Trip report LHR-BKK-LHR Club World

Old Oct 29, 2014, 3:05 pm
  #1  
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Trip report LHR-BKK-LHR Club World

Background

I was travelling to BKK for work for a one day meeting on Wednesday. The policy is we have to travel discounted economy. I was leaving on the Monday and returning on Thursday. For this only the full economy fare of £1,900 was available. TG didn’t have a Saturday night stay requirement on their cheapest fare which was only £800. So it looked like I would have to fly TG, which I didn’t want to do.

Fortunately I checked BA holidays and discovered that by booking that way the Saturday night stay is waived in economy and premium economy, but not business. So I booked it that way which meant the fare element was around £800. I topped it up with £400 of my own money to upgrade to WTP at time of booking. I continuously checked for Avios upgrade availability but none was available.

Outbound flight BA9 (Three class 777)

I arrived at T5 early and asked about a paid upgrade at the zone H desks. I was quoted £599 which I accepted. I was then escorted across to another desk – next to the First checkin where my money was taken. There was plenty of seat choice and I opted for 5b a forward facing aisle seat. Fast Track was fast and the lounge in T5 South wasn’t too crowded. I guested in my colleague who was in Economy.

We left from T5b. Boarding was on time with efficient priority boarding, for which there were at least two announcements. Push back was delayed 20 mins due to congestion and it was a further hour before wheels up, meaning we landed over an hour late.

I knew what to expect from the Club World service and I wasn’t disappointed, except that they ran out of the full English breakfast and offered me one from economy instead. Overall the food was good, but when I asked for cheese and desert it was refused. The crew were efficient and friendly and I got 6 hours good sleep. On looking back into WTP there was one empty seat – it was my original seat. There were about 8 empty seats in CW.

Return flight BA10 (Three class 777)

I checked in online and was allocated my chosen WTP seat. At the airport I decided to ask about upgrades out of interest (but had told myself I couldn’t afford one). The response was that the flight was completely oversold and I was given an op up to CW seat 10J. I was given a card to access priority security on the back of which was a map where they marked the location of the lounge. The fast track was completely separate to the normal security (similar to Premium Gatwick security) and I was through in no time. Unfortunately they took away the card with the map. I could not find the lounge. I asked two airport staff for directions but they didn’t know where it was so I went straight to the gate

Boarding and departure were on time and we landed about 20 mins late. It was the same crew as on the outbound and they recognised me from the previous flight. The food was good and I was impressed that they served two full hot meals.

So, I paid £1,800 for a return in CW for which I would have paid £4,500 at the time I booked. I think I got a good deal and enjoyed the flights.

I may go to BKK again for a leisure trip. I will book well in advance, be flexible and stay the Saturday night to get the cheapest (I class) business fare. Will I fly BA? Probably not. I think I will fly Cathay Pacific (despite the connection in HKG which I don’t mind as I enjoy flying). Why? Well I enjoy the little extras they offer that BA doesn’t such as

• Superior seat (A matter of opinion I know but I prefer the privacy, aisle access from every seat and extra storage for things like my glasses when I am asleep which the CW seat doesn’t have)

• Being made to feel special by being addressed by name

• Drinks served from a well laid out trolley with warm nuts in a dish and olives – rather than the BA plastic bag)

• Table cloth on the table (Not just on the tray)

• Cruets instead of paper sachets and a plate for the bread

• Separate cheese and desert services with cheese cut from the trolley (not pre-plated), a separate plate of fresh fruit and biscuits that aren’t presented in a packet

• Hot snacks available to order in flight

• 888 music CDs, compared to 30 on BA not to mention the extra films and TV programmes
leisureflyer1234 is offline  
Old Oct 29, 2014, 3:11 pm
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The things you have identified cost very little. It particularly would annoy me being offered cheese OR pud. Fair enough when paying very little. But just wrong IMHO when paying for Club.
Incidentally, Eva air is a good direct option.
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Old Oct 29, 2014, 3:26 pm
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An interesting read...and nice to hear that you got upgraded on the return ^
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Old Oct 29, 2014, 4:31 pm
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Eh? You paid £599 of your own money when you were flying for the companies benefit?
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Old Oct 29, 2014, 4:52 pm
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Originally Posted by creampuff
Eh? You paid £599 of your own money when you were flying for the companies benefit?
Plus the £400 to purchase the WT+ so £999 in total. wouldn't do it myself
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Old Oct 29, 2014, 11:27 pm
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Originally Posted by benjyyy
Plus the £400 to purchase the WT+ so £999 in total. wouldn't do it myself
Depends how much you earn and what you do and what value you put on your time.

I contract and so time is money and I can work in a better seat so it is cost neutral or even profit making- 6 hours work cover the cost of most seats. I do the same on trains when in the UK- I can work on 1st and put in 4 hours on a return to London but cant work easily or privately in standard.

But I pay for CW/equivalent or upgrade to 1st with miles (don't book full 1st- or haven't yet ) when travelling for leisure- you could argue that also isn't worth it.

For some people it is worth the money to get some sleep which will then enable them to enjoy the time in leisure when they arrive at a destination rather than sleeping.

Last edited by Barnaby100; Oct 29, 2014 at 11:40 pm
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 1:35 am
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8 empty seats in club and you still had to have a breakfast from economy???! Shameful.

And the no on dessert and cheese. Crikey.
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 1:51 am
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Originally Posted by BHDATC
8 empty seats in club and you still had to have a breakfast from economy???! Shameful.

And the no on dessert and cheese. Crikey.
This is one of the things that absolutely astonishes me! Maybe I'm lucky as it hasn't happened to me, but I find it incredible that the catering in a premium cabin has been "enhanced" to the point that some passengers don't even get any.
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 2:39 am
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Originally Posted by catandmouse
This is one of the things that absolutely astonishes me! Maybe I'm lucky as it hasn't happened to me, but I find it incredible that the catering in a premium cabin has been "enhanced" to the point that some passengers don't even get any.
There can be an interesting dilemma here.

If you know that on 99.7% of your flights on a particular route only one or two passengers eat the meal and that only about once a year everybody will dine but you cannot predict when, should you still cater for every passenger?

If you do cater for everybody, it is extremely wasteful and you might end up throwing away nearly 11,000 meals (multiply by say 100 flights and you have more than a million meals!). If you do not cater for everybody, then once a year you will have 30 unhappy passengers.

What would you do?
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 2:50 am
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Sixth freedom - yes, those 11000 meals will cost around 4 full price J tickets. If BA need to cost cut in their premium cabins they should come clean and ditch the premium tag and just sell bigger seats.

I run a small B&B and charge £70 a night for a single room. Today we have one guest in, yet yesterday I spent a fiver on fresh fruit and a full buffet is laid out. BA would have one egg, one sausage, a slice of bacon and a slither of smoked salmon in the kitchen fridge.
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 2:06 pm
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I work in higher education and most of our income these days is from student fees so its a pain we cant fly business but understandable.
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 3:13 pm
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Yes they should cater for every person who pays thousands of pounds for a ticket. Having no food or economy food on a premium ticket is appalling. Waste or no waste.
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 3:27 pm
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Actually they had 4 choices of hot food and it was just the full English breakfast that was unavailable. I had an alternative and after that they brought out the full English from economy in the plastic tray but on a plate

Incidentally, on the return they ran out of choices too. At one point they ran out of glasses and were using plastic cups
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 4:03 pm
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Originally Posted by leisureflyer1234
Incidentally, on the return they ran out of choices too. At one point they ran out of glasses and were using plastic cups
My god!...it just gets worse and worse
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Old Oct 30, 2014, 4:13 pm
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Welcome to the new BA.
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