Mixed experience in First
 

HKG-LHR, First, A380, seat 4K.

The in-flight entertainment for my seat was broken. To their credit, the crew tried resetting both the system and the controller several times but to no avail. There were no spare First seats that they could move me to. They were apologetic and immediately offered a bottle of champagne, which I declined as I'm not a drinker and didn't want the hassle of carrying it around after the flight, but I appreciated and acknowledged the gesture. At the end of the flight, the CSD approached me to offer 10,000 avios, which I accepted.

The lack of IFE was annoying (I'd paid for it and did want to enjoy some entertainment during meal times) but not a huge deal for me as I mostly wanted to sleep during the flight, which I did. I was kicking myself as I had brought my iPad with me but hadn't thought to load it up with my own videos before the flight. Note to self for future flights!

The other weird thing on this flight was during breakfast service. For the dinner service, the crew had come round to take orders, written them down, and service was very smooth. At breakfast, it was the complete opposite and a bit shambolic, with the crew on my side forgetting who'd ordered what and repeatedly taking orders, then returning to ask again, then bringing the wrong orders to the wrong people, etc. I wondered why they weren't more methodical and didn't write things down as they had done with the dinner orders. In general, the crew seemed a bit flustered in the morning.

The kicker was then when the CSD approached the passenger in front of me in 3K to apologise profusely for the IFE being out of order, only to be told after her heartfelt apology that she'd got the wrong passenger, so then she had to go through the whole routine again with me.

To be clear, I still enjoyed the flight: the seat was cosy and comfortable, I slept well, the food was tasty, and crew were generally friendly and helpful. It was still a very comfortable way to travel. But it wasn't entirely a "first class" experience and, at times, I did wonder if I was in an episode of "First-y Towers" or something.

Was it a different crewmember serving you breakfast?

I flew the A380 a few times in F in the first year or so of it coming to HKG and the crew were all over the place. Some were brilliant some were awful, all on the same flight.

Nope, same guy who had served me dinner.

Do the F attendants also work in CW or are they only for F?

I have have done HK in CW, and found the crew to be a mixed bag, but I did get the impression that it was a huge CW cabin which probably lends itself to a slightly more robotic interactions.

They'll only work in First.

From what I know, all crew have a specific position or cabin that they work in flight. So in theory it should be the same group of crew looking after the same set of passengers in one cabin.

If you do see some other crew, they may have came from other cabin to help out with the service.

Not BA's best route for service
 

Best to avoid BA on the HKG-LHR route...service is "all over the place" in F, IMO. Cabin crew just keen to get back home, no matter what!

I always had very good to excellent service on the HKG LHR or LHR HKG route in First on the A380 and 777. Service in CW must have been good too, because I would remember bad service. Only route I will avoid in the future is BA 15, crap service with passive aggressive cabin crew both in First and CW.

I had dopey service on BA 15 (my regular route) a number of times but not what I'd call passive aggressive yet. (Although a higher likelihood of dopey service on BA 16, I find... )

Anyway, I don't think it's worth avoiding (or choosing for that matter) a route based on past encounter with crew because they can be pretty variable.

There are only two options between SIN and SYD / SIN-LHR in F, SQ and BA, so there isn't a big range of options if I want to fly direct. I find the breakfast service for SIN-SYD really weak for F but that applies to both BA and SQ.

That's the opposite of my approach. If going to the Far East I try and route via HKG in F on the A380 as I find it the best BA F product. I can't say I have had issues with cc. What were the problems you experienced on the F HKG-LHR flights you did?

Sounds like he/she had a forgetful crew onboard that day

Must be me! The LHR-HKG route is fine but 3 times coming back ( HKG-LHR) in F, issues re getting served, non-existent breakfast ("sorry sir we are about to land"; another time apparently new cc in F not "knowing the ropes" says the Irish CSM or CSD with slow, slow service... not the end of the world I know but not great either ... so now avoid it...(In saying that, this is NOT a regular route for me so obviously just bad luck); my norm is over the pond on AA so my expectations are not that high!

Thanks. It's not a regular route for me either so was just interested to hear your experience. I have some more flights on the A380 to/from HKG coming up at the end of the year as well so I shall see how they go.

Surely these inconsistencies are part of BA's character, that make flying with them such an interesting and varied experience?

[/sarcasm]

Actually all crew can work in CW and WT but only some can work in First.