jumpseat_jock

I think the USP of the CWLCY brand could be described as "efficient comfort".

As other posts have highlighted the concept of the service eastbound is to minimise time hanging around at airports. Westbound the concept is to maximise sleep (although onboard dining options are available) and to deliver you to the doorstep of the City.

The LCY lounge should really be considered an enhanced gate area, rather than a lounge as again the concept is to minimise the time spent in the airport. The lounge facilities at LHR are about occupying you while you waste time before boarding.

It is a shame that you experienced poorer than expected service onboard as most reports have highlighted a better level of attentiveness from the crew.

As others have said, if you really want to compare the BA product with other airlines you need to connect through LHR. The CWLCY product is a niche targeted market and like all airline products it is "horses for courses", you will either like it or not and it will either suit you or not.

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views expressed in this post are those of my own and do not reflect those of my employer, British Airways

JJ

chistery

The service from JFK-LCY seems to very 'low touch' in an effort to get pax to sleep as soon as possible and minimise disruption. Even if you are awake, the crew do not actively look after you, as they do on other CW flights.

I'm hoping to do a LCY-JFK flight soon to experience that.

jumpseat_jock

they blooming well should be, to be quite frank, service wise the ba2 & 4 are pretty boring - all rush at the start then nada - too much snoring!, having passengers to look after is a bonus!

any passengers awake (on my flights anyhow) are well looked after, although it could a perception issue, it is sometimes difficult to guage on the night sectors how much interation passengers want - especially with everyone around asleep.

please ensure you feed this sort of stuff back to both the operating crew and customer services

JJ

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views expressed here are those of my own and not my employer, British Airways

LeisureFirst

I don't think this is at all fair. It's expected that most people will arrive at LCY only half an hour or so before their flight, and the lounge only exists for those two flights a day so is rather small, but I think it serves its purpose admirably. It has a better selection of drinks and food than most American business class lounges, although it lacks the basic hot food options of Galleries Club at LHR IIRC and the LHR spa (which is in practice rather useless unless you arrive about four hours before your flight anyway). It has an excellent choice of newspapers and magazines - far better than GC at LHR. What exactly weren't you happy about? - saying it's a joke doesn't convey any useful information at all.

Not exactly. It is true that the service really comes into its own for travellers who are starting or ending their journeys in the City, Canary Wharf, or East London generally, but that is true for leisure travellers in that situation just as much as business travellers. I and many many friends have used it when leaving the office and directly going to the aiport to drop in on New York for the weekend. There's nothing wrong with a service primarily designed to maximize sleep even for leisure travellers and pax do get plenty of food on the outbound and some food (plus the disgusting JFK buffet - same as for the LHR pax) on the return.

I have criticized the service on here before, but that's only because I don't think its the be-all-and-end-all bee's knees that some think. I still think it's a very good service. My main disagreement with others is that the stop in Shannon does delay the journey by more than the time saved at JFK - although it's not as bad as those who know little about the service seem to fear - and it delays the main meal until about three hours after take-off which really means you need to grab a light meal before the flight. But these criticisms (especially the extra time taken) are just as valid for the business traveller as for the leisure traveller.

sucker777

Is business class on the JFK-LCY flights more or less likely to be full than on the JFK-LHR or EWR-LHR routes? We're a family and like room to spread out.

LondonAndy

I've travelled a bit on services from LHR and LCY to JFK and in my experience the loadings are..... pretty random. I've been in F to JFK when J was about 20% full (but F was 100% full!) and I've also been in a packed J from LHR.

I can say that in my (limited!) LCY experience the flight has never been packed - maybe 2/3 full? Using that BA1/2 service next week so I'll update you then!

BA1321

My single experience with this flight was from one extreme to the other. Inbound BA002 was completely full, while the returning BA001 had only 6 passengers on board. Was one of the best flights I've ever had!

sucker777

Interesting. I was guessing LCY flights were less full since there seems to be consistently more reward availability on those flights than LHR flights, but maybe it's difficult to say as a general matter LCY flights are less full in business.

Thanks to both who responded.

KenJohn

I believe the JFK-LCY loads are rather high as it is non-stop and gets straight into City area, especially on the BA2 which gets in early

On average LCY-JFK loads are far lighter due to the stopover at SNN. Personally, I love this flight for the ability to pre-clear US immigration and low loads.

rogerj

I've done two LCY-JFK returns in the last month. Both very full (only 1 or 2 seats free both ways). These were on Sunday and Monday outbound and Friday on the return.

This is different to my experience last year where the flights were only half full - and on 1 of them I found that I knew 10 people on the flight as we all work for the same Bank!

DWFI

I have been checking in at 12 minutes to departure
Now that's efficiency.

rogerj

That is the real beauty of the route. Check-in very close to the departure time and no hassle or long walks as in Heathrow. The lounge could be better but is somewhat irrelevant given the amount of time you spend there. The only real improvement I would make in the lounge is for them to buy some sandwiches from another outlet and make them available.

sucker777

Thanks for all the replies/info. One more question: Are the seats any different (better? worse?) than the LHR seats?

cornishsimon

totally different seat and IFE

others will be along to post piccys etc soon.................. sorry but im hitting the sack

cs

sucker777

Thanks. I didnt know that. I just flipped through a bunch of links included on a different thread and saw lots of opinions on location, transit time, Shannon, etc., but I'm just interested in the punch line on whether the seats are clearly better or worse on LCY than LHR. If any one has an opinion they'd care to share, thanks. But maybe it's not so crystal clear or subjective.