GM Team,

‘Inaugural’ flight for BA294 on the AB hardware was a little rough, but to be expected. The BA ground / lounge teams and AB crew did attempt to go above and beyond in helping where they could. We got the sense it was a “all hands-on deck” effort from check in through boarding. Just a summary of a few items we noticed:

• Crew and plane were AB, while the soft products were BA (menu, bedding, amenity kit)
• Overall service was excellent, both from the BA ground/lounge teams and AB crews. They were dealt a bad hand and were extremely professional through all the issues.
• Flight was delayed 2 hours for various reasons, including operational and weather-related delays. The boarding area was updated regularly which was appreciated.
• Check-in was more frenzied than normal. Two parties in front of us had separate ticketing issues and were unaware of the hardware change. The first party was in F or CW and were rebooked on BA296 without a fuss. Second couple was in CW and were downgraded to WTP. A scheduling issue with their connecting flight would have kept them in London for another 24+ hours, so if they accepted, they were told to reach back out to BA for appropriate compensation.
• In general, based on all the grumbling in the lounge, folks that lost their seats were shifted to the next BA flight.
• Boarding was a bit chaotic. The seat letters on the BA boarding passes did not match the seating configuration on the plane. Everyone in CW, including the stewardesses, were confused and folks ended up in the wrong seats. Unsure if this is a onetime issue or would be reoccurring. For those who have access the staff in the lounge manually wrote our new seat numbers on our boarding pass.
• The boarding area was told that BA digital boarding passes (e.g. through BA app) would not work. Physical hard copies that were printed by an agent at check-in, the lounge, or at the gate, were required to get on the plane.
• Dinner service was grueling. The AB team were well trained and polite, but from start to finish dinner service was over three hours. I don’t fly transatlantic very often so I’m not sure if that is normal.
• To give you a sense of timeline, first drinks were served 30 min after takeoff. Dinner orders were taken 1 hour after takeoff. Appetizer course was delivered 2 hours after takeoff. Mains delivered 2:30 after takeoff, with dessert being delivered 3 hours after takeoff. At this point there were only 4 hours left in the flight. Breakfast was served about 2 hours later.
• Hard product was ok. A gentleman was nice enough to switch so my wife and I could sit in two of the middle seats. IMHO I would say it's a small step up from old CW but still very much behind the new CS and AA products. I'm a bigger guy and we were shoulder to shoulder, and I could not extend my legs when the seat was lie flat. Would highly recommend trying to get the window seats with the seat on the window side for those traveling solo. Cabin was hot, and we heard more than a few comments of people sweating during the night.

Hope this helps!