Trip Reports - BA CE/CW TLS-LGW-DFW Nov 06/ my 1st Silver flight/downgrade/long haul cancellation

Flights:

November 2nd, 2006
TLS-LGW #7950 departs 7:25 am, arrives LGW 8:20 am
Aircraft: 737-500
Class of service: Club Europe
Seats: 1 A and C

November 2nd, 2006

LGW-DFW #2193 departs 10:05 arrives 14:15
Class of service: Club World
Aircraft: 777-200
Seats 15 J and K

November 2nd, 2006

24 hours before my flight I decided to use OLCI to select my favorite seats. I went to the OLCI page and then clicked on select seats for the long haul portion of the flight. I waited for about 10 minutes staring at a blank white page then gave up and went back to the check-in page. Of course, now my seats had already been selected even though I didn’t pick them! I loathe the fact that OLCI now only lets you choose your seats once. I understand that BA might not want people moving their seats over and over right before the flight but you should not be blocked from moving them until you click the confirm seating button. Poor design IMHO. I was also blocked from moving the short haul seats even thought I had not clicked on the select seat button for that leg. So much for getting my favorite seats! Fortunately we were hit by the seat shifters later on in the day and were moved to 15 J and K on the LGW-DFW leg, which were the seats I wanted in the first place.

November 3rd 2006

The next day, we woke up after a good nights sleep in the Sofitel Toulouse airport hotel with the incredibly comfortable Sofitel MyBeds. We had decided to sleep near the airport as TLS-LGW 7950 leaves at 7:25 am. With a 1h30 minute drive to the airport it would have been a very early morning indeed. We had booked a “park and ride” fare which allowed us to leave our car in the Sofitel parking lot for the duration of our trip at no extra charge. The Sofitel shuttle (Peugeot 807) took us on the brief 4 minute ride over to the terminal arriving at 6:15 am.

Toulouse has a very nice smaller airport that is very manageable and attractive. Club Europe has one check in agent and they quickly finished up with the person in front of us.

MorganB: I would like to change seats on the TLS-LGW flight if possible.
Agent: Oh you already checked in online so you should have the seats you want already.
MorganB: Yes but OLCI gave me a blank screen and then blocked me from selecting seats.
Agent: Oh really?
MorganB: Yes, could I have seats on the side with only two seats please.
Agent: This is a 3-3 aircraft sir.
MorganB: I believe that in CE it is 2-3.
Agent: I can give you 1A and 1C with no one between you.
MorganB: Perfect, thank you.

Glad they didn’t seat anyone between us in that 5 inch wide seat!

We wandered about the terminal a bit to kill some time then went through security, which was rapid and polite. Once through security there is a small café downstairs and a smoking section upstairs. I did not see a lounge but didn’t really need to use it considering the short wait.

Boarding began a bit late. We proceeded down a flight of stairs on to a bus to take us to the plane. I could see the construction of the new terminal, which appears to have just begun. We could also see a couple of A380s near the Airbus hangars. The pilot informed us that we were leaving about 15 minutes late because he had requested that the leading edge of the wing be inspected. The inspection had been completed and he had just signed off on it. The flight was very full in both classes. Once airborne, breakfast service began very quickly. We were handed hot towels followed by a full hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and sausage. A choice of pastries and bread was also available. One of my knives read “CorseAirFly” on it. Perhaps BA bought some utensils on the cheap? Service was polite and efficient. A good flight over all. We were on stand at Gatwick about 15 minutes late.

We disembarked in a new section of the north terminal that I have never seen before. It is very attractive but is quite a walk from the rest of the terminal. It is connected to the main terminal by a long elevated hall with moving sidewalks. Better than taking a bus however. The line at security was short and moving quickly since they had two security checks open. I saw quite a few of the baggies with small liquids being taken away as well as a few people being sent off to the ticket counter because they had more than one carry on. Why in the world do they have this security check anyway? This is the only airport I have been through that makes you do this even though you remain airside.

We made our way to the lounge, which could stand for a renovation to match those in Heathrow. There was no separate line for CW or First so we joined the masses in the queue. I was randomly selected for a secondary security check, which was brief and polite. Once on board I was pleased to see that CW was only a little more than half full. The head purser took my jacket. I then stowed my items away in the various tiny pockets and the storage above, leaving nothing on the floor (that’s for you Tits! :) ) and took my seat. I was offered a drink (orange juice, water or champagne) as well as a paper. They had the International Herald Tribune much to my surprise! I can’t remember if we were given the amenity kit before or after take off. I like the new pouch, which at least can be used for something after this flight unlike the old one. We pushed off about 15 minutes late after waiting for a family to arrive that had gone to the wrong gate. Cocktail service began shortly after the seat belt sign went off. My friend and I selected a Kir Royal. Menu selection was as follows:

Lunch

Starters

Rock shrimp and prawn terrine with lemon crème fraiche
or
Buffalo Mozzarella cheese with fresh figs and grapefruit dressing

Fresh Seasonal Salad served with vinaigrette

Main

Shaun Hill’s fillet of beef with morels and mustard sauce

Salmon fish cakes with parsley and caper sauce

Mark Edwards’ stir-fried chicken with ginger and sesame egg noodles

Main course salad of artichokes and asparagus with creamy Parmesan cheese dressing

Dessert

Crème caramel with poached sultanas

Shropshire Blue and Tasty Lancashire cheese served with biscuits and butter

A selection of fruit

Chocolates

Club Kitchen

Snack salads, sandwiches, filled rolls and wraps

Fresh fruit salads and smoothies or juice

Choice of luxury cakes

Crisps and chocolate (including organic chocolate)

Please ask the crew for chilled items not on display.

Afternoon Tea

Snacks

Sandwiches of roast beef with horseradish and Double Gloucester cheese

Or Salad of marinated Feta cheese with chili roasted aubergine and baby courgette

Sweets

Fruit scone served warm with clotted cream and strawberry preserve

Chocolate and cherry sponge

Wines

White

Hahn Estates Monterey Chardonnay 2004
Chablis 1er Cru Rive Droite 2004, Lamblin et Fils

Red

Raymond Estates California Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2004, Domaine du Pere Pape

Champagne

Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve

The head purser was serving my section and seemed to be training the other person that was with her. I chose the rock shrimp terrine followed by the chicken pasta. Unfortunately the pasta was all gone so I opted for the beef. The rock shrimp terrine morphed into smoked salmon with one shrimp. It was tasty although not as described on the menu. I noticed that the napkins are thicker which is a nice touch. When the main course was served I was told someone had changed their minds because the pasta had nuts in it so I could have my original selection if I choose to. I was pleased as I don’t like beef on airplanes in general. After the main course I was offered cheese or desert. I requested and was given both. Service was excellent, my glass was always full and I never lacked for anything. I was also addressed as Mr. MorganB throughout the flight and even when exiting the plane! I found the new enhanced food service to be better than in the past. Not a huge jump mind you, but definitely an improvement. I also like the new pillow and blanket. I can now sleep with only one pillow instead of two and the blanket is softer. I like the CW seats for the fully flat bet although they are a bit on the firm side. I look forward to the NGCW seats, as the seats on the DFW route have those tiny WT size screens. IFE functioned perfectly although I did not watch a movie and chose to read instead. A few hours into the flight, they came around with chocolate ice cream. It was very tasty and a nice added small touch. Tea and scones with sandwiches were served about 1 hour or so before landing. The scones were very tasty indeed! We were on stand right on time which is a plus as a Lufthansa flight arrives only a few minutes after the BA one. I was among the first at immigration and did not have to wait at all. Bags were up first so I was through the entire process only 15 minutes after leaving the plane.

Prior to these flights I had 380 tier points. With the CE tls-lgw flight being 20 tier points I should have hit 400 pts exactly making Silver! However, as the tls-lgw leg did not post (as usual), the LGW-DFW leg pushed me over the 400 tier points. My status was updated about 48 hours after the points posted and my tier points reset to zero. Hurray I am finally silver! Thanks to all on the flyertalk BA board as that would not have happened without the wealth of information you have provided.

The TLS-LGW leg posted later, with no tier points, after I filled out the web form. A quick question for the BA experts, (I did do a search but couldn’t find the answer): since the TLS-LGW flight would have put me at exactly 400 points, should I have the 75 points that I earned for the LGW-DFW flight or are those simply lost because both legs were flown on the same day?

Return trip to follow.

November 13th, 2006
DFW –LGW #2192
Aircraft: 777
CANCELED

November 14nd, 2006

DFW –LGW #2192 departs 16:20 arrives 07:00 Nov 15th
Class of service: Club World
Aircraft: 777-200
Seats 15 F and G

November 15nd, 2006

LGW-TLS #7951 departs 8:40 arrives 11:30 Nov 15th
Class of service: Club Europe
Aircraft: 737-500
Seats 1 D and 1 F (1E empty).



Return flight and my first flight as BA Silver:

Prior to being Silver, the seat maps were showing that pre-allocation had been reached on both legs of the return. After my status updated I was able to access the seat maps and pick my seats for the return! I opted for 14 J and K and 2 A and C.

I again checked in via OLCI hoping to get better seats and this time it worked fine. Row 15 was taken so I remained in 14 J and K. I nabbed 1 A and C on the LGW-TLS segment.

About 5 hours before my flight, I checked ba.com and departure was showing about 20 minutes late as the inbound flight was late. About 3 hours before my flight, ba.com showed the flight on time so I left for the airport shortly afterwards. After returning my car at the very far off rental center, I noticed on the screen that our flight was canceled!? This cant be right I thought as I had just checked ba.com. While taking the bus to the terminal I called a friend who checked and ba.com was still showing the flight on time. However, when I arrived at the desk I found out that it was indeed canceled. Certainly would have been helpful if ba.com had been updated, as I would not have gone to the airport at all and just called to be rebooked. We waited about 1 hour and 15 minutes for the 6 people in front of us in the CW line to be processed by two agents. During that time, a supervisor came by, apologized for the cancellation, and explained that the pilot was ill and that no other pilot was available for the flight.

Once at the counter, we were given the choice of flying to Houston on AA to take a BA flight from there to Gatwick which would cause us to miss the morning Toulouse flight so we would have had a 4.5 hour layover. We were also offered to fly on AA to LGW but only in coach as we were on award ticket. Since we did not have anything pressing I asked about flying the next day. We were offered WT+ seats the next day as CW was fully booked already and we were “only on an award ticket” (MFU actually) the agent pointed out for a second time. We were told to decide immediately or step aside as others were waiting. Under pressure, we quickly decided to take the next day flight. I asked about accommodations and was told she would “see what she could do” but that I would need to wait until all passengers had been rebooked. We opted to stay with friends instead. Later, I tried to pick my seats online but the booking was showing WT+ with online check-in “impossible” and the choose seat option for the booking was grayed out.

The next day, a few hours before the flight, having had time to reflect upon the situation, I was a bit annoyed about the WT+ downgrade so I called up the EC. I was told that CW was fully booked but the agent told me to call back once I had flown and I would be refunded the entire 25,000 miles for the whole booking which was a nice gesture. I asked about being wait listed for CW but was told that they did not wait list mileage tickets.

After more thought, we decided that we would prefer to wait another day and fly in CW. As my friend lived closed to the airport, we hopped in the car and drove to the airport to see if that was possible. At the counter, the agent was a bit confused by the situation. I explained that we had been downgraded to WT+ the day before. She looked at my tickets and informed me that we were both already in CW! She went off for a minute to check with a supervisor then came back to inform me that we had indeed been moved back to CW as they had had a few cancellations. She also stated that a CW ticket is a CW ticket and that it should not matter how it was paid for, mileage or otherwise. Hurray! That is the answer I was hoping to hear all along! So we rushed back to my friend’s house to grab our luggage and return to DFW.

We got the same agent as before who remembered us and pulled up our tickets without even looking at our passport. I asked if we were in window / aisle seats and she apologized and said no and that unfortunately there were no seats available to move to. I was just glad to be in club anyway so no bother there. She was able to move the LGW-TLS seats to row 1 however. Security had a separate line for business and first passengers so no wait. Terminal D at DFW is new and attractive. The BA lounge is fairly small but modern and was fairly full. Of note for those that smoke, there is a separate smoking lounge in the lounge complex that is shared by all airlines. No food or beverage but you can go and exercise your vice prior to flight without having to go outside the terminal.

Our flight left about 30 minutes late but we did not hear from the pilot prior to take off so I have no idea what the delay was about. I was seated in a middle rear-facing seat with a stranger next to me. This is the first time I have flown in a middle seat and I didn’t care for it since the lack of division makes it feel like you are in the same bed with the person next to you. Fine for friends or couples but not so much for strangers. The flight was quite bumpy at the start (nothing major). They also rebooted the IFE. About 1 hour into the flight an announcement is made “It appears that we have a major problem (queue my panic!) ……. With the IFE….. Oh! Whew! So they rebooted it again. I guess it wasn’t working in part of the plane. Worked fine for me. Meal service started a bit late, about 2 hours into the flight. I was never addressed by name on this flight. The menu was as follows:

Dinner

Starters

Gravlax with lemon olive oil
Or
Antipasto plate of grilled Italian vegetables

Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette

Main

Beef short rib with root vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes

Brest of chicken filled with apricots, asparagus, carrots, wild rice, goose liver and cranberry with port wine sauce

Orecchiette pasta tossed with carrots, leeks, and courgette

Main course salad of Cajun marinated shrimp with grilled aubergine

Dessert

Cherry vanilla cheesecake

Aged Cheddar and Brie cheese

A selection of fruit

Wine was the same as the outbound flight.

Breakfast

Chilled orange juice and ruby grapefruit juice

An energizing fruit smoothie

Fresh seasonal fruit
Or
Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat’s muesli

Bakery

Warm bacon roll

Selection of warm breads and breakfast pastries

I selected the antipasto and shrimp salad. When the appetizer was delivered I was told that my original choice was not available and was asked if I would like the salmon. The salmon was fine but it would have been better if they had informed me before starting the service to see if the alternate was okay IMHO. The shrimp salad consisted of 3 large, tasty shrimp and one piece of grilled aubergine that were placed on top of the standard appetizer salad, a bit boring for a main course. I opted for the cheesecake for dessert. We were offered bread only once (during the appetizer service) and then I was just handed a piece rather than being presented with the basket. The food was still good but not as good the flight out of Gatwick. The person next to me ordered no main course. Rather than bringing the dessert early, they left her with a dirty tray and did not return until they were doing the dessert service for everyone. Obviously they should have brought her dessert out when they served the main course for others allowing her to finish early and sleep.

After the meal service, the lights were dimmed and I took a lexomil, which allowed me to grab about 4 hours of sleep. I woke up at the end of 4 hours and was about to roll over and go back to sleep when the lights came up a full 2 hours before arrival at the same time as WT and WT+. I found it most annoying as they usually wait and serve breakfast at the last possible minute in CW and I could have used the extra sleep. I choose the cereal, which was tasty. The pastries were terrible but probably not much can be done about it, as they want to serve European pastries baked in the US. Would be wiser to serve cinnamon rolls, muffins and raisin Danish as US bakers are more adept at making those types of pastries. I passed on the warm bacon roll as the last time I had it, I found it less than edible. After breakfast we finally heard from the pilot for the first time. He informed us that we would be landing in 30 minutes, a full 30 minutes late, so we made up no time in flight. We had a 15-minute taxi so we were on stand 45 minutes late.

We moved quickly to the security checkpoint for transfers within Gatwick north as there is no fasttrack. There were only about 10 people in front of us. There was only one checkpoint open and it was incredibly slow. It took us 25 minutes to get through security. We were fortunate to be in CW as the line behind us was about 80 deep. They are probably still there waiting to get through. My dreams of a shower and some lounge time had evaporated! In fact, as we were leaving from gate 105, we had to go straight to the gate due to the long walk. For those that smoke, there is no smoking area in the new gate area so best to do it in the lounge or in the smoking section back in the main gate area.

The load was light on the LGW-TLS flight. The purser hung up our jackets and shortly after gave the security demo. The pilot informed us that we should have a short flight time and pulled away from the gate right on time. The flight was smooth and we quickly reached cruising altitude. Warm towels were passed out followed by a hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and sausage. A choice of pastries and bread was also available. The rest of the flight was very smooth an uneventful. We were on our parking space 10 minutes early. We then boarded a bus for the terminal. Passport control was quick in Toulouse because everyone had queued up for one single agent, not noticing that there were two sitting there doing nothing. Oddly there were about 6 French military with machine guns around the passport control area. Once through the passport control area we waited for our bags in the enclosed customs area. After a few minutes a French customs agent came out and barked “Gatwick?” Someone answered yes and he barked “belt 4” and pointed out the customs door. We all left and went to belt 4 where most bags were coming up. Mine were not however, so I went back to belt 5 inside customs and there they were. I think they may send up bags that originated from the US within customs rather than outside which would make sense.

Over all I was satisfied with my experience with BA. The outbound long haul was certainly better than the return however. BA offers quite a bit via ba.com but it’s so buggy that it leads to frustration. As they move to rely more heavily on their online services they would be wise to iron out all the bugs I think that BA’s Miles for Upgrade from WT + to Club World is about the best deal in the sky currently. At 25,000 miles it’s cheap and I have a 100% record of MFU success so I have actually never flown in WT+! With my new silver card in hand I look forward to many more CW trips on BA providing BA doesn’t cancel more short haul flights out of my home country of France.

Thanks for taking the time to report back, MorganB ^

The TLS-LGW leg posted later, with no tier points, after I filled out the web form. A quick question for the BA experts, (I did do a search but couldn’t find the answer): since the TLS-LGW flight would have put me at exactly 400 points, should I have the 75 points that I earned for the LGW-DFW flight or are those simply lost because both legs were flown on the same day?

Tricky one. Logically, you'd think you were right. However, given both flights were on the same day, had they posted correctly in the first place at the same time then both would still have been zero'd out in the promotion to Silver. Still, you may want to call and explain to the EC what happened here. They may be willing to comment your account that an extra 75 TPs were effectively 'lost' in the promotion cycle - if you are short of Silver/Gold at the end of your next membership year, you can then call again and ask them to take these in to account. Hopefully, it will be a moot point anyway and you'll retain Silver no problem thanks to FT ;)

Terrific report; can I ask what you paid?

Thanks for taking the time to report back, MorganB
Still, you may want to call and explain to the EC what happened here. They may be willing to comment your account that an extra 75 TPs were effectively 'lost' in the promotion cycle - if you are short of Silver/Gold at the end of your next membership year, you can then call again and ask them to take these in to account.
Thanks for the info and glad you liked the report! I will give them a call and see if I manage to get some distance out of that.

Hopefully, it will be a moot point anyway and you'll retain Silver no problem thanks to FT ;)
I hope so! On the upside, my first Silver year is 13 months rather than 12 with an expiration on December 8th 2007. Not sure why they did that.

The main problem I have is getting connections out of France to long hauls to North America. With the Gatwick/Heathrow split it makes it complicated. For example, if I want to go to Dallas but am leaving from Paris I can no longer connect without changing airports in London as there are no more CDG-LGW flights. In the past I could also leave from Montpellier and connect via Gatwick but they have changed the flight times to where this does not work and at any rate that flight is BACON (days are numbered) and now only during the summer.

I also like to fly CDG-LHR-ORD with a final leg on AA to LIT. Unfortunately I cannot buy it all on one ticket despite AA being a code share since I tend to MFU and thats a non BA metal flight. When I do price it out without MFU, BA charges about 800$ for the AA leg which is almost 3x the AA price on a non restricted fare!

BA has become very London centric. I continue to jump through the hoops to be able to fly them but with every change it becomes more and more difficult.

Terrific report
Thanks Krug!
can I ask what you paid?

1,700$ US or 1,350 euros.

The beauty of it is that the price is always the same from any city in France to any destination in North America. It doesnt matter if I book 3 days ahead of time or 6 months. The price is always the same. Its been that way for a couple of years.

Great trip report, thanks MorganB!!