British Airways – BA1 – October 10th 2017
London City airport LCY – 09:40
Technical stop in Shannon Intl SNN – 10:50 to 12:00
New York JFK Terminal 7 – 14:20
Airbus A318 – G-EUNA – Business class, seat 01A, window, seat 01B available.
Considering the fact only 21 passengers were flying that day, the boarding process was quite swift to complete and we were ready to leave by scheduled departure time. Full power was provided by the two engines which allowed us to perform a smooth and sharp take off.
BA « babybus » Airbus 318 business class cabin – Seat 1A
Taking off from LCY
Soon after, paper menus were handed over by the crew and a first drink was served. The chosen appetizer was served on this first leg to SNN, while the main course, the amenity kit and the ipad, acting as the inflight entertainment, was provided during the second part of the journey, ex-SNN.
I opted for the vegetarian sushis with some tea and it was good, but the soy sauce was missing.
BA 1 LCY-SNN-JFK menu
BA 1 LCY-SNN Vegetarian sushi rolls
OnAir was available during most parts of the flight. For the ones unfamiliar (like I was) with this technology, you should know that this is not the same as the wifi which can be provided by many airlines nowadays. You actually need to disable the flight mode and you will be connected to a cellular, satellite based, network. The benefit is that you can send text messages, and potentially do some phone calls. The MAIN disadvantage are the whooping costs associated with this. The two (French) carriers I have sent me a text right after conencting informing me about the roaming charges : the cheapest was 13 Euros/MB of data, 0.40 cts per SMS, 3.50 Euros / minute for issued call and 2.10 Euros / minute for received calls.
Soon after the appetizers, we started our descent and we could see some Green Irish landscape.
Irish landscapes approaching SNN
We touched down in Shannon at 10:45 and taxied for a couple minutes to our gate, passing by several former Air Berlin and Monarch aircrafts parked there and leased to IAC. Alitalia to come next ?...
Former Monarch and Air Berlin aircrafts parked in SNN
Just after disembarking the aircraft, we followed the signs towards the transit security check point and the US preclearance area.
Well indicated pathway to US immigration
Security was cleared swiftly (Interesting thing : shoes had to be removed – probably due to US security procedures), just like the US immigration and customs procedures were done in no delay. All in all, it took me barely 10 minutes to clear both security and immigration. Once immigration controls were cleared, a small BA1 waiting area is placed right next to the boarding gate. Besides that, a small cafe, a miniature duty-free store and a WHSmith kiosk, there is not much to do in the US terminal… It’s kind of inconvenient to have to clear security again in SNN though…
BA 1 waiting lounge in SNN
Around 11:35 we were invited to board the aircraft again but left our gate only few minutes past noon as one of the passengers had some issues at the immigration. Take off was smooth, towards the Atlantic ocean…
Ipads were handed shortly after take off by the purser with the amenity kits. The classic elemis ones were given, I am not sure if the new amenity kit will arrive anytime soon on the BA1/2 services. Another bar service began with some Out of Africa cashews and the main course was served shortly after.
BA 1 SNN-JFK First bar service
iPad and amenity kit
I opted for the prawns curry and it was flavourful and not spicy. The salad however had the consistency of polypropylene and was very uninventive and tasteless. It would have been good for the rabbits, no more ! A selection of breads was offered, and dessert came afterwards. I choose the tarte tatin and it was very good and nicely presented. I was also offered some sliced fruit which were fine.
BA 1 SNN-JFK lunch service – prawns curry, fruit platter and tatin tart
Coffee and tea were served at the same time. A small box of chocolates with a bottle of water came afterwards.
It was then time for me to have a little nap and place the seat in bed position, which consists in an almost lie flat bed of 1.78m long (so slightly shorter than the normal clubworld seat, but however it felt a bit wider). I managed to get about an hour of sleep. So if you are tall like I am (1.88 meters), I would still prefer to take a night flight on the normal club world seat (even if this is clearly not the best seat in the market).
BA « babybus » Airbus 318 seat in bed position
Talking about the seat : It was equipped with two universal power plugs (No USB), a small reading light and a small storage compartment. Nothing fancy, but still a functional seat. One bigger storage compartment could have been useful maybe… but I used seat 1B to store some of my belongings as it was empty. As mentioned before, no in-seat entertainment was available but some ipads were provided (I personally missed the moving map feature, but the rest of the entertainment available was fine).
BA « babybus » 318 seat features
3 bathrooms are located on board, 2 at the front and 1 at the rear of the cabin.
BA « babybus » Airbus 318, view from the back of the cabin
The cabin crew consisted of 1 female purser and 2 flight attendants (Emma and Peter). I have to say the 2 FA were very friendly, professional and efficient, and were regularly going through the cabin for drinks refill or anything else. At some point at mid flight I was getting bored and decided to check out the front galley and spent some time chatting with the 2 FAs and the co-pilot, also very friendly. The purser was sleeping in a little compartment in the back. I was surprised to see that while the cabin crew was Gatwick-based, the cockpit crew was based in LHR. So none of them was actually based in LCY. Also, while the cabin crew remained the same during the flight, the captain and first officer changed in SNN, as they typically stay overnight there.
In the galley were also located some snacks and the crew was glad to assist with any drinks order.
As we were approaching JFK, the second meal was served about an hour before landing and was a choice between some tapas/cold cuts and the classical mini sandwiches, I opted for the latter. It came with a selection of scones and 2 mini pastries, signed Do&Co. Until 20 minutes before landing the crew was coming for drinks refills.
BA 1 SNN-JFK Second meal service
The approach to JFK was via long island and you could see the clear skies since Cape cod until JFK.
Flying over long island
We landed in JFK 10 minutes behind schedule and taxied almost straight to our parking position in terminal 7, arriving this time as a domestic passenger straight at the departures level.
Arriving in JFK T7… Are we at Heathrow ?
After the doors were opened I asked the crew if I could check out the cockpit and they gladly accepted. Another gentlemen did the same just before me, so I was not the only kid onboard ! I even got a nice picture from the first officer’s ipad, with the BA logo and flight details ! I felt like 10 years old again for a few minutes !
BA « babybus » Airbus 318 cockpit
Felt like a kid for a few minutes !
Overall it was a good flight. I am not completely sure you are saving a lot of travel time by taking it compared to the regular LHR-JFK but this was certainly an experience to fly in an almost private jet across the Atlantic. The fact we had a great crew onboard also made the experience certainly even more enjoyable…
Cabin Crew : A – I even sent a thank you note to BA after this flight.
Seat : B, I wish there could have been some more storage space, like to put a laptop, even if this was not an issue as the seat next to me was empty.
On time performance : A-, landed just 15 minutes late due to some delays departing SNN.
Meal and beverages : B+. The Do&Co catering out of LHR is better than the regular LHR catering, but I haven’t tried –yet- the new service LHR-JFK.
Overall experience : A-