warakorn

Here is a quick snap of my recent flight to Mainland China.

Around 80% of my longhaul flights have rather light loads. This time I was unlucky. Behind my row I saw an empty middle seat, however, my row was fully occupied.

The aircraft was serviced by a senior BA worldwide crew.

I believe it makes no difference how well or how bad the crew is treating the passengers - it will always be Y.
Because of the full flight I refrained from taking cabin pics.

Here are some flight stats:

Flight: British Airways Flight BA 169
Departure from: London Heathrow Airport, LHR, United Kingdom
Take Off from Runway 27L; length 3,660 m / 12,008 ft
Arrival To: Shanghai Pudong International Airport, PVG, China
Landing on: Runway 17R, length 3,400 m / 11,155 ft
Distance: 5,754 miles / 9,261 km
Duration: 10 hours and 28 minutes
Passenger load in Y: approx. 96%
Travel Class: World Traveller, Economy
Lounges visited at LHR:
British Airways Galleries Club Lounge North (crowded)
British Airways Galleries Club Lounge South (crowded)
British Airways Galleries Club Lounge Satellite T5B (calm)
Plane: Boeing 777-300ER
Registration: G-STBB
Delivered to BA: August 2010
Engines: 2 x General Electric GE90-115B
Take-Off Thrust: 115,500 lb each
Route: via Frederikshavn, Göteborg, Stockholm, Turku, Petrosawodsk, Surgut, Abakan, Tariat, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Hefei, Suzhou



Inside the crowded British Airways Galleries Club Lounge North:







Looking at the even more crowded Galleries Club Lounge South:





Galleries Club Lounge Satellite T5B is an oasis with only a few passengers:







View from the lounge:





Our Boarding Gate C56 in Terminal T5C:





Our Boeing 777-300ER, delivered to BA in 2010:





After pushback:







American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER at Terminal 3:





Star Alliance Terminal called The Queen's Terminal:





Cloudy Britain after a take off from Runway 27L:





180 degree turn after take off:





Complimentary hot dinner:





Around Frederikshavn, Denmark:





Just North of Göteborg, Sweden:





Sunset over Petrosawodsk, Karelia, Russia:





About to enter Chinese airspace:





Deploying Speedbrakes above Suzhou:







Soon we will receive a direct vector to Pudong Airport:





Above the Northern parts of Shanghai:





After landing on Runway 17R at Pudong:





Terminal 2 at Shanghai Pudong International Airport:





Approaching the gate at Terminal 2:





Unfortunately, I did not get a nice shot on the BA bird from the arrivals area:





Luckily I caught this bird on some other trips:





A calm Airport Metro train:





Shanghai Jing'an District; I always stay there:





View from the Swissotel (which I do not like too much):





Some dumb tourist shots:







Relaxing on top of the Apartment in the French Concession:





Here is the detailed video about this flight from London Heathrow to Shanghai Pudong:





All my trip reports on FT:

Airbus:

Iberia Airbus A340-600 London - Madrid in Y

Air Caraibes Airbus A350-900 Guadeloupe - Paris in Y

Empty Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - London Heathrow in Y+ and AY Lounge Sauna

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Helsinki - Shanghai in Y+

Finnair Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong - Helsinki in Y+

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 Singapore - New Delhi in Upper Deck Y

British Airways Airbus A380-800 Singapore - London Heathrow in Y



Boeing:

Asiana Boeing 747-400 Combi Tokyo - Seoul in F

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Montreal - Cancun in Y+

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-300ER Cancun - Toronto in Y

United Boeing 777-200ER Houston - Newark - Amsterdam in C

United Boeing 777-200ER Amsterdam - Houston in Y+

United Boeing 777-200ER Singapore - Hongkong in C

British Airways Boeing 777-300ER London - Shanghai in Y

ANA Boeing 777-300ER Singapore - Tokyo in C

Swiss Boeing 777-300ER Zurich - Hong Kong in Y

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong - Singapore in Y

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Sint Maarten - Curacao in P

TUI Airlines Nederland Boeing 787-8 Curacao - Amsterdam in P

Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Toronto - London in Y

ANA Boeing 787-8 Shanghai Pudong - Tokyo Narita in C

United Boeing 787-9 Los Angeles - Houston in C



Train:

CFR Calatori Bucharest - Istanbul Halkali in Sleeper Car

EuroNight Jan Kiepura Cologne - Warsaw in Sleeper Cabin

China High Speed Rail Shanghai - Xiamen in F

Caledonian Sleeper Train Inverness - London Euston in Sleeper Cabin

French TGV High Speed Train: Barcelona - Paris in F

China High Speed Rail Guangzhou - Shanghai Hongqiao in Y

Swiss Railways Lötschberg Mountain Line Bern - Brig in F

Ukraine Railways Kiev - Budapest in Sleeper Cabin

Virgin Trains West Coast London - Glasgow in F



Enjoy!

payam81

Great TR. love the more technical details. What source do you use for them and the load factor if I may ask?

Also, was this a one meal service flight? Any info on the particular choices?

supermintyfresh

I wonder if all the planes that fly to smoggy Chinese cities have dirty air brakes like that on the wing.

MatthewLAX

Pictures do not display for me. Anyone else?

supermintyfresh

Works fine for me! Seems like they are hosted on this site: "http://img4web.com/i/EFYA6.jpg"

Maybe you are behind a firewall/filter/.......?

alastairloh

or is it just BA planes that regularly seem to have dirty exteriors

Annalisa12

Thanks for posting. Great pics.

moondog

I'll echo the others in saluting your pics and the technical details of your flight, but the main reason I'm posting is to applaud your affinity towards Jing'an. Many people on FT gravitate towards less cool parts of town (e.g. Peoples Square, Bund, Lujiazui) just because the nicest hotels aren't in Jing'an, but it's going to take a long time before JA passes on the "convenience torch".

On a different note, why not take the #2 bus instead of the subway? You save 45 minutes for a nominal price difference and end up in the exact same place (JA Temple).

Thomas.T

You are absolutely right. IMO Jing'an and former Luwan, situated in the very center of Shanghai, are coolest parts of the city.

warakorn

Indeed, I was taking this particular bus from Pudong to Shanghai Center (Jingan Temple).
You may see my ride at minute 41:44 in my video.
However, I do not like the bus too much - filthy, not reliable.
The Metro is much nicer, so I included a photo here.


Yes, I always stay and go out somewhere within the triangle West Nanjing Road - Jingan Temple - Hengshan Road (French Consession).
I dislike the section between People's Square and the Huangpu River.

moondog

Points in favor of the #2 bus:
-45 minutes is preferable to 85 minutes
-forward facing seat
-ability to look out the window (as demonstrated in your video)

In light of the fact that I am presently located in xtd, the busses are not especially practical for me, so I typically use Uber to PVG, and taxis from PVG.

Let us know next time you're in Shanghai, and we'll grab some beers.

warakorn

I am not a big fan of taking a taxi between the city and Pudong. Often the taxi drivers are making big unnecessary detours and blaming it on traffic.
Going from Jingan Temple to Pudong, the taxi will route us through the intersection of Yanan Elevated Route and the (Western) Middle Ring Road - that's more than halfway to Hongqiao airport. We had to pay RMB 300 at the end.

moondog

Taxis should take the exact same route as the #2 bus, with a few opportunities to deviate. Inner ring, let alone middle ring, should never enter the equation under any circumstances.