Mr MCO

It was not that long ago when WT (long haul) used to get a welcome orange...

sany2

In the United States WT+ gets access to a dedicated check in?

Not in Detroit.

krug

Not all stations. Most stations. As I said in my original post.

OLCI and Electronic check-in makes this benefit vitually redundant.

Tits McGhee

Good points about the lack of manpower to do drinkies in Traveller Plus, but remember that we're also doing Newspapers in that Cabin (Daily Mail - pile of ....e) so taking a drink at the same time wouldn't do much harm. On the Triple Seven (4-class) it's easy. Galley right behind Plus. On the 3-class the drinks could be done from the Middle Galley which is normally not used for a service but could be used for this purpose at the start of the flight.

On the Jumbo, it can be done from the Galley at Doors 2 where boarding is usually done from. This is where Club run their drinks from (Low J) so doing Plus wouldn't be that hard. On the High J it's a little trickier, but I'm sure we could get round it (particularly when we move W in to B Zone).

ian001

Well, I'm a fan of BA WT+ but I've been reluctant to try out VE PE for the reasons stated above. Also if you look at the seat maps for VS PE on the 747, the downstairs PE seats are right next the galley. If any VS lurkers are here, the new seats must have leg rests, I find this essential for sleeping. Also, this may result in crys of more VS-bashing on the BA board, but VS really do have to fix the problem of their wildly erratic on-board service levels.

Some improvements I would like to see on BA are:

- Priority boarding before everybody piles in to WT (sometimes WT+ pax are called before W, sometimes not).

- Better pillows and blankets (you can replace the 320% polyster ones in NCW while you're at it)

- A better effort with the meal and drinks service, particularly a regular topping up of drinks, and something a little more substantive (and edible) before arrival.

- Lounge access will always be a no-no, not least for capacity reasons, but may be at T5 they could provide access to showers in departures and arrivals?

I have to say it is a source of puzzlement that in most consumer markets you have a range of products which cater for many different segments, yet in the airline industry we have, for the most part, two extremes of business and economy and the development of a "middle market" product is still quite limited (though I look forward to seeing what QF come up with for the A380).

I guess the main issue for BA and others will always be the risk of employers stipulating that staff must fly PE, at least for day flights. See also:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511859

DFB_london

Agreed on that: with WT+ in B zone should be a lot easier to manage the logistics. After all, the other way round, J servcie from WT has been done before (for anyone who remembers the two 102J 744 sub fleet BA used to fly to JFK for a while).

Interestingly, I sampled both VS PE and BA WT+ on daylights ex-EWR two different weeks in a row. The BA product in the air (cant comment on the ground as got gold card treatment on both carriers - ie premium checkin and lounge) is now better than VS, IMHO: if only 'cause VS have cut theirs back so much and the lack of leg rests (which have just vanished) is not a great for comfort. The BA food is also designed to serve someone other than an anorexic - unless, of course, the VS catering was a fashion week special

(PS - Not sure who said it, but anyone who wants the VS Heathrow clubhouse over the concorde room, pls be my guest... With several airline gold cards (BA, VS, LH), THE best and most valuable bit of airline plastic to get is still the grey BA card that opens the CCR doors - to the peace, quiet, of a no wifi haven.)

edi-traveller

You used to get a little plastic tub of orange or water before take off in WT in the late 1990s................

Tits McGhee

....and menus and sweets.... Some brainiac kept their job by realising that we could save £10.00 per longhaul departure by not giving these things out. I'd much rather have saved £40,000.00 a year by sacking the useless, overpaid tw@t who spent a fortune figuring this out.

edi-traveller

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

BTW - given that they have DITCHED THE DELI box in favour of the crappy crisps - should you change your signature to "BRING BACK THE DELI BOX"?

loobtastic

Tits
I soooo agree with you. Our WT product was so much better (or percieved to be, indeed, how exciting is an orange juice? ) 5 or so years ago. Having said that, we had more crew then too.

BahrainLad

I remember as recently as 1998 there was a 'relaunch' of World Traveller with the now customary red, blue and green pillows. There was also a pretty nifty double-layer meal tray...whatever happened to that?

Tits McGhee

Way before my time, but I believe it was hated by crew and took up too much room. Also, the service took far longer than we really had time for.

As for the signature, it's aimed more at Longhaul where a Deli Box is still part of the staple diet .

Imperial Special

The test for the differention of product seems to have boiled to Champagne, where, when and to whom you serve it.

When BD changed from one class Diamond Service for all, only C class passengers got champagne. Economy class passengers couldn't even buy it.

When EI dropped its C class and adopted an all Economy configuration suddenly Champagne became available to Y travellers @ EUR9.00 per snipe (quarter bottle).

It is interesting that VS serves champagne in W pre-departure though not in-flight while BA doesn't.

While seated in W on BA, I asked to buy champagne but was told it was not for sale.

Once WT+ is moved to Zone B, at least for those aircraft, there will be clear differentiation with WT. Incidentally, how easy will it be to service WT+ and those orphaned J passengers stranded between WT and WT+?

Nitrox

...and in comparison to the Concorde Room

...enough said.....

krug

Nifty as a concept it may have been, but it ws ungainly to use and I was rather glad when it was removed.

Thankfully my experiences of longhaul WT are now distant memories, though will be sampling WT and WT+ again for a weekend break soon, so look fwd to seeing what is on offer.