Swanhunter

And to illustrate the point further, 2 seats in-op on the UD (one due to footstall, one had nonfunctioning armrests), no AVOD at all and - yes - the springboard effect was present. On a positive note the crew were simply excellent.

Myself and two other pax had a nice chat with the CSD about all the issues - I do feel sorry for the crew having to deal with the fallout.

JumboJim

Have just landed in Hong Kong. Was grateful to be op-up'd. But the flight was pretty awful. AVOD wasnt working, and the reserve programming wasnt working either. My First seat was also knackered - for the first three hours I had to sit bolt upright before the CSD - who was excellent - managed to fix it.

The CSD couldnt apologise enough about the lack of IFE and he claimed to have sat on the flight deck much of the night talking to BA engineers to try and fix it.

I'm getting to the point where Virgin are looking a more credible alternative... as all bar one flight in NGCW have been marred by no AVOD and/or dodgy seating.

fraisse10

LH also used to do this.

Jimmie76

BA used to do this as well I remember the stickers in blue. (Showing my age now though)

Land-of-Miles

Why not simply bring a stash of Post-It Notes on board and write one to the cabin crew saying "bugger off I am not interested in brekky I want to sleep"? Stick this in any suitable place (and a few come to mind).

Teece

Well, BA213 had NGCW today. All the seats on the full UD appeared to be in working order. The first hour and a bit of the flight had no IFE as the CSD kicked the cr*p out of the AVOD servers, but then it settled down and behaved itself. I noticed a tiny bit of springyness in the seat, but nothing that was too disturbing. Had the footstool collapse a couple of times, but that was because I put my full weight on it climbing out of the seat.

Does anyone actually find the Z-bed position of the stool comfy? I find it's a bit hard on the back of my knees.

First time since 'Club Kitchen' was announced that I've seen ice cream. Apparently this is ex-UK only.

harryhv

rtah100, that is a great, well thought out critique not only useful for FTers but also excellent feedback for BA if anyone is watching.

Pls ignore the whingeing responses complaining of whingeing.. these are valuable nuggets of information, the real treasure of FT.

GLOBALFLYERCT

GLOBALFLYERCT

I done a few flights this week which allow me to have a good comparison of product. In the last 7 days I have experienced CX F CX889 JFK-HKG and CX 749 J HKG-JNB and BA54 F JNB-LHR and NNCW BA175 plus a regional JAL and regional CX

Crew make so much difference and the best were the CX regional but no crew were bad and I thought the BA 175 were a close second..the CX was just more personal. JAL J was the weakest and the seats the old style J pre even the cradle type

Sleep is my top priority and CX F was marginally better than BA F although BA56 had only 5 in F and I used 2 duvets underneath as well as 1 on top. CX J to SA was nowhere near as good as BA175 NCW because of the sloping seat. The biggest surprise for me was how much better I thought NNCW was than the previous product. The footstool was solid and the spring/bounce in the bed had no negative effects to me. I slept really well.

AVOD worked on all flights. I need some new movies now

F feels great and the personal attention gives feel good but NNCW is very good and perfect for me on my regular East Coast to LHR trips.

The biggest weakness of BA over CX was boarding. No premium boarding at gate 1a for BA 175 or in JNB.

My US colleagues tend to fly NWA/UNITED/DELTA/AMERICAN there is no comparison in my experience. Overall we always want more but this service is so much better than my first LHR-SYD in 1992

Jimmie76

I usually have a pack of Action Man (a freebie, I didn't buy them) sticky notes (Post-It being a trade mark) and will consider using them, although I've never had a problem with being woken up too soon.

rtah100

I've been keeping my head below the parapet since I started this, licking my wounds. However, I feel a lot better since that nice Nurse Pucci came to visit.

Now the bullets have stopped zinging past and the smoke has cleared, I'm greatly cheered up by the more recent posts, which suggest that individually my gripes aren't anything new to the board, just nobody has been bad-tempered/unlucky enough to have them all at once.

The post-it note tip is a good one but it looks like a breakfast list might be one of those service details that BA could (re)introduce and impress pax with its attentiveness.

The mention of ice cream brings back memories. I'm sure this was available in "Raid the Larder" in CW five or six years ago. It's nice to see it back, though - it was available on my outbound leg LGW-DFW (although it was a bit melted by the time it was offered).

Back then, between 1999-2002, I used to fly a lot doing business in the West Coast, Asia and Australasia. The NCW cabin was just being introduced, and it was an amazing improvement over a seat in business class. I only went business when travelling with the boss, though: I earned my silver card going thirteen times to California in WT (and occasionally WT+) in one year! Once we had customers in Asia and Oz, I persuaded the company to buy RTW Discover fare trips in CW, which used to be a bit of a bargain. Then I took a job with only UK business travel, and spent my holiday money on LCC's.

It has been interesting, flying again since January (3x US CW, 1x Japan CW/F, 1x Dublin, 1x Spain, multiple internal US flights), to see what has changed.

Amusingly, CW is again being refurbished - but the improvement is hard to spot this time, so far. I'll give it a few more chances, though - but since I am mostly entering the US on the East Coast, Silverjet et al are looking attractive (until they started cancelling left, right and centre). Pre-flight dining is also a good innovation.

The biggest difference seems to be in the service. It seems to be much more variable than it used to be. When its good, it's still very good: just the right mix of warmth, distance and detail. When its bad, it's like being at the Post Office. A lot of this must be a morale and training / cost-cutting phenomenon.

Is this a case of nostalgia? Or does anyone think that things were more consistent back then? I'd be interested to know how life's changed for the CC in that time....

HIDDY

IMHO you have no wounds to lick.

You gave a very detailed report on how you found your experience and not the usual - "BA crap how do I get compensation" post, which is no use to anyone.
BA are there to provide a service which you have paid for and you have every right to voice your negative findings if you found the service lacking.
I get a bit fed up with the posters who jump to BA's defence every time someone posts negative comments although I have on the odd occasion defended BA when I think some comments are just a rushed rant in order for someone to get it off their chest, you obviously put some time and thought into your post.^

globalste

The first year i got *Gold was flying SAS economy everywhere

SFU

My only citicism of NGCW is that cursed table. Quite flimsy, supported only on one side and capable of building up an amazing aplified wobble effect not unlike the death-wobbles on a motorcycle. Even with the weight of a full meal tray, the table started bouncing with the slightest turbulence, which in turn launched the contents of my glass of red - seemingly with no regard for the laws of gravity - arcing into the air. The nice, clean, new CW coffin next to me looked like a murder scene for the rest of the flight.

Teece

Always, ALWAYS, put your drinks nearest the hinge, and away from the unsupported end. This will minimise the chance of launching drinks into orbit.