British Airways

Customer Reviews

4 star Skytrax Rating
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Seat Comfort 12345
Staff Service 12345
Value for Money 12345
Customer rating from 3778 reviews
5/10
4 star Skytrax Rating
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3/10

"complain about the way we were treated "

(United Kingdom)

My wife and I who are 76 and 77 respectively arrived at terminal 5 in Jan 2015 to travel to Johannesburg.This was our first experience of the size of this terminal and assumed that this was where we were to eventualy board our flight. However after sitting around for many hours it occured to us that we had picked up any information regarding the flight,so we went to the BA desk only to be informed that the flight had left,and that we had been waiting in the wrong part of terminal five, and if we had been in the right area we would have heard them paging us. Whilst I take full resposibilty not checking the flight boards properly I would like to complain about the way we were treated from that point on, it was now 11 pm on a cold Jan night, my wife and I were escorted to the exit and left to find shelter for the night in an area that we were totally lost in, until we returned for a different flight the next day.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLHR to JNB
Date FlownJanuary 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
5/10

"service however lacked shine"

(United Kingdom)

Aircraft was fine and journey smooth. Staff at airport helpful. The service however lacked shine expected from British Airways whilst on board. Staff showed little interest in passengers, minimal soft drinks offered, 2 on a 9 hour flight, bit of turbulence so not hot drinks provided, bring your own drinks.
AircraftBoeing 777
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteOrlando to London
Date FlownOctober 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
2/10

"horrible return flights"

(Australia)

Endured horrible British Airways return flights from Heathrow to Cape Town. The plane seems to be from the 1980s. Somehow the seats are really narrow, so that anyone with remotely broad shoulders spills over onto the seats next to them. I couldn't fit between a larger man one one side and a woman on the other and resorted to leaning forward for much of the flight. Thankfully a child was on one side on the way back. There were a number of flyers on the plane who had clearly done the route before as many refused to sit togther, forcing first-time flyers on the route like me to be squashed between them. The seats were also incredibly uncomfortable. The moulding on the back was took narrow and dug into my bag. I only fell asleep through sheer exhaustion, but woke up repeatedly with back pain from the seat. Other passengers walked around the cabin throughout the flight, while some resorted to sitting in the flight attendants' seats. Also the seats in front of the toilets don't fully recline. The TV controls are fixed into the arm rests which makes them uncomfortable to put your arm on and you inevitably press one of the buttons accidentally. The TVs themselves are about 30 years old, small and poor quality. The selection of movies was not great. It was very hot onboard the plane, and passengers repeatedly asked for the air conditioning to be turned up. The service was good on the way out, but the return flight service was poor. The staff appeared disinterested. One flight attendant responded rudely to me when I asked if I could use the overhead locker above my seat that had her bag in it. Another told the child next to me, when he asked for Sprite with his dinner, they had run out. Even though I saw a flight attendant drinking a can of Sprite 30 minutes later. Generally they seemed more interested in rushing through the service and stuffing their mouths than helping anyone. My call button was ignored twice. Another passenger pressed their's and the attendant simply came and turned it off then walked away. She said she'd be back in a moment, but didn't return. The food was generally ok.
AircraftB0eing 747-400
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLondon to Cape Town
Date FlownOctober 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
5/10

"lounge more like a refugee centre"

(United Kingdom)

British Airways still trade on the 'you are lucky to be flying with us' mentality. 8am on a Friday morning, at the 'flagship' terminal at home base, and there are just 3 business class check-in desks open, so queued for nearly 30 minutes just to drop a bag. South Gallery lounge more like a refugee centre than a premier cabin lounge. People sleeping across sofas and chairs, full to almost standing-room only, but managed to perch on the arm of a sofa, before giving it up as a waste of time. Boarding very low-key, quick and easy. Excellent crew and very surprised by the level and quality of catering, and looked after well. It's the hardware that's so far below par. Business class seating is 8 across, that's like a lot of economy cabins. A window seat felt very cramped and claustrophobic. The cabin wall curved inwards and the seat is directly underneath where the hand-luggage bins sit, so it's quite an exercise to extricate yourself. No wifi, and although there's a video on demand system, it's the same fuzzy-focus, bleached-colour quality that I remember from when I first started flying with BA decades ago.
AircraftBoeing 777-200
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Seat TypeBusiness Class
RouteHeathrow to Haneda
Date FlownOctober 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
3/10

"cracks are starting to appear"

(Switzerland)

Recently there have been more delays and this particular British Airways trip was worse still. I was originally booked to fly from London City to Geneva first thing in the morning but the flight got cancelled. I did not receive so much as an email from BA about this. The only way I found it was cancelled was by going into my original confirmation email as the flight did not even register on the British Airways App. My replacement flight was from Heathrow so I had to make my way all the way across London (at my own expense) to get that flight which then ended up being delayed by 1 hour! British Airways for some years has been a great airline but I fear cracks are starting to appear!
AircraftA319
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteLHR to GVA
Date FlownOctober 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
yes
5/10

"seats are just the same"

(United Kingdom)

London Heathrow to Amsterdam, check in on line and bag drop quick and easy, used Galleries North Lounge at T5. It was fairly busy but able to find a seat. Boarding the full flight orderly and quick seat 2A. Cabin crew fine, a simple meal served on the 50 min flight. Arrival more or less on time, however the bags seemed to take forever - 50 min. Having used the same route 2 weeks previously in economy, I must say for the difference in fare I feel British Airways have really missed a trick! Seats are just the same, the meal nothing special added to the change in the Executive club Avious accrual. I really think apart from the one business class I've already booked, I won't bother in future with British Airways Club Europe. Instead I'll look for the most convenient and cheapest ticket when flying in Europe.
AircraftA320
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypeBusiness Class
RouteLHR to AMS
Date FlownOctober 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
2/10

"advise not to waste your money"

(United Kingdom)

Don't ever fly with British Airways! We went Cancun for our honeymoon, and on the way there they seated my husband at the opposite end of the plane - only 48 hours of being married. When we arrived in Cancun our bags didn't make it there, so we had to wait 4 days for our bags and go out and buy some clothes. Travelling back they lost them again, so not only did they lose our bags once but twice and had to wait 4 days again for them. I advise anyone reading this to not waste your money.
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeEconomy Class
RouteHeathrow to Cancun via Madrid
Date FlownAugust 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
8/10

"plenty of legroom"

(Australia)

Crew were excellent, friendly and efficient, seats adequate for Premium Economy service, plenty of legroom and good recline, entertainment good. Food was good if you could get the meal you preferred. Suggest persons allocating the choices research better into preferences, as we struggled to get first choice on all sectors (seated in last row of Premium Economy. Criticisms would be that British Airways charge extra for you to select seats prior to ensure you are sitting next to your companion and there is no priority check-in or boarding/luggage. Toilets are in economy cabin and could be lengthy waits, whilst other airlines provide dedicated toilets for Premium Economy. However, the fare for SYD-LHR return pretty good value.
AircraftBoeing 777
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypePremium Economy
RouteLHR to SYD via SIN
Date FlownOctober 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
yes
4/10

"premium economy pathetic"

(United Kingdom)

Do not waste your money. Quite simply British Airways premium economy from London to Bangkok return was pathetic. Economy class food is served, plastic not glass for drinks. The seats are marginally wider than economy class, but I could not eat my food without lifting the plate from my tray to my mouth. I bought a bottle of scotch on return to Heathrow, and then transferred to Manchester flight. The bottle was confiscated by Security because it was not sealed by staff onboard. I called BA customer service who said it was my fault because I should have told the purser I was going on to Manchester. Staff were generally good but never again on British Airways.
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Seat TypePremium Economy
RouteLHR to BKK
Date FlownSeptember 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Wifi & Connectivity 12345
Value For Money 12345
no
2/10

"last time using British Airways "

(Australia)

Booked a British Airways trip from Sydney to London via Singapore through travel agent, not knowing the Business Class seating plan (big mistake on my part). Seat plan is 2-4-2 . We were allocated seats 15e and 15f. The 2 middle seat in the block of 4, so was flying backwards. Seats are too cramped, compared to other airlines, no storage space apart from a small draw to store a laptop. A plastic privacy screen is all that separated me from the person in the aisle seat and that had to be lowered and raised when cabin crew served meals and drinks. When the aisle seat was made into flat bed, I had to climb over person to use bathroom etc. This could be a problem for less mobile passengers. You should not expect to have to do this with the cost of flying business class The cabin crew provided good service and food was okay. This is the first and last time I will be using British Airways to fly business class, unless they change the seating configuration for business class.
AircraftBoeing 777-200
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Seat TypeBusiness Class
RouteSYD to LHR via SIN
Date FlownOctober 2015
Seat Comfort 12345
Cabin Staff Service 12345
Food & Beverages 12345
Inflight Entertainment 12345
Ground Service 12345
Value For Money 12345
no

British Airways Photos

British Airways is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom, with its main hub being at London Heathrow Airport where it operates from Terminal 5 and Terminal 3. The airline also has substantial operations from Gatwick Airport. British Airways is a member of Onweworld alliance, and part of International Airlines Group (IAG).

FIRST CLASS

British Airways offers First Class on many long haul routes operated by widebody aircraft (Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777, Boeing 787 and the A380). Most aircraft have 14 flat-bed seats in First Class, and 8 seats on the Boeing 787-9.

flat_seatsFlat bed seat / suite
power_iconIn-seat &/or USB power
No WiFiOnboard WiFi
AVODAudio / video on demand
DiningOn demand dining
WinesFine wines & beverage service
SleepingPillows & duvet / blanket
PyjamasPyjamas / Sleepsuit
AmenitiesAmenity kit

BUSINESS CLASS

Branded as Club World for long haul and Club Europe for short haul services, British Airways was one of the pioneers of flat bed seats in long haul business class. The product is overdue an upgrade, with the seat layout on a Boeing 777 being 8-across in contrast to the more standard 4-across layout. British Airways Club Europe cabin uses a standard Economy class seat, with the middle of each 3-across section left empty. British Airways charges business class customers to reserve seats for both long haul and short haul flights..

LONG HAUL
flat_seatsFlat bed seat
power_iconIn-seat &/or USB power
No WiFiOnboard WiFi
AVODAudio / video on demand
On demand dining
SleepingPillows & duvet / blanket
PyjamasPyjamas / Sleepsuit
AmenitiesAmenity kit

SHORT HAUL
Seat pitchSeat pitch : 31 ins
Seat widthSeat width : 17 ins
In-seat &/or USB power
No WiFiOnboard WiFi
Inflight entertainment
DiningComplimentary meal / snack

PREMIUM ECONOMY

British Airways offers a premium economy cabin on their long haul / widebody aircraft, branded as World Traveller Plus. With the exception of the larger seat, the onboard service and product varies little to the standard long haul Economy class.

Seat pitchSeat pitch : 38 ins
Seat widthSeat width : 18.5 ins
No WiFiOnboard WiFi
power_iconUSB power
AVODAudio / video on demand
DiningComplimentary meal
WinesComplimentary beverages & wines
SleepingPillow / blanket

ECONOMY CLASS

British Airways has been reducing economy class standards recently and now charge for all food and beverages on short haul services. Further cuts are expected to their long haul product standards. The cabins are branded as World Traveller for long haul, and EuroTraveller for short haul.

LONG HAUL
Seat pitchSeat pitch : 31 ins
Seat widthSeat width : 17.5 ins
No WiFiOnboard WiFi
power_iconUSB power
AVODAudio / video on demand
DiningComplimentary meal
WinesComplimentary beverages & wines
SleepingPillow / blanket

SHORT HAUL
Seat pitchSeat pitch : 29-30 ins
Seat widthSeat width : 17 ins
In-seat &/or USB power
No WiFiOnboard WiFi
Inflight entertainment
Complimentary meal / beverages