LondonAndy

London Andy's trip report - inaugural flight 9 August 2013

710 77345

Thanks for taking the initiative to organise & tidy up the forum, but do you realise that you haven't written anything in your review other than 3 posts saying "to be filled in"?

If it's that important to be first, may I suggest we organise things on a first come, first served basis to be fair to all?

lorcancoyle

Was tempted to reserve my spot in the A350 thread when I read this

LondonAndy

Flikr was taking for ever to upload - should be sorted now. When I work out how to do a wiki I'll do that in alphabetical order (as BotB did for the other one, so you'll come pretty close to the top )

Skipcool3

Economy looks tight for short-haul, let alone long haul.

Lobengula

I also noticed this, maybe it's the photo but it really looks like a narrow shoulder to shoulder configuration. Imagine being in the middle with two strangers on a long-haul

HIDDY

To be honest a middle seat in long haul Y on any aircraft is never going to be a bed of roses. It's something I sincerely hope I never have to experience ever again.

Crampedin13A

Those were the days. Having the middle seat on a longhaul 2-5-2 Y configuration as a non-smoker in the smoking section. Unfortunately I can still remember them well 25+ years on.

nh1980

I may be (well am really) a spoilt brat but found even 21H (bulkhead front row of WT) a little too close to other humans despite having a (well behaved) 5 yr old who didnt even come near to my shoulders next to me...thankfully eej-whatever (pls change that username ) rescued me back to my rightful place in row 10 on the way back, close enough to secure champagne from CW allies

corporate-wage-slave

A huge thank you to my fellow forumites who made yesterday an unforgetable experience spending 6 hour 22 minutes flying the 80 metres between gates B34 and B38. Here are a few random pictures, though you will see I'm not in the same photographic league as some of my co-conspirators!

My boarding card for the inaugural service,annoted and autographed by the captain, Mark Gregg.



This was our view in the Concorde Room as the aircraft was brought to B34.



And the view from the B gates.



The flight deck.



Photo of some of us in the lounge at Arlanda.



On the return to London we did a bit of a dip looking out over the London Eye.



Some notes for anyone else in the next 2 weeks thinking of doing a back to back booking:

1) You cannot book it back to back on ba.com, so it's going to be 2 bookings, unless you use a travel agent or ring BA. This in theory puts you at a risk since your return is not guaranteed; however we had 1 hour 10 minutes for our stop-over, it was a bit sticky at passports, we had 5-10 minutes in the lounge but we could have had 15 minutes quite comfortably.
2) It was a bus gate for us, though it did not take long and was well organised. The departing bus gate was 71 for us.
3) Arriving at ARN: When you arrive inside the terminal after the bus, you go up the stairs, along the corridor. Half way along there is a sign for gates 70-82, and a buzzer, which suggest that if you press it, a member of staff will let you through. [This is confirmed to work see antodeste's post 35 below. The buzzer light goes green to register the request]. However I was with some particularly thirsty forumites so we pressed on to the lounge.
4) So continue down the long corridor to passports. There are 2 channels, one marked EU/EEA, the other on the right for unEuropean aliens, but marked "all passports". There are some tensa queuing on the EU side, and just one agent for each queue, so (a) get off the bus quick and (b) make a decision as to whether to go EU or not based on the other passengers
5) After passports it's a short distance down the stairs to baggage reclaim, double back to exit customs and you are briefly landside.
6) Turn right to go the short distance to security - pass is scanned. No queues for us and we were through quite quickly.
7) Turn left towards gates 70+. Continue on a bit, then on the left side you will see some stairs marked for a bar/restaurant and Business Lounge. Go up, around the bar and there is the Menzies lounge - worth a detour! The lady may suggest your aircraft is boarding but a smile and "we will be very quick" should get you in for a swift one or two.
8) From lounge don't go downstairs the way you came, you will see a sign that takes you through to passports (very quick), follow the signs and down the stairs to the gate for the buses.

BotB

787 Pictures and mini review:

Some lovely Cumulus clouds at LHR, oh, sorry, you're more interested in the plane Here she is parked at B34 ready for our inaugural flight.


Gate B34 787 by BA_pics, on Flickr


lovely deep blue with window filter on by BA_pics, on Flickr

I enjoyed trying the new 787 out and expected it to be better than the A380 for many reasons, however, after trying both I have to say I prefer the A380.

I am sure many others will post pictures of the cabins, exterior and such so I focused on the extra leg room points of CW and any other quirks that I think will be of use and interest.

More words to follow but for now some pictures:

My seat for the inaugural ride: 1B (and sat beside BA royalty, a person that EVERY CC knows on the 787 or A380).


Seat 1B by BA_pics, on Flickr

Seat 1B has a decent view to the cockpit and the door was open for a few minutes when I first boarded:


View to cockpit from 1B by BA_pics, on Flickr

Top TIp: be aware that seats 1 and 2 D and F do not have any overhead locker space! So you will have to share or squeeze in with the others!)…their space is used for the crew rest:


No overhead locker space 1 or 2 D or F by BA_pics, on Flickr

This is the reason why:


crew rest area behind is a seat as well with IFE by BA_pics, on Flickr

One disappointing feature that seems to be on both new aircraft is the wildly undulating floor…as well as all of the strange risers used to fix the foot stools. This is seat 2A floor space for example (look at the ducts to see how the floor rises up and then back down again). Also visible here is the dark grey to white gradient they used for the wall panels.


undulating floor also on 787 by BA_pics, on Flickr

I found it interesting that the 787 (don't remember seeing this on the A380) CW seats are a mixture of straight sided (flat) housings and a new much more bulbous side skirting seen in next picture. First how we all know CW seats look like (this being 1B on the 787):


standard seat is straight by BA_pics, on Flickr

Here a picture of the bulbous sided CW seat:


bulbous seat anchoring some CW seats by BA_pics, on Flickr

The obligatory food pic: Lunch on 780. Chicken Tikka which tasted very good but doesn't look great in this photo! And you will notice….A bread plate, yes, a bread plate.


Chicken Tikka Lunch 780 with bread plate by BA_pics, on Flickr

Okay, so now time for the foot stool space pictures: Not much comment needed really:

Seats 3 A and K have a bit of extra room and would be the seats I would likely choose if I was to fly here again soon.


footspace 3A by BA_pics, on Flickr

Seat 1J might have an extra inch but nothing more, at least no shroud around the feet as protected from bulkhead from stray carts!


foot space 1J by BA_pics, on Flickr

Seats 1 D and F are not my recommendation due to the overhead loss of lockers and the shrouds on the foot stools (and no extra space):


foot space 1D and F by BA_pics, on Flickr

My own seat !B was also no better really but at least no shroud as mentioned. You can see the bizarre raised platforms needed to anchor the foot stools here quite well, but it makes for a lot of raised different surfaces in the cabin:


foot space 1B by BA_pics, on Flickr

Here you can see the extra inch that 3E gets as well as that raised support structure again, good luck trying to put your foot down in the dark and when sleepy with these edges and such high 1 inch curbed edges!:


foot space 3E by BA_pics, on Flickr

BotB

787 review part -2-


It was quite something to be able to board the 787 from the steps instead of being docked at a gate (like we were in LHR on the first flight). For the ARN return we could get plenty of pictures of the bird from the ground and close ups of the engines, etc…it looked like a paparazzi event due to the two groups (FT and the Swedish business traveller FF group taking pics!) Everyone wanted to get photos and it took a while for the ground staff to corral everyone to the stairs and get them onboard

Here my contribution showing the reg:


our ride ZBJB by BA_pics, on Flickr

and that lovely engine again:


Lovely RR engines by BA_pics, on Flickr

You can see the the wing tip is much more flat when on terra firma (here at ARN waiting for cargo to be loaded):


view from 7K by BA_pics, on Flickr

Another of that lovely engine from RR (and some cute Cumulus cloud in the lower distance on take off from ARN):


obligatory cloud shot with engine by BA_pics, on Flickr

View from 7K, you can see the wing tip rises once airborne but doesn't move about as much as the A380.


wing tip rises when in air by BA_pics, on Flickr

I just really liked the Cirrus cloud you can see here but the windows have a couple of settings which are good for pictures acting like a camera filter ^


some very nice Cirrus by BA_pics, on Flickr

Here you can see the flaps lifted when we were doing our initial descent into LHR on the return, also the wing tip rise:


shot of flaps from 7K by BA_pics, on Flickr

I found it a bit of a shame that although the second cabin is very much more private and also has the extra foot stool space so seems the best cabin to choose of the two CW cabins…there are a few negatives. Food took forever to get to 7K, (this was the inaugural run so maybe that will improve) and there was no choice for food by the time they got to my seat. Also, the windows in the second cabin are such that 6A and 6K get 3 windows (like normal) but one window is wasted at the very front of the cabin and 7A and 7K only get 2 windows due to the WT+ bulkhead spacing. The windows in 7A and K are at least aligned so you can use them and the third window would be the one farthest away but it is still missing!:


larger windows by BA_pics, on Flickr


shame 1 window wasted and only 2 for 7A or K by BA_pics, on Flickr

Foot stool space pics I took on the return leg:

The best seat on the 787 in Club for length is: 6J (possibly also 6A but didn't see that one so can't say):


6J winner of foot space on 787 in CW by BA_pics, on Flickr

7A and K have an extra inch but nothing more than that. At least you can get out without jumping over anyone: (same as 3 A and K)


foot space 3K by BA_pics, on Flickr

Sorry for the poor pic but it shows that 7E only has an extra inch as well:


foot space 7E by BA_pics, on Flickr

Seats 6 D and F have an extra 3 inches and no shroud blocking part of the stool so are quite good. The pic doesn't really show this but there were already people in those seats so couldn't get any better ones than this sorry! Bulkhead protects the feet so no need for shroud:


foot space 6D and F cant see but some extra space by BA_pics, on Flickr

Food offering for this short haul return from ARN to LHR around 19:20. A prawn salad, which was fine for me but was a bit light for a supper to be honest in my opinion, although at least they made up for it by providing (ahem) a liquid alternative.


no choice in 7K and late but tasted good by BA_pics, on Flickr

Coming in to land, I am always fascinated when the engine cowling moves back and forth, here is a pic of the new engines doing this:


cowling moves back by BA_pics, on Flickr

Back at LHR, you can get an impression of the differences in the wing size and curvature here when the 747 was parked alongside at a B gate:


wing comparisons 787 left 747 right by BA_pics, on Flickr

To end: It is great that BA also now has some new planes and variety in the palette. Desperately needed. The 787 is indeed nice and a step up from the existing Boeing planes BA use, however, I would prefer the A380 personally. The 787 is louder than I expected and louder than the A380. It is very smooth though so no stuttering or vibrations when taking off, etc…like the older beasts. The 787 is also quieter by far than the 747 or 777 in Club. Interestingly, on the 787 you hear far less noise if you are sat at the very back in economy than in Club at the front. So some good news for those flying down the back on the new bird.

I found I had to constantly pressurise my ears as well on the 787 which I didn't on the A380. Shame that, it really is something I suffer from and I was hoping the 787 would be as good as the A380 in that regard.

I am not sure about the increased humidity benefit as this flight was far too short to judge that but hopefully that is a true benefit that we'll notice in future on LH flights.

I was also a bit disappointed that the window seats don't benefit from the extra height that the aisle or middle seats do. On the A380 you could stand up straight as a 6 foot person and not bang your head. On the 787 you have the same old problem of the crunch until you can get out into the aisle. Everywhere else the extra head room is massive and very appreciated though.

The new design and split CW cabins are brilliant and very much appreciated. Thank you for listening to us BA. ^

My pick for seats would be 3A or 3K first as this is in the first cabin and lets you have the window and get out without jumping over anyone as well as being good for food and service as well as exiting the aircraft regardless of which door is used.

My next pick would be 6B or 6J as they have the most leg room so people 6 foot 6 inches can still sleep without having to use the z config or angle their bodies, and it is also good for food and exit strategy at destination.

I would prefer the second cabin if the service was quicker and you didn't have to worry about not getting a food choice. Very small and intimate so a form of UD if you will. If you want to sleep and not bothered about food, then 7A or K are your best bet and the loss of the extra window will be a benefit rather than a loss.

The first row of WT+ seems to still offer the great foot space to the bulkhead I mentioned in the A380 thread which is very welcome and definitely would be my pick if travelling in this cabin. WT+ looks very good still and I would be happy to travel in this cabin on the 787.

WT looks a nightmare if I am honest, and I am not trying to be elitist here…simply that 9 abreast in a small space such as the 787 is not to be underestimated. ALL the FTer's I talked to have said that the WT cabin looked okay in the pictures when no one was sitting there…but once you put someone in those seats and saw 9 people shoulder to shoulder…you shuddered and quickly averted your eyes. Best to try and get the older planes or the A380 for that cabin in my opinion.

Hope this is of use and interest. A great plane, a welcome addition to the fleet and a great day. ^

diamond club freeloader

Yes , very interesting - and extremely useful (in particular the seating advice!) - as usual BotB ^

T8191

Nice reportage, BotB … especially the bit about bread plates. Will BA roll this out across all CW cabins now?

layz

It was CE, I've seen bread plates in CE before.

So the question should be: will BA roll these better seats out across all CE cabins now?