Standby experiences on CPT/JNB-LHR
May 15, 2017, 8:30 am
#31
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,769
As luck would have it, my first BA standby worked out fine, after some rather bad luck on the way…
Firstly my thanks to those of you who PM’d me with the loads. I took the advice to position to JNB as the CPT flight looked very tight.
Unfortunately, my SA CPT-JNB flight was delayed by a power failure and subsequent comedy of errors, culminating in an interminable bus transfer from remote stand at JNB. Bus doors opened at 18.16, giving me 4 minutes to sprint to check-in for BA56. It took me 5. Luckily the friendly agent called despatch to reopen check-in, which they did. Phew. Inability to OLCI is obviously quite a drawback of flying standby.
Passport control then took an age, but I managed a quick dash to grab a cooling beer from the lounge before making it onboard.
Mini review of BA56 in WT
This was my first WT since 2014 and I was actually rather impressed!
- Crew were excellent. Smiley, friendly, a bit of personality, what you’d hope for from BA.
- Food was excellent. Obviously still Y food, but the main (beef stew), dessert (apple sponge), and full English breakfast were all surprisingly tasty and plentiful. Well done. I slept overnight so can’t comment on lack of tuck box, however.
- Current IFE selection is very good, admittedly helped by Oscar season. Shame they don’t have the Night Manager box set as I still need to finish that.
- A380 main deck seats aren’t bad at all for Y. My last WT was on UD to HKG and I thought main deck would be less pleasant, but it was extremely quiet and I slept ok, as far as sleeping upright goes.
- Overall, despite being a very busy flight, it wasn’t a horrendous experience – which is praise from me.
Firstly my thanks to those of you who PM’d me with the loads. I took the advice to position to JNB as the CPT flight looked very tight.
Unfortunately, my SA CPT-JNB flight was delayed by a power failure and subsequent comedy of errors, culminating in an interminable bus transfer from remote stand at JNB. Bus doors opened at 18.16, giving me 4 minutes to sprint to check-in for BA56. It took me 5. Luckily the friendly agent called despatch to reopen check-in, which they did. Phew. Inability to OLCI is obviously quite a drawback of flying standby.
Passport control then took an age, but I managed a quick dash to grab a cooling beer from the lounge before making it onboard.
Mini review of BA56 in WT
This was my first WT since 2014 and I was actually rather impressed!
- Crew were excellent. Smiley, friendly, a bit of personality, what you’d hope for from BA.
- Food was excellent. Obviously still Y food, but the main (beef stew), dessert (apple sponge), and full English breakfast were all surprisingly tasty and plentiful. Well done. I slept overnight so can’t comment on lack of tuck box, however.
- Current IFE selection is very good, admittedly helped by Oscar season. Shame they don’t have the Night Manager box set as I still need to finish that.
- A380 main deck seats aren’t bad at all for Y. My last WT was on UD to HKG and I thought main deck would be less pleasant, but it was extremely quiet and I slept ok, as far as sleeping upright goes.
- Overall, despite being a very busy flight, it wasn’t a horrendous experience – which is praise from me.
May 15, 2017, 9:01 am
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London and Zurich
Programs: AA, BA, Mucci: Sir Roger des Directions Routières, PCR
Posts: 13,609
I found the fare on Kayak, and booked through the link to https://book.omegaflightstore.com/. Admittedly I'd never heard of them before, but took the risk - worked out fine in the end! £214 for a one-way DUR-ADD-LHR.
In the end I booked on the ET website and found lower prices.
We booked DUB-ADD-CPT return in biz for €1,200 each.
