mach92

Off to London for a few days and wanted to fly into LHR vs LGW. So I booked BA via YYZ for the first time. I have never flown BA in First before so I was looking forward to it. This is all about the trip over to LHR.

DFW-YYZ AA 1252

Driving into DFW from downtown Dallas as always was easy. Traffic was light and I parked at terminal D for my 10:56am departure to YYZ. Check in was well a madhouse. Every line was long and I was afraid I was cutting it to close (90 minutes) The First line was not moving at all. AA had one person checking in for F and 3 agents for business. I quickly moved over from the F line to the C line. After about a 25 minute wait I was checking in. The agent was ok, but seemed bothered when I asked for some type of F or premium bag tag (which he had none) No big deal, I will re-check my bags with BA in YYZ. The security line was long but had a First line so that was all of 5 minutes.

Next it was off to the admirals club for some phone calls and e-mail. I headed down to gate D-17 about 10:25am and boarding was soon after. The plane was a 737-800 today and completely full. I won't bore you will all the details of AA in First (what little service is left anymore). It was the normal "snack" service. Cold turkey sandwich with drinks. Our arrival into YYZ was on-time. I was worried that BA would have a plane change from a 747-400 to a 777 today. The past few days BA did in fact do this on flight 92. On landing, I could see the big 747 at the gate so I was happy NO plane change today!

Canadian customs was not that fast but painless. I re-claimed by bags and went to the BA first counter to check back in. The lines were LONG for economy. Check in for First was pleasant. The agent tagged my bags with First class and re-issued my boarding pass on BA ticket stock. She gave me a map for the departure lounge wished me a good flight and I was off to security. Their was no special lines for F or C passengers so this took around 20-25minutes. Once up their it seemed like mass confusion just like TSA in the states. I did not expect this from Canada.

I found the departure lounge for BA. It is a mixed lounge with NO special area for First. I was amazed at how small it was considering BA has three wide body departures to LHR. I checked in with the agent. She asked me if I would be dining in the lounge today or on the plane. I opted for the dinner on board. The right side of the lounge was the dine area and the left was the seating area. BA had some wine out with a few bottles of booze. Very few snack choices. Some cheese and potato chips that was about it. The lounge quickly filled up and every seat was taken. It was obvious BA needs more seating or a new lounge in YYZ. I was not impressed. Many others seemed botherd as well by the poor lounge. OK on to the flight!

BA 92 YYZ LHR

I headed down to the gate around 5:15pm for our 6:15 departure to LHR. The gate area was packed and to my surprise the crew was just getting on at like 5:20. I was thinking noway will we leave on-time but we did. Boarding began at 535pm with First and Club world. I was in seat 2A today. I was greeted by a very nice lady who took my coat. Soon after another F/A brought me a small plate of macadamia nuts. I asked for Champagne and soon after I was sipping Pommery Cuvee Louise 1997.

First was full tonight with mostly older business men. Menus were handed out along with sleep wear and amenity kits. I decided not to change as our flying time tonight was only 5:50. I needed to get some work done and I was not tired being on Dallas time.

We pushed off the gate on-time and the massive 747-400 was taxing for departure. I heard one of the F/A's say we were completely full tonight in all cabins. Lift off was around 640pm. A smooth rotation into the sunny YYZ sky with a left turn out back over the city. Service began around 15 minutes later. Tonight's menu is as follows:

Starters:
Atlantic smoked Salmon on wild rice blini with maple lime dressing
Fried Haloumi cheese on panko-crusted aubergine
Curried broccoli soup with cucumber raita
Fresh salad leaves with your choice of balsamic vinaigrette or garlic and sour cream dessing

Main:
Grilled beef tenderloin with soy-braised cipolline onions,broccoli,pattypan and caramelised onion mashed potatoes
Panko-crusted lamb chop with red wine sauce, sauteed courgette carrots, yellow squash and roast potatoes
Shrimp linguine pasta with tomato sauce
Shredded breast of chicken on Asian green salad with soy ginger dessing

Dessert:
Vanilla panna cotta

Snacks:
Penne pasta
Duchy of Cornwall biscuits
A selection of fruit and cheese
Hot chocolate with warm chocolate chip cookies

Cheese plate:
Aged Maple Dale Cheddar
Stilton
Pepper Brie
A basket of fresh fruit
Your choice of espresso,cappuccino,coffee,decaffeinated coffee,tea or herbal tea

Breakfast:
Chilled fruit juice
An energizing fruit smoothie
A selection of fruit or plain yoghurts and cereals
Fresh seasonal fruit plate

Bakery:
A wide selection of breakfast pastries and rolls
Warm bacon roll

Main:
Scrambled eggs,grilled bacon,pork sausages,sauteed mushrooms,grilled tomatoes and hash brown potatoes
Mushroom Omelette
American pancakes with maple syrup or blueberry compote

I would say out of the 14 people in First tonight 10 decided to skip dinner and sleep. This made for very fast but friendly service. I decided to try most of the starters which were very good. I had the Shrimp linguine for dinner which was also very tasty. The breads were fantastic along with the cheese plate. The dessert was OK, nothing to write home about. I thought the entire service was excellent. Our three Flight attendants up front were good. Having never flown BA before they definitely impressed me here.

The rest of the flight was uneventful expect for the turbulence. I was up chatting with the F/A's in the galley and we started to hit some pretty good moderate chop. Unfortunately this lasted almost 2.5 hours. So back to my seat I went to work on my laptop, but it was just to bumpy. I felt sorry for the poor folks aft of the wing because the 747-400 was a rock in and rolling.

About an hour out of LHR breakfast was served. I had the eggs and hash brown choice. Again the food was good and service excellent. We landed around 6:05 am into a rainy low overcast. The pilot really rolled the big girl on (nice landing) We parked at terminal 4 and the race was on to clear the fast track line. Let me tell you thank god for the fast track because the other lines were very long. It was painless and I was off to collect my bags. Once I found the correct baggage claim my bags were going around already (First Class tags worked)

OK now off to check out BA's arrival lounge. It was down this really small hallway at the end of the arrivals hall. It really looked run down to me and not what I had expected. I showed the counter girl my F boarding pass and was admitted. I parked my bags with the gentlemen at the luggage area. I then decided to try the showers out. The line was about 12-15 people kinda long but expected with all BA's heavy metal AM arrivals.

Once done, I went upstairs to check out the breakfast. Tons of food with every chair taken. Just like the YYZ lounge I think BA needs something bigger. I did not stay to eat. I was still full from breakfast on the plane. My main goal was to shower and check out the lounge.

So after my one leg on BA I would say their First Class product is very good. I would still rank it slightly behind Cathey and Singapore. I have two reasons for this.

1) I did not like the BA F seat as much as CX or SQ. I personally could not get 100% comfortable to sleep. The bed seemed hard to me even with the cover.
2) The in-flight entertainment is behind the times compared to once again Cathey, Virgin or Singapore.

Everything else on BA was excellent. The cabin staff were outstanding along with their ground personal in Toronto & London. I am looking forward to my return next week.

Thanks for reading. I will post some pics and the wine list when I get back to DFW.

number_6

Wouldn't the BA non-stop from DFW have been a better use of time? As well as having a longer flight time. Is getting to LHR instead of LGW worth skipping a non-stop and enduring what is rarely a nice flight (the flight from YYZ is simply too short).

The BA lounge at YYZ has been a problem for years, and has never improved (actually gotten worse in the past year). BA does a landslide business out of YYZ (as many as 4 flights/day, depending on the season), and the lounge is sized for 1 flight. I usually have a salad on the ground, and then eat on the plane (the pre-flight dining meal is rather poor, nothing like JFK serves -- I guess there is a bit more competition for BA at JFK, hence the much better service there).

mach92

I was meeting friends at LHR and YYZ on the return. I agree 100% DFW LGW next time.

RPRocket

As an AA Plat, going direct from DFW excludes you from accumulating miles on BA.

I am planning the same itinerary (from IAH thru DFW) and onto BA J via YYZ later this summer