fbrj

Just caught up with your travels to St Lucia - sorry to hear about the slightly disappointing F experiences.

Although we (Mrsfbrj and I) have been very regular travellers to St Lucia over the last 15 yrs or so, we decided to use our first F and BAPP earned 2-4-1 elsewhere partly owing to your comment above which I previously suspected too.

As we are retired and 100% leisure travellers we wanted to maximise our "F" experience - so LHR because of the CCR and as much daylight travel as possible (no point in spending most of the "experience" fast asleep for most of the journey!). After much pouring over routes, weather in the uk, avios spend, timings etc etc (and of course where we actually wanted to go!) we plumped, next January for 18 days, for an open jaw LHR-BOM in F and DEL-LHR return in J (upper deck 747). Both flights depart between 10am - 11am approximately for the 9hr flight or so.

I was interested to read of your "family integration" experience too. Last year returning in J from UVF to LGW, we noticed 2 (French but probably irrelevant!) families who were all travelling together and had obviously boarded at the starting point (Trinidad and Tobago) - the group comprised about 6 children (aged between about 6 to 14) , 4 parents and a nanny. Our hearts sank with much pre-flight activity by the youngsters right by our seats. How wrong we were - everyone settled down for take off and not another sound was heard until we landed, except for one of the mothers complaining loudly to a FA for a few minutes shortly after take off.

ps - with a food rating of 3 for the Rendezvous...perhaps you should have ventured out to the Pink Plantation House, after all!!

T8191

Perhaps we're having a run of bad luck with family groups? We had similar on LAX-HNL in January!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24156049-post1.html

And, yes, we were incredibly idle and just stayed in the Resort. If we do return, we may well branch out further - but why pay for AI, and all the associated benefits, and then go out to pay extra?
I was looking at BGI for next winter, at a nice hotel I spotted, and then wondering how much it would cost to eat and drink! Scanning a menu and asking oneself 'How much?! ' does tend to take a bit of the shine off a relaxing holiday!

elizadoo

Thank you for your time in writing this. I'd like to echo some of what you have said, with a bit of a twist.

We used a 241 to fly F from IAD-LHR (777) and also JNB-LHR (380). Both were new-ish aircraft and we were given exceptional service. The wines from JNB were delightful (best dessert wine I've ever had in my life, from Cape Town!) and the food was very fresh.

Regarding chocolates, we were each given a small box of fabulous handcrafted delicacies made in South Africa (I kept the label, they were that good).

Both The IAD and the CCR/LHR lounges were a real treat, first and probably last time in our lives to experience that. "On demand pre-flight" dining in IAD was excellent (we were the only couple to use it) but we found CCR restaurant service and food not so great.

The "worst" part of our trip, if there was one, was the cabin comfort itself. In my opinion, the comfort of the F lie-flat bed on BA was similar to that of the J lie-flat on DL ("heavenly bed") on a JNB-ATL flight in which I slept 9 straight hours on a 16 hour flight.

The BEST segment of our trip, believe it or not, was the LHR-MIA return in CW on the UD of a 747. The CC was fabulous, cheeky, young, and much in an upbeat mood--and who wouldn't be, enroute to Miami? Very generous with the drinks, the cheeses, the chocolates. I would estimate 3/4 of the CW pax on the UD on this particular route were gay men, and the feeling of adult conversation and polished manners made the flight memorable.

I expect the LGW-St Lucia route is far down on the list of F priorities.

If you use the 241 again to fly F you might want to try a swankier route.

BHDATC

That's a shame as there shouldn't be any low priority F route - it certainly isn't reflected in the marketing or price.

mas0282

No but let's be honest - the leisure routes from LGW are the poor relation of the business routes from LHR. That's the only conclusion you can draw having flown F from LGW.

The scotsman

Just spotted availability on our travel dates in July to UVF to upgrade from a holiday booking in Club World to First for me, Mrs Scotsman and Miss Scotsman. This is a special anniversary trip and with a load of Avios to burn thought this an opportune time to spend some.

Looking forward to the experience but with realistic expectations. Thanks for all the reports and comments on everything from lounges, crew to food etc. Its all very informative and greatly appreciated. I will return the favour by commenting on the trip on my return.

T8191

Having failed to find any F availability for early next year, we have just booked to KIN (2-4-1 in J, 777). Back to the Royal Plantation for a 3rd stay. I have thus deferred our next F experience for 12 months or so

GodAtum

Is there a Nunwood survey I can have a copy of? I want something to help me make notes on my upcoming flight.

Calchas

So I recently got a Flybe survey, one of the questions was,

"How well did the crew manage your expectations?"

!?

T8191

Nunwood and English are strangers

HIDDY

Life is far too short to be thinking of doing such a thing especially at your age. I used to take notes during all my F/J flights for my trip reports. Now I just make it up.

GodAtum

Lol if I had a long checklist I could see if I get my money's worth. Also it might encourage the CC

Seat64A

I think BA's financial returns from its F cabin are relatively low compared with other cabins'. Apparently, BA has got better returns from its J, WT+ and even Y seats. I'm not sure the degree to which this is due to the proportion of passengers using avios, involuntarily upgraded etc. I suspect BA F partly still exists for marketing purposes.

I do understand you wrote "make money" which, I know, is not the same thing.

I, too, have complained about the longlife juices. I was astonished when first served it. At the time I commented that it's a bit like serving a £4 bottle of wine.

My first class flying is now on Emirates' and I always feel special.

Castle25

it would seem not - people hark on about drinking this or that bottle of red or white but Flyers would soon complain if a £1 bottle of plonk was served or a 25p bottle of beer

The simple thing like 'fresh' (not concentrate) OJ seems to go amiss.