I recently returned from a two week family trip to Southern California for our summer holidays in the last two weeks of July, which involved flights EDI/LHR/LAX/LHR/EDI in CW. The trip report covers a better set of flights than my previous report on the same route in April in F. I thought I would post due to the superior service particularly in comparison to the poor quality F outbound at Easter.

The booking

We had visited California last year for our summer holiday into SFO and out of LAX and again at Easter this year to LAX to pick up a cruise. We enjoyed the previous trips so much we decided to return for this year’s summer holidays. Planning started after return from the Easter holiday. The flights were booked early enough to be a reasonable cost.

We had decided to fly down to LHR the night before our long haul flight, to prevent a very early start and long day for our 7 year old daughter. The return was done with the tightest possible connection to minimise overall travel time.

EDI to LHR

Bag-drop at EDI in the late Wednesday afternoon was very quick due to the area being quiet, unlike the scrum at easyjet and Ryanair check-ins. Our first experience of the new security set-up was not the best organised affair. The main problem appeared to be control of the queues entering the screening area, rather than the new system itself. Once through we headed to the lounge for what should have been a short visit. After being greeted by two of the usual lovely ladies on the desk, we were advised our seats had been changed due to an aircraft change and our flight was disrupted by bad weather which had delayed the departure of our aircraft at LHR; neither of which had been advised at the bag-drop. We had originally been in 8D/E/F, but ended up in 22D/E/F. The Lounge got quite busy due to all the weather delays, but was not full.

The flight itself was on an almost full A321 instead of the original A320 on OLCI. The service consisted of the standard domestic offering of a drink and snack which was served by a reasonably cheery crew. No hot drinks were served due to turbulence, which was quite rough at some points. As we flew south I was surprised to see we were being “overtaken” by a BA CityFlyer E190 which was flying considerably faster than we were. I assume it had come from GLA and hadn’t left EDI behind us.

We were just over 1 hour late in arriving at T5 on a remote stand adjacent to T5C. This resulted in baggage reclaim not a quick affair, before heading off to our hotel for the night.

LHR to LAX

Having checked-in online, we opted to drop our bags late and have a good sleep and a leisurely morning at the hotel, to minimise our time at the airport. By the time we dropped our bags the gate was displayed for the BA283 at 12:00 and we headed for Fast Track security – which on this occasion did work efficiently. From there we had a quick journey over to the B gates and headed to the GCL.

I am growing to like the B gate lounge, after initially not being too keen, purely for the fact it is smaller than the main T5 Lounges - I now see as the benefit rather than a drawback. Boarding started about 20 mins after arriving in the lounge, we waited for a short time before going down the escalator and joining the Fast Track queue which was being efficiently managed by the agents.

At the door of the 747, my daughter handed over our boarding passes to the CSD, as she has always liked to do. He was very pleasant and bent down to welcome her onboard and gave her directions to our CW seats on the lower deck. Our aircraft was a lo-J config and the cabin appeared to be clean and in good condition in CW.

Shortly after reaching our seats we were approached by the crew and offered the usual water, juice or champagne. Boarding was a slow process for no obvious reason and we eventually pushed back approx 20 minutes late, but were advised by the Captain we had a “short” flight of under 10hrs. The aircraft appeared to be nearly full; there was one empty seat directly behind mine.

After we were properly settled into 18 G/J/K, the CSD came through our side of the cabin to introduce himself, he advised he would be working our section. He again made a fuss of our daughter and referred to her by her first name which was a nice touch so early in trip. He told her if there was anything she needed; she had to let him know. I think he genuinely meant it. The male CSD was American and appeared to be very enthusiastic and keen to please his pax. The other cabin crew member on our side of the cabin was a very pleasant and efficient young Scottish lady.

Service started very promptly after take-off with lunch menus distributed after the hot towels. The bar service followed almost immediately afterwards. The Champagne was Lanson black label. I did not drink any of the wines, but I did over hear CSD apologising to another pax that at least one white wines on the list was not onboard.

The AVOD was switched on almost immediately after the seat belt signs were switched off. It worked perfectly, but a lot of the content was the same as our last trip to LAX at Easter, which was disappointing.

The content of lunch menu was probably the most disappointing aspect of this flight. So poor in fact, I cannot remember what it contained. I opted for a Kir Royale which was promptly topped up after the meal orders were taken.

I recall there being a thread on FT about inappropriate changing into PJ’s in F. On this flight, the male pax in 17k changed from his clothes into his own “PJ’s” at his seat – in full view from my seat in 18G. This was totally unnecessary when you consider he was literally sitting with his back to the washroom.

The CW meal service in recent years has deteriorated so much, to be very mediocre. The fact the tray is placed on your table containing the starter, salad and post meal chocolate etc simply compounds the fact it is a substandard service in comparison to some other J products. The quality of food served was poor in comparison to my last EK J class flights in both terms of quality/quantity and service style.

I cannot recall what the starter was, but it was small and bland. I opted for the steak for my main, which was overcooked as usual on BA, the alternative fish cakes were not available by the time our order was taken. My steak was tasty and tender but my wife commented hers was “tough”. We had not selected child meals for these flights, with our daughter now being 7, but the CSD offered to make up a chicken and pasta dish for her if she did not like the look of anything on the menu – I assume this was cobbled together from WT meals or crew food. It was served in the CW china and apparently was very tasty. I have to say this was just one of many examples of the CSD going the extra mile! The main courses were all served individually from the galley to the appropriate pax.

The dessert was another unmemorable CW tart offering, the crew apologised about it before serving, I didn’t eat more than a mouthful. Drinks were topped up throughout the meal and I noticed the CSD was offering pax a taster of wines before pouring the full glass. Ice creams were served shortly after the tea/coffee which was a nice touch and went some way to making up for the poor quality dessert.

After lunch a lot of pax settled down for a sleep, myself included. I’m 6’ tall and noticed for the first time on this flight that I literally just fitted the bed, with head and feet touching both ends when lying completely flat. I awoke after a couple of hours to find the cabin in semi-darkness with all blinds down. I watched a couple of films, with a single visit to the Club Kitchen, between films. It appeared to be well stocked and not having been raided by WTP pax. I had been aware of the crew stopping WTP pax from using the CW washrooms, I assume they must have been equally vigilant on the Club Kitchen contents.

Afternoon Tea was served approx 90 minutes out of LAX, this was better than the last one I had in CW. Despite the fact the sandwiches were served wrapped in cardboard/film like they used to be on domestics, the content was fresh and tasty. Hot scones were offered a couple of times followed by a hot goat’s cheese and onion strudel – which was tasty.

The remainder of the flight was pretty uneventful apart from the pax in 17K changing again in his seat! Arrival into LAX was ahead of schedule, the taxi to the stand at LAX is always a bit of a long affair due to having to be pulled onto stand by a tug. We pulled up adjacent to the earlier BA279.

On departing the aircraft, the CSD was standing at door behind F and loudly wished my daughter a pleasant holiday in California, again using her first name. That made her smile, as we thanked him for the good service throughout the flight.

As per our last trip to LAX at Easter immigration was a very quick and easy process, we were through within 10 minutes after processing by a friendly agent. However the wait for baggage reclaim was at least 20 minutes and there were a lot of pax still waiting around the carousel when we headed for Customs. From there it was a short walk up the ramp and out of the terminal building to catch the shuttle bus to the LAX Hilton for our first night.

LAX to LHR

On the return trip we had again checked-in online and opted to minimise time in the TBIT at LAX, from previous experiences. We were stuck in the CW check-in queue waiting to drop our bags as the pax in front appeared to be having serious and somewhat animated problems with their booking. We were called over to the F check-in, by the Duty Manager, who processed our bags and was extremely pleasant and courteous throughout. This was infact the same Duty Manager who had checked us in at Easter when we were in F. We have always found the BA ground staff at LAX to be very pleasant and helpful and this trip was no different, they come a very close second to those at IAH.

After dropping our bags we headed for security, there were very few people in the queue and the fast track lane was of no benefit. The security agent was very cheery and made a fuss of our daughter as he checked our passports before we joined the queue for security screening. Once through and clothing was re-adjusted we headed for the lift to the Oneworld lounges on the 5th floor. It was only a short visit and I have to say I was equally unimpressed by the business class lounge as I had been with the F lounge three months ago. We were only in the lounge for about 20 minutes before boarding was called and we decided to head to the gate. When we arrived pre-boarding of F & J pax was underway and after a quick passport check and some pleasantries with the agent we were quickly on the forward jetty. We were greeted at the door by a very pleasant Scottish male CSD. He gave us directions to our seats in 19 J and 20J/K he also advised he would be looking after us on our flight home.

As soon as we reached our seats we were greeted by the cabin crew who offered to take jackets and within a few minutes were distributing the usual offerings of drinks, newspapers and amenity kits. General boarding started and a long slow procession of pax trailed through the lo-J CW cabin to WT. The flight again appeared to be very near full, there were no empty seats in CW. The Captain advised our departure would be delayed by approx 20 minutes as a result of 2 pax failing to board and their baggage having to be off-loaded, he also advised our return flight would be under 9 hours and therefore the delay would not cause a late arrival at T5. Due to the delay a second round of drinks was offered.

The 747 was pushed back and then pulled off stand due to the congested nature of LAX. Following a relatively short taxi we were at the end of the runway and immediately started take-off and headed out over the Pacific before turning and heading east towards the night and home.

As soon as the crew were released from their seats they were distributing hot towels and menus as we continued to climb over LA, they quickly followed with the first bar service and taking meal orders. The champagne was again Lanson Black label. I didn’t pay any attention to the other offerings and selected a Kir Royale, which was quickly topped up in the second bar service.

The AVOD system was again switched on very promptly and operated without fault.

A lot of people were not eating and settled down to sleep immediately. The CSD commented that we would be getting a quick, but not rushed, service as a result.

The menu appeared to offer better content than the outbound sector. My wife and I both independently opted for the duck breast and beetroot starter followed by seared scallops – both of which were very tasty and considerably better than the food outbound from T5. My daughter opted for a “low cholesterol” chicken dish as her main course, which she finished and confirmed was good. As on several previous flights out of LAX and other US outstations, the quality of food was better than that from T5. It’s not that LAX food was particularly good, it’s simply the fact the T5 food is so bad in comparison!

I stuck to champagne with my meal, both my champagne and water glasses were topped up constantlyby the CSD, to the extent I eventually had to say no thank you, which must be a first. I declined both dessert and coffee, and advised I was going to sleep; my tray was removed from my table immediately.

A quick trip to the washroom to change into a t-shirt (no changing in the cabin for me) and I was ready for bed. When I returned to my seat there was a bottle of water sitting on my table for the night ahead. As I settled down I was surprised how noisy it was lying in 19J. The issue being you are actually over the wings; therefore between the engine noise and the wind noise it was more than just a noticeable drone. When I thought about it, all my previous 747 CW night flights have been in the smaller forward cabin in hi-J config, which is a much quieter location. Eye mask and ear plugs were eventually deployed and I slept soundly until the lights were switched on for breakfast, when we were still somewhere between Iceland and the Western Isles according to the moving map. We had a tail wind of 197mph at one point pushing us home.

I think it was actually the smell of F breakfast being cooked that initially awoke me. Our breakfast offering was a choice of fruit or cereal. I opted for the fruit which was followed by some rather overcooked and therefore hard and inedible hot bread selections. This was followed by the crew offering bacon rolls, which were tasty, but I’m never quite sure about the texture of the rolls.

A quick shave and freshen up and I was back in my seat and listened to music as I watched the moving map as we flew down the length of the UK. We ended up in a stack to the north of London, which did eventually result in a slightly delayed arrival at T5B - at the furthest gate away from the transit. We thanked the CSD for his attention during the flight as we departed the aircraft and child in-hand we off to make our now tight connection to EDI.

LHR to EDI

After negotiating T5B, transit, flight connections and passport control quickly we encountered the usual transfer problem at T5, the poor performance at security. When we got upstairs the queue was snaking back to the top of the stairs. We got into Fast track line, but it took even longer than normal because the automated tray return system was intermittently malfunctioning. As we were stuck in the queue there was a group of what looked like senior BAA managers accompanied the duty manager by all standing watching, the scene of chaos. Unfortunately by the time I got through they had all disappeared and I could not vent my frustration on them.

Despite the problems we eventually arrived at Gate A4, just after boarding started for the domestic to EDI. This turned out to be a completely full A321 and numerous people, ourselves included, had duplicate seat allocations. The crew advised that lots of parents and children had initially been separated and the process of trying to resolve this situation had created the problems. After a fair bit of seat juggling, which considerably delayed departure, everyone was eventually seated.

After what seemed a very long and slow taxi due to we were eventually airborne and on our way home. Service onboard was quick as should be expected with 5 crew members including a CSD and minimal service these days. We eventually arrived at EDI approx 30 mins behind schedule only to advised the automatic guidance system had failed at the gate and BAA needed to find somebody to manually guide the Aircraft on to stand. Despite having been asked to remain seated because we were not on stand, numerous pax were standing up taking baggage out the overhead lockers in preparation for their disembarkation. This continued until a rather abrupt announcement was made on the PA advising everyone to sit down followed by all the cabin crew moving through the cabin stowing baggage back in the lockers. You really do have to question the mentality of some people, I don’t know where the thought they were going!

It took roughly 10 minutes before we were on stand, followed by the now customary EDI disembarkation from front (jetty) and rear (steps). We waited for the jostling to clear and by the time we got to the baggage reclaim our bags were on the belt, which was surprising considering what had been a tight connection at T5.

Conclusions

Overall I would rate the trip as a relatively good experience in CW, by present day standards, but not as good as it once would have been. The hard product is good. The crew members we had interaction with on both longhaul sectors were all superb and I think this was definitely a reflection of the enthusiasm and professionalism shown by both CSD’s. The only real BA negative issue was the quality of the food served in CW – it is just downright POOR and not really acceptable for the money!

In summary this was a trip which was generally more of a good than a bad experience. The satisfaction on this occasion could also be partially attributed to the fact I may not have had such high expectations in CW in comparison to the earlier trip on the same route in F.