“Good evening, Sir. May I offer you something to drink? A glass of Champagne, perhaps?”
It’s been two years since I’ve been greeted in such a fashion, and I must say it’s a salutation I wish I could hear more often. It represents a warm welcome to a world of refined elegance, a world offering the promise of comfort and ease, where you’ll be well looked after as an honored guest.
Welcome to the world of International First Class travel as practiced by British Airways.
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I’ve written about First Class travel before in this forum. Indeed, I’ve reported on British Airways’ First Class service five years previously. Why do it again? Call it an update. With all the attention being given to the next generation of First Class suites and services as offered by airlines like Singapore, Emirates and India’s Jet Airways, how does BA’s service rate? Is it still worth paying the big bucks for? I’ll report on my recent experience and let you be the judge.
Although BA has made some noteworthy improvements to its Club World Business Class product, the First Class cabin remains for the most part unchanged. The FIRST suites, introduced amidst much fanfare as the pinnacle of First Class accommodations in 1996, are now twelve years older and have long since been surpassed in both comfort and privacy by the next generation of suites such as those found on Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific. Rumor has it however that BA has made slight improvements to its First Class onboard service and has plans for major improvements to both the hard and soft product to be implemented beginning in 2009. Regardless, I am thrilled to return to First Class international travel aboard British Airways and look forward to experiencing the current improvements, however slight they may be.
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Once again, I’m cashing in a large block of award mileage for a First Class seat to Australia. Truth be known, I really wanted to travel to South Africa this spring but there were no First Class award seats to be found via Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan on either British Airways or Cathay Pacific. Business Class seats were available into either Johannesburg or Capetown but over the years I’ve established a standard for my personal award travel aboard three cabin aircraft and Business Class simply doesn’t make the grade.
Now before any of you dismiss me as an irredeemable snob, please understand that I’ve logged literally millions of miles all over the globe while sat in Economy Class seats. I’m not a rich man and when I’m paying out of pocket for my own flights, the back of the plane is where you’ll find me. I’m perfectly comfortable with both Economy Class seats and Economy Class passengers.
Many would argue that a Business Class seat is perfectly acceptable for long distance travel. Without a doubt, the comfort and amenities offered in Business Class are far superior to those found in Economy Class. Indeed, some airlines have enhanced their Business classes to such an extent that the distinction between travelling in Business Class and First Class has become increasingly blurred.
Consider, too, that most people focus on the destination rather than the transportation. Even when traveling on award mileage, their practical approach to travel tells them that the Business Class seat and service is more than acceptable and that the additional space and amenities of First Class are not worth spending the extra money or miles for.
The main difference between myself and most other people is that I love to fly. And, just as those who truly love to drive won’t settle for anything less than a high performance automobile, I won’t settle for anything less than a First Class Suite when it comes to long distance international travel. At least, not when I have the award miles to afford it.
I had no problem finding First Class accommodations to Sydney aboard British Airways. It's worth noting however that I enjoy a greater degree of flexibility than most people. Aside from the fact that I only require one seat, I also have the flexibility to travel any time between February and April. Alaska Airlines connects to British Airways at ten different North American gateway cities, so getting to London is rarely a problem. Finding a seat between London and Sydney is generally more challenging however as there are only two daily departures. Again, if you are flexible and persistent enough to check back every so often, you stand an excellent chance of success.
I’d like to take a moment here to thank the friendly and capable folks working the Partner Desk at Alaska Airlines. Thanks to all of them for patiently searching out seats to both South Africa and Australia aboard both British Airways and Cathay Pacific. I also appreciate their patiently dealing with my many follow up phone calls to see if certain more preferable dates had opened up. As an added bonus, they even found me a seat aboard BA 9, the 747 departure from London to Sydney via Bangkok as opposed to BA 15, the 777 via Singapore. Not only do I prefer a First Class seat in the nose of a 747, but the LHR-BKK-SYD routing represented 10,610 miles of hitherto unflown routes for me.
Now then, why travel from Alaska to Australia via British Airways when Qantas will get you to Australia much faster? Flying aboard an international First Class the caliber of British Airways’ is for me a rare and cherished treat. I want to get the most value for my miles and BA’s First Class award to Australia allows me to do just that. BA’s longer routing via London and Bangkok will allow me to enjoy just over 16000 miles and 30 hours of First Class luxury as opposed to less than half that amount were I to fly the more direct route across the Pacific with Qantas. Additionally, there’s just not that much service offered aboard those late night nonstops between North America and Australia. You’re served a late supper (at a time when most people really don’t care to eat) followed by a full breakfast prior to arrival in Australia. That’s it. Your international First Class experience to Australia is over after only fourteen hours, much of which you probably slept through.
For me, the highlight of any trip in First Class is the meal service and over the course of this trip with British Airways I’ll be served three dinners and three breakfasts. As an added bonus, I’ll have plenty of time to indulge in the comfort and amenities of three different First Class lounges, including BA’s Concorde Room at Heathrow’s Terminal 4.
By the way, I don’t mean to make Australia sound like a consolation prize. I do truly enjoy visiting there. As well, I can take some consolation in the fact that by going to Australia, I’m getting the very most out of my award mileage in the form of an extra full service flight between Asia and Australia, i.e three full service flights to get to Oz as opposed to only two to get to Africa.
Alright then, following my 280th flight aboard an Alaska Airlines 737-400 from Seattle to San Francisco, let’s pick this journey up at San Francisco International where I faced a six hour layover before my departure to London at 8:30pm.
By the way, although I will be imbedding some pictures in this report, the entire lot of them may be viewed
HERE.
Following are a couple of pictures from my flights between Fairbanks and San Francisco:
On descent into Anchorage over icy ponds
