Oxon Flyer

Folks, this thread is about flight experiences, so some side discussions ref “masking” have been removed.

the mod team

skipness1E

Why are they checking biometrics on a B gate departing LHR-YYZ? Is this a new thing?

atsak

Don't know I can agree I don't fly enough. Two round trip flights a year overseas at least, and hundreds in Canada / US over the last 20 years or so. Could be very lucky I guess that's true - I've never had a lost bag, I've had only a handful of cancellations and that seems to be unusually fortunate. It is fair to say this is all somewhat nit picky. I think I can't understate how any of these in and of themselves wouldn't be anything more than a minor annoyance, but the aggregate experience was disappointing. As well as another poster correctly pointed out, not all of this is down to BA. There's a couple Heathrow and Pearson things in there as well.

I am not for a moment suggesting the way things are done in NA is the way they should be done everywhere (in fact, I wouldn't say there's much at all that's good about the aviation industry here, but the apps do work and gates are available in advance, albeit with the gate change hassle on occasion). I just really don't care for the way the gate posting works in the UK. You're of course correct it does work, and of course I do deal with it.

atsak

I thought it was redundant to do a passport check and then again, stand on the circle, scan boarding pass, look at camera, gate opens . . . worked for our family fine but a significant minority struggled. I don't recollect the last time I transited Heathrow on the way home them doing this but that was quite some time ago now.

South London Bon Viveur

I think a lot of us on here are quite spoiled by flying in premium cabins. Flying Y in long haul is simply not fun, but in a strange way the OP may have lucked out with the old 777, given that it is a bit roomier. I have flown a BA350 in Y and was pretty uncomfortable. I also flew on QR in Y and had a rather large chap sat next to me. Game over- it was truly horrific.

Bongodog1964

BA have a large fleet of 777's it takes time to update them all, you were just unlucky to get the remaining one. You mention the departure gate not being announced until 90 minutes before the flight, that's usual in Europe our major airports are generally more heavily used than in North America and the schedulers have to alter the plan to make the best use of resources. In regard to half the plane boarding in group 1 on your flight to Scotland, BA planes tend to be premium seat heavy, plus passengers with BA status that puts them in group 1, I can't say I've ever seen 50% group 1. but its often substantial.

BearX220

Indeed, by my count more than half the problems recounted by OP involve T5 design, infrastructure, crowding, and signage, a poorly stocked duty free, Plaza Premium capacity, distant passengers coughing, others opening the overhead bin, slow YYZ baggage hall, Uber, etc., etc.

Boil it down to what BA can reasonably do something about, and you're left with a bum Android app and an old-gen cabin with no power, bad bin latches, and weak AVOD -- and the needed refit is likely imminent; some frame has to come last. The slight boarding / push delay was not egregious if you ask me.

Less is more (when it comes to focused complaining anyway).

atsak

True! I would only point out that the other "stuff (terminals etc)" while not directly in control of BA, causes influence on my decision to take them at all, especially if I was paying and similarly BA can influence them. I would transit Iceland or the US over Heathrow at this point to get to Scotland, most other things being equal. For example on my way back from Australia this year, I transited Doha and IAD (Dulles), which suffered none of these issues, though I was in business class that didn't change anything about lounge availability, terminal crowding, transit complexity etc.

And to be clear, this really should be viewed more as a rant than a complaint. I posted it here because it so directly impacts BA and had a component that was definitely down to them. I have no intention of contacting BA - it would fall on deaf ears anyway as all of these things are just annoyances not genuine service failures per se.

corporate-wage-slave

You may get some Avios as a Customer Relations gesture for the AVOD - I would hope that all YMMU complaints would generate at least something in this sphere.