"Performance of the flight deck was up to its usual high standard"
28 reviews David Ellis (United Kingdom)
✅ Trip Verified | Boarding was slow and uncomfortable on account of the lack air-con at the gate. The Club Suite cabins were about 3/4 full, but the rest of the plane can't have been much more than 20% occupancy. Whether this is the reason why cabin crew on the flight were cut to the bare minimum is hard to say, but they certainly had to work hard covering multiple cabins. Despite that, the drink and food service in business was efficient, and the current policy of serving all courses at once meant that dinner was done and dusted two hours after take-off, which is a real bonus on a night-time flight. However, the quality of the food remains mediocre at best and the pasta dish was almost inedible. The Club Suite is a big improvement on the ancient CW product, although storage is a funny arrangement of tiny compartments that invite losing a smartphone or two. One definitely misses the drawer at foot level in old CW. The large screen really improves the viewing experience and the whole IFE system was much more responsive. The new seats don't significantly aid sleeping, particularly as there's an obvious ridge at the level of the base of the spine. Waking up two hours before touchdown is definitely to be recommended in order to get breakfast over and to avoid the usual queues for the toilets. Performance of the flight deck was up to its usual high standard and arrival was twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Progress through border control was speedy but baggage collection was delayed for unspecified reasons. Overall, a good flight.
| Aircraft | Boeing 777 |
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | Cape Town to London Heathrow |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | yes |
"BA has a lot to do to regain its standing"
John Prescott (United Kingdom)
✅ Trip Verified | Unfortunately having just flown in the new club world cabin this time we had an incredibly old plane. The good was the cabin crew who tried to make the trip as pleasant as possible. The bad was the in-flight entertainment, the screens were unwatchable when they worked, my wife’s didn’t, and post iPad era just don’t live up. The food was just about okay without being anything special but all served at once. Apparently the crew explained this is because of a shortage of staff. I’m afraid BA has a lot to do to regain its standing in the aviation world, the competition is too fierce now to sit on your laurels.
| Aircraft | Boeing 777 |
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | London Heathrow to Orlando |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"Utterly appalling company"
T Rigby (United Kingdom)
Not Verified | Utterly appalling company. We've flown with them two times now, and both times it's been a disaster. The first time: Return flight was delayed by over 24 hours. There was nobody at the gate to tell us this, so a large group of passengers had to roam round Dubai airport looking for BA staff. There were none. Eventually another airline told us to go down some unmarked stairs, where a very angry person told us it was our fault, and we should have been given a letter. We had no letter. They then put us on a bus to the other terminal. When we arrived, there was nobody to greet us. We were literally just left there. We had to, yet again, contact another airline, who managed to find us transport to the hotel. When we got there, we were told it was full and we couldn't choose our rooms. We were given a terrible, dirty, cramped room. Several times throughout the night we were called to tell us our flight had been moved. Eventually we got to board the next day. My tray table was broken, as was the window blind, and I didn't get a meal. No compensation was offered. The second time I need to reschedule my flight. The website assured me this was fine, but provided no link. I needed to phone up. If you need to phone BA, don't even bother trying. I never got to speak to anyone, and just ended up booking a hotel to wait for my flight rather than rescheduling. The food has been terrible, meagre portions given infrequently. My sandwich was inedible.
| Aircraft | A380 |
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | London Heathrow to Dubai |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"I said I wanted 20-25% back off my holiday"
Thomas Scrivens (United Kingdom)
Not Verified | Over the past 2 years I have flown with British Airways twice and ended up in the exact same predicament of having to wait around all day in London Heathrow for a 1 hour flight home to Newcastle. While the holidays and the plane staff are fantastic the customer service and the staff at Heathrow are useless. First time in February 2020 I got stuck in Heathrow due to Storm Ciara when travelling home from work which was not the airlines fault. However the handling of the situation by the staff at the airport was a joke. They had 4 to 5 staff ran a kiosk queue of over 100+ unhappy travellers whilst they could have set up mini kiosks on the unused gates to get through everyone quicker. Their was no crowd control and at one point after queuing for 2 hours plus the staff decided to shut up shop. In the end after a 12 hour battle I was lucky enough to get home on the last flight of the day through sheer luck when I finally spoke to someone. In November 2021 I decided to give BA a second chance and booked to go to New York. Since the plane landed late into LHR I missed my connecting flight which could have been avoided if the staff at Heathrow had assisted me or held the plane for a short while. As I rushed through customs I did manage to make it to the gate with 5 minutes to spare and the plane still in the terminal but since they had taken my luggage off the flight they told me to go to the service desk and refused to let me on since they had moved me on to a later flight. My layover was now 10 hours and all I got from the guest services was a £12 food voucher to spend and a phone number for what I thought was complaints but after being on hold for 20 minutes found out it was not from complaints. Considering the fact this could have all been avoidable with more assistance to have only been given a food voucher for £12 seemed really cheap. A few days after I got home I then raised a complaint expressing how annoyed I was and waited over a month for a response before chasing it up only to find the complaints staff were not working. When I got a response I said I wanted 20-25% back off my holiday. I got an apology and told the staff at Heathrow will be better but in terms of good will and compensation I was offered nothing!
| Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | New York to Newcastle via London |
| Date Flown | November 2021 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"return trip was disappointing"
Ken Howie (South Africa)
✅ Trip Verified | Return trip Cape Town to Durban in Club Class highlighted the inconsistency. Our outbound trip in December was good in all respects, whereas the return trip was disappointing. Check in was fine, apart from the agent failing to label one of bags priority, resulting in a long wait for our third bag. The lounge was busy, but no complaints. We went to the boarding gate at the check in time indicated on the screen, where there was no sign of activity, although the screen was still showing the same gate and departure time. Shortly thereafter two ground staff appeared and when approached said the flight was delayed from 1330 to 1410 and the gate was changed to the lower level bus gates. The informational screens had now updated to the delayed time and new gate. I checked on the flight radar app, which showed that our aircraft had started in Durban, and flown to Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, back to Cape Town, and it had been clear for some time that it had no hope of being on time for our flight. In fact looking at its schedule and turn around times it was always going to be late. Boarding eventually started at 1400 with departure at 1430, 60 minutes late. Drinks service only started 30 minutes later, followed by lunch. The food was good but the wine offering very mediocre, and not up to club standards. With the price of good wines in South Africa there is no excuse for serving poor wine. Lunch service was quick, but then the crew disappeared behind the curtain and there was no offering of top up drinks unless specifically requested. Overall this was a disappointing flight with a lacklustre crew
| Aircraft | Boeing 737-800 |
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | Cape Town to Durban |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | yes |
"staff was very kind and friendly"
Sonto Mtolo (South Africa)
✅ Trip Verified | I used British Airways for the first time and I have to admit that I am impressed with their service! Firstly, I want to thank the lady that assisted me to weigh my luggage. My flight was 16:10, however due to unforeseen circumstances, I arrived at the airport around 15:40. I was convinced that I was going to miss my flight because the queue was very long. I stood there a few minutes but then realized that I would miss my flight. I went to "Club check-in" and the lady was incredibly kind to me. I just cannot believe how patience she was with me even though I was at fault. She weighed my luggage and I was able to board the flight successfully. I was not aware that this airline gives out free meals. We got a sandwich and drink and we had an option to choose between vegetarian and chicken. I personally love free stuff so I will be ditching Flysafair (even though they have excellent service as well) in the near future, unfortunately. Diversity; The first time I flew was in 2018 and I have to admit that I have never seen such diversity amongst cabin crew staff however with British Airways it was different. The staff was very kind and friendly as well. What a wonderful experience to fly with these guys!
| Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | Durban to Cape Town |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | yes |
"complete disregard for your passengers"
G Thanidhar (United States)
✅ Trip Verified | I recently had the unfortunate privilege of travelling on British Airways from Detroit to Bangalore and back. Given that it is a long and arduous journey with multiple layovers, I decided to spend extra and get a business class ticket. I was quickly dissuaded of any misconception that I was special because I spent that extra money or was in Business class. From shoddy service to rudeness and insolence from ground staff, I experienced nothing but frustration and insecurity throughout my journeys. The trump was being stranded in London having missed my connection and spending close to 3 hours to get to the front of the counter to rebook my flight. Being a business class traveller had no bearing as we were all told to stand in one gigantic line and wait our turn. Some special passengers were escorted to the Club World check in. When we asked the lady, she told us to continue standing where we were and she would come back to get us when the counter freed up. Needless to say it never did. Finally got my turn with no extra help from any of the ground staff that was running around in a frenzy and was rebooked. So I come back to the question: Can big corporations lie with no accountability? Why would I spend my hard-earned money on something that gave me nothing extra? Shame on you British Airways for your complete disregard for your passengers. Stop your lying or update your promises!
| Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | Bangalore to Detroit via London |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"decline into a sub-par service"
C Heale (United Kingdom)
✅ Trip Verified | I have flown with BA for many years and today was another poor experience as I’ve witnessed the airline decline into a sub-par service. I understand that it’s been a tough two years for airlines but BA’s decline started before the pandemic and it has now truly plummeted. Enormous queues at JFK BA check-in terminal 7. Even the priority lane was at a standstill for at least half an hour before people started complaining they’d miss their flights. Terrible efficiency at the check-in counters. At times, only one member of staff is processing people whilst other BA staff stood around on their phones or having a chat. One member of staff stopped processing a man desperately trying to catch his flight in order to start processing someone else who had jumped in. The interior of the plane was generally filthy, crumbs, bits of food, stains, marks all around the seating area. They give you a single wet wipe which I used to think was for your hands but now I see most passengers wiping down their surrounding area. There are some very good and courteous members of staff but there are also some awful members of staff who behave unprofessionally. On this particular flight one of the cabin crew is as swearing about his colleague at the back of the plane who apparently wasn’t pulling his weight. Very poor. I used to be a proud BA flyer but now I just feel like I’m clinging on to my airline status which doesn’t actually provide you a better service these days.
| Type Of Traveller | Business |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | New York to London |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"very basic generic airline"
S Bartan (United States)
✅ Trip Verified | The entertainment selection was sub par, minimal selections and the new releases were not new releases. My food left something to be desired. Two of the seats in our row the earphone jack didn’t work. The plane was either uncomfortably hot or too cold, find a medium temp. Just overall a very basic generic airline.
| Type Of Traveller | Business |
| Seat Type | Economy Class |
| Route | Las Vegas to London |
| Date Flown | January 2022 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
"doors cannot close till take off"
M Kalsiman (United Arab Emirates)
✅ Trip Verified | Straightforward and friendly baggage drop. On to South Lounge, no polite conversation on have you used our lounge before, no indication that it was so busy there was nowhere to sit at all considering even the 1.5m distancing. Had to roam the entire lounge, lugging our bags on the carpeted floor, with no success at all. Gave up after 20 minutes and decided to try another lounge. Arrived and everything was actually right in front of us and actually found somewhere to sit after 5 minutes of looking around. Menu was basic with no eggs, hash browns or any breakfast cakes or muffins. Ordered a frittata as was so hungry. Made my way to the self-serve coffee counter which had basic coffee and was straight away put off by flies hovering over the croissants and fruit. Flight was departing from a gate where you had to take a train to and as if to rub salt in the wound were then told that DXB flight usually leaves from there and should’ve gone to the lounge near there. Looking at the individual cubicles which was to be honest our top reason for choosing business class gave me heart. However, the doors cannot close till take off. I asked for the artisan crisps or biscuits on the Menu and it took them over an hour. Lunch came in another almost hour. Asked if could swap puddings as am not a crumble person, said will surely try but clearly didn’t, with no apologies or even trying. Portions were small, plus saw quite a few fellow passengers sleeping through lunch so asked if could have more but all was finished. Chocolates are Lindor. Nothing special about the other amenities, toilets were no different to what you’d expect, amenity kit was basic, duvet seemed well used. It was not worth almost 4 times the amount of a regular ticket. Naive to trust claims of world class standards.
| Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
| Seat Type | Business Class |
| Route | London to Dubai |
| Date Flown | October 2021 |
| Seat Comfort | 12345 |
| Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
| Food & Beverages | 12345 |
| Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
| Ground Service | 12345 |
| Value For Money | 12345 |
| Recommended | no |
Flat bed seat / suite
In-seat &/or USB power
Onboard WiFi
Audio / video on demand
On demand dining
Fine wines & beverage service
Pillows & duvet / blanket
Pyjamas / Sleepsuit
Amenity kit
On demand dining
Seat pitch : 31 ins
Seat width : 17 ins
In-seat &/or USB power
Inflight entertainment
