Malli1

Hi All,


I am travelling with family to Barbados late March (22nd) and was wondering if anyone had a recent experience on this route?

My mother is coming and she is rather... picky... if the plane is not very good. We're travelling club world but I've done some internet research and heard mixed reports depending on the route - but can't actually find any recent reviews on the LGW - BGI route. I've seen the aircraft operating it lately and think some of them are refurbed with wifi but can't be sure.

Any views or recent experience? All I keep hearing is LGW is like the poor relation of Heathrow, which is a shame as I had two great flights out of Heathrow recently, but somehow quite hold a candle for Gatwick.

thanks in advance.

T8191

As of now I think almost any LGW 777 is going to be (a) old and (b) a lottery. We use them a couple of times a year ... they’re prefectly functional but no more than that. Not done your route, so can’t say much more than that ... apart from disliking any BA 777 in J for a variety of reasons!

I politely suggest your mother manages her expectations, and accepts it’s just Public transport to the Caribbean.

mikeyfly

Check the seat map of Club World and if it matches the below you are on the refreshed 777s

32J52W252Y | The BA Source

However, as with all LGW longhaul, aircraft can change right up to an hour or two before departure so don't pick a date specifically reliant on aircraft type

Malli1

hammers2958

I think you do need to check the seat maps. For info, we were in Barbados last week and flew both ways on the later of the two daily flights (BA 2153 and BA 2152). Both were refurbished.

Cap'n Benj

paul71

With club in rows 10-15 you will need to check the economy seat map to see whether old or refurbished is expected (eg in expert flyer or a dummy booking) as the four class refurbs have the same club layout as the older non-refurbed planes

PJSMITH0

sunshinebob

Came back from BGI on a Gatwick 777 this month and its "a clunker"of a plane, perhaps not as bad as one of the Bangkok ones but hardly what you would refer to as in good condition. It was clean but rather old and tired in comparison to others with lifting carpets and old school IFE.. Your idea about managing expectations is pretty much on the money. The BGI lounge is poor at best but as other have said the Gatwick one is better than most. The service on the day flight over is always great and you should get some sleep coming home even though it takes off at 5:45 pm ( unless you're on the odd later flight.). I for one like the 777 seat in club , its wide and comfortable. The food is better than average and the drinks are fine although they ran out of Gin on the way home quite quickly on my last flight.

However Barbados is truly a wonderful place to holiday in so I would tend to focus on that rather than the bus that is getting you there.

Have a great time.

argonath

We're going in three weeks so will see if I can do a trip report

Mordac

This! The only thing I use the IFE is for the AirShow, so I actually like the increased chance of getting a large amount of Avios for it not working!

T8191

We never travel without our Kindles!

Malli1

srbrenna

machotspur

This thread caught my eye as Mrs machotspur & I are flying to Barbados in F in 10 days time.

With the help of BA source I note the following :-

- almost all of the flights to & from BGI, in the month of January have been on three planes - G-VIIV, G-VIIW, G-VIIY.
- all three of these planes have been subject to a maintenance stop of at least 5 days (in Singapore) during 2019 - likely to be a refurb methinks.
- the seat layout showing for all three planes is the 'new' 2019 configuration of 14F/48J/40W/134Y
- the IFE system showing for all three planes is showing as Panasonic eX3 which I understand to be an up to date system.

This indicates that virtually all flights to & from Bridgetown - in the past month - have been on refurb planes.

Both of our flights are showing the 'new' 2019 configuration.There may be wiser & more experienced people than I out there that may challenge my conclusion but in the meantime I am reasonably optimistic that we will be on a refurb plane in 10 days time.(with the caveat of course that plane swaps are common etc)