I took advantage of BA’s recent sale of CW seats for $2012 and my parents, my partner and I went to London for a week after New Years. I assume that most people here need no introduction to London, so in this micro TR I’m just going to look at the differences between the 2 carriers. This will be a rather personal comparison; some things that will be an advantage for me will have no significance to others, and vice versa.

From my home airport I have 2 choices to fly nonstop to LHR, BA and Air Canada. Until this flight I have always flown AC, as I’ve been tied into the *A FF programs. There is no domestic OW carrier in Canada anymore since the demise of Canadian in 2001, so Star is the logical choice for most Canadians. To make this a little different from most BA trip reports, the route is operated by the long haul 767’s, so I’ll only be comparing my experiences on the BA 767 and AC’s A330 which operate this route. It’s been about a year since I’ve flown to the UK on AC’s J, but I have another trip booked in March so I’ll probably update this a bit after that trip. However, I wanted to write this while the BA flights were fresh in my head.

BA Check-in/ lounge: Check-in at YYC was smooth, with only a small wait for the customer in front of us. The lounge is a Serviceair contract lounge, the Chinook Lounge. It’s a small, intimate lounge used for the BA flight, as well as Priority Pass holders and KLM. I believe any Westjet customers could use it for a fee as well, as it is located in the Westjet wing of the airport. It wasn’t busy and had a decent selection of soup, sandwiches and snacks available. In daylight it has a panoramic view of the airfield, the city and the Rocky Mountains, but it was dark when we were there. Boarding was announced in the lounge and we went to the gate. There was a priority lane for CW passengers, and boarding was quick.

On the return flight from LHR, T5 was pretty empty. There was no queue to check-in and drop our bags and security was empty, we just walked up to the scanner. Certainly no complaints about the process. The Galleries Club lounges were packed though, it was tough to find a table to sit down and have something to eat. The food selection was decent, and I do like the pancake machine. My partner asked for a glass of champagne and 2 were brought over, just to save him asking for another. Maybe they thought someone else in our group would also want a glass after seeing his? He wasn’t complaining anyway. Boarding was at the C gates, so it is a bit of a trek out there. We left in what we thought was plenty of time and when we arrived at the gate boarding had stared already. Again there was a separate lane for CW passengers and a separate jet bridge, a nice touch.

AC Check-in/ lounge: Calgary is a fairly major hub for AC, so the check in is usually not quite as fast as at the BA counter, even though AC also has a dedicated counter for elites and J passengers. The Maple Leaf Lounge is bigger, but also much busier. It lacks the intimate feel of the Chinook Lounge, but the food and beverage offerings are similar.
At security there is a fast track lane for AC’s J passengers, but not for BA, as its in a different wing of the airport. Even in the regular lines, the wait time is usually not long.

At LHR AC uses Terminal 3. It isn’t the prettiest terminal the way T5 is, but it works. The check in has a separate line for J and elites and it usually is fast, I’ve never had to wait very long. After check-in it is upstairs to the fast track security, which again is pretty quick. I’ve never see it completely empty like T5 was, but I suspect that my T5 experience was an anomaly. AC and SAS have a joint lounge, The London Lounge. It has a very Scandinavian flavour, quite different from the usual Maple Leaf Lounges. The food selection is good, although not quite as much hot food as the Galleries Club have. Plenty adequate for an airline lounge though. There is a glassed in area for kids to play in which I appreciate, as it keeps the lounge quiet. It’s a smaller lounge than the Galleries, but has a good view from the windows. Both AC and BA have arrival lounges at LHR, but I’ve not used either so I won’t comment other than to note they exist.

BA Seating: I believe the 767’s have the original CW interior, in the navy and tan. This was an overnight flight and I like a window seat, so I was in 3K. Unfortunately, that means that when I wanted to leave my seat I have to climb over the legs of the person in 4J when they are sleeping. Not the easiest thing to do in a darkened cabin. As a bed, I found the BA seat to be both too narrow to sleep comfortably, and too short. I’m 6’ and I couldn’t stretch out comfortably without sleeping diagonally, which made the space tight. For the daytime portion of the flight I like the front/rear facing seats as it makes it quite nice to chat with my partner.

AC seating: AC uses a version of the pods designed by Virgin, and also used by Air New Zealand. They are consistent across the fleet, so any longhaul flight will have the same seats, rather than the different designs of the CW seats that BA uses. The seats are arranged in a herringbone pattern, so every seat has easy aisle access. Even though on paper they are only 3/8” wider than the BA seat, they feel wider and are more comfortable to sleep in. They are longer, so I wasn’t feeling cramped. I definitely sleep better in the AC seat than I did on BA. The disadvantage of the AC seat is they are angled toward the centre of the aircraft, so to look out the window requires turning my head about 135 degrees, which isn’t as comfortable as the BA seat. The angling also makes it nearly impossible to chat with a companion. The advantage is they are much more private for individual travellers.
Each has their plusses and minuses, if I had a flight on my own, I’d take AC; if I was with a companion on a day flight I’d take BA. I think any night flight that I wanted to get the best possible sleep I’d choose AC.

BA Onboard service and food: The crew on both flights were excellent, but the flight from LHR was clearly better. After a number of posts here about the poor service, falling apart “disco” planes etc I was actually wondering if I had made a big mistake flying BA. I needn’t have worried, the crew were professional and attentive, the return flight especially so. On the flight leaving YYC I chose the Alberta beef tenderloin for dinner. Alberta is the heart of the Canadian cattle industry; we are renowned for our high quality beef. Unfortunately, the only thing that saved this piece of beef from being shoe leather was that it started as tenderloin. Good thing there was some gravy to go with it, it was needed to add some moisture back in. On the return flight beef fillet was on the menu, so I asked how well it was done before I ordered. The crew said it was medium, so I took a chance. It actually was medium with some pink in the middle and juicy and flavourful. Too bad the other crew couldn’t have pulled the beef out of the oven about 30 min before they did.

Many drink runs were made through the cabin, and my glass was never empty unless I wanted it to be. I was generally impressed with the level of service. I was always addressed by name without the crew referring to the manifest; I’m sure I could not remember the names of 23 passengers in such a short time. The IFE didn’t work on the LHR departing flight though, but I had a book with me and slept part of the way. I woke up about an hour before landing and I had missed the afternoon tea service, but as soon as I arose the crew were by to see if I wanted anything. The scones were good, it’s always a nice treat. This flight had the new teas that BBB started a thread on and they are quite good. The CSD was surprised that I knew about the change when I asked if they had the new tea. The joys of FT!

AC onboard service and food: The AC service is probably more consistent than BA, based on what I read here about BA. I don’t think that AC is as good as a stellar BA crew (like I had from LHR to YYC) but they are not as bad as some of the subpar BA crews I read about here. AC is a solid, reliable standard of J service, but won’t quite reach to the best BA crew. I think I’d rather have consistent and dependable, every time. Like BA, there are several drink runs through the cabin, coats get hung, assistance with bags, hot towels, etc etc. The food is similar, although AC does fresh onboard baked cookies and ice cream which is a nice touch.

Luggage: Bags were tagged priority, and at LHR a mix of priority and non priority bags came out on the belt. Our bags did all appear before most of the Y bags though. On the return the priority came out first. AC has a similar mixed track record, so no winner here.

The two airlines each have strengths and weaknesses with no clear winner. Overall I think the level of service and attention to detail was better with BA, but it’s a small margin. For me the seat is the most important if I’m to get any sleep, and AC is the winner here. For a daytime flight where I want to chat with my travel companion the BA seating style wins, but otherwise I prefer the AC seat. T5 is nicer than T3, but T5 airside and the lounge was a lot more crowded. Either of them sure beats a charter operator that caters to the leisure market in the summer!