Anyone flown with British Airways recently.

Neil

Jez6345789 said:

The issue for me is less the ageing fleet but the ageing trolly dollies or old ducks who pass for stewards who are hanging on for their fat BA pensions  Somewhere between a Doctors receptionist and the kind of professional indifference of someone who is just making up the time. I did a flight back from San Diego last year cattle  class and to be fair I dont find it a bad way to travel with most airlines. But the indifference and rudeness is off the scale. 

I am not going to recant the whole Fawlty towers experience from walking down the back and asking for some water and getting told its our break now. When all she had to do was pass me a plastic bottle on the rack.  Or the overly camp steward who felt it necessary to snap at an older lady who he dinged in the shoulder as he threw the drinks and pretzels down the aisle like he was on piecework with his trolly. She only gave him a look for an apology and got some rant about yes madam I am gay have been for 20 years  so get over it BA has. She just sat there stunned. 

It was a total shambles.

To be fair, I travelled on one of their Dreamliners this year with a young friendly crew who were all very nice. 
I was chatting to one of the Stewards and got the impression they are bundling the Coffin Dodgers all together and putting the best in their newer planes. 

Re the old dears, I had some of that last time I flew BA 777 transatlantic, not at all welcoming and the food was pretty skimpy as well.

Going again shortly and it will be Virgin again this time, always good service from them. 

Chalky

Virgin is better but I must admit I have low expectations of airlines. I just get on a plane and switch off usually with an audiobook - they are always several hours long so I just don't notice the flight or the quality of the staff.  Airline food is just 'inflight refuelling' not cuisine.

ronnyb

I'm really filled with confidence now, beginning to wish i'd never posted this, particularly about the state of the 747's. The last 2 years have been with Norwegian and Virgin on the 787 dreamliners which were really good.

stickyfiddle

To be fair, I’ve flown far worse. Egypt Air a particular highlight...

Snap

I fly long haul a lot. Not been on BA for a while, but have used them economy short haul, business long haul, business medium long haul (Middle east).

What is good about BA is the service. Every time I;ve used them, they have really looked after you. Its good that you get free booze in economy too, so at least you can have a few jars and fall asleep.

BA business class is crap. The seats and layout is truly rubbish.

Terminal 5 - nothing wrong with it. perfectly fine, and better than T3 which is always rammed. t5 is dedicated to BA, so you tend to get more business types, which means its generally smoother to get through and quieter. The lounges are quite good too, so look into getting a pass. If you are going long haul, I think that's worth it, so you can relax, get a good meal and have a few jars.

Most of the gates in t5 are not too far away either.

Best airlines IMO are Emirates, Singapore. Thai are not bad. Turkish can be great if you get a good crew, but the service can be really poor. Most disappointing was Cathay Pacific. Expensive and below par.

I've not flown with any African airlines, and I wouldn't. Malaysian are bad as are Garuda. I also wouldnt go near India, Pakistan, Qatar or Saudia airlines.

Thing is, what makes the biggest difference to a long haul (assuming plane and info system is OK) is the service. A good crew can make the flight a lot better, whereas crap service can make it a real chore.

You'll be fine on BA. Where are you going btw?

joneve

ronnyb said:

I'm really filled with confidence now, beginning to wish i'd never posted this, particularly about the state of the 747's. The last 2 years have been with Norwegian and Virgin on the 787 dreamliners which were really good.

Norwegian are great. I really rate KLM too. We flew with them to Budapest last Feb for a friend's stag do. Transferred at Amsterdam, but got food and alcohol served to us (included in the price, which wasn't a lot) on both flights, both ways. Was great!

Recently only flown with Thomas Cook to go skiing and Emirates 4 years ago to go to Australia which was awesome, even in economy. 

Always tried to fly SAS long haul to Seattle back in the day as never really rated BA.  

ronnyb

Snap said:

I fly long haul a lot. Not been on BA for a while, but have used them economy short haul, business long haul, business medium long haul (Middle east).

What is good about BA is the service. Every time I;ve used them, they have really looked after you. Its good that you get free booze in economy too, so at least you can have a few jars and fall asleep.

BA business class is crap. The seats and layout is truly rubbish.

Terminal 5 - nothing wrong with it. perfectly fine, and better than T3 which is always rammed. t5 is dedicated to BA, so you tend to get more business types, which means its generally smoother to get through and quieter. The lounges are quite good too, so look into getting a pass. If you are going long haul, I think that's worth it, so you can relax, get a good meal and have a few jars.

Most of the gates in t5 are not too far away either.

Best airlines IMO are Emirates, Singapore. Thai are not bad. Turkish can be great if you get a good crew, but the service can be really poor. Most disappointing was Cathay Pacific. Expensive and below par.

I've not flown with any African airlines, and I wouldn't. Malaysian are bad as are Garuda. I also wouldnt go near India, Pakistan, Qatar or Saudia airlines.

Thing is, what makes the biggest difference to a long haul (assuming plane and info system is OK) is the service. A good crew can make the flight a lot better, whereas crap service can make it a real chore.

You'll be fine on BA. Where are you going btw?

To San Francisco. We're flying from Glasgow with BA arriving at Heathrow at 0940 and then Heathrow to San Francisco leaving at 1040 so it's a bit of a tight connection which does concern me a bit. Both the arrival and departure are terminal 5 so hopefully we'll make it. 

joneve

ronnyb said:

Snap said:

I fly long haul a lot. Not been on BA for a while, but have used them economy short haul, business long haul, business medium long haul (Middle east).

What is good about BA is the service. Every time I;ve used them, they have really looked after you. Its good that you get free booze in economy too, so at least you can have a few jars and fall asleep.

BA business class is crap. The seats and layout is truly rubbish.

Terminal 5 - nothing wrong with it. perfectly fine, and better than T3 which is always rammed. t5 is dedicated to BA, so you tend to get more business types, which means its generally smoother to get through and quieter. The lounges are quite good too, so look into getting a pass. If you are going long haul, I think that's worth it, so you can relax, get a good meal and have a few jars.

Most of the gates in t5 are not too far away either.

Best airlines IMO are Emirates, Singapore. Thai are not bad. Turkish can be great if you get a good crew, but the service can be really poor. Most disappointing was Cathay Pacific. Expensive and below par.

I've not flown with any African airlines, and I wouldn't. Malaysian are bad as are Garuda. I also wouldnt go near India, Pakistan, Qatar or Saudia airlines.

Thing is, what makes the biggest difference to a long haul (assuming plane and info system is OK) is the service. A good crew can make the flight a lot better, whereas crap service can make it a real chore.

You'll be fine on BA. Where are you going btw?

To San Francisco. We're flying from Glasgow with BA arriving at Heathrow at 0940 and then Heathrow to San Francisco leaving at 1040 so it's a bit of a tight connection which does concern me a bit. Both the arrival and departure are terminal 5 so hopefully we'll make it. 

An hour should be fine if it's the same terminal, as long as you're not delayed from Glasgow obviously. 

you'll just walk off one plane and onto the other. Getting your bags transferred could prove tricky, but in my experience, they're pretty good at this these days. 

The flight will be fine, as you'll get food and as much booze as you want, so just drink yourself into oblivion to mask the shittiness of the flight?

ronnyb

Really looking forward to it, i'm not a nervous flyer but i'd better not disclose this topic to the missus! Hired a Mustang when we're there so it should be good.

joneve

ronnyb said:

Really looking forward to it, i'm not a nervous flyer but i'd better not disclose this topic to the missus! Hired a Mustang when we're there so it should be good.

You should have gone to the Pacific North West. It's much nicer than California  

But you'll still have a good time, San Fran is great. You'll probably be fine once you're in the air and have got a beer or two in you (my Mrs. is anyway, and she's a really nervous flyer).

scrumhalf

I avoid BA wherever possible after a couple of incidents and their "We're BA, who the fuck are you?" attitude across several departments.

But in terms of the in-flight experience, there are many, many worse, especially if you end up on a code-share flight with some godawful airline.

rocktron

ronnyb said:

I'm really filled with confidence now, beginning to wish i'd never posted this, particularly about the state of the 747's. The last 2 years have been with Norwegian and Virgin on the 787 dreamliners which were really good.

Did you go to Manage My Booking on the BA website to check that it is a 747 you will be flying on?  

Don't let the adverse comments put you off - the BA 747s are fine. 

ronnyb

rocktron said:

ronnyb said:

I'm really filled with confidence now, beginning to wish i'd never posted this, particularly about the state of the 747's. The last 2 years have been with Norwegian and Virgin on the 787 dreamliners which were really good.

Did you go to Manage My Booking on the BA website to check that it is a 747 you will be flying on?  

Don't let the adverse comments put you off - the BA 747s are fine. 

Yes checked flight radar every day this week it's been a 747 but the upgraded ones.

Snap

ronnyb said:

Really looking forward to it, i'm not a nervous flyer but i'd better not disclose this topic to the missus! Hired a Mustang when we're there so it should be good.

Wouldn;t worry about your connection, or bag transfer. You are connecting in BA's hub so they will be on it. Just make sure when you check in (for your own reassurance) you remind them to lable the bags all the way to SF. You don't need to do this, but I always do, can't help it.

That;s a long flight, 11 hours or so from LHR to SFO. Did it a couple of years ago. Where are you driving to? Driving out there is great - big roads, dead easy. Driving round SF is quite something too, the hills are unbelievable! Wouldn't want to be doing that on my own manual car, nice and easy in someone else's auto! I picked up a frgin massive Chevy Tahoe on the top floor of a multi story near Union Square. This thing was over 6 feet tall and I had to get it down 9 flights of ramps in the car park. Of course, US car parks are massive, so it was nothing like as bad as I thought. Great fun. Envious.

Another thing you might hear is that US immigration is a nightmare. Its not. I found it much the same as anywhere else tbh.

You might also hear that the Tenderloin is to be avoided at all costs. Its not that bad. You'll have seen worse in Glasgow. Yeah its rough, but americans can be a bit soft tbh. Lower Haight is a bit grubby too, whereas Upper Haight is ace. You got to go there if only to stand on Haight-Ashbury and imagine its 1970. Ace round there.

SF is pretty spread out, and its not always easy to hail a cab. Uber was essential, and cheap. FYI - Chinatown is crap, as is Fisherman's Wharf. Both areas are grotty and tatty.

ronnyb

Went in 2016 and drove from Los Angeles to SF and back. Didn't get to spend much time in San Francisco and tried to cram too much in a short space of time. We had intended to do the Pacific Coast highway on the big sur as well but didn't have time. 2017 went back and did SF and San Diego but the bridge had been washed away half way along the PCH so missed it again. This year is going to be more leisurely, four days in the centre of SF  and then three in Monterey and Carmel. Would you believe the PCH has been washed away again in a landslide half way along it and so you can't drive the full length so we're going to drive there and back along the top half. Definitely going to see Haight Ashbury whilst in SF and also the Cross on Mount Davidson (where Dirty Harry delivered the ransom to Scorpio in the film}