Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > British Airways | Executive Club
Reload this Page >

Back to KL [BA to resume flights to Kuala Lumpur from May 2015]

Community
Wiki Posts
Search

Back to KL [BA to resume flights to Kuala Lumpur from May 2015]

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Aug 29, 2015, 7:47 am
  #121  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Originally Posted by zsc
Wow, even WT+ gets scathing reviews.
You'll find lots of scathing reviews of WT+. Broadly, there are two major strands to these: those who think that WT+ is supposed to be some sort of business class-lite product (it isn't; it's a tarted-up version of economy) and are disappointed to discover the truth; and those who profess to be unable to tell the difference between any seats that don't fold out into a lie-flat bed and who generally regard business class as the lowest acceptable form of air transport.

People who normally fly economy, and for whom WT+ is a treat, often rather like WT+. But of course, you can always have a bad individual flight in any cabin.
Globaliser is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 8:29 am
  #122  
zsc
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LHR / LCY / DXB
Programs: QR Silver / BA Silver
Posts: 324
Originally Posted by Globaliser
You'll find lots of scathing reviews of WT+. Broadly, there are two major strands to these: those who think that WT+ is supposed to be some sort of business class-lite product (it isn't; it's a tarted-up version of economy) and are disappointed to discover the truth; and those who profess to be unable to tell the difference between any seats that don't fold out into a lie-flat bed and who generally regard business class as the lowest acceptable form of air transport.

People who normally fly economy, and for whom WT+ is a treat, often rather like WT+. But of course, you can always have a bad individual flight in any cabin.
Used to think BA was one of those airlines that you should book if ever you have a chance to, growing up in Malaysia. After discovering FT, it looks like MH and SQ (Singapore Airlines) are actually not that bad after all.

Thank you for the enlightenment, it sure is eye-opening to learn of all this. :-:
zsc is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 9:11 am
  #123  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
Originally Posted by zsc
Used to think BA was one of those airlines that you should book if ever you have a chance to, growing up in Malaysia. After discovering FT, it looks like MH and SQ (Singapore Airlines) are actually not that bad after all.
In the UK, many knowledgeable people would long have put SQ in the same league as BA, if not higher (at least as far as cabin service and comfort are concerned). So I wonder whether that is/was just a local attitude there?
Globaliser is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 9:20 am
  #124  
zsc
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LHR / LCY / DXB
Programs: QR Silver / BA Silver
Posts: 324
Originally Posted by Globaliser
In the UK, many knowledgeable people would long have put SQ in the same league as BA, if not higher (at least as far as cabin service and comfort are concerned). So I wonder whether that is/was just a local attitude there?
Most likely. Generally travel to Europe and beyond is much more expensive compared to Asian flights, for instance to Japan/Korea/Hong Kong, so our exposure to European airlines is fairly limited. Most of the time those who fly European carriers such as BA and AF are business travelers and as such, their comments would be fairly positive, since it's business class that they are familiar with.

Having said that though, now with prices approaching reasonable levels, more people are able to take the 'cattle class' onboard European carriers. Which, such as my case, brings about comparisons and the realisation that Western carriers might not be as impressive as we've heard it to be.

Potentially unrelated, but the big three Gulf carriers have astounding prices for flights originating from KUL to European destinations. Which is why people like me would bank our miles in either EK or QR in the hopes of being able to redeem them.
zsc is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 9:35 am
  #125  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 689
Originally Posted by zsc
Aw, darn. This is my first time trying BA upon recommendation of a friend, looks like I won't be returning anytime soon

FYI, BA are due to start flying a 787-9 on the KL route from 5th December 15 if you are planning to fly there again.

Originally Posted by zsc
Will heed your advice and hit the drinks!
^
Forever in Seattle is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 9:51 am
  #126  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Scotland
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 206
Originally Posted by Forever in Seattle
FYI, BA are due to start flying a 787-9 on the KL route from 5th December 15 if you are planning to fly there again.


^
phew, this thread had me worried! We fly on Dec 10th and have just double-checked on MMB, and yes, it's a 787-9 (which I presume will be shiny and new?)
ruby55 is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 10:08 am
  #127  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Gloucestershire
Programs: BA Gold (ex-GGL, maybe future Silver), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,204
Shiny and new and great in WTP and above.

In WT, nobody really knows - the seats will be a little wider than in the 788 but still ten-abreast so might be a little constrained.
Cymro is online now  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 10:13 am
  #128  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Scotland
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 206
Originally Posted by Cymro
Shiny and new and great in WTP and above.

In WT, nobody really knows - the seats will be a little wider than in the 788 but still ten-abreast so might be a little constrained.
Totally due to this forum and all I have learned about UUA. I will not need to discover how bad WT is. CW for us
ruby55 is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 11:09 am
  #129  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Programs: EK Silver, BA Blue, MH Blue
Posts: 46
BA34 was packed earlier in the week, lots of families - had an op-up from WT+ to J! Fancied my chances at OLCI when there were only 3 seats to choose from in the WT+ cabin, and the seat update came through when checking the app on the way to the airport. Thanks to the forum, I knew that I could probably use the J boarding pass at Galleries while connecting onto an ET to Europe too!

Having largely done Asia-Europe in EK in the last few years, this was a reminder of the benefits of a continuous 7-hour sleep, rather than short 3-4 hour chunks. And the FAs were superb. But couldn't believe how low-res the IFE was, or limited the selection - certainly in comparison to EK's ICE, even in Y.

Rather strangely, when I booked this back in May, as it was part of an open-jaw the booking engine wasn't giving me options to select between travel classes for individual segments - and so when the payment page came up it was simply showing WT+ for BA34, although I had asked for economy in the multi-city search. So had WT+ outbound and WT inbound for about £540! The WT return in BA33 is coming up in a week, so a bump back to earth and normality!
sant2585 is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 12:29 pm
  #130  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL (for now) and Lifetime Gold, Marriott fan thanks to Bonvoy Moments
Posts: 5,115
Originally Posted by Forever in Seattle
FYI, BA are due to start flying a 787-9 on the KL route from 5th December 15 if you are planning to fly there again.


^
I'm hoping - unrealistically - that it starts about 9 days early!
lorcancoyle is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 6:39 pm
  #131  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Programs: KA "The Elite"
Posts: 195
Originally Posted by Globaliser
You'll find lots of scathing reviews of WT+. Broadly, there are two major strands to these: those who think that WT+ is supposed to be some sort of business class-lite product (it isn't; it's a tarted-up version of economy) and are disappointed to discover the truth; and those who profess to be unable to tell the difference between any seats that don't fold out into a lie-flat bed and who generally regard business class as the lowest acceptable form of air transport.

People who normally fly economy, and for whom WT+ is a treat, often rather like WT+. But of course, you can always have a bad individual flight in any cabin.
True, lie flat should be the only legal way to travel for over 5 hours :-)
10 abreast on a 777 a la AF is just simply torture. Once BA goes that way I will ditch all Longhauls with them as I did with AF in 2009.
WT+ on A380 with new IFE is decent, but on these prehistoric B777-200 unless it's very cheap, it is Definitelly not worth 1500 euro for a RT KUL-Europe.

CX, SQ or MH's hard and soft products are miles ahead of BA.
I would only rate BA slightly better than LH or AF.
Flying 4 sectors on BA is a necessary evil to keep EC status, not something I would do volountarily.
longliveKA is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2015, 8:19 pm
  #132  
zsc
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LHR / LCY / DXB
Programs: QR Silver / BA Silver
Posts: 324
Originally Posted by Forever in Seattle
FYI, BA are due to start flying a 787-9 on the KL route from 5th December 15 if you are planning to fly there again.
This time around, I booked it for RM3500 (around £600 at that time). So if the price is around there I'll definitely give it a try again, have not had a flight on the 787 yet, sounds like an experience I should not miss!

Originally Posted by ruby55
Totally due to this forum and all I have learned about UUA. I will not need to discover how bad WT is. CW for us
About that. How do you earn your Avios, by credit card spends/rewards or with Tesco? My frugal student spending gets me very few of those, certainly not enough for anything noteworthy
zsc is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 8:26 am
  #133  
zsc
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: LHR / LCY / DXB
Programs: QR Silver / BA Silver
Posts: 324
BA swapped the usual 773 (four class) with a 772 (three class) for the 0034 last night. Tonight's flight was even worse than the 773... sorely disappointed by the hard product.
zsc is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 8:41 am
  #134  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: London
Posts: 1,503
Originally Posted by zsc
BA swapped the usual 773 (four class) with a 772 (three class) for the 0034 last night. Tonight's flight was even worse than the 773... sorely disappointed by the hard product.
Disaster! I'm assuming you were meant to be in First?

What did they do and how did they handle it in terms of compensation etc? Which new seats did you get?

Am now worried - I'm travelling to KUL in F in several weeks. Really hope this was just a one-off.
London_traveller is offline  
Old Sep 18, 2015, 8:41 am
  #135  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Little dot in Asia
Programs: AA-EP, TK-*G, HL-DM, HY-GLO, MR-LTP
Posts: 25,932
Originally Posted by zsc
BA swapped the usual 773 (four class) with a 772 (three class) for the 0034 last night. Tonight's flight was even worse than the 773... sorely disappointed by the hard product.
The 772 was worse than the 773? How is that possible? What class were you in?
Guy Betsy is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.