Is it me or do we not see as many trip reports since Covid?

Most of my travel is pretty boring, and much reduced since Covid, but I’ve spent the last 10 days in India on quite an interesting flying itinerary, all booked with Avios including trying two new airlines (both bookable with Ba) and traveled different legs in business, premium economy and economy.

Leg 1 LHR-DOH Qatar airways economy

Terminal 4 was a new experience for me and the Qatar checkin area was packed at 6.30am for the two early departures to Doha at 8am and 8.35am, so leave plenty of time if you need to check in for these flights. It was a bit unclear what BA Gold entitled me to as a first time QR flyer, but there was priority checkin (not first class though) and there was priority security, but by the time the lady checking the boarding passes at security had tapped away at her computer and made ours scan, we’d have been just as quick going down the standard security route.

We were entitled to use the new QR frequent flyer lounge (not the business class lounge) and I had high expectations, but to be honest we were both disappointed by the space itself as well as the food and drink offering. It’s not very characterful, doesn’t have much choice or space and the view is limited. The first wing or T3 is certainly a nicer way to start a trip from Heathrow.

I’d specifically chosen the A380 knowing that I didn’t want to do the six hour flight in economy on 10 abreast 777. Being gold I could select seats in the upstairs economy cabin, which if you’ve got to fly economy has to be one of the best ways to do it. The window boxes make it almost the same comfort as a window pair on BA premium economy in my opinion. We had chosen the first row (26) which despite the bulkhead had plenty of leg space for me at 6.3”, but more leg room was available further back at the exit row, this came with no window though. The only problem with row 26 is it’s so close, yet so far from the bar, as per photo!




Just after take off the lead cabin crew came and gave me the Gold greeting, saying that if I wanted anything to let the crew know. Other than this, the service was efficient but nothing special. I also politely asked if they had a spare glass of champagne for a Oneworld Emerald a few hours into the flight, but this was a firm no. Alcoholic drinks weren’t pro actively offered during the flight, but they were happy to pour you anything if you went to the galley and asked. The breakfast food was very average and small, so it was lucky we’d eaten before. About an hour before landing, we were offered something similar to a hot sausage roll, but made with chicken. Feeling slightly underwhelmed by the legendary QR, we landed bang on time into Doha, but things quickly went uphill.

Leg 2 Doha to Goa

We had about 2 hours and 15 mins to kill in Doha, so headed for the Al Mourjan business lounge for the stopover. We were allowed to use this as our onward flight was in business, however we could have used the frequent flyer platinum lounge if flying economy.

As many of you know the AM lounge is stunning for a business lounge. I particularly enjoyed the Château Cantemerle with my steak.







QR seem to run very very efficiently and part of that seems to be getting people to the gate far earlier than needed. Almost as soon as we sat down the screens said go to gate and then boarding, which clearly wasn’t the case, we arrived 40 mins before departure which was perfect timing.

We boarded the 787 for the 3 hour flight in business and despite having the “worst” seat in the QR J fleet, the reasons people love QR J quickly became clear. At no point did anything feel like it was too much for the crew, at no point did anything feel like it might run out and the quality of everything was generally better than BA. One thing I particularly noticed was the proper introduction and tour of the seat, which for people like my parents would be very useful for making sure they got the best out the flight.








After the quickest 3 hours ever on a plane, we landed at 2.20am, just behind an Aeroflot A330, which meant that immigration was a cold dose of reality, especially when myself and my partner got selected for random Covid testing at 3.30am.

Anyway, we finally made it to our hotel and settled in for what would turn out to be a fantastic six nights in Goa and certainly somewhere I’d recommend anyone to visit. We stayed in the Andores Resort and spa in Callengute, which i would recommend to anyone now.

Leg 3 Goa to Mumbai (Vistara premium economy)

I had no idea what domestic flying in India was going to be like, but was really pleasantly surprised by Vistara (and the airport experience in general). Ba will route you to Goa with Vistara and other places in India via Mumbai and Delhi and I certainly wouldn’t let yourself be put off by this. The A320 neo was new and spotless, we left on time and even got served a full lunch on the 50 minute flight. Premium economy had slightly better leg room than economy, a bigger baggage allowance, priority boarding and a special checkin desk, so for the £6 extra each we paid, it was a good investment. I would rate Vistara above BA in europe for the average traveller (assuming no status benefits etc). We landed in Mumbai on time, our priority bags came out very fast so we were quickly on our way to the intercontinental on Marine Drive. This flight was booked with cash and cost £52 each.

Leg 4 Mumbai to Heathrow BA 787 premium economy

The lounge in Mumbai was one of the surprises of the trip, it was brilliant, good views and lots of comfy seats. Nice toilets and a good food selection with a manned bar. There was also a roped off first dinning area, which was effectively Gold card dinning, as first isn’t offered on this route. Moët champagne was available here and a proper menu, I had a lobster Thermidor and some fantastic prawns (below).







We were booked to return in premium from Mumbai, on what was a very quiet flight, until the one before at 2am got delayed by 24 hours, so clearly a lot of people had been rebooked onto ours (we were told as much). Premium had been looking pretty full on the expert flyer before, while club and economy had been empty. It’s a hard one to call, but I think I’m now of the conclusion that on an quiet day flight WTP is a bit of a mugs cabin if it’s full while economy is empty, as it costs so much more nowadays, but obviously nobody wants to take the risk of being in a full 787 economy cabin with a stranger in your block of three, so it’s a hard one to call. However, if you can get the right aircraft (which is basically A380 only now and pick a two thanks to status) I would probably choose economy for a day flight now.

We were very lucky with crew on this flight and had a great IFL in charge of WTP and WT while another IFL was in charge up front. Emma made sure we were well looked after with a welcome champagne and club tumblers and wine glasses etc. we even got an amenity kit each. I will say that after the service though, the crew weren’t really to be seen again, for 8 hours. A rubbish run would have been nice, as well as some more pro-active drinks etc.. The second “meal” service was a disgrace in all honesty, it was described as.a chicken calzone (see photo) and was just chicken wrapped in a pastry type thing, served with a paper cup of tea. I didn’t expect much, but I thought BA had resumed a more significant second meal service on some of their longer flights for WTP?

We were unlucky with the wind and our flight took just over 10 hours, so we landed about 1.5 hours late at 7.15pm in London. I think if I was doing this again, I would get the 8.30am flight from Mumbai, as it would have been nicer to get home earlier and due to the traffic etc. you’re never going to get a morning’s worth of stuff done in Mumbai before a lunchtime flight.




Overall a great trip and I would recommend Goa to anyone. I would also suggest those who haven’t tried it yet do throw some cash/avios at trying Qatar business, as it’s quite the experience.