FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Good/Bad/Ugly BA Experiences, CE OPO -> LGW.
Old Jun 26, 2017, 11:22 am
  #1  
Pumplekin
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Almost exactly equally distant from LCY, LGW and LHR.
Programs: BA Gold, IHG Spire Ambassador, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 115
Good/Bad/Ugly BA Experiences, CE OPO -> LGW.

Me and MrsPumplekin flew back from OPO yesterday to LGW.

Things didn't get off a great start as we checked the BA app around lunchtime and found our flight was delayed by about 90mins. This varied up and down over the course of the day, but eventually got down to around 65mins.

Because of this, we decided to get to the airport a little later than we normally would (the fact BA won't pay for a lounge at OPO was also somewhat persuasive in that regard. When offered the option of a nice riverside cafe and some good Portuguese wine vs the delights of OPO's terminal we opt'd for the river. Last time we opted for the terminal we ended up both getting food poisoning from a dirty burger king anyway).

Sadly, those plans went quite wrong for us as the tram taking us to the airport decided it would be a fine time to develop a mechanical fault, which delayed us by an hour getting to the airport. We arrived just in time to watch them closing the checkin desk (although we still had ~90 mins to go to actual plane departure time).

It took some considerable begging, but after numerous "it is your fault" (which to an extent it was), the blank wall of refusal meant we decided to go with the hail Mary DYKWIA play (as being nice just wasn't getting us anywhere). We both pulled our our gold cards and our 1A/1C boarding passes, and explained it would be exceptionally frustrating to have to leave our considerable wine haul behind.

Surprisingly this worked !. The woman (with a TAP badge) behind the checkin desk made a phone call, and seemed surprised when she was obviously told things were good. She then took our bags, hand wrote them and sent us to the excess baggage. Then we handed over our bags and were on our way. After clearing security, and saying hi again to some other family members who were over 4 hours late (ergh) on the U2 flight to MAN, we were waiting at the gate for our flight.

We boarded via a bus (with the usual joke that priority boarding to a bus is), struggled to find some overheard baggage space (now there is even less space with the LGW planes losing the front bulkhead) and were on our way.

The crew however were excellent. They were far from technically perfect, they had at least 3 technical mistakes but I doubt any would have been noticed by a non-FT'er. However, what they did have was a lot of humanity. They were fun, chatty (although the aforementioned lack of bulkhead does somewhat force this to 1A and 1C) and generally made the flight a lot more fun than you would have had with more robotic crew.

Despite all the difficulties with the service cuts on BA, the changes, and the penny pinching. When BA crews are good, they really can be very good. I don't think crews from any other airlines I've got regular experience with (so AA and CX mostly) are able to add so much to a flight through personality alone.
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