Tell me about BA flights

[Tretinker]

Originally Posted by fredflintstone

BA have stopped doing the 2nd meal for the shorter US routes, such as New York as a cost cutting exercise (just like you now get no free food/drink on BA domestic ), but you still get the 2nd meal on the longer Florida routes . I think they have also stopped the free snacks at the back of the plane.

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Ah I see thanks, we're booked with BA but flying AA. See it everywhere these days with cost cutting but I'd rather pay ££ less for flights than get an extra sandwich but I wonder if AA the same.

Disappointing you can't get the snacks though, but this is good to know because I will pack extra.

I'm really not too fussed, I don't like flying so no airline is going to give me a fabulous experience so cheaper the better for me

[Guest]

Originally Posted by scottishmum

I feel they have gone downhill . Done the Glas-Gat-Orlando lots of times and last couple of times they haven't been good and staff quite rude at times.
Flew direct and cheaper last May with Thos Cook and much nicer staff, seating etc.

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I have never ever found this to be the case with BA who we use frequently from both Gatwick and Heathrow.

The rudest moment we had was flying Upper Class with Virgin (where we were also served an inedible bacon roll for breakfast) and that is why we switched. On BA the cabin crew are friendly, attentive and even share a joke.

(And just to add our Avios points "paid" for a fabulous weekend in Paris recently)

[Just_Pete]

I used to fly Virgin for all my flights to the US because I thought they were the "Sexier Airline". They have fabulous red uniforms and cheeky advertising campaigns. But then as I got promoted I have had to travel a lot around Europe for work, and do this with BA, so with the Executive Club Status and Avios balance that came from the work travel, it just made sense to switch my leisure travel to BA too. So it was bye bye Virgin.

I have to be honest, if you're travelling Economy, it really isn't that different at all from BA, the seat pitch is the same, the leg room is for the most part the same. It all comes down to route. Although I do believe if you're doing the standard LGW-MCO route for WDW, then Virgin use newer more modern aircraft. And honestly service is entirely subjective, you can get stuck up and rude crew on either airline. The same way you can get friendly attentive one both. Sometimes I think it's even possible that a crew member could be friendly and attentive on one flight, and stuck and rude on a different one!?

[hornetgirl]

Originally Posted by missbeehiving

Awful seats, awful old plane to Orlando, awful food. Have a ridiculous amount of Avios points to spend but can't find any flights to spend them on to the US. Will be avoiding like the plague.

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I'd spend them on either going to LA on the A380 or to Newark on the Dreamliner. Both fabulous modern aircraft.

[moosha]

We switched from Virgin to BA in 2014 because the flights were a few hundred pounds cheaper and DH is a silver Avios cardholder because of frequent business trips. With the Avios benefit, we get perks such as priority check-in, (sometimes) free lounge access, plus we get to collect lots of points which we use on free hotel stays.

I don't particularly enjoy flying BA but do it because of all of the above. We have done two Orlando trips and two New York trips with BA in the past three years and the main areas I think they fall down on in comparison to Virgin are:

Food and drink - Virgin (at least in 2012 and 2013) offered more drink and snack services. Often on BA I've ended up really hungry and thirsty and have had to go and get drinks and snacks myself because they are not offered. You don't get the ice-cream on BA that you get with Virgin too.

Shabby planes and poor quality in-flight entertainment systems. Of my eight BA flights since 2014, my IFE system has worked perfectly on one or maybe two flights. It's glitchy (I've had films go back to the beginning when I've pressed pause at least three times) and the selection of films and TV is not great in my opinion.

Generally, the best thing I can say about BA is that we've usually found the staff to be very friendly and helpful.

The 'premium' service is nowhere near as good as Virgin's in my opinion as with WTP you don't even get a glass of fizz while boarding like you do with Virgin, just orange juice or water.

I do think the cheaper cost of the BA flight is directly linked to the fact that it 'feels' cheaper in my opinion given all of the above. It's all very well saying I'm happy to go without an extra sandwich for a cheaper flight, but when I'm paying £3000+ for a family of four to take return flights to Orlando or New York, I like to feel I'm getting my money's worth and that includes feeling relaxed and looked after on the flight as I start my holiday. I think a nice meal, a couple of drinks with a snack, and a sandwich tea is not too much to ask, neither is an entertainment system that works well and has a good variety of films.

If they were both exactly the same price, I'd still have to fly BA because of our Avios tie to them, but if Virgin ever came out even a little cheaper, I would definitely try and convince DH to switch back to Virgin, which I think just feels a little more luxurious.

To be honest I'm at the point where I don't expect to enjoy the flight and just grin and bear it, armed with plenty of snacks, knowing it's a means to an end. We booked our Miami flights for just after Easter this year for just under £2000 for the four of us (BA flydrive including car) so for that price I'm just going to suck it up .

[scottishmum]

Originally Posted by geoffa

I have never ever found this to be the case with BA who we use frequently from both Gatwick and Heathrow.

The rudest moment we had was flying Upper Class with Virgin (where we were also served an inedible bacon roll for breakfast) and that is why we switched. On BA the cabin crew are friendly, attentive and even share a joke.

(And just to add our Avios points "paid" for a fabulous weekend in Paris recently)

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Yes they were rude on our recent flight in Sept from Gatwick to Orlando. One instance I was quietly chatting to two ladies at the back of the plane 3 hours into our flight. It was approx 2pm uk time. Three middle aged ladies chatting excited about our holiday. Not loud, not drunk. The curtain at the back opened and fromthe row of seats a tousled haired sleeping beauty asked us to talk quieter (we were not loud) as they were "trying" to sleep.
I felt about 2 inches tall, a girl half my age reprimanding me and two other ladies. They all felt the same. As we landed the three young staff were all chatting to American guy talking about going out that night, where they couldn't wait to eat at and what they were going to do etc.

There were a few other instances on that flight too, so yes it was downhill from last trip.
In contrast the return flight with Aer Lingus could not have been more different. Attentive happy staff with manners who couldn't do enough for us and made us feel welcome on their plane.



Just to add That last May was our best trip in years with Thos Cook direct from Glasgow. Happy friendly staff , chatted and interacted with the passengers as well as doing a professional job. Cheaper direct with TC than indirect with BA , so good doing the same this April.

[Slinky Malinki]

I haven't noticed anything on any long haul airline that would make me go with anything other than the one that has the best price/convenience factor.

It is means of getting from A to B. Simple as that.

[Pookle]

I flew from Heathrow to New York and back with BA and it was just a dreadful experience. The aircraft felt old and shabby and it was SO hot, we could barely breathe. The cabin crew were all very grumpy 'older' ladies who generally just gave off an air of "can't be bothered" and we were bumped out of our reserved seats on the way back because they 'weren't operational' when in fact there was just one rather large person sat across the two of them.
It put me off BA for good as it was just all round a bit shoddy - food was probably the worst I've had on an airline too.

Saying that, I'd book with whoever is cheapest. It's just a means to an end.

[Guest]

Haven't used BA for some time, personally I thought the service was getting ' chipped away ' bit by bit. Legroom is much of a muchness with other airlines and in fairness PE is decent. Nothing stands out though.

That, and the fact they seem to think it's logical to get to Orlando from Newcastle by having to get yourself from Gatwick to Heathrow is an acceptable solution kills them off for me.

[Jake71]

We flew with BA to Orlando in Dec 2015, Toronto, London and Tampa last year. All the flights were absolutely fine for us. The long haul flights were all via Gatwick or Heathrow. The only issue I would say is that for our return trip from Tampa they Gatwick-Glasgow flight was cancelled and they changed us to Heathrow to Glasgow, which I found completely unacceptable. After posting on the Dibb, it was suggested that I try flying back to Edinburgh which they were able to change our flights to, "at no additional cost". I was a bit more inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as trying to get us and our luggage from one airport to the other the Saturday before Christmas!


Sorry for the tangent. We have always found the seating comfortable, the food outgoing better than incoming and the drinks readily available. Inflight entertainment has always had movies that I can watch, same for DH. We've never flown with Virgin so can't compare. We have flown with Thomas Cook and Thomsons and BA are no worse and probably a bit better than both in our experience.


We've actually book this year's flights in the BA sale - visiting the West Coast this year - so they must be doing something right.