British Airways

British Airways flight from London to Singapore on January 30th was perfect, a superb crew, helpful and chatty without being obtrusive. Cabin was comfortable, amenities, pyjamas etc of good quality. Food was rather dull, and not well prepared, perhaps 5-spice duck is not the best for an airline cabin. Wines and spirits were of good quality, and we arrived on time and in good shape. De-planing was efficient, and as expected in Singapore Changi, everything functioned well. The return flight on March 3rd was not so good. The crew were sleepy and not particularly communicative; you had to ask for everything, even the meal schedule, and it took ages for dirty crockery to be cleared up. The flight arrived early, which was good, but as usual, Terminal 5 was still asleep, inefficient and ineffectual. We did not use the usual immigration channel, but it looked chaotic, as was the baggage re-claim nowadays.

Gatwick to Marrakech. The British Airways lounge at the airport has been closed for some time and therefore they are sharing the paid for No 1 lounge. It's overcrowded, me and my family couldn't get in to use it. The check in staff apologised about it, so they clearly know the problem. BA should inform the customer prior to booking that they are not able to provide the full service. British Airways customer services response was to inform me of their future plans, not very helpful. I would not recommend flying business class short haul out of Gatwick. Save your money and fly with someone else.

British Airways from London to Rio de Janeiro. Friendly cabin crew (ground staff a little sultry), clean modern cabin. Good announcements explained delay, and an attentive service for the flight. I pre booked our meal which means it comes far earlier than the wine and drinks, and without a few additions, such as cheese and crackers - but staff returned later with missing items. Not sure I'd pay for Premium Economy as really not a great deal of difference, other than space and food. Good selection of entertainment. Cabin crew present and attentive with juice and water for the flight. A good cup of tea and a kit kat available.

Flight from Heathrow to Chicago delayed over three hours, with a litany of excuses for Boeing 747-400 going tech, faulty smoke alarm in toilet, catering truck damaged fuselage door, engineers couldn't correct fault. BA would not let us off the flight. Captain came to First Class and answered questions, which was a nice personal touch. When we finally got going, food and cabin service were very mediocre. BA First Class seat is a very, very poor product, and entertainment screen slow. IAD-LHR return on the A380 in First Class. The A380 is a wonderful aircraft, woefully let down by the poor BA First Class seats and service, the seats are barely Business Class by modern standards, and the dinner service was inelegant and almost inedible. Crew on return were impersonal, and keen to get the dinner service over. Finally, BA Customer Relations (based in India) responded to the 3+ hours delay by declining my claim with an insincere form letter. They also don't appear to have a good grasp of English. Overall, the end-to-end experience with BA was poor, and evidently they don't care. It is far, far, short of a First Class experience. This is what you get with a quasi-monopoly to the USA from London. The only merit was the superb A380. Let us hope BA replace their aged Boeing 747-400 with this aircraft, but in doing so, improve the terrible seat configuration of First and Club Class.

One feature of British Airways these days, is that its product can be so variable. On this basis, I had low expectations of a recent flight from Heathrow to Athens. The plane was an old 767 and being phased out. However the crew were professional and attentive, food was good, plenty of drink available and the inflight entertainment comprised the latest Star Wars movie. Given the very low price I paid for the ticket - no complaints. My worry is the accountants that run the airline and always chipping away at the soft product.

Copenhagen to Accra via London Heathrow. After a chaotic boarding, the flight LHR-ACC was smooth with comfortable seats which felt softer than the newer and narrower. Food was good, the attitude of cabin staff positive and professional and the movie selection good. I was however surprised by the smaller Audio selection than experienced on previous flights, especially concerning rhytmical music. 1.5 hour before landing a second serving took place. It was a good experience flying BA, and I do not hesitate in recommending this airline. Only concern is the limited space for hand luggage - BA should more strictly control the hand luggage of the passengers is within the limits given - way too many passsengers ignored this on this and the return flight.

Flew British Airways from London Heathrow to Munich. Generally excellent both ways except the poor seat space. Flights on time, nice new / refurbished plane, cabin crew worked hard throughout. Food actually quite decent - nice breakfast out and tea on the way back. Sadly the seat space same as economy, when the guy in front reclined I couldn't even open the paper, just about ok for 90 minutes. So worth paying a little more for against economy but not too much.

Stockholm to London Heathrow was not a pleasant experience. British Airways has a good way of reminding you that you're flying cattle class. The interior was tired and worn, and the seat was hard. The legroom was inadequate for a short-haul flight. The cabin service was variable, while some were courteous, others practically barked at you. One steward even tapped me and gestured me for a refill. On the bright side, there seems to be a lot of generosity with alcohol. I have had the fortune of sitting in front of three very loud and progressively intoxicated ladies who pressed for the stewardess for more alcohol every 10 minutes on the flight - requests promptly obliged. Perhaps I should have taken the advantage of this generosity to make the flight more bearable.

London to Helsinki return. Check in at T3 quick as was fast track security. I visited the BA lounge in T3 which is nice and used by other Oneworld airlines, apart from being packed there was very limited food on offer at 10am. Boarding was slow and done by bus to a remote stand, onboard the seated in 1A with a fee seat next to me. I was looking forward to something decent to eat due to the lack of food options in the lounge - unfortunately the food offered was pretty basic to say the least. The crew where friendly which I guess was something. Arriving in Helsinki on time to another remote stand and bus transfer bags where off quickly despite any priority tagging. Check in for the return was quick, security a little slow but once through I headed for the Finnair lounge which was packed with no seating. I managed to find a seat in a computer booth have a coffee and check my emails. Boarding was awful with no priority and once again a 10 minute bus ride on a packed bus to then stand in the freezing cold and sleet for a further 10 minutes boarding via steps. After a delayed 1hr departure service began with a drink followed by another very basic meal of 3 half sandwiches and a scone. Crew were okay and kept passengers updated on the delayed arrival. Finally arrived 1 hr late but with the luxury of an airbridge. Bags off quickly which was good. Otherwise a business class on a 3hr flight with no in seat power, economy seating with middle seat blocked. Standard food offered in economy on other airlines. There is no class in BA's European business class anymore. Added to the poor downgrading of the BA frequent flier scheme it's a no brainer for me.

Flew from EDI-LHR-PHL-LHR-EDI in World Traveller. Outbound shuttle to Heathrow was a Boeing 767-300 in all economy layout, managed to bag seats 1F/1G using online checkin. Cheery, friendly crew - biggest problem is the excessive hand baggage allowance permitted on BA. Selfish people take huge cases on board, filling up the lockers so everyone with more modestly sized items can't get a look in. Cabin crew quite stressed trying to move cases around lockers to get everyone sat down. LHR-PHL upgraded to the rearmost group of two seats on Row 35 on Boeing 777-200. BA has now cheekily increased the cost of these to £48 each - used to be only £33 like the rest of the cabin. Wisecracking captain over the tannoy made the flight a little more entertaining - again great crew, I could eat the meal for once. Only thing that went wrong was the IFE on my seat crashed in the last 90 minutes of the flight - I could only view the flight tracker. On a side note, I wish BA would upgrade the album choice, they haven't changed it in the last year. Flight was on time no delays. Inbound PHL-LHR I reserved a seat for £33 each, but note you cannot buy the back row on the middle group - reserved for the crew. Plane encountered severe turbulence between Nantucket and Newfoundland, crew had to rush the drinks and the meal service as a result. No apologies from the pilots about this which BA usually does. LHR-EDI problems about excessive hand baggage exacerbated on the smaller A320. It was the same steward by sheer coincidence that served us on the outbound shuttle a week earlier and he did remember us, and asked us how our holiday in Philadelphia went! Otherwise flight was pleasant and did what it said on the tin. Overall it was a good value trip - I booked it through BA Holidays, and it being off-season meant the total cost was £940 (before seat upgrades) including 8 days car rental. One observation however it that it is now clear that BA cares little about its economy passengers (who now seem to exist to make up the numbers) - everything now seems to be geared around their high-spending Executive Club members. Avios earning has been drastically cut in the World Traveller cabin class, so a discounted fare now only attracts 0.25 Avios in the mile. Therefore a transatlantic flight to the East Coast of the USA (which used to get 3250 points), now only attracts a measily 815. Pretty pathetic really. I really only use British Airways via LHR for USA trips purely on the basis of using large widebody planes (unlike American and United who increasingly use Boeing 757s) , and their holidays deals which are hard to beat and enable payment instalments.