BNA to LHR CW review
Dec 27, 2019, 8:10 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 27
BNA to LHR CW review
Hello everyone, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season. I recently flew British Airways Club World from Nashville to London and wanted to give a review of how the flight went for me.
Lounge - Being an executive club member or having a club world ticket gets you access to British Airways sister airline lounge in Nashville. The Admirals Lounge is run by American Air and I found it profoundly under whelming. Entering the lounge you take an elevator to the second floor, where there is a large seating area and bar room. I immediately noticed the floor was covered in crumbs of all sorts, and the lounge was actually pretty packed. It did not feel like an intimate experience at all. The complimentary food available was a tray of stale cookies and a package of something else that I cant remember. The bathrooms were also pretty dirty. I went over to the bar tender to chat for a bit. She was super nice, but led me to believe that because all the British Airways flights leave pretty late, it results in a influx of people coming to the lounge during the last shift when no one is working. Any-who, I think next time I will just head to my departure gate.
Seat - I had seat 7K, which I was told is probably the best Club World seat on a 788 or 789 because of the privacy it offers. I personally did not like it at all. I am a pretty tall guy, about 6'4, so it was difficult sliding in and out of the seat due to the over head bin storage. I also had one hell of a time getting the bed flat, stool down, bedding onto the seat, then crawling into it. I think next time I will pick an aisle seat just to make life a bit easier for maneuvering.
Failed FLUB Attempt - Many people warned me that this was going to happen, but I tried anyways. The flight from BNA to LHR is typically a 788 flight, which has no first class cabin. For whatever reason, the rotation landed a 789 plan at nashville that day, so we had an entire first class cabin open for us to choose seats from at check in. I chose a first class cabin seat, locked it in, and then was promptly bumped back to a random seat (which just so happen to be 7k) in club world. It just kinda makes me upset that this is standard practice for them to do this. Why open those seats at all? What if I had paid the $122 in advance to reserve my seat several months out, then saw this opening to go to FC, but was then bumped back to a random seat? Just seems like a bad business practice.
Food and Service - Our flight appeared to a pretty light load, so a lot of the cabin crew in CW only had to manage like 10 of us. For the price of the plane ticket I was not very pleased with the actual service. The dinner was to be an appetizer soup and salad, a main course of fish, and a dessert. One attendant brought me out a salad, another a main course, then they forgot to bring out my dessert (I had to flag one down). I never received my soup at all (which is the primary portion I was looking forward to). But hey, it was almost Christmas and I just wanted to get home to my family, so let it slide. After eating my desert my tray sat on my table for a very long time. I finally had to get up and take my tray back to them because no one came to get it. I feel like being tucked away in that corner of the plane, people just kind of forgot I was there. The staff was very nice though, just not a great service.
Overall the flight was not that bad and was short by about an hour which was nice. I absolutely hate the safety video though. . . .perhaps because I have watched it 100 times now.
Lounge - Being an executive club member or having a club world ticket gets you access to British Airways sister airline lounge in Nashville. The Admirals Lounge is run by American Air and I found it profoundly under whelming. Entering the lounge you take an elevator to the second floor, where there is a large seating area and bar room. I immediately noticed the floor was covered in crumbs of all sorts, and the lounge was actually pretty packed. It did not feel like an intimate experience at all. The complimentary food available was a tray of stale cookies and a package of something else that I cant remember. The bathrooms were also pretty dirty. I went over to the bar tender to chat for a bit. She was super nice, but led me to believe that because all the British Airways flights leave pretty late, it results in a influx of people coming to the lounge during the last shift when no one is working. Any-who, I think next time I will just head to my departure gate.
Seat - I had seat 7K, which I was told is probably the best Club World seat on a 788 or 789 because of the privacy it offers. I personally did not like it at all. I am a pretty tall guy, about 6'4, so it was difficult sliding in and out of the seat due to the over head bin storage. I also had one hell of a time getting the bed flat, stool down, bedding onto the seat, then crawling into it. I think next time I will pick an aisle seat just to make life a bit easier for maneuvering.
Failed FLUB Attempt - Many people warned me that this was going to happen, but I tried anyways. The flight from BNA to LHR is typically a 788 flight, which has no first class cabin. For whatever reason, the rotation landed a 789 plan at nashville that day, so we had an entire first class cabin open for us to choose seats from at check in. I chose a first class cabin seat, locked it in, and then was promptly bumped back to a random seat (which just so happen to be 7k) in club world. It just kinda makes me upset that this is standard practice for them to do this. Why open those seats at all? What if I had paid the $122 in advance to reserve my seat several months out, then saw this opening to go to FC, but was then bumped back to a random seat? Just seems like a bad business practice.
Food and Service - Our flight appeared to a pretty light load, so a lot of the cabin crew in CW only had to manage like 10 of us. For the price of the plane ticket I was not very pleased with the actual service. The dinner was to be an appetizer soup and salad, a main course of fish, and a dessert. One attendant brought me out a salad, another a main course, then they forgot to bring out my dessert (I had to flag one down). I never received my soup at all (which is the primary portion I was looking forward to). But hey, it was almost Christmas and I just wanted to get home to my family, so let it slide. After eating my desert my tray sat on my table for a very long time. I finally had to get up and take my tray back to them because no one came to get it. I feel like being tucked away in that corner of the plane, people just kind of forgot I was there. The staff was very nice though, just not a great service.
Overall the flight was not that bad and was short by about an hour which was nice. I absolutely hate the safety video though. . . .perhaps because I have watched it 100 times now.
Dec 27, 2019, 8:29 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: TK*G (E+), IHG Plat Ambassador
Posts: 7,884
Lounge - Being an executive club member or having a club world ticket gets you access to British Airways sister airline lounge in Nashville. The Admirals Lounge is run by American Air and I found it profoundly under whelming. Entering the lounge you take an elevator to the second floor, where there is a large seating area and bar room.
Dec 27, 2019, 8:52 am
#4
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC GGL/GFl, HH Diamond, BW Diamond, Virgin Voyages Deep Blue Extra, Blue Peter Badge Holder
Posts: 3,937
Sorry to hear of your less than Stella experience. Out of interest, if your flight was lightly loaded, was anyone in F, or did they close the section?
Last edited by navylad; Dec 27, 2019 at 9:08 am
Dec 27, 2019, 8:53 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 27
I guess it was a couple of things. One being that the only other airlines I would be likely to fly out of that route is Delta or United. I have had a very long history of awful flights with United, so choose not to fly them from a moral standpoint. Delta is not too bad and I have flown them on this route before. Two major things that make me prefer BA over Detla are 1.) I typically fly premium economy, and while BA is overpriced, their Premium Economy product is better than deltas in my opinion. The seats were more comfortable to me, plus BA has an intimate cabin for Premium Economy whereas delta is just in the economy cabin, and 2.) I like British Airways because its a direct flight from BNA to London. Delta always seems to stop in ATL.
Dec 27, 2019, 8:54 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 27
No F was completely shut down. But they opened all the seats within the 7 day window for reserving. Then, the morning of the flight, closed it and kicked everyone back.
Dec 27, 2019, 9:02 am
#7
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,408
Hi there Stuckintheback - nicely-written & concise review, thanks ^
Sounds like you had a pleasant, albeit rather inefficient, crew. Forgetting to deliver not only your soup but dessert too does seem strange - especially with so few pax to look after on the day.
In the grand scheme of things, hardly a serious lapse ; but when combined with other mishaps mentioned, its understandable that your thoughts turned to the cost of your ticket, and the fact that you had a fairly rough deal.
Even allowing for the familiar inconsistency in CW standards from one flight to another, your summary Overall the flight was not that bad has a touch of damned-with-faint-praise about it
Sounds like you had a pleasant, albeit rather inefficient, crew. Forgetting to deliver not only your soup but dessert too does seem strange - especially with so few pax to look after on the day.
In the grand scheme of things, hardly a serious lapse ; but when combined with other mishaps mentioned, its understandable that your thoughts turned to the cost of your ticket, and the fact that you had a fairly rough deal.
Even allowing for the familiar inconsistency in CW standards from one flight to another, your summary Overall the flight was not that bad has a touch of damned-with-faint-praise about it
Dec 27, 2019, 9:21 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 27
Hi there Stuckintheback - nicely-written & concise review, thanks ^
Sounds like you had a pleasant, albeit rather inefficient, crew. Forgetting to deliver not only your soup but dessert too does seem strange - especially with so few pax to look after on the day.
In the grand scheme of things, hardly a serious lapse ; but when combined with other mishaps mentioned, its understandable that your thoughts turned to the cost of your ticket, and the fact that you had a fairly rough deal.
Even allowing for the familiar inconsistency in CW standards from one flight to another, your summary Overall the flight was not that bad has a touch of damned-with-faint-praise about it
Sounds like you had a pleasant, albeit rather inefficient, crew. Forgetting to deliver not only your soup but dessert too does seem strange - especially with so few pax to look after on the day.
In the grand scheme of things, hardly a serious lapse ; but when combined with other mishaps mentioned, its understandable that your thoughts turned to the cost of your ticket, and the fact that you had a fairly rough deal.
Even allowing for the familiar inconsistency in CW standards from one flight to another, your summary Overall the flight was not that bad has a touch of damned-with-faint-praise about it
Dec 27, 2019, 9:29 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 92
Hi there Stuckintheback - nicely-written & concise review, thanks ^
Sounds like you had a pleasant, albeit rather inefficient, crew. Forgetting to deliver not only your soup but dessert too does seem strange - especially with so few pax to look after on the day.
In the grand scheme of things, hardly a serious lapse ; but when combined with other mishaps mentioned, it’s understandable that your thoughts turned to the cost of your ticket, and the fact that you had a fairly rough deal.
Even allowing for the familiar inconsistency in CW standards from one flight to another, your summary “Overall the flight was not that bad” has a touch of damned-with-faint-praise about it
Sounds like you had a pleasant, albeit rather inefficient, crew. Forgetting to deliver not only your soup but dessert too does seem strange - especially with so few pax to look after on the day.
In the grand scheme of things, hardly a serious lapse ; but when combined with other mishaps mentioned, it’s understandable that your thoughts turned to the cost of your ticket, and the fact that you had a fairly rough deal.
Even allowing for the familiar inconsistency in CW standards from one flight to another, your summary “Overall the flight was not that bad” has a touch of damned-with-faint-praise about it
Last edited by dubistokay; Dec 27, 2019 at 9:39 am
Dec 27, 2019, 9:38 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,408
Thanks OP for coming back with further thoughts. And yes, I can see what you mean about the possible disconnect which led to the haphazard approach by CC.
As forlorn a hope as it might be, Ive often thought that if BA could see their way to offering dine-on-demand in the way that some carriers have done, the more personalised service would, of itself, diminish the chances of such lapses as you report.
As forlorn a hope as it might be, Ive often thought that if BA could see their way to offering dine-on-demand in the way that some carriers have done, the more personalised service would, of itself, diminish the chances of such lapses as you report.
Dec 27, 2019, 9:47 am
#13
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC GGL/GFl, HH Diamond, BW Diamond, Virgin Voyages Deep Blue Extra, Blue Peter Badge Holder
Posts: 3,937
I think done on demand would be a disaster in BA personally, not surprised theyd Id a you turn having tried in the sim.
Dec 27, 2019, 10:10 am
#14
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,408
Dine-on-demand does work extremely well (certainly IME) when the CC charged with delivery are customer-focussed ; but if as disorganised as those described in this particular flight review, then it could indeed result in a service even worse than Stuckintheback actually received.
(can’t make head nor tail of the second part of your sentence, sorry
)
Dec 27, 2019, 11:18 am
#15
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 557
Hello everyone, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season. I recently flew British Airways Club World from Nashville to London and wanted to give a review of how the flight went for me.
Lounge - Being an executive club member or having a club world ticket gets you access to British Airways sister airline lounge in Nashville. The Admirals Lounge is run by American Air and I found it profoundly under whelming. Entering the lounge you take an elevator to the second floor, where there is a large seating area and bar room. I immediately noticed the floor was covered in crumbs of all sorts, and the lounge was actually pretty packed. It did not feel like an intimate experience at all. The complimentary food available was a tray of stale cookies and a package of something else that I cant remember. The bathrooms were also pretty dirty. I went over to the bar tender to chat for a bit. She was super nice, but led me to believe that because all the British Airways flights leave pretty late, it results in a influx of people coming to the lounge during the last shift when no one is working. Any-who, I think next time I will just head to my departure gate.
Lounge - Being an executive club member or having a club world ticket gets you access to British Airways sister airline lounge in Nashville. The Admirals Lounge is run by American Air and I found it profoundly under whelming. Entering the lounge you take an elevator to the second floor, where there is a large seating area and bar room. I immediately noticed the floor was covered in crumbs of all sorts, and the lounge was actually pretty packed. It did not feel like an intimate experience at all. The complimentary food available was a tray of stale cookies and a package of something else that I cant remember. The bathrooms were also pretty dirty. I went over to the bar tender to chat for a bit. She was super nice, but led me to believe that because all the British Airways flights leave pretty late, it results in a influx of people coming to the lounge during the last shift when no one is working. Any-who, I think next time I will just head to my departure gate.
When Ive been through the Nashville AC, they have a salad bar, two or three types of cubed cheese, and at least one soup. The cookies are on the opposite wall in the back. The salad bar is across from the bar and tables.
And I agree, dirty and dated.