James91

I flew home to JFK recently on CS and had an incredible experience - the seat, the food and the crew were exceptional and I was thrilled (two weeks before I was on Iberia from PTY-MAD which was…not so good) which I guess is maybe the issue? There shouldn’t be such a huge range of experiences for J tickets on the same airline.

IAMORGAN

I agree and the bit of trivia about youngest 777 but oldest interior.

OP, firstly, I sympathise as it sounds like one of those flights where pretty much everything was a bit meh which when added together leaves a bitter taste.

I suppose it’s a good sign that as a GCH you are surprised by this.

A 777-236 is just a 777-200. The “36” just means “British Airways”. IE as 737-436 was a 737-400 but to a BA spec.

SW7London

Side note but Boeing doesnt appear to do this anymore? Havent seen a 777/787 referred to in this way. Airlines still have their specs wonder why the change!

ermis177

The issue here is when someone posts a good experience with BA we all pretty much agree and liked the experience etc etc. But once someone someone writes a reasonable negative experience they get bombarded with comments such as “why you fly with BA then” “You need to have lower expectations” “ it’s due to the pandemic” and so on. Arguments that are very poor and sometimes irrelevant from people that are ready to forgive and forget BA on anything or just blame the weather/passenger/Brexit and so on. It has become very tiresome and I am not sure why is this allowed. It does not offer anything constructive to the forum, quite the opposite. Most of us know that BA has still some old planes that haven’t been refub and they are in a terrible state. Combine that with a bad crew and then you have a very bad experience, specially as a J passenger.

Saladman

Well I must confess that I have. Booked J both ways and going out on a 380 and back on a 787 (at the moment). Includes a week in a Sheraton with breakfast and was a shade under £1500 each and comes with 560 TP. Thought that was ok for a holiday (not a TP run).

Dubai itself is ok as long as one keeps away from the Jumeirah area and the Atlantis Palm type affair which seems to be populated by wealthy but unpleasant people with their even more unpleasant children.

The weather is lovely and the food is good if one searches out the local stuff. Some awesome Indian food as well. In my opinion obviously.

SteveF

I was once called to the desk in the lounge and told that my seat has been changed, I asked why and they said because the IFE is not working. I said that's OK I never use it anyway and they agreed to put me back in my chosen seat with the comment that I accepted the defective IFE.

BillyBleach

For a few years now I load my ipad up with content to watch, versus relying on the IFE.

Rarely the IFE equipment or the content variety compare to bringing your own.

oceanscape

I tried this and was told it was not allowed, I had no choice but to move even if I agreed and accepted the IFE was defective.

IAMORGAN

It is allowed probably because the whole point of a forum is debate & discussion. You give the example of Brexit - prime example of how people can genuinely disagree on a topic. Pretty much any topic, you’ll find a plurality of views. In fact, we’re disagreeing here because in my view in general in society (I am not, of course commenting on any specific decision on this Thread or on FT but making a normative point) free speech is generally the best way to resolve disagreements. Others would, in my view perfectly reasonably, argue this should be more tightly regulated.

Practically, if a person finds another’s views offensive or tiresome, it is possible to hide posts by that contributor or more widely in society to change the channel.

I for one am actually not sure I prefer Club Suite. I am also not a 777 hater. For all those saying fly Emirates or Qatar then I agree EK A380 direct in J may be the way to go. I’ve flown it myself but I do prefer BA overall - the Executive Club is a big attraction. So is BA’s service style. I agree BA on a bad day can be poor, but I’ve also seen poor service on other operators. That’s my opinion. I’m not saying the OP’s experience is invalid or wrong. Perhaps we both have valid points of view here?

This kind of debate will rumble on for as long as FT exists!! And long may that be!

NickB

IME, this is simply not the case. Positive threads about BA attract just as much contrarian/dismissive comments ("BA apologist" etc...) as negative threads do. One thing, though, that tends to generate a higher level of contrarian comments is where there is a mismatch between the tone of the post and the actual experience described in it: an excessively positive tone for a a rather mundane experience or an excessively negative tone for something which is just a mediocre experience. Thus, if a post were to rave of an experience in ET as "stellar" when what seems to justify the praise is merely that water and a packet of crisps were distributed (as per normal service) and that the plane landed more or less on time, you can be sure that this will attract contrarian posts. Conversely, posts that use hyperbolic language ("nightmare", "horrible", "awful", etc...) when the experience recounted is just meh tend equally to attract contrarian comments.

The OP falls in the latter category, imo: what is described is largely a pretty mediocre experience but the OP uses a hyperbolic tone to describe it ("horrible", "awful", "everyone was up in arms", etc...). Some people think that hyperbole adds weight to their post. IMO, it has exactly the opposite effect.

So, while one can agree with the OP that the experience was not good and pretty mediocre, the dramatisation in the tone seems rather OTT.

mikebg

Actually, in the BA Avios compensation universe, having a non-working IFE is like hitting the jackpot. Considering you never use it, its a shame they knew beforehand and told you!

SteveF

Yes, I don’t actually use it but I do always switch it on once in the hope it is broken. It never has been, although my wife’s was once so we switched places.

subject2load

Whilst respecting whatever political views you may have, I will not explore that particular subject, given that political debate obviously has no place either on this thread, or indeed the BAEC Forum itself.

That aside however, and where matters of pure finance & expenditure are concerned : I’m not convinced your strong determination to “not give any money to Qatar” is quite as principled as it might sound, when one considers that Qatar is of course the single largest shareholder of BA’s parent, IAG. Which clearly means that every time you buy a ticket to fly BA, you help swell the coffers of the State of Qatar, along with its national carrier.

Oh what a complex world in which we live ……….

PAL62V

Exactly. If I were to be determined not to give money to any govt or regime I was against, I'd be spending very little anywhere, including the UK. Which would make my tax affairs a little sticky....

NickB

These are matters of degree, though. Someone may well decide that they refuse to go to, say, China for holidays or fly Chinese airlines because of their strong opposition to some policies followed by the Chinese government. It does not follow from this that they need to refrain from buying any electronic or other goods where some of the components were made in China.