Hi all, long-time lurker but first (well, maybe second-time) poster. Since I've seen some talk on this board of CW service, thought I might throw in my two cents as someone who just flew CW for the first time recently to offer some perspective on how people who haven't flown it a lot view the experience:

This is for a paid HKG - LHR long-haul sector, connecting to a short CE flight. This was my first BA flight in years, and the only other time was a short-haul intra-Europe flight.

The good:

The biggest pleasant surprise was that my bags reached my final destination with me. What was originally a two-hour connection became a 55-minute connection to a later flight after we were delayed leaving HKG due to weather. Having heard the horror stories about BA baggage handling, I didn't expect to see them when I reached my final destination. Yet there they were -- and among the first off the belt, too. I was out of the airport within 25 minutes of touching down. No joke.

I also was very impressed by the onboard service. During the 2.5-hour weather delay on the ground in HKG the captain and CSD gave us regular updates. The FAs smiled from time to time. The one who took my dinner order called me by name. When I wandered into the galley mid-flight, one of them made sure to point out all the available snack options. And they were efficient (this regular CX flyer enjoyed not having to stare at my empty tray for a half hour -- a nice change from the normal). The FAs on the short hop were also pleasant and efficient.

The OK:

The lounge in HKG was nice, though not a BA-owned one as far as I could tell. But when I checked in in-town at the Airport Express, the check-in agent didn't actually tell me where it was. These are not BA employees, which might explain it, but perhaps they should ask them to pass this info along regardless. That said, I had happened to notice on MMB a little section explaining how to get there. And if I hadn't known, once I got to the airport and walked along the BA check-in rank to get to security, I could have asked. There was an employee apparently walking the floor in front of CW/FIRST check-in who seemed approachable -- I noticed she was even smiling as she spoke to another passenger.

The bad:

I spotted a lot of threads on this as I was getting ready to go, but I'll say it again -- the LHR ground experience was awful and really may dissuade me from flying BA again after this trip despite all the other positives. We arrived two hours late with a 744 full of passengers who had been sitting on the plane for 15 hours at that point, some of whom like me were worried about rebooking connections. Yet they put us at a remote stand and we had to bus back to the terminal. Fortunately the stairs and buses were waiting (this seems to have been a complaint in the past). But once crammed on the bus it was a bit of a trek, during which the odd baggage cart would actually pass us.

Once in the terminal, was able to breeze through the short CW rebooking line. But no one had ever mentioned where the fast-track security lane was or even that there was one. If I hadn't done any reading on this site, I wouldn't have known to ask about it! (Thanks FT -- this was the most useful tip of all, since it allowed me to get to the gate just as they were finishing boarding for the onward flight.)

My return will be in WT+, and perhaps that will go more smoothly. At least the onboard service is good enough that I'm now seriously considering upgrading this segment with miles (assuming I can do a one-way upgrade using CX miles -- as an aside, anyone know if that's possible?). I understand weather happens and screws up connections. The most important thing is that I reached my destination as soon as possible ready to work after a good sleep on the plane. A close second is that my bags arrived, too. But if they can't help manage the stress of connecting in that kind of situation, they'll encourage people like me to try Lufthansa, Air France or KLM before committing to a carrier. Who knows, I could still end up on BA, but wouldn't it be better to leave passengers not wanting to look anywhere else?