GeoffM

I didn't even think the seats were that great. As for the food, the first meal was way overcooked, and the second meal was a choice of salad pre-doused in vinegar, or a slightly different salad pre-doused in vinegar. I don't like salad. Or vinegar. And the snack bar was empty before we even hit the US (LHR-LAX), apart from a couple of broken biscuits. They managed to rustle up some cans of coke from a trolley though. No offer of finding anything else on the plane so my first stop after landing was finding somewhere to eat. Even Philippine Airlines managed to serve better food in economy, though shit at everything else.

SultanOfSwing

I had already done the BHD-LHR-ORD with BA before, on the 777 and in my limited experience it was probably the best set if flights I have done (Air Canada is very good but BA had free food ). I flew economy, of coure but is was fine. The 777 is a great bird though, lots of room even in pikey class.

civilservant

Some people can only afford to fly in pikey class

I like Deltas International 767-400s in economy simply because of the seat layout. 2-4-2 as opposed to the 3-4-3 of a BA 777. Since those are my only options LHR-ATL I go with not having to climb over 2 people to use a bathroom...

SEL_boy

I'm surprised to hear people slagging off BA -- I've flown economy IAD-LHR on pretty much every flight permutation possible, through every connection going, and I think (all things being equal) they're all much of a muchness. Any individual flight can be good or bad, but averaged out...

The decider for me is that departure times are better on BA.

And I'd always choose a direct flight over a connection no matter the carrier. It has to be a really significant saving to get me to stop on the way.

tonrob

So they didn't run out of food as such - the Club Kitchen snack bar ran out of food, which was an issue for you as you didn't like the second meal. I'm picky with salads too - I flew Lufthansa First SEA-FRA recently and didn't like their salad. And they don't have a snack bar. And the First seat that's still fitted to the majority of the fleet is much worse than BA's business seat. (Still at least I got some caviar and expensive pyjamas out of it!).

Not trying to be picky - your first statement that "they ran out of food" made it sound like there was nothing to eat on your flight, so wanted to clarify, as even during strikes I hadn't heard of that happening.

That said, some crew members can be shocking - BA of course included. Club World should have at-seat drink service throughout the flight, so nobody should be having to rustle up cans of Coke for you off a trolley. I hope you sent in a complaint.

tonrob

I'm sure that many people in business and first on any given flight can only afford to fly in pikey class! The trick is to fly business (or first) but pay less than you would have done to fly pikey.

GeoffM

Okay, so I exaggerated! But when you basically don't have any food for 9+ hours (since the first meal), you can see my frustration! Usually airlines have two very different meals so the chances are good if you don't like the first choice then the second may well fit the bill. A choice of two salads really doesn't give any choice.

I don't know with BA, they obviously can't always be that bad, but of 20+ flights over the last decade with them, they have consistently been mediocre to crap for me. I'm certainly glad I didn't "pay" for business class that time. I'll concede the seats and service - but not the food - is better than Gulf Air business class!

tonrob

Ok - I fly them about 5-6 times a year - mixture of World Traveler Plus and Club. Never had a truly terrible experience, but then maybe I'm so used to them that I automatically overlook (or overcome) some of their foibles. (For example I always swipe something from the lounge - almost without thinking now - in case the Club Kitchen gets raided early on). Club Kitchen always empties faster on a 747 because it's right next to World Traveler Plus, and if there's one thing we know about that lot is they're a bunch of light-fingered bastards...

civilservant

Id love too - but I dont fly often enough to earn FF miles

GeoffM

You need to read more of his posts - I got 10,000 miles without even going anywhere near an airport. Since then I've doubled that, again without any flights.

GeoffM

I thought you were wrong with the kitchen but now I'm wondering whether I came on a 777 instead... yes I do know the difference but it was such a bad flight that I guess I'm blotting it out from my memory!

The impression I got was that Biz Class was just a more expensive version of economy - anybody pleb and his dog gets in (hey, maybe that includes the crew!). Whereas the few other airlines I've been in business in it's more of an "exclusive" experience.

tonrob

You were in Club World weren't you, not World Traveler Plus? (You've got me wondering now).

tonrob

LOL - I average about 100,000 a month without setting foot on a plane!

GeoffM

Definitely Club World.

Sheeeet!

lansbury

Neither do I, but SWMBO and I are flying business first on United for the cost of the pikey fare. (Well we are if they reinstate the Tuesday flight in January as per the timetable) Credit cards earn miles. If all the saver seats hadn't sold in business first it would have only been the cost of the taxes.