All She Wrote

I saw a few negative comments about the 787 so I thought I'd add a report for my recent flight over to Toronto. (Pictures to come)

Flight Details
Aircraft - Boeing 787-900 G-ZBKN
Seats - 1 E/F
Flight Time - Just over 7 hours

Pre-Flight
We left the T5 Hilton nice and early to grab breakfast in the CCR. The queue for the First Wing was going back into the Terminal towards the Business check in zone but it was moving fairly quickly. Lots of families going away for Easter! Just one bag to drop each, check-in agent very friendly, less than 60 seconds to pass security, then through GF to the CCR. The booths were on the busy side, with the tables in the centre also being used for dining, however one opened up just as we arrived. We both opted for a continental, I had yoghurt, porridge with maple syrup and raisins, and some pastries. The food was good, definitely better than the continental at the Hilton so we gave ourselves a pat on the back for getting up at 07:00 then retired to a lounger on the terrace for an hour before our spa treatments. Having previously had a crushing muscle ease back massage I opted for a dream flight back massage this time which was marginally better. OH had her nails done and was disappointed by them not applying a gel coat (apparently makes it last longer?). Quick glass of LPGS, 5 minutes in the terminal buying some shoes due to forgetting to bring my casuals, then off to the gate at T5B.


Boarding
Boarding had a lane for each group, which worked very nicely in comparison to the priority and regular queue shambles I experienced last time when travelling to Washington. Boarding was delayed by around half an hour due to a 'security check' despite the crew having been on for around about an hour by the time we boarded. Group one fairly busy, we had around 5-10 board in-front of us, all turning right, and more behind. Cabin crew welcome was very friendly, however he repeatedly tried to tell me that seat 1E was on the right hand side of the aircraft, I corrected and elected to go to the seat alone, OH was shown to her seat.


The Seat
Well I had been looking forwards to my first look of the 789 First seat and have quite a few comments about it. Firstly the hard product is significantly better than the 747. The screen is excellent, and the space and storage in the centre seats is good whereas on the 747 it's well....nonexistent. My suites reading light was broken as was the control for the overhead light, I did flag this to the CSD who offered to move me to the only other free seat in the cabin 2F, which surprise surprise, also had the exact same defect. Both holes were poorly covered using a white fabric. I elected to stay next to my OH anyway, and the CSD offered to turn on the reading light manually and that she'd pass through to check if I wanted it switched off at any point (this was the only time she was in the cabin for the whole flight). The floor was filthy, the area behind the mesh between seats E/F was covered in dust and fluff aswell. My headphones were also broken and I had to ask 3 times before getting a replacement set, by which time the elapsed flight time was just over an hour. I didn't make much of a fuss about any of the aforementioned as it was my partners First First and everything was AOK on her side, but I will voice my displeasure via e-mail soon and look forwards to receiving my automated response

The Food
Conditions were smooth and the food service came fairly promptly after departure. I had a pea soup for starter and and a pulled pork sandwich for main, both were perfectly fine, OH not so pleased with her falafel which was reportedly overdone. She has travelled in club before and more frequently WTP so has a fairly good grasp of what to expect when it comes to food standards. Both deserts were fantastic and pulled back a consolation point for the dining experience.

The Service
I don't expect much when it comes to MF but it certainly exceeded expectations, although still not quite on par with WW. The response to the few times we used the call button was very quick, and otherwise the presence in the cabin was very discreet apart from the odd passing through to offer drinks.

Disembarking & Baggage collection
Sadly (yet again) I found myself disembarking behind Club World as the air bridge went to door 2L. And for the second time in almost as many months I made it through security at Toronto Pearson faster than my OH despite her having Nexus. Bags came out in the following order; Short Connection, Long Connection, then a mixture of Priority First and Priority Club World. The belt broke just prior to the bags coming so we were changed to another carousel but aside from that the baggage handling was good.

Overall
Hard product good despite defects, service was good despite the odd experience at boarding, baggage handling was good, food was average-good. Definitely worth the extra £200 from CW.

Calum

I don't think you'll be finding anyone complaining about 1 E/F on the 789. If you want to see what they are talking about, try out 34B/E/J on the 788 or the 789 (I'm under the impression the seat is a little nicer on the 789).

All She Wrote

Sorry but I disagree. If someone pays for an economy seat the expectations should be something basic that gets you from A to B without any bells and whistles, if you're paying for 10+ times as much money for First class your expectations will obviously be far higher. Too many people expect a premium product without actually paying for one.

Calum

Without a doubt, I've taken the YYZ flight on said aircraft countless times now and it just doesn't bother me that the reading lights don't work and that the floor area is a dirty (consistently too) anymore and it all comes back to your last point, it's pretty easy to get First over CW because it's only £200/300 more a lot of the time. How far does that £150 each way go?

All She Wrote

Well at around £3000pp round trip, I don't expect a bolt to be sticking out of the chair right next to my head I appreciate that £1500 isn't much as far as first class is concerned but it's still first class on an aircraft that's less than 2 years old. Sadly with airlines such as BA at the moment if you don't let them know where their shortcomings are they won't actually change anything, it'll continually spiral downwards as they push the boundary to see just how many corners they can save money on until people start to complain. Engineers are productive people, wiring up a light and screwing it into position are not difficult jobs for them.

simons1

I'm sure that's the key. Set out with low expectations and then it's hard to go wrong.

subject2load

LondonCanuck

All She Wrote

themax

I take this same flight regularly in F. Everything you have experienced is pretty much par for the course on this route! Frankly, I am surprised BA even maintains an F cabin on this route, given that non of the relevant competition operates F. With the closure of the BA F Lounge at YYZ, and the crazily high fares compared to the competition, I would recommend that you try AC the next time you fly. Although they only operate a J class, it is not far off BA F in terms of service and seat (the food is arguably better) and the new AC Signature Lounge is BETTER then the T5 Concorde Room. The best part is that AC is MUCH better value then BA F.

All She Wrote