is served across the lap of the aisle seat over the partition. We were a couple but if you are travelling alone it could make for some very strange eye-to-eye contact with a stranger. The IFE was dated and a very limited choice with poor quality fuzzy screens. The whole package was so minimal soulless and lacking. Not once were you made to feel special or 'pampered' in any way. If there is an alternative in future to BA I'll take it and compared with some Middle-East airlines the Club World product is embarrassingly mediocre. BA needs to refresh review and up-date quickly. Sorry BA - you've lost me for the foreseeable future!

London to Barbados and back. After reading some bad reviews we were delighted with the service and food and both ways we had a great crew. Shame the films were not on demand on the return trip.

London Heathrow to Madrid on a Boeing 767-300. The outward flight was on a plane configured for Worldwide operation. i.e. with Club World World Traveller Plus and World Traveller classes. It was one of the newly refurbished ones. The economy cabin at 2-3-2 and leg room was excellent - I am 6 foot tall. Snack of a very nice chicken sandwich complimentary alcoholic drinks with a second run. Staff very efficient and friendly. We are Silver members of the Exec Club and the Cabin Service Director welcomed us by name. On time departure and slightly early arrival. The return flight was on a standard European configured aircraft but space was as good as the outward journey. On time departure and arrived into Heathrow 20 minutes early. Overall a great trip.

Recently for our honeymoon we took advantage of a BA promo to fly in to Singapore and then to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific and back to UK. Our flight out to Singapore was easy and relaxed because I think it was not a busy flight. We did ask to have a wedding photo canvas to be checked in to save us the hassle of lugging it around but was flatly refused. The canvas was less than 1kg properly packed for delivery but just slightly awkward to be carried around. We understand BA has a one bag check in policy and no flexibility but we were not too bothered anyway although a little kind gesture would have been appreciated. Our flight on Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong was great! We were allowed to check in 3 pieces of luggage between 2 of us that weighed less than 40kg food was fantastic and the service was immaculate. On our way back to London we were excited as we knew we were flying the A380. SQ and Emirates have A380 we have flown. This turned out to be a mistake from the start. When we were checking in we were not allowed to check in extra hand luggage despite the combined weight of less than 40kg for all 3 items. When we got on the plane we were shocked to see how tiny the seats on the BA A380 were in comparison to SQ or even Emirates. Next we struggled to find an overhead cabin compartment for our hand luggage. The staff instead of helping us find a space for the bag stood on her spot pointing at cabins that looked empty but were 10 over rows away from our seats. The ultimate bad experience came when breakfast was served. By the time the trolley came to us there were no more options for our breakfast and the food was just plonked on our trays. No apologies no explanations as to what was under the foil no smiles! I was quite upset by now as I had to ask the stewardess what was being served. I have never felt more humiliated. With BA it was just silence. Miserable unhappy lifeless crews at work who can't seem to care less with their customers. No smiles no interactions no explanations no communication. Needless to say the highly unpopular dim sum with noodles for breakfast was left untouched! Our overall flying experience with BA has been anything but pleasant friendly generous comfortable with delicious meals. It had just served as a reminder why I have not chosen BA the last 10 years and perhaps the next 10 to come.

LGW-Antigua on 29 April and Antigua-LGW on 13 May Boeing 777. It started off badly when I went to pay the final payment on line on evening of 16 February. The system rejected both my credit and debit cards. On checking the state of my account with BA online I found that the final payment had been credited to my account and I now owed the initial deposit. I sent an email to get it sorted only to receive a reply that it could only be sorted out by a telephone call. First call was useless with a person who had poor grasp of English. Another call to a premium number required a 20 minute wait to get someone to sort out the problem having been passed round twice. I was told it had been sorted out and received E ticket email with my state of account showing I owed nothing. Two weeks later I received another E ticket the only difference now was that it showed the last four digits of my credit card. Next credit card statement did not show money taken out. Not unusual for some companies but made me nervous that all was not well. Two weeks before flight I got a phone call from BA stating that there had been a computer glitch and could they have my credit card details. I then received an email apology and confirmation all had been paid. About 22 hours before flight I went online to check in and changed my seats and entered passport details etc and printed boarding pass. Arrived at LGW to just print baggage labels and drop off baggage. Met by man at terminal who tore up my boarding pass and printed off a new one saying ‘bring back the old system. We then had to queue to drop off baggage. Other than choosing seat it was a complete waste of time to check in online. Flight left and arrived on time. However the inflight main meal was the worst I have ever experienced on an aircraft. There was no choice and the red wine was undrinkable. The inflight food on my first flight a forces trooping flight to Singapore in 1962 was better. On return flight you could only check in online and alter seat position. Check in at Antigua was one of the quickest check ins I have ever done. Left Antigua on time and arrived LGW on time. Food was worse than going out. No choice. Starter was small chopped up lettuce leaf with small tomato wedge with a rotten end to it. Main was very dry pasta with a tomato sauce on it. White wine was just about drinkable. Coffee served as we started main course. Asked if we could have it later and told no as turbulence was expected. No turbulence but cabin crew quick to clear up and disappear for a bit of shut eye leaving minimum staff on duty. At least with Ryanair you know what you get for your money.

LHR-JTR-LHR. A tale of opposites for BA's new route to Santorini. Outward it couldn't have been better with excellent FAs decent food and arrival that was ahead of schedule. The return started off poorly with substandard facilities at Santorini airport including no online check-in no business class lounge and no priority boarding. An air traffic controller issue kept the plane grounded for 30 minutes. On board they'd forgotten the menus for the dinner service and the starter and cheese course had been left behind. The Club Europe toilet then ran out of water. So overall okay but the return was disappointing.

Gatwick-Venice return. Two contrasting experiences. Trip out pretty good A320 so much better than the old 737's used at Gatwick. Staff friendly and a good snack and beverage included. Good updates from cabin and we left and arrived on time. Trip back felt like it had been crewed by brand new staff in the cabin. Food handed out 20 mins after take-off but drinks took another 30 mins to be offered around cabin. Half the cabin crew seemed too pre-occupied with passengers not sitting in correct seat even though flight not full. Think a smile and re-assurance to move back after take-off would have sorted the issue however one female crew member in particular had forgotten to bring her 'happy face' to work that day! Flight OK but not up to standard you expect. I fly BA quite regularly and choose over EasyJet as fares and flight times often similar but service superior. I hope the Gatwick service levels can reflect the BA brand otherwise they have an aggressive competitor in EJ at this airport.