gardengirl

Last week a dear flyertalker helped me get 2 tix for the above using only 138,300 AmEx points +$700.

I’ve read BA is mediocre and sometimes the food has to be thrown away.

What are the normal experiences?

I’ve looked at comparable seats on AA and UA metal and they cost much more.

golfmad

Well, you will probably receive a variety of different responses to that question.

In my experience, it's usually perfectly fine.

ijgordon

Twice and never from Chicago.

They’re also worse than BA.
Although most (not all) people would say the older/non-Club Suite seat on BA is worse, but in almost every other way BA is better.

tennessetom

My biggest ask when I fly is that I actually get to where I am going, I have long since learned that a plane isn’t a restaurant so I don’t expect fine dining aboard and am never disappointed. All airlines have an occasional catering snafu which is what I think you are referring to above, what you should expect is a perfectly edible meal nothing more nothing less, a seat that is fairly comfortable and a lot better than coach, 90 percent of the time a friendly and helpful crew

if you asked me the same question about American or United I would give you the same answer, I really see very little difference between the three airlines experiences

keep in mind on ba you will have to pay for your seat assignment unless you have status or want to wait until check in which can be a negative aa and United seat assignments are free,

dnajockey

Beef cheeks.
Average wine.
4 gins but no brandy.
Good crew.
Comfy seat.

etiene

To elaborate on this for the OP: there were two recent incidents where the food had to be thrown away. This was on a route in the Caribbean which has to be return catered from LHR, and the refrigeration for the return food failed. Given that the food is loaded something like 15+ hours before the return leg, it can't be used. Most routes [if not all other route apart from the affected one] do not return cater the food, but have it supplied by a local company at the destination airport - meaning that such an occurance is not a risk at all.

In summary: it was thrown out because it was spoiled due to a storage failure - not because it was otherwise bad - and this won't affect the ORD route.

cbyrne92

I've enjoyed this route on BA when I've flown it!

Although the lounge is poor.

CB

lhrsfo

Old BA seats much worse than AA or UA.
Food and drinks better on BA
service better on BA
But operational reliability and flexibility terrible on BA.

corporate-wage-slave

Beef cheeks is one of the 3 options when departing from London, it's not offered departing from ORD at the moment. Do&Co caters at both ends, which isn't always the case for other USA locations. Because food is so incredibly subjective - and yet most people think they are being objective - it really isn't something that allows a simple statement such as "the food is always terrible" or indeed "the food is always great", it's not the way humans operate. But as a general point, it easier to get a good meal on the ground than in a poly-substance tube six miles up, particularly in Chicago.

Unusually there are 3 seating options in business, legacy Club World (my preference for overnight services); Air Belgium (some people like it) and Club Suites (many other people prefer). The seat plan will give you a clue as to which it is, when you book, or you can give dates here and someone will check for you.

BrianDromey

So you chose BA primarily on price. Admittedly AMEX points, but its still money. In Europe that is like choosing Ryanair because they were cheaper but flying the route you wanted and then complaining that the services you were used to on Lufthansa aren't available.

I quite enjoy flying on BA, because I am usually in a Business Class cabin for the same, or less, cash outlay as economy on other airlines. I know that QR have a nicer lounge, the Q-Suite is amazing and their champagne choices are better. But QR costs more Avios because they don't accept the AB AMEX 2-4-1 voucher and long haul destinations such as JNB, SIN or HKG need an extra stop in DOH compared to the direct BA route. Which takes time from my holiday and costs more because Avios are charged per sector.

So BA might not be "the best" in the bloggoshhere, but for us it works really well.

etiene

If I recall OP's original thread correctly, they're on the A380. I think this is next year as well, so probably beyond the Air Belgium wet lease timeframe?

corporate-wage-slave

A380 is of course legacy Club World, but a good aircraft when it works. Air Belgium: looking at the maths, BA are going to have issues for quite a few months on both frames and crew available hours in this calendar year.

gardengirl

Good morning. I woke up to find all the lovely replies to my questions. This was the first one and it was very comforting. Thank you all.

TPRun

I’m doing this for the first time on 8 Sept, and looking forward to it!

golfmad

It would be great if you would update this thread after your trip with your thoughts on the trip.