McCoy

On a CE flight from LCY last Thursday, with my 2-yr-old..

- no priority check-in of our bags (staff held us in the club queue, whilst 4 econ pax called forward to the desks.. "they've been waiting longer" I was told...)
- no fast-track security, despite being CE and with a child, sent to the back of the regular queue
- no lounge (even virgin little red used to give pax costa gift cards in the absence of a lounge in T1.. why don't BA do anything like that? I'm surprised all you gold card LCY regulars aren't demanding this..?)
- no priority boarding (no call for pax travelling with kids to come forward, and no CE priority, so we were stuck behind all the 'suits' scrumming in the gate area. Therefore boarded almost last
- seat: same as economy
- NO FOOD LEFT by the time crew got to our row (3). None. Offered a drink, and then we never saw the crew member again.. I think he was down the back somewhere helping with econ service. They all got a drink and a snack, so we got less than economy.

I'm not angry, just disappointed. An alleged business class itinerary, with a poorer than economy result. What possible incentive is there for anyone to book CE out of LCY? The tier points alone surely aren't worth it.

bhbloke

TP's if you get a cheap upgrade price, otherwise no point at all.

Globaliser

Is CE from LCY like this every time? Every single time? For everyone?

LCY simply doesn't have fast-track security. Nor (IME) is any needed. And the fact that there is no lounge at LCY is well known - if a lounge was important to you, surely you knew this before you booked it? - and it too is not needed.

corporate-wage-slave

I don't understand why you got no food at all, or at least not given an explanation, it's not something I've seen happen before. You should lodge a complaint, it should result in 3,000 Avios if confirmed. Best to call up during UK afternoon office hours.

Most of the other points are valid. There is Priority Boarding for Club Europe, and it is fairly rigorously enforced, however you need to get into the gate area, and if it is one of the downstairs gates the queue often goes up the steps and therefore you won't get to the PB area on busy flights. Either go early or go late, which is what I do, however you must be at the gate 12 minutes before advertised departure since they can and do lock the gate at T-10 minutes. Security is pretty quick, not sure what Fast Track security could add there, to be honest.

As a Gold LCY regular, I don't particularly mind the lack of a lounge, I just turn up sufficiently close to departure that it doesn't matter. I would like BA to consider having at least an Air Berlin style zone where you can pick up a coffee / biscuit, but there really isn't space for a lounge given the numbers. I was on one EDI service with 27 other Gold passengers quite recently. Even LCY's own VIP lounge is in a separate building. [That said they've recently found the space for a childrens play area somehow]

If travelling as a single person you normally get the seat next to you empty courtesy of Theoretical Seating, even if you don't have status.

As for your question I think the key answer is food (normally!), extra luggage, first off (can be very relevant at some European airports), and indeed the extra Tier Points and Avios.

Often1

LCY was not designed for use as a commercial airport for people who want to go to a lounge for a leisurely meal before boarding a long-haul flight. The business proposition is that it is close-in, quick, and therefore the door-to-door time (all that matters if time is money) makes it a good option for many.

With other LON options, I highly recommend those if the lounge and Fast(er) Track is critical.

The food issue is simply unacceptable.

But, is it an LCY issue or a broader BA issue of expanding CE cabins without catering appropriately, leading to the conclusion that the people who make the decisions about the former do not speak with the people who accomplish the latter? This is hardly special catering with sophisticated service issues which cannot be altered other than with notice.

mmxbreaks

I've seen some CE tix for about £35 more than economy. That's £1/TP, which is good earning.

Otherwise, yes, CE is totally pointless and I personally don't think it should be sold from that airport at all.

Your experience sounds particularly poor.

Grande Annee

I like CE from LCY. I had great flights in CE to JSI earlier in the year, great crew and the food was good too with some champagne (I know it's not the best but better than that monopole crap they used to serve).

badoc

I've just seen this, so apologies for a very similar post. I agree - pointless service from this airport...

JamieT

I was on LCY-EDI on Thursday evening and heard the cabin crew apologising to people in CE that there was either a shortfall or no CE catering at all. Couldn’t tell which.

I assumed this was because one of the earlier EDI flights had been cancelled (there were also lots of delays to other destinations) and they had moved passengers at short notice to get them on any flight - but perhaps there were unrelated issues with catering. In this case the passengers were all assured there were lots of crisps and popcorn, etc.

I was just delighted that I could still get a free g&t in economy!

HIDDY

Apart from the onboard service failure which one hopes the OP will be compensated for I see no reason why they shouldn't offer CE from LCY. There's obviously a market for it so it would be really stupid not to offer it.

Dan72

Quite right. If no one paid for CE then I'm sure they would revisit ioffering it. CE doesn't position itself as a value for money proposition, so I'm a little surprised with that recurring line of argument.

Many (most?) will fly CE from LCY because they are entitled to CE and that's what their company will pay for. Given the choice of a seat at the front of a E90, a proper meal, the opportunity to be first off, I am sure I would accept, particularly if my employer was paying.

GadgetGal

IME, when arriving at the gate, staff usher families and pax with mobility problems to the seats near the door so that they board first.

chazman189

Increased baggage allowance

orbitmic

When LCY was first used as a commercial airport, the idea was to make sort of 'all business'. Indeed, for a while, several European airlines sold their LCY services as all C.

In that sense, fast track would make no sense as all pax would be eligible, and the whole terminal was originally intended as a big 'lounge light' that offered free internet for all well before any other uk airport that I can think of and some free newspaper.

in a paradoxical way, you could argue that since the introduction of bob, ba treats LCY as 'all c' of sorts all over again. The cold chicken salad, bread, butter, and cake I get in Y are better catering than the ludicrous C afternoon tea sandwiches one gets on medium flights on LHR/LGW flights and which can be the only tragic choice available if you sit in the last third of the cabin. I personally prefer it to the medium C lunch/dinner panini too.

so to phrase it differently, one gets to feel LCY CE is not worth it not so much because it is poor (in fact food is typically a lot better than LHR CE equivalent in short and medium flights, boarding more pleasant, and deboarding and clearing far faster) but because LCY ET is very good, and in fact, arguably what BA does best with the exception of what CW JFK will be once mattresses and duvets arrive.

Misco60

Yes, the seats are the same, with the same legroom and no middle seat free, there is no lounge and only limited priority boarding. Anyone who wants the full Club Europe experience will be disappointed with flights from LCY.

However, I fly to and from LCY almost every week, typically booking 6-8 weeks prior to departure, and often see a difference in fare of less than £150 between ET and CE. That's an additional 60-70 TPs at about £2 per TP, on a journey I'd be making anyway and without having to take additional leave or book any hotels. If I need a few TPs at the end of my collection year it's a painless way of getting them.