My first long haul economy flight in 17 years
 

Tomorrow I'll take my first long haul economy flight in 17 years. Thanks to UUA and ex-EU I have managed to avoid long haul economy for that long but due to this being a family holiday the ex-EU option was too much hard work (for others, not me!) and the UUA option never came up.

The blow will be softened by having an aisle one side of me and a child the other side so elbow and leg room could be worse. Fortunately the return TATL was booked in W and UUA'd to J when when the flights were booked last year.

I guess the biggest positive will be that I will appreciate all future premium cabin flights even more!

What aircraft?
Where to?

Then we can see how bad it will be = )

I fly BA LH WT all the time. I get on smiling and get off smiling. In between I sleep for 10hrs + . It seems many in CW/F can't stand their flights.

it's all in the mind

Alternatively, you could realise that it's not actually as bad as some make out, and may even be a sensible choice for future trips given the potential time / money saving...

(That was my reaction after a recent Y jaunt to Jakarta, albeit in a bulk head window with an empty middle seat)

LHR-JFK on an 86J 747 (assuming no change of metal). 10 across suits this family of four and it should be new IFE too. I obviously avoided the 787 at all costs!

Oh right, so you'll be upgraded then.

A short flight on a refurbished plane so no reason to complain then!

What!?!? Just completing a ex-EU UUA into F with 10 flights in total complete with a nearly turned 1 year old.

I took the whole family on a Viking fare and they weren't impressed with the whole ex-EU thing. Heathens!


Having never received an upgrade of any sort I'm not expecting my luck to change tomorrow!

Day flight to JFK with good Panasonic IFE? Flight will whizz past in no time. Take some extra water and things to nibble and you may well survive the experience. Probably. I don't think you've educated the cost centres and spousal units very well, however.

My first long haul economy flight in 17 years ...
 

next Sunday I have my first economy flight, it's my first flight in 17 years, i m very excited for that:)

I imagine the horrors of ecomony will give them a newfound desire to visit Scandinavia for future trips!

Homestly, BA Y isn't all that bad. I did LHR-CPT-LHR in Y for work. Was dreading it, but the 747s are quite comfortable - and mine had the old IFE.

I thought you said long haul! ;)

This is a medium haul flight that'll be over before you know it. Two films, a bit of reading, and a short nap after lunch...and you have J on the return which is key.

Just to welcome you to Flyertalk Grayson J, and to the BA board, we love to see new people here and I'm here to offer you greetings. I hope you have a a good flight, and of course it's when you arrive it really matters rather than the getting there. (Kind of). Welcome on board.

Absolutely 100% true. Positive Mental Attitude.

It's quite good fun down here at the back actually. You know that scene in Titanic when Jack is downstairs and they're all gambling and drinking and dancing around playing fiddles (or whatever); it's just like that.

Well, if you think you're the hero, spare a thought for me: I'll be flying Y LHR-AKL both ways with only 48 hours in Auckland in between at the start of the Autumn! I'll go QR via DOH so that includes two EIGHTEEN-ish hour segments (one each way!) on the ghastly longest flight in the world!!!

To be honest, why I'm lucky enough to mostly fly J and a fair bit of F long haul (I'm mostly in Y short haul, I find C a complete waste of money), I still do more than occasional long haul Y flights a few times a year. When I am lucky, this is only on transatlantic flights, but I've done Asian ones and yes, Australia and New Zealand returns from Europe too. My last return to AKL was on KL-MH and also for only 48 hours locally, but luckily, KL upgraded me part of the way, which I sadly do not think will happen again with QR as their AKL flights tend to be packed in J!

Fair play. That's an itinerary that I would flatly refuse to do.

I will always prefer to fly, than not to. I am very lucky I get to fly a lot

Each to their own, but I know how long it takes my body to recover from a 10 hour long haul these days. I prefer to not take the risk with my health. :)

Yes, you are quite right! I have flown BA in all cabins long haul and always had great flights. I only flew WT on a day flight from JFK though so did not need to sleep but I had many WTP overnight flights and a few Hawaii-LAX/DFW flights in economy with AA, and slept like a baby.:-)

Doddle!

Get yourself on an AA 777 in MCE, with the Cathay lounge at T3, and you'll be smiling even more :)

I actually mainly fly Y, unless I can come along with a reasonable fare (usually exEU with positioning on my account). However, it is sometimes difficult on the l/h routes due to being rather tall and often having meetings almost immediately off the plane. An exit row suffices when I have a few hours to freshen up, but failing that I'd happily cover the difference in cost personally.

Tens and tens of thousands people fly Y medium/long every day. It's made out on here like it's walking on hot coals when they have rarely flown it, haven't done so for a long time or/and have been so used to flying in J/F they just can't bring themselves to do it. However for those who get J/F for work and can afford to travel in premium cabins for personal travel then good for you as I would given a choice.

The 86J is perfectly fine in Y for a 7 hour trip to JFK. BerksFlyer, hope you enjoy your flight.

Hopefully our most famous Blue will be along to give his expert advice and give some folks a reality check.

Calling HIDDY! :p:D

I'll admit that it was a close call. I love travelling still despite doing it far too much, but that is really pushing it to the limit, especially when I cannot stay any longer than 48 hours in New Zealand and made worse by the fact that itineraries that seemed more tolerable in Y like CX via HKG or KE via ICN all arrived too late (or departed too early) to be compatible with my commitments either in London on day of departure or in Auckland on day of arrival. Still, one likes to be helpful so to be nice to the people inviting me I decided to say yes at the end. I might of course live to regret it.

Still, in a way, I always feel that my long haul Y trips are necessary to my salubrity and to avoid becoming too arrogant in travel terms. Of course, with that sort of stupid logic, I did end up swimming in the Mediterranean on 1 January a couple of years ago! :p

I'm ever so curious as to the reason for the trip! It's extreme, and planned in advance. Would you indulge us? (I'm on mobile apologies if it's been stated already)

Rather you than me! My longest ever flight in Y was UA ORD-HKG in 2004. At 6'4" after more than 12,500+ km (c.f. DOH-AKL 14,500+ km) I almost had to be levered out of my seat - never again!

at least you have lounge access! = ) for the real Y experience, make do without any lounges and middle seat! haha

I have my first ever LH Y booking in... Feb 2019. Not that I'm spending a year in therapy :rolleyes:

with which time machine did you book that?

Who says a little alcohol is bad for you:D A few minis or wine and you'll be there in no time along with IFE. Come on its not so bad. Try and get an aisle in the middle row of the 3-4-3 at the front of the flight or an Emergency Exit or a Duo Seat in the rear of the 747. IF its an Airbus 380 go upper Deck Y.

Also look at WT+ or at online checkin buy up offers to WT+ or J.

I just got back from a CDG-SFO flight on Air France had three plastic cups of champagne, 2 mini bottles of Red Wine and 2 mini bottles of Pear Liquor and was out for 5-6 hours then had the pre-landing meal and stayed up until 8:30 PM and slept well. Took Melatonin a few days before and two days after the flight.

Going to Europe I also had some alcohol and slept for 6 hours then stayed up until 11 PM and took my melatonin and had no jet lag either.

Its all mental!!! Just do everything to get an extra leg room seat and not be next to the restrooms or infants.

Or the BA Galleries lounge with a single malt whiskey(:

Isn't CE basically economy? They're even not bothering with food in some cases...

Well I think you've said it all. It's about time these young uns man up!!

Personally speaking, I now avoid flying long haul in economy class.

A sector in Y is a guaranteed cure for any J ennui! :cool:

17 years? and it was impossible this flight? often in premium economy rather than only J/F?

As someone that regularly flies long (medium) haul, i have never gone the booze route (and i dont know how young your children are, but if there is one next to you then you are going to have to stay up maybe or be woken up a bunch if they dont fall asleep.

But the following are my tips-
- try and have a proper meal in the terminal beforehand - if you are doing LHR then get some wagamamas or Giraffe.. while the food is ok in economy, its not great and depending on how fussy you are (like me), i tend to only have half
- Bring snacks. They tend to only give you the one meal
- Bring water- i would suggest purchasing a steel double insulated water bottle from TK Maxx/ Amazon as these keep the water super cold for the longest time.
- if you are one that needs eye shades to sleep, you must bring your own as they no longer provide these, nor a toothbrush and toothpaste, nor socks. You pretty much get nothing other than your seat (which sucks as they all used to be provided in economy).
- Bring your own headphones/Ear phones - the ones they supply are terrible (and im pretty sure they will start charging for these soon haha).
- Try and bring an ipad with stuff downloaded on it. if its a full flight and your IFE doesnt work, then you basically have to lump it.
- Its actually not that long to NYC. Make sure you get up and walk a bit as the seats are cramped.

To be fair, the highest class i have ever flown in WT+ and that was on one flight which i was given a complimentary upgrade for so i dont really know much better but i do know the product has declined in the past two years where its only just "bearable". I plan on going to AA next (yes yes i know BA still get the money) because i hear the economy offering is a bit better.

Well well well. for the first time ever the OpUp gods have smiled on me and all four of us are now in W. I noticed the seats had changed as we were on the pod. Our paper boarding passes say WT+ but the app still says WT with the PE seat numbers. I fully expect our WT meals, especially as Youngest BerksFlyer has a child's meal ordered.

Sadly the WT trip report I had planned will have to wait, hopefully for another 17 years!

Congratulations - however in the interests of research you should flatly refuse the upgrade!

I'll spend the next seven or eight hours giving that some thought then get back to you!

The App is behaving normally here. If you get an upgrade to First, for example, it will quite often say "1A Club World". Even if you clear the cache and download again, it tends to stick to the original cabin name even when the seating makes it impossible. Has caught me out a few times when upgraded after boarding.