Penfold101

How naive I was, thinking that flights were flights, they cost a certain amount of money, and were merely a way of getting from your home to your holiday destination.Much better to spend the money on the holiday itself than waste thousands sitting in the same tube that everyone else was and getting there at the same time...

I thought this for years, despite always having had a love of aircraft and being in the RAF for 19 years as an aircraft engineer. I paid for an airport upgrade to premium economy once on Virgin, but never considered even looking at anything else.

Indeed, I thought that was quite a treat considering my normal method of flying looked something like this:



Such were my thoughts until my OH happened to conduct a business trip to India last year, and due to the flight length company rules dictated business class. Seeing the photos and hearing the story of these travels made me want to experience them for myself, and I added it to my bucket list to be achieved at some point in my life. Fast forward about a month, and questions over Christmas plans resulted in a joke comment about avoiding both families and going to New York, our favourite city. By random chance, BA apparently had a sale on at the time, and we found a business class holiday over Christmas for about £1500 which we couldn't believe. Much checking and requoting later, we decided it wasn't an error and booked it. Paying special care to select the 747 flights, we also paid to choose our seats - if you're going to be doing this properly, make it worthwhile and go on the upper deck. Oh how I wish I'd been silver back then...

Although I didn't know the general opinion on BA's Club World seats i don't think I'd have cared - compared to anything I'd done previously the experience was amazing. From the lounge to the stairs on board, the seat and the view, it was a huge step up.







We all know what the seat looks like so that's enough photos of that. The journey back was just as enjoyable for the luxury of being able to actually get some proper sleep...

Following this, I became aware of the BAEC, the tier point system, Avios and the various travel blogs such as TLFL. Another bargain holiday to Mauritious was booked and a 12 hour flight in Club World cemented my interest in the premium cabins, as well as racking up the tier points and Avios. So many Tier points, in fact, that when I got home both Bronze and Silver luggage tags were waiting for me...

A small video from the Gatwick Lounge whilst waiting for the flight:

You Tube

More reading and investigating followed, and the BA Premium Amex card was added to my wallet to be used as the primary spending method. Another sale was advertised and some research was done to have a small trip somewhere before I deploy again, and what started out as a lodge for a week in the UK turned into visiting Toronto for about £1200 return each. Even better, First was only £150 more so that was a no-brainer. Even betterer, the A350-1000 came into service on the route whilst we were out there, and so I selected that particular flight number for the journey home. First wasn't available due to the new Club World Suites - that's a change I'm happy with...

Experienced T5 First check in and security, and made our way to the lounge for some breakfast.




A few hours relaxing in the Concorde Lounge was followed by the announcement of our flight, and the walk to the gate was met with the British Airways Flight 0093 Bus Replacement Service...



Concerns alleviated when we arrived at the actual plane, we were escorted to our seats and began enjoying the First Class experience. The space itself was phenomenal, and the option to have your dinner together is unique in my experience so far.





"Can I have a cup of tea please...?"



If you ever get the option for a small extra fee, I cannot recommend it highly enough. The soft product may vary between crews, but the hard product is the only way to travel.





The flight back was probably the wrong one to choose timings wise - you land at 1am Toronto time back in London, and so you're absolutely knackered. I try to avoid sleeping a lot on flights as I want to experience what I've paid for... However, the new Club Suites are on a par with the First suits on everything bar outright space. IFE is smooth and high quality, and the range of storage spaces is very useful indeed.

Fresh off the production line and about a week into revenue earning service, G-XWBB:









If First isn't an option then these are almost as good in my opinion. I shall always be looking for the former, however...

So now, 920 Tier points and a boatload of Avios later, I resign myself to being Silver till February 2021 due to work commitments. Tier point runs will be in the planning for March 2021 though...

You Tube

Thanks for watching, reading, and welcoming me to the world of luxury aviation travel.

rockflyertalk

What a great thread/post in amongst the usual threads and posts. Thanks for sharing. It certainly can be addictive once sampled!

Enjoy your flying.

mikeyfly

Great read on a sometimes gloomy board

Thanks for posting ^

TTmex

What a wonderful post. Really enjoyed reading it and sharing your experience. Happy travels. Don't rule out gold. A few weekend back-to-backs and it's still in reach

Penfold101

Unfortunately BA does not fly to where I'm going, and the operator isn't a member of OneWorld...

Soupdragon62

Love the glass floor, was that on the 350 or the 747? You also managed to get the Charlie Gibb fracture zone in as a nice nod to that other thread

In all seriousness, nice report, enjoyed reading it after some of the other stuff on here today

jerseytom

Really enjoyed reading that, glad you've had a good go of it!

Does the RAF have a suggestion box? Looks like both their hard and soft product leave something to be desired All those chaps in that photo must be having a good sleep after complimentary beverage service!

golfmad

I remember a very long and noisy trip in the back of a Hercules from Lyneham to Akrotiri. I much prefer my current mode of transportation
Nice report, thanks for sharing.

deboyzoned

That looks like the glass floor in the Lifts of the CN Tower in Toronto.

BarneyMcGrew

Penfold101,

Don't forget to make use of the Military Service Fares offer on BA.

If you haven’t got the link that was formerly available on the Defence Discount Service, please DM/PM me and I can supply details as the offer is still available directly via the special BA link.

As for your pic of 'Crab Air', I remember those sort of images well. Over 20 hours to the Falklands in the back of a Hercules, sat in a side facing deck-chair and being given a small white food box containing out of date Mars Bars!

It makes travelling in any class on BA seem absolute luxury.

BM

TheJayHatch

Glad you've chosen the red pill and become alive to the world as it really can be! Nice post. It reminded me of my first ever CW/business flight 4 years ago - on a 777 middle aisle to JFK

Amongst all the sniping about CW, that was a revelation and I do need to remind myself that, despite all its faults, CW offers travel in space and luxury I couldn't have imagined 20 years ago.

I will be reminded of where I have got to on Sunday when I board a 747 to JFK with the family, In row 43. #prayforTheJayHatch

snaxmuppet

Thanks for the post.

I "got the bug" for premium travel a couple of years ago. Yes, it is the only way to travel for me now but be careful... even with the wonderful help from the good folk on this forum it will cost. But it is only money and you only live once so I spend mine on experiences more than things and premium travel is a great experience if you like that sort of thing. I got to about where you are and thought I'd settle for Silver but I wanted to do more flights so ended up with Gold this year with a couple of TP runs. I don't really need/want Gold as for me it doesn't give me much more than Silver but what it does do is that it maximises the value from the TP points earned. By getting Gold in one hit (with TP runs) it gives me Gold benefits for nearly 2 years and then Silver benefits for a further year (with the soft landing) so I only need to worry about status every 3 years. It is worth thinking about

I am booked on the A350-1000 LHR - YYZ in the new year. Really looking forward to it.

Brisbane Road

Great post. Refreshing to read as this is how premium travel should be enjoyed.

There are far too many stories on this forum about minuscule stain marks on tray tables and over cooked beef. Just chill out and enjoy the experience.

TWCLAM

Although having made use of it a couple times( the Matlows normally took us to where we wanted to be) what we, affectionately i'll clarify, used to refer to as HM Taxi Service i'll agree that it does have the ability to make BA look good and your post reminded me( and im sure a few others) just how spoilt we are in some ways. Even being in a 'proper' cabin on RAF Airways was far from an exclusive setting.

Excellent post and welcome to the site. I'm pretty new myself having started flying BA last May but already a convert and Mrs Clam has lost the ability to turn right when getting on an airplane nowadays. IMHO There is an inexhaustible wealth of knowledge to be found on here and whilst sometimes some things can be somewhat jaded by-and-large I find FTers to be a very helpful lot willing to share the knowledge they have built up and chime in with counter suggestions if they see the potential for you to get something even better than you were considering. It was their suggestions, tips and tricks that helped me recently enjoy my 1st First to the maximum which is something I thought i'd never do. 100% agree with keeping up with Michele and the team at TLFL( other websites also exist) as that woman has taught me a ton and actually helped me hit Silver self funding in under 6 months.

Mike P

Very nice report, thanks for sharing. Once you've experienced F/J, its hard to go back to W or even worse, Y!