British Airways

✅ Verified Review | Kiev to Belfast via London Heathrow. My last two flights on British Airways have been a nightmare. The first flight, BA informed me at the airport I no longer had a ticket, as they had oversold the flight. They then explained I would have a free hotel stay, as if I had won a prize. I avoided them for months after that one. Then I slipped back into a bad habit and booked them again for a work trip to Ukraine. On the return trip, they asked me if I would like to cancel my connecting flight and rebook it for the next day, as my outbound plane was delayed. I said no thank you, as my BA connecting flight was delayed by the same amount. I arrived 90 minutes prior to take off for the connection (all in the same terminal), suddenly the boarding pass on my phone disappeared and was replaced with a ticket for 9.45am the following day. They ground staff explained they had cancelled my ticket as they thought I would not make it. Here I am is my reply. 'Sorry sir, the plane is now closed'. 'So you sold my ticket on'. 'No sir, but the plane is closed'. 'It cant be closed, there is plenty of time'. 'Yes, but there are no seats'. I debated the point. 'I wouldn't debate the point sir, a lot of people have been pushed off flights today, and hotels in London are being booked out, if I were you I would jump on the internet and find accommodation'. Because of course it was now my problem to find a hotel room in London (BA cover rooms up to £200, fine, though if you have kids they give you a mere £12.50 to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner for each child - in London, good luck). Get a hotel, arrive back at the airport the next day, wait in line for 2 hours (luckily I arrived 3 hours early for domestic flight), get to the check in desk. Guess what, I am booked on the flight but it appears my seat has been given away. Again, of course, its my problem. 'Go to the special management desk sir'. At that desk they tell me it could be today I get home, it could be tomorrow, but its hard to say, given the Xmas period. But all in super surly tone, and it was clear this was all my fault. 'You can try another airline sir but they are all booked out' (at this stage I began checking car rentals and ferry times). Absolutely disgusting attitude. Every other airline I have dealt with, in these type of situations, booked me a hotel, and had a bus waiting or a taxi, with a return boarding pass for the next day. Its a shame, as the cabin crew and pilots seem top notch. A team that is utterly let down by corporate, with their weak organisation and poor customer care policies. So I would love to fly BA for the crew and pilots, but given their utterly terrible customer care, its just not worth it.

✅ Verified Review | London Heathrow to Cape Town in Economy. Food was good as was the service with very friendly cabin crew. I think some people expect too much on aircraft, airlines are cutting back. Flights left on time. Not sure what will happen when British Airways start to charge for food and drinks on European flights from January, not sure this will be a good move.

Bangkok to Manchester via London. I used to fly BA on this route on a regular basis 10 years ago and was impressed with the whole offering. More recently we've been using Emirates or Etihad. We travel the route two or three times a year to visit family. BA were offering a good price on their Premium Economy seats so we switched. What a big mistake. Never, ever again. Despite paying a premium price you can only book your seat within 24 hours of departure unless you pay a £40 - £50 surcharge. Reluctant to pay we had some anxious moments worrying whether we would sit together. In the end it was OK but we can't get over the cheek of charging to book a seat - Emirates and Etihad don't charge. The seats themselves were very old and uncomfortable. Leg room was OK but the seats were very narrow. Nothing like the comfort of Emirates or Etihad in Economy. Inflight entertainment was on a post card size screen with a touch screen that was very inconsistent. Picture quality was like watching a TV in the 1950's. Food was appalling. Little choice, insipid starters and mains swimming in water. Other than an initial drinks run and obviously the food service the rest of cabin service was nil! If you want extra drinks or service including water the only recourse was to visit the galley at the back of the plane. Cabin crew were surly and generally unhelpful. The plane was old and the cabins were tired and threadbare in places. Certainly on this route BA have not invested in their fleet and are a decade behind Emirates and Etihad when it comes to comfort and service.

The return flight from St Lucia started well. To my surprise the Business Class lounge for 1st and Club customers at the airport was a pleasant shared lounge and the British Airways flight was the only one leaving at this hour. It was very nice - considerably better than the dive at Antigua. It was light and airy, very comfortable seats and some decent snacks and a well equipped bar. We enjoyed our stay there. It was some trek to the plane. As I entered the front forward door and made my way to seat 1A a lady FA almost grabbed me and snatched at my boarding pass - "we have to see it," she said sharply, "its a security process." I was startled at the aggressive tone as if I was trying to sneak on the plane. Very strange as I had passed three boarding pass checks anyway. Pre flight drinks was the usual lukewarm champagne. Plane left on time to the minute. There were five empty seats in 1st. I found my miserable looking, ever thinning pillow (they get smaller with every flight to save money) and went looking to sneakily find another. Can you believe this! Five empty seats. Four empty overhead bins. One remaining pillow in the fifth bin! (Which I grabbed). Even with two - on lie flat I had hardly any head support. My wife asked for a 2nd pillow. "Sorry madam we have none to spare." Dinner started with Quinoa Salad and smoked trout. It was alright. Cream of broccoli soup likewise alright. Balsamic honey glazed chicken for mains was a disaster. Dried out. Unedible. FAs made up my bed. It was hard as rock and very uncomfortable. I slept not for one minute. Nor did my wife. Nor did the lady in the adjacent seat. I flew the A380 in 1st, last spring to Singapore and slept for 5 hours - but it was far more softer to sleep on. I can only surmise the seat, about five years old - was worn out. (The side areas were also very grubby). We both embarked totally shattered. The plane generally was very tired. Worn carpets that really should be replaced. The usual cheap amenities bag rounded off the usual poor experience with BA 1st Class. The IFE was very dated. One wonders if the BA board every think of flying with an Asian or Middle Eastern carrier to discover what true 1st Class should look like. FAs - apart from the rude one - were great. The landing at LGW was by a highly skilled pilot - and in 35 years of travel the softest touchdown I can recall.

✅ Verified Review | London to Edinburgh return. Check in at T5 quick was able to use the fast track and Galleries North lounge due to frequent flier status, quick security spent an hour in the lounge with good food on offer. Boarding onto a new looking A320 seat 2A with an empty seat next to me, departed 10 min late but otherwise a quick 1 hr flight staffed by a decent crew who served a snack and drink of choice. Landed about 10 minutes late but bags off quickly. Return check in again very quick but security pretty long, used the BA lounge at EDI which is quiet with a few food and drink options, boarded throu gate 11 seat 4F on a pretty old Boeing 767 which was full. Departed on time for a flight of 1hr 45min so landed about 20 min late, service okay again with a snack and drink offered. Okay experience I use BA domestically and in business clas around Europe because Heathrow is convenient to where I live and to sustain my Executive Club (Oneworld) status, however there are negatives in the fees and credit card booking fee that BA charge which I hate! Additionally I see they are trying to cut costs further by charging for food in economy on Domestic/European flights which puts them budget bracket. I covered 38 flights this year in all classes and while I will continue to use BA in UK/Europe. However this year I've realised there are far cheaper and far better options for long haul within the oneworld alliance.

London Heathrow to Hong Kong. We have not flown long haul with British Airwaves for many years. This flight was a revelation. Staff attentive and good. Aircraft was spotless. Food was excellent. We did not recognise the product. We got a very good sleep on the flight. The BA bed is still one of the best despite the strange layout. Heartily recommend.

✅ Verified Review | Flew from Heathrow to Buenos Aires. I haven't flown British Airways for around 10 years, and with work I usually fly either middle-eastern or Asian airlines, what a contrast! I doubt BA have changed anything in that aircraft in the 10 years since I last flew. The TV screen is just 6in low resolution with a very small number of ok films available, nothing of interest with the music either. Food was quite tasty but small portion, no side salad. Drinks (other than water) were only offered at meal times. Seats are so narrow - I paid extra for the emergency seat ($85!) after reading how narrow the seats were, a wise decision, but I shouldn't be paying extra as all middle-east and Asian airlines I have flown have bigger seats, better food choice, better entertainment - how can they offer such a poor service?

✅ Verified Review | Hong Kong to London. First time doing long haul on British Airways. Arm rest does not fully go up and I had an empty seat next to me. Food was miserable - especially the dinner. A giant chicken chunk with some vegetables and potatos. Leg room was terrible and minimal for an aisle seat and cramped. Inflight entertainment was a bore - too little adult music like rock / country / jazz. Some staff were very polite and pleasant while 2 or 3 were grumpy and seemed to not want to be working and dragging their feet. CSL was fab and another male attendant working the first cabin of world traveler on the main deck when I could not sleep and went to the galley to chat. Lack of snack choices which was poor, how many lemon cookies can you eat? Got to love that they do multiple rounds of drink service as Singapore Airlines never has this for a 12 hour flight or more.

✅ Verified Review | Flew London Heathrow to Bangkok with British Airways in premium economy, in an old tired plane. The tray table didn't work in fact broken, and the screen was dirty, the colour was going. White wine was warm, starter was a strange red cabbage in mayonnaise, dreadful. Main was a good piece of beef with unpleasant veg, then what appeared to be a piece of cake. The staff then disappeared. The trays weren't then cleared for an hour. When I went to the back for another drink all the staff were there having a coffee, besieged by people wanting things. They had lost a grip of the service. In economy people were working round the uncleared food trays. The breakfast was English, better than dinner, but no bread just awful Danish pastry. Poor, thinking of what premium economy costs.

✅ Verified Review | Disappointed. Almost all other airlines will have same or better leg room, definitely better meals and cost a lot less, so don't choose British Airways unless you are getting a good deal. No choice of meals (only veg or non veg) and the quality and quantity was extremely poor. They don't even contain any salad. No snacks with the drinks. Delhi - London was approx 10 hrs, but served only one meal. Was informed by the steward that only veg meals left and the meal was just dumped without even bothering to ask us, if we would like to have it. Same on the leg from London to Washington DC. Not that it mattered because the meals are not at all good. To top it all, my luggage did not arrive on return to Washington DC.