The heady days of star alliance gold, etihad gold and emirates gold all at the same time as BA gold are as distant a memory as a non mask mandated journey - after several stunningly poor BA “club” flights I finally caved to the lure of points and miles and ponied up the cash to give my old buddy the EK A380 a spin

a full service lounge
boarding from the gate
happy and proactive crew!
a meal service with actual separate courses?!
a wine list that was proactively offered?!
a clean, fresh cabin?!
16 min from seat to chauffeur drive?!

I know a lot of airlines are taking a beating at the moment but kudos to EK for reminding me just how far BA have fallen and how remarkably poor they are at long haul J.

I’ll miss the first wing at T5 LHR when bouncing short haul but it appears the grass is greener elsewhere

Welcome to the team..

If you did want to stick with OW, then QR are also pretty good IME.

I think BA have had no choice but to water down their product both because of finances and because their busiest routes - transatlantic - all have very low bars when you consider competitors. Delta? United? Its like Sainsbury's now price matching to Aldi rather than trying to compete with Waitrose and M&S.

I too, am looking at EK. I can fly QR or EK to where I need to be. I need to start my journey in ABZ, but could fly from GLA and connect in DXB. My head is being turned.

If you are in J or F you can connect to an EK Chauffeur at Dundee train station. True story - and its included in your ticket price.

EK415 this morning SYD DXB. Couldn’t agree more. Pictures speak for themselves






The mezze from Australia has become a lot better since Qantas sold (outsourced) Qcatering to dnata.




Chicken Fesenjan had the correct sauce though the cut is more western, which is understandable and still good (supposed to be a dark meat cut in Iran)

The croissant looks a bit, erm, questionable, otherwise this all looks very appetising for plane food. I get it if you have no real choice in the matter, but why anyone willingly flies BA Eastbound from the UK has long been a source of total bafflement to me and things have only got worse over the last 12-24 months...

The gradual withering of the BA network to Asia tells you all you need to know. Welcome to the dark side as someone who dumped BA for everything but short-haul and trips to the US years ago.

There's an Aer Lingus trip report on Head for Points today. Even EI blow BA out of the water on F&B

And you can't accuse them of "being subsidised by an evil government".

Do they make an announcement on the train? – "Change here for EK Chauffeur Service to Glasgow airport..."

Far too bourgeois for the Socialist Republic of South Scandinavia