9w or BA?
 

Hi,

I'm J classing LHR - BOM shortly and need to chose from 9W or BA.

Last time was with BA but I wasn't impressed with the service or lie flat beds.

Can anyone help me on how 9W J class compares to BA J?

TIA
Richard.

Lovely, herringbone seats, great service. Go book 9W - unless you need the miles in BA

I fly India-LHR very frequently on both BA and 9W in J/F. Am BA Gold and 9W Plat.

I used to find 9W J significantly superior to BA J. Flat beds in both, but 9W used to win due to Dom, PJs and better food. BA had a wider IFE choice (when it worked!), but smaller screens than 9W.

9W's J seat is also a lot sturdier, and much wider around the shoulders and more conducive to sleeping, thanks to the duvets and mattress. BA's Club seat is really shaky and does seem to wobble a lot. Plus the problem of aisle access with either you having to climb over a stranger or vice versa. (anirudhh77 might think of that as a positive of course... :p ;) )

9W these days doesn't have Dom and the food portions, especially main courses, often seem tiny. BA is now offering a choice of 5 mains in J, although you may not get your first choice!

All said and done, if forced to pick between the two offerings, and miles/points weren't an issue, I would probably choose 9W for an overnight, and BA for a day flight.

Now 9W F I would ALWAYS choose over BA F. With BA F, I have had about 8 sectors in the last couple of months, and 6 of those turned out to be non-AVOD planes, and on 2 of those sectors washbags were missing. Cabin crew were great, and much better than 9W, but the hard and soft product appeared very tired.

Thanks
 

Great update. ^

Many thanks to you both.

9w it is.
R.

Interesting... BA F is reputedly very good on longhauls - what equipment/routes did you fly?

Hey, now what's that about :D ? This never happened to me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydi5IPS3CHk.

I'll take 9W's herringbone anytime...

Does 9w serve any decent champagne in F nowadays??

Yes, a friend of mine always flies BA F and has nothing but praise for it.

However, FT'ers like AJLondon fly more often, and thus, see the shortcomings...

:D

(But she should be a bit better looking than that one...)

Would have been one of the few(?) 777s that does not have AVOD...unfortunately, AIUI some of the 777s cannot have the current AVOD system fitted. Annoyingly they seem to use 777s for several of the Indian routes.

LHR-DEL, LHR-YYZ, LHR-BOS v.v. all 777s.

Infact 3 of my last 4 DEL-LHR flights were Non-AVOD 777s.

I'm sure there's an innuendo in there somwewhere... ;)
Honestly, there are many here who fly much more than I do. :o I guess my apathy towards BA F came only from the fact that I had multiple BA F longhauls crammed in a short period. And some of the shortcomings (non-AVOD or missing washbags) just got magnified. Plus BA managed to delay my checked bag on one trip and break it on another! Still chasing the claim for that a month later.

Honestly though, BA F is a great product, but one must remember that BA's current F product is about 10 years old when comparing it with the new F suites of 9W/EK etc. Plus BA's F pricing more often than not reflects this fact. I usually pay atleast 25% less for BA F as opposed to what I would for LH/AF etc on my routes. And I'd choose BA crew over 9W every single time.

To quote the Pet Shop Boys (and possibly give u more ammo ;)), what have I done to deserve this??? :D

Interesting comment, AJLondon. While I always thought BA crew were fine, I felt that 9W crew always bent over backwards. I am intersted in your perspective.

9w crew have gotten worse in the past 1 - 1.5 years...might as well fly with a Gulf carrier for 1L only to the US! ;)

When your choice of airline is down to a washbag its time to move on.

Whilst useful, I always carry spare ear-plugs and eye-shades, after all these items are usually prepared by people on minimum wage. Yes it would be nice if they always got it right, but as long as the fuelers get it right I'm Happy.

OT: after I have read on FT how gulf carriers treat Indians, no thank you.