bitterproffit

It was $1.5 million in subsidies and the city of Nashville has agreed to cover $500K in losses over the next 2 years.

I gasped at $1.5B and had to look it up.

Why British Airways Thinks Renewed Nashville-To-London Service Will Succeed | Nashville Public Radio

corporate-wage-slave

Inaugural party at BNA airport - Friday 4 May 2018

The inaugural service from BNA to LHR was quite a party, and unlike any that I have been on before. It was clearly a big deal for the airport and local politicians, and it turned out that the Tennessee Governor, Mr. Bill Haslam had taken a keen personal interest in the deal to get British Airways into Nashville.



Not everything went well, and we were 52 minutes late leaving BNA. Check-in, at least when it started, was something of a fiasco, with at one point 6 members of staff huddled over a singe check-in computer trying (and failing) over a 15 minute stretch to extract a single boarding pass from the printer. Luckily check-in got faster over time, and doubtless this was essentially teething trouble. The departure delay wasn't fully explained by anyone, though plenty of apologies where issued from the boarding gate and flight deck. The final aspect of the delay - baggage reconciliation - was identified by the captain and she correctly indicated it wouldn't take much longer before we would depart. My conjecture was that the need to tow the aircraft from A5 to B11 didn't go to plan. In addition to the teething problems there was the substantial media presence involved holding up proceedings. At one point I counted 9 full ENG cameras and half a dozen lower spec devices recording events. So I think they left it too late before bringing the aircraft over, and then there was some unspecified reason why the cabin crew could not board immediately. On the other hand, we had a reasonable fast crossing and were 26 minutes late into T5 gate B46. Luckily the passengers that evening seemed not to be the complaining types.



But leaving that to one side, it was one long party, with music, drink (OK, water) and the all important cakes.






There were performances from a band (who inevitably played some of the Beatles hits), as well as the choir from the Fisk Jubilee Singers, which as noted down thread have a unique relationship with the UK and the city's nickname, Music City.





The arriving cabin crew for the BNA-LHR service were given a rock star entry, with applause and cheers - something they were not expecting, and posed for cameras with the cake.


The passengers were mainly US citizens, of those I spoke to quite a number were actually only going away for a few days, taking advantage in many cases of AA's Aadvantage miles, which were also wide open for availability at one point. They were just as excited as anyone else at this new service. And one FT lurker had the coolest T shirt of the night, how about this:



There were speeches from the airport chief executive Mr. Doug Kreulen, the Governor Mr. Bill Haslam, the British Airways VP for North America, the new mayor of Nashville Mr. David Briley and the chairman of the airport. HMG's Consul General Mr. Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford (described by the Governor "as my new best friend") was also present as were staff from Visit Britain, luckily they declined to give speeches! I will highlight the Governor's speech, in which he invoked the importance of this route for his state, and also drew on the importance of the USA-UK friendship. Bill Haslam is a name to watch out, he has been spoken as a potential Republican nominee for the US presidency. He was wearing a USA-UK badge pin for the evening and the flight.The Consul General pointed out to me that given the political journey the UK is on, we will need to do many, many more of these sorts of engagements in the years ahead.

There was a ribbon in front of the gate area to cut (which took a few attempts):


And afterwards the VIPs were presented with specially made guitars as a momento of the day.


The passenger were also given a doggy bag too, though the whiskey presumably didn't make the CBP regulations! The wedged shape cake was described as a scone. The key ring was a particularly thoughtful item.


Like with all good parties, I was pretty exhausted by the time I got on board, I have never been to an inaugural like this before. What I would say, however, is that this created acres and acres of media comment, social media coverage, huge excitement among those associated with the airport, who are doubtless telling all their friends and family. Some of this is coverage that money cannot buy. If BA doesn't sell a heap of tickets off the back of this, it never will, and I hope they bear this mind for whichever longhaul inaugural comes next.

Rubecula

Goody bag on arrival including miniature Jack Daniels and a very good African choir. Not sure I will make prime time but was interviewed by Channel 5 Nashville, not UK.

cgtechuk

Was in the ccr today for a few hours and didn't know any of this was even going on lol

our_kid

The band yesterday - percussionist was very good

Brighterside

Hope the return journey was quiet as the Brand USA fam trip was on board

bhbloke

sweetsleep

I was extremely fortunate to be on the inaugural flight from LHR to BNA and they pulled out all the stops to make this a great flight!
From the Tennessee state flag and UK flag adorning the gate, to the wonderful captain and first officers proudly flying the US and UK flags from the cockpit hatch prior to departing and on arrival, to the warm,friendly,attentive and enthusiastic cabin crew(extra shout out of praise to the CSD and the darling lad from Glasgow-can I adopt him please as I never had a son!?), it was the best flight I have ever taken. I am not nearly as frequent a traveler as many on this board but have been on all of the US,many of the ME,Asain and European airlines and BA really shines with their face-which is the crew. Best ever. You cannot fake sincerity and they have loads of it in their DNA.

The passenger mix was more from the UK than I expected and the excitement amongst all was palpable and quite contagious! I do hope they all really enjoy and embrace all that we have to offer in our wonderful city and suburbs-despite the awful rain today on Saturday. Oh well.
The welcome was really wonderful. Terrific goodie bags with great take aways and the best was the poster from Hatch Show Print which is a revered printing company downtown. Cannot wait to frame it as it a unique piece of memorabilia.
Already talking with some gal pals of mine to do a long weekend in London in the fall!
So glad BA made this commitment and I think it will exceed their expectations! This is HUGE for our "small city with a big heart".

corporate-wage-slave

Praise indeed. I know both BA crews - outbound and inbound - are reading this thread so I know you heartfelt sentiments will get to the right people. I also had a first rate trip home to the UK, I'll write up the food and service details tomorrow, but the returning crew were also excellent, and made for an unforgettable piece of travel. And that's where it really makes a difference: flying is ultimately a means to an end for most of us, but when the means also becomes so enjoyable in its own right, that is when it becomes something special.

bitterproffit

Just to clarify, they weren't Africans, they were Fisk University students from Nashville.

My favorite interviews were on this video. One guy is here to party, you know he is!

First non-stop flight from Nashville to London in 25 years takes to the skies - WKRN

While this video showed a crowd outside waving UK flags cheering the arrival and a great view of the plane landing.

London nonstop flight may open Nashville to more tourist, growth - WSMV News 4

I am looking forward to taking this flight as well!

corporate-wage-slave

Or the Fisk Jubilee Singers, I believe. After serenading arrival passengers, they went around to departing passengers, and the airport chief executive pointed out the reason: this choir is very old and sung to Queen Victoria on a tour of Britain in 1873. She was so impressed she said is reported to have said that they must have come from Music City, and as a result the city acquired its nickname from the Queen. Hence the symmetry with their appointment at BNA airport.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisk_Jubilee_Singers

40MinutesToLanding

Hi y'all!!! ( in the H-Hotel Los Angeles)

An amazing inaugural flight experience! It was really good to see many Nashvillians on the flight who especially travelled to London just to be on the flight! I am confident that the flight will eventually become daily given the amount of investment that is in the City and the surrounding areas.

It was the first time experiencing the New Club World Service and I was extremely impressed with it ( more details in my trip report later lol). The arrival experience was excellent. As I had Global Entry it was quick and I'm seriously contemplating utilising BNA as an entry point into the US in future. The highlight of the arrival was listening to the Fisk Jubilee Singers. I was the first passenger out so it was a humbling experience, even better now that I read the history behind them. ( I hope BA could sponsor them should they decide to come back to the UK).

I am happy bunny as I had dinner in The Catbird Seat!!!!!

Good to see Rebecula. Aviation geek like me lol! We are both famous as we are featured in the Tennessean article about the historic flight. A Flyertalk first I think lol!

umba815

Looks like the one and only Joe Brown.

bhbloke

Was just trying to think of his name

corporate-wage-slave

Onboard service - Club World BNA-LHR

I will use this post just to put some notes on the service from BNA to LHR, for those interested in what will soon be a routine service between Nashville and London.



The route runs 5 days a week, the absent days being Sunday and Thursday. The service is operated by the 787-8 service, at least to begin with, and that means Club World (CW), World Traveller Plus (WTP) and World Traveller (WT) cabins. There is no First offering, that would need a 787-9 aircraft, which of course would be the obvious upgrade to the service if it does well. The service leaves London at very good times in both directions, namely 15:00 hrs from London, arriving 18:00 hrs in Nashville. The return is an overnight service, leaving BNA at 20:20 and arriving into London at 10:30 hrs the next day.

I am going to focus here on my BNA-LHR flight in CW on G-ZBJH. This is offered from the start with both the new Club World catering and the White Company bedding. One aspect of this is that BA had to deal with very limited catering options in BNA since until BA222 started service, almost no hot aircraft food comes out of that airport. I suspect the bill for this ended up with the airport, given all the other references to arrangements made to get BA into BNA.

On this flight I was very fortunate to have an excellent Worldwide cabin crew, several members I had met on previous flights. There was also had an IBM - the line manager to LHR's CSDs and CSM - on board, so an extra pair of hands and unusually for an IBM, he knew where everything was on the 787! The cabin crew's professionalism was very much needed since they were late to board the aircraft for reasons outwith their control, and knew they they had to get the passengers on to the aircraft as quickly as possible. Moreover on a late flight with a fast crossing there is even more pressure to get the CW catering done quickly. And they very much rose to the challenge, the aircraft was full certainly in CW and WTP, perhaps in WT too.

And so to the catering. Menus were handed out before departure along with the water bottle and amenity kit, and they also collected the breakfast menu at the gate too. I would normally try to arrange this so I would have eaten before flying and to maximise sleep I make do with a cup of tea before landing. But with the limited facilities in the AA Club, plus the requirements incumbent on BA forum ambassadors, I went for the following.



Here are the menus, which used the new long folder format. This will normally rotate monthly but I think they are keeping the hot chicken for a few months to see how successful it is.







And the following is the bar menu.








Drinks appeared 30 minutes after departure though for some reason not in the nice tumbler, that did come with main tray however. That arrived 1 hour and 8 minutes after take off, which with the new catering is fairly fast. The main course arrived 1 hour 23 minutes after take off. The tray was removed within a few minutes of me completing the main course and that, dear reader, was as far as I could go, I really needed my sleep so the cheeseboard has to wait for another flight.

For the starter I ordered the cauliflower soup, which was served at the right temperature and was an excellent choice with the crunchy pumpkin and sunflower seeds.



And then I had to go for the Nashville Hot Chicken on the menu (see video upthread). Now I do wonder what the local residents made of this, but for me it was a great dish, served quite hot enough! I did go to Hattie B's, which was near my hotel, while in Nashville. I had been warned not to go too hot, so I went for "mild", the second lowest on their six point scale. That was as hot as I would have liked the chicken, even though I'm able to scoff down quite fairly strong curries in the UK and India (well, they are milder over there!).



And with the tray out of the way I was asleep, I need a good shaking off the Irish coast, one hour before landing, to get out of my slumbers, I was very tired that evening. And apologies for this rather poor photo, I was battling light, shadow and consciousness at the same time. The first cup of tea was fairly chilly but the next two cups were the real deal.



Routing:
We left the stand in BNA at 21:12 CDT (scheduled was 20:20 hrs), and took off at 21:38. Our routing was via Pittsburgh, north of St John's then on to the jet stream over to south of Limerick, Rosslare, Fishguard, Bristol and arriving via Windsor Castle on to 09L at 10:47 BST. We were quickly on stand B46 at 10:51. So that's 7 hours and 9 minutes of flight, for the approximately 4,175 miles on the Great Circle measurement, indicating that most of the flight was over 600 mph.

So a genuinely unforgettable flight, given the inauguration party, and an excellent flight home with a truly excellent crew.