BA: PRG-LHR-DEN (economy - WT&ET ) 1st June 2008 - great experience with BA!,many pic
MY FIRST BRITISH AIRWAYS EXPERIENCE
Prague (Czech Republic) – London Heathrow – Denver (Colorado)
Sunday, 1st June 2008
Introduction
I began organizing my journey to America about three months before the flight to allow enough time for finding good fares and connections. I was going to spend 6 weeks there with my friends. As I knew I wanted to fly directly from Prague to Denver (not from Vienna or even German or Polish airports), I had a few possibilities for connections. I was pretty sure that I wanted just one, as I flew PRG-AMS-ATL-DEN with DL last year and it was very tiring. Therefore, I could have flown through Atlanta (with DL or OK), London (BA), Frankfurt (LH or UA) and New York (OK/AA/DL).
After an average experience with Delta last year, I wanted to try something new, and the cheapest, fastest and probably the most interesting airline for me was British Airways with the “new” T5 – by the time of my booking, both legs of my journey were supposed to be operated from Terminal 5. I was very excited about BA and booked and bought my air-ticket in late March 2008.
Before departure
My original flight to London was supposed to be BA 855 with the departure from Prague at 12.50 AM, but due to the delay with transferring long-haul flights from T4 to T5, my flight was re-booked to give me more time for changing terminals and therefore I flew BA 853 departing at 7.55 AM – I had to get up at 4.15 in the morning ... ugh, not very nice and not expected at all. The flight from London to Denver (Colorado, USA), was BA 219 as planned at the beginning.
The departure board with my flight to LHR:
The ”D“ day
I know that many of you don’t see flying as a VERY special event, but for me (I turned 18 a few days ago and have flown only a few times in my life) flying means so much. I usually get to fly once a year, when lucky :-). That is why I was looking forward to the 1st of June very much.
FLIGHT BA 853: PRG-LHR
1st June 2008
Departure from Prague: 7:55AM (I will always use local times);
Terminal 1, gate A3
Arrival to London Heathrow: 9:10AM,
Terminal 5
Airplane: Airbus A320-200, G-EUUS
Passengers: completely full, I personally didn’t spot any free seats.
(Many Czechs probably use this connection as a feeder for long-haul flights to the rest of the world.)
Weather: nice by the time of departure, very cloudy above Britain (I’d say ”as usual“ – better weather than on the Continent has never welcomed me when I came to Britain)
Seat and class: Europe Traveller, 8A
Delay: none
At the airport
As I mentioned earlier, I woke up at about 4.15 in the morning and left my friend’s home at about 5.30 to be at the airport slightly after 6 o’clock. I am very glad I did the check-in on-line, which allowed me to go straight to the Fast Bag Drop with only one person in front of me in the queue. The other check-in desks were extremely busy.
I got to the gate at about 6.20, which was very convenient and allowed me to enjoy the shops and the morning traffic. Security check began at about 7:25 directly at the gate and boarding at about 7.40 and was very smooth. We left the gate at about 7:55 (I don’t know exactly, but it was pretty punctual) and took off about five minutes later from runway 24.
Flight
I chose the 8A seat during the check-in on-line and was very pleased as I had 2 windows from which to look out. The seat was comfortable, but not out-standing. I guess one more inch would have made the legroom much better. The service started after about 30 minutes of the flight. We were given ONLY sandwiches (this was pretty poor as I expected a full breakfast and was very hungry) and a few hot and cold drinks to choose from. The crew was very professional and friendly and I definitely enjoyed my first experience with British Airways very very much.
According to the captain’s announcement, we flew over Frankfurt (Germany) and Belgium (no IFE, air-show etc.). The captain talked to us once more about 20 minutes before the landing to announce descend and to request that we put our seat belts.
The flight was uneventful and we hit only slight turbulences above Britain on approach. The weather was very different in Britain – cloudy and rainy in comparison with continental shiny and cloudless conditions.
We landed on Heathrow´s runway 09L at 8:54 local time and waited for a parking position for about 5 minutes. After that, we taxied to the 5B satellite building.
At the airport
I was allowed a short glimpse into the cockpit and met the crew for a few moments – I really enjoyed the glass-cockpit and would definitely love to fly this machine (however, becoming a pilot is too expensive for my family and my health may not be good enough to become a pilot ...).
We got off the airplane after about 20 minutes of waiting (the jet-bridge didn’t seem to work), so we had to wait for normal stairs. It was raining and only ClubEurope passengers were allowed to use the Lexus cars, which made me feel down as I was soaking wet before I entered the terminal building.
Transfer 
I helped a Czech woman, who didn’t speak English at all, to get to the main building and find her connecting flight (she was flying to Hawaii with a connection in L.A. – I hope she didn’t get lost there).
At first, I tried to get to T3 as I knew the Singapore Airlines´ A380 should have been parked there, but found out that only departing passengers were allowed inside. However, in the bus ride to my T4, I saw the Whale jet from a couple of meters, and it was really an impressive sight. I am sad that I was not able take any good pictures, as the driver was a bit crazy and there were so many obstacles between me and the beauty! Even though, I enjoyed it as much as I could and hope to fly it once in my life.
As soon as I got to T4, I was stuck in a very long queue for Security Check and I had to wait there for about 30 minutes before I was checked – not a very pleasant experience and I hope things will get better when all BA long-haul flights are operated from T5.
Being lucky
After that, I went to the transfer desk. I was extremely lucky that I was called by the premium-passengers-attendant who was not busy and as I had an unplanned 7-hour-lay-over at Heathrow, I politely asked whether it would be possible to allow me into the lounge (the main reason for choosing BA was the time, and (un)fortunately it all went wrong and I had to spend 5 more hours in London than planned). However, after a few calls and some smiles, incredibly, I was given a permission to use the lounge, which made me extremely happy and at that time, I decided to fly with BA always whenever possible.
Lounge
At first, I just took a seat and had to realize that I was really there. After that, I decided to explore the two-floor-lounge as well as I could, so I tried some food (it was late-breakfast time so I took some fruits and cheese with bread). Afterwards, I used the computers (which were slow, but working) to let my close ones know I was safe, and then went upstairs and took a shower, which absolutely refreshed me. I then spent some time reading and enjoying the great atmosphere and at noon I decided to have lunch – and tried pasta with some vegetables from a native Indian chef (probably), which was delicious. Then I had one more shower (what a treat!) and relaxed in the sanctuary for a while.
I was really sad that I had to leave the lounge at 3.05 PM to get to Gate 12 for my next flight at 3.15 – I would be able to spend there whole day. Well, I hope to be able to pay for it when I grow up. From this point of view, BA rocks and kudos to the staff for getting one more passenger on their side.
FLIGHT BA 219: LHR-DEN
1st June 2008
Scheduled departure from London Heathrow: 3:45 PM,
Terminal 4, Gate 12
Scheduled arrival to Denver in Colorado, USA: 6:25 PM
International Terminal
Airplane: Boeing 777-200, G-YMMF
Passengers: almost full, only a few free places if not full. Is it always like that?
Weather: bad by the time of departure, very cloudy above Britain, but very nice in Denver – sunny and warm.
Delay: about 60 minutes
Boarding
I got to the gate about five minutes before the boarding time – which started about 30 minutes before the departure. It took an extremely long time and we spent about 10 minutes in the long jet bridge – next time, I will try to be the last one to board the plane.
Departure
My flight left gate about 30 minutes later than scheduled and we spent other approximately 40 minutes taxiing very slowly to the active runway, which was 27R. This delay was caused (as we were told) by dense traffic and indeed, there were many airplanes taking-off before us. Finally, we took off with more than a one-hour-delay, which made me a bit annoyed as I was thinking that I could have spent some great time in the lounge. Btw. our take-off run was 35 seconds long.
Seat
I chose the first seat of WT cabin on-line (15K), which had slightly more legroom than other seats in this class and there was luckily just one person to sit next to. However, it was still pretty difficult to leave the seat without bothering that person.
Flight
Service started about 40 minutes after the departure; at first, we were offered cold drinks. About 1 hour after the departure, the meals and hot drinks were served. I chose chicken, which was fairly good – I still think BA can improve their meal service.
We flew over Manchester, Isle of Man, south of Greenland, Canada, Hudson Bay and then North Dakota, Wyoming (directly above KRAP - Rapid City Regional Airport) and then landed in Denver at 6.49 PM local time.
The flight was very smooth (B777 was the biggest plane I have ever flown) and we just hit some turbulence on approach. However, I did not like the lavatory waiting times.
IFE
Very good, as I had the bulkhead seat, the screen was in the armrest and was often falling down whenever I slightly touched it. However, its place in the armrest was very comfortable for adjusting its position. I also enjoyed the variety of channels and programs, although I did not watch a single movie as all of them seemed very stupid to me.
Crew
The crew was very professional and basically, I enjoyed being on my first long-haul flight with British Airways very much!
At the airport
We left the airplane after about 10 minutes of waiting and headed to the immigration control, which took me almost 40 minutes to go through. I was asked several questions about my stay and was allowed to enter America about 1 hour after arrival. We had to wait other 15 minutes for the baggage and then everything went smoothly and I met my friends slightly after 8 PM on 1st June.
CONCLUSION
As I have mentioned, this was my first experience with BA so far and I am glad it turned out to be one of the best ones I have ever had.
In comparison with Delta, the in-flight service as well as the airport experience was better and compared to my short-haul Czech Airlines experience, it was very similar.
IMPRESSION
I love numbers; 10 is the best, 1 is the worst
BA SERVICE
Check-In: 10 (very efficient)
Lounge: 7.0 (it probably needs more cleaning)
Airport staff: 10 (absolutely great)
Boarding: 6.0
Seat: 8.0 (Still, I would love a bit more legroom for World- and EuroTraveller)
Aircraft Overall Ambiance: 7.5 (a bit too shabby and old)
IFE: 8.0 (fairly good, but with an extremely dirty screen)
Crew Service: 9.0 (not coming very often though)
Food: 7.0 (could be much better)
Beverages: 9.0
Amenity Kit: 7.0
Disembarkation: 6.0 (fairly slow)
On-Time Record: 5.0 (more than 60 minutes delay on both flights)
OVERALL BA IMPRESSION: 7.7
OTHER SERVICES:
Reservation: 9.0 (however not the BA web-site)
Security screening: 7.0 (very slow, but OK)
OVERALL OTHER SERVICES: 8.0
OVERALL IMPRESSION FROM ALL THE FLIGHTS PRG-LHR-DEN IS 7.9pts IN MY PERSONAL OPINION, THAT MEANS 4 :-::-::-::-: out of 5! 
I hope you enjoyed my trip report. All comments and questions are more than welcome.
Last edited by Jacob02; Sep 19, 2015 at 1:03 am
Reason: photo links dysfunctional