I'm exactly the same. And a couple of winters ago I did mention it to the stewardess as the flaps hadn't been set after push back and we were almost at the the hold point for runway 09R at Heathrow (and we hadn't been de-iced either), but there was wet snow around.

She checked with the fight deck and came back to me to say it was to minimise contamination from aircraft in front. And not to worry. No sooner as she had they were set. I felt a bit of an idiot but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I really hope their standards are higher than Spanair, even if they weren't before IAG was formed I'd hope IAG would realise the damage to their reputation a fatal crash caused by reasons within their control would be.

Out of curiosity, how do you know that the flaps were not set correctly? Some aircraft (A300-600, 767-200, Fokker 100) can take off with no flaps extended (and in the case of the F100, no slats, as it doesn't have any).

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the St Kitts wrong intersection incident. It must be ghastly to be a passenger, know that something's wrong and be powerless to stop it.

The only aviation operation by IAG is if they make paper planes out of their office memos. IAG is a holding company, it does nothing much itself.

The aviating in IAG is done by subsidiaries BA (under UK CAA supervision) and Iberia and Vueling (under Spanish supervision).

Well this has turned into a brilliant thread- nice one OP!

A long time ago I was in the Far East for the first time, flying back from SIN on a 747. As we began the take-off roll the acceleration caused what seemed like several litres of water to be dislodged and pour down from between roof panels onto passengers sitting further forward. I was at an exit row with CC on a seat facing me so I spoke up to ask if this was normal? He glanced round and nonchalantly shrugged his shoulder: 'condensation, sir...'. I didn't mind looking clueless and would do the same again if I was concerned!

Kudos to the folks up-thread who have made the crew aware of concerns. IIRC when the Los Rodeos incident occurred everyone in the cockpit except the captain knew they didn't have clearance to take-off but rather than risk upsetting the social order they were content to continue...

Ah, ok. I "fly" with the Thomson 737-800 checklist and flaps don't appear until the before takeoff checklist. Flaps are in my after pushback & engine start flows as a PM though. I did actually try and do a search for the ba 737-400 checklist out of curiosity but nothing came up on google.

How did we end up in Travelbuzz? Was the OP talking about an airline that's not BA?

It's amazing how pilots can forget something as essential as configuring the aircraft for departure. Yet every so often it happens and chances are you will die in a fireball. Flaps and slats increase the surface area of the wing and enable the aircraft to takeoff at lower airspeeds. Without these devices you would need very long runways and very durable tires to achieve the airspeed needed for a safe takeoff.

There are warning devices to help ensure the aircraft is configured properly but unfortunately as we saw in the accident of Northwest flight 255 sometimes pilots disable the system.

With more modern aircraft systems, the ability to disable a Take-off Config Warning is reduced to being only possible through engineering action. The Spanair accident has led manufacturers to beef up operating procedures in Minimum Equipment Lists to mitigate this threat.

As for knowing whether or not the correct flaps are set from the passenger cabin is not an exact science. On some fleets in certain airlines a standard take-off flap us used, and performance tables based on that configuration. If the standard flap is not enough additional tables are produced for a greater flap setting. As airlines now face more pressure to squeeze every last revenue dollar out of an airframe, manufacturers have produced performance software that is airline and airframe specific. This enables a 737 for example to depart flap 1 instead of the previously mandated flap 5. Thus enables the aircraft to lift more weight when obstacles in the climb out would create a weight penalty. As airlines more more towards 'pay by power' contacts with engine owners, the use of 'improved climb' now aka 'optimum' will mean (in general terms) lower flap settings, lower thrust and higher take-off role speeds.
In the summer time around the Middle East, the big 3 will often be rotating their 777s at close to the tire limiting speed. This enables them to carry more revenue weight off the deck on those LH and ULR legs they fly. The more energy the aircraft lifts off with the higher the second stage climb gradient of the 'net take-off flight path' will be. This is a mandated performance requirement, and airlines will optimise their aircraft performance on the majority of take off runs in order to lift all the revenue weight they can.
There are exceptions to using this technique. Contaminated runways, low vis, winds shear reported etc along with certain allowable defects that require full thrust and a minimum ground run.
So whilst there are certain things the passengers should rightly be concerned about, flap settings are not always a clear cut science of routine as they previously were.

Nope I was definitely referring specifically to BA operating procedures and the flight in question was certainly BA - maybe I didn't make that clear in my original post! Oh dear - well thanks for your entertaining replies - I will certainly have a little smile on tomorrow mornings flight when the flaps go down :)

What an interesting (and amusing, in parts) thread!

Just to reassure the OP...:

- Flaps are not required for taxi.

- Depending on aircraft type, load, runway length and meterological factors it can be perfectly safe to take off without flaps (see #33)

Or a very concerned look when they don't ;)

That's quite a well known video and I wonder if there were any consequences to the pilots.

I remember when trying to learn to fly a Cessna that flaps settings were not a set in stone item. While I would be nervous about things I didn't think were set correctly, I would be hard pressed to make a judgement call on something the pilots would obviously know far more about than myself.