ryan182

So took my GA F flight on Dec 18th and thought I'd (somewhat belatedly) follow up on my experience. I was headed to Indonesia for a dive trip to Raja Ampat then some relaxation in Bali and having heard the positive reviews of GA F I had decided to do what some (OK pretty much everyone ) thought was somewhat silly: Fly BA F on the 380 LAX-LHR so I could try out the GA flight to Jakarta rather than going east via HKG or SIN. The original plan was to spend a couple days in CGK but later decided to skip that and do a few days in SIN before heading to SOQ. I had booked a separate J ticket CGK-SIN (the 77W didn't go to SIN on the day I was traveling) and confirmed with the FC email folks that they would be able to check me through in LHR.

I arrived in LHR well before the GA flight and took a rest in the Plaza lounge airside in T2 (pretty good deal on a private nap room for 3 hours plus a massage) and headed to the GA checkin about 4:35PM. There was no queue for FC checkin and in pretty short order I was checked in, bags tagged and handed my BPs and reminded I could use the No1 lounge....I was a bit confused as I had heard all about their escorts through the airport but figured no biggie.

I proceeded up the escalator to the fast track security and just as I got there a rather worried looking guy with an IPad with Garuda on it came running up looking around, I figured he might be looking for me and he apologized and explained he was meant to escort me to the lounge and the checkin lady simply forgot to tell him. As we walked he explained that the flight was a bit delayed due to the inbound aircraft but my connection to SIN should be OK and also I was the only passenger in First Class today (whoohoo!!).

At the lounge I was taken to a private room, they have several of these rooms in the lounge that it seemed the carriers that don't have their own lounges in LHR use them for their for F pax.

The lounge attendants were actually really good, I was constantly checkin on and while their menus had prices for things like Champagne I was never charged and in fact they really tried to push more booze and food but knowing I had a nice meal on the plane coming I stuck with just a cheese plate.

While the lounge was OK in the room it got extremely busy outside and while the room was initially just me eventually some other passengers were placed in there as well but everyone had their own area so it wasn't crowded.

Time went on and I was beginning to worry about my connection, eventually I was picked up and walked to the gate where it appeared that boarding had started and the jet bridge was packed full of people..well no worries as it turned out they hadn't actually let anyone on yet and everyone was being held in the jetway which is when things got awesome. My FC escort parted the seas as we marched down the jet bridge "excuse me, move to the right, excuse me move to the right..." until we had arrived to the door and boarded. GA it seems takes allowing FC pax to board first very seriously. Once on board I was greeted by at least 4 different cabin staff, the captain and the chef one by one. Everyone seemed really genuine in their greetings as well, I could already tell this was going to be a good flight. I had some Champagne which came with macadamia nuts both of which were refilled proactively when near empty.


Before the flight the first class team had emailed me asking about PJ size, others traveling with me, my inbound flight details to LHR. I had explained that I normally would be fine with a large or XL but could they also board a 2XL since I've found that in Asia sizes run a bit small. The crew confirmed that request and that they had boarded every size to be sure L->3XL which was good since they did run a bit small.

Soon after takeoff the chef came by to enquire about what I'd like for dinner and he even recommended wines for each course ^.

I had the caviar to start, which was great.

A duck breast as a starter.

The. Best. Chicken. Soup. Period. Seriously the soup was easily the best soup I've had a on a plane, the presentation was great (poured at your seat) but it had so much flavor and just the right amount of spice to it I almost wanted to order another.

The beef rendang for my main which was very good.

and a chocolate tart for desert.

All of the dishes were really good and nicely presented.

After dinner they made up the suite next to me and explained I could use that when I wanted to sleep.

The bed was very comfortable and I took a 4 hour nap and then moved over to my other suite, as soon as I moved the FA was there to ask for drinks followed by the chef to see if I wanted a snack. I had the satay which was good and did some work (free wifi for F pax which is a nice touch).

A bit later the FA came by to explain that she had spoke with the captain and he told her he spoke with CGK and that they would be holding my connecting flight for me since it was going to be close on my connection ^^.

I couldn't eat much for breakfast since dinner was a lot of food so had a cappuccino which came with a bread basket and relaxed a bit.


Upon arrival I was met by 4 agents who whisked me through the terminal, as we got to a passport control we just kept walking and the one who had my documents peeled off and (I assume) handled the formalities, meeting us just as we got to the gate to return the documents. At the gate boarding was well underway due to the delay but again I was escorted past everyone on the jet bridge and on to the plane, they placed my hand carry in the overhead bins and said goodbye. Amazing ground service, just amazing.

In short, the hard product that GA has is very nice - its not as big as an EY apartment (which I'm boarding shortly ) and they don't have a shower but its a very solid FC product. Their soft product and service is amazing though I can't say enough about how nice everyone was. Easily one of my best flights and I wouldn't hesitate to fly them in F again. I've heard they might start LAX-CGK and hope they have F on that route to save the trip to LHR though .