Review of British Airways flight Miami → London in Business

After having landed from LIM I was ready to leave the airport before 7am. I was meeting a friend initially at 11am after he finished his classes at university, so took an uber to Lincoln road mall and was set to explore South Beach until then. There was no traffic early in the morning so managed to do the ride in less than twenty minutes.

First things first, I stopped to refuel for the day at Starbucks. While I was sipping my coffee, I received a text from my friend saying that he was going to go to university early so we agreed to meet at his campus in Downtown Miami by 8, which would mean a slight change of plans, but no big deal.




Fortunately, I still had some time left so I took a walk around the area and managed to walk down to the beach. Miami is a city that has never caught my attention, however I did found it as a good enough place to go on holiday.


I even managed to get to the beach. It was 7:30 am so the place was deserted.


Then I took another Uber to downtown to meet my friend. We catch up for a while but he then had to go to a class, so I walked around downtown which didn’t seem to bad either.




After he was done, we jumped on his car and headed towards the airport area. We stopped by a mall to get a case for my Iphone and then we had lunch at Olive garden.

Since we still had some time to spare, we went to the nearby dolphin mall and I can’t digress that we may have had the biggest and perhaps one of the best pieces of cheasecake I’ve had in my life.




He then dropped me off at the airport about 3 and a half hours before departure. We bid our goodbyes and agreed that we will make everything possible to meet back later in the year. I changed into some more appropriate clothes for flying and headed to the BA check in desks. There were not many people yet, however I did have a couple of people before me at the club world desks.

I was seen in by a friendly agent who couldn’t seem able to check me in. She typed some things in her computer and apparently had to undone what I had done so far and do it again. It was partially my fault for not handing her my residence permit straight away (since there is nothing in my passport) but wait for her to ask me if I had a visa. She didn’t mention anything about the lounge, but I thought I’d find it on the way anyway and apologized for having me waiting so long.

BA operates from concourse E in MIA, which I thought looked pretty disorganized. In fact the check in desks were closer to the security check for concourse F than E and there was no signage on where to go. I went the wrong way at first, but quickly managed to find the right way to security.

Security was packed but it did flow fast enough. Once airside it was not a hard task to find the lounge, whose entrance is located just a few feet away at the right.

I was welcomed by a friendly agent who sent me to the BA rep when I asked her to put my FF number back on. She couldn’t print a new boarding pass but showed me that my number was back on, on her screen. I told her not to worry, since that would not make any difference anyway.




The Premium lounge is used by basically all the European Oneworld carriers operating in the airport and managed by AA I believe. I thought it was really big, spacious and had lots of different spaces giving passengers privacy. When I arrived it was quite empty, however it got busier later on but there were still plenty of seats available.



I just had a cup of tea, took a much-needed shower and managed to submit some work that was pending.

I didn’t have anything to eat since I wasn’t hungry, however food options seemed decent, about a step above than your typical admirals club offers.



Booze options seemed decent enough too. There was both a self-service station and a full service bar. There was also a working station with three desks but I don’t think there were any PC’s (not that they are needed in this day and age).

I headed out at about 17:45 and there was a massive queue to leave the lounge. There was only one elevator and the door to the emergency stairs seemed to be locked. Both passengers of the BA and IB flights were trying to leave at the same time, so it might have taken a good 10 minutes to exit.




As I walked to the gate, it didn’t seem long to realize which was the right gate. Masses of people standing around before boarding was even announced. Apparently the crew was late because they were stuck on traffic due to an accident on the road, but that didn’t cause any major delay. Boarding was announced for first, business, gold, silver and bronze all at once, which in a full 747 is more than 150 passengers trying to board at the same time, while the other half waits at the adjacent line.




Once onboard I was greeted by a friendly FA who directed me towards my seat in the front of the upper deck. There were some connecting passengers who were late and some didn’t even manage to make it, so some bags had to be unloaded.


First time flying on an upper deck!

The cabin crew distributed menus, washbags (they don’t even call then amenity kits on BA) and welcome drinks. There were two female cabin crew working on the upper deck, let’s call them B and D.


Dinner options seemed fine.


I wonder what were the snacks available in club kitchen.


Our chatty captain came on the PA giving a very detailed speech, announcing a flying time of 7hs and 40 minutes and explaining lots of things, including what I said above. I thought it was a nice touch and really appreciated his enthusiasm and particular attention to detail.

We had a smooth take off and had some amazing views of Miami during sunset. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get a window seat for this leg so no pics, since I would have felt awkward taking pics obstructing my seat mate.

Once in the air I started browsing the inflight entertainment and found a really nice movie to watch over dinner, Cafe society. Really enjoyed it, though didn't managed to stay awake till the end.

B came around addressing everyone by name for the one and only time in the flight and asking for dinner options. On a side note I liked how she pronounced my last name.

Then D came distributing drinks and nuts.



The starter arrived straight away. It was some sort of salmon tartare that was very enjoyable. I asked D for a drink refill, but she said I'll have to wait till the drink cart came around. Quite a contrast with my previous flights with AA where you basically had to ask the crew to please stop topping up your drinks!




For the main course I went with the salmon. It was alright but not particularly tasty. Of course if I would have written this a couple of weeks ago I would have complained a bit more about the dish, but my tasting buds have already lowered to normal standards. My only gripe with the service was that I was never offered a drink refill, but oh well!




I was asked if I wanted to have dessert. I ordered the wrong thing, which was what I thought I had read off the menu. A few moments later one of the friendly FA’s approached to me to reassure that what I was asking for was the cheesecake and I can assure to you that it was really good! B came back asking if I wanted anything to drink, so ordered a cup of tea.


Yes, this was the same empty glass you saw on the starter pic.


By this time we were already leaving the East coast of the USA


After dinner I went to the lavatory and then got ready to sleep.


The lavatory was kept clean, however amenities were basic, or at least that's what I've heard about BA toilets.

Despite the narrowness of the seat and being literally next to the aisle I managed to get some good sleep and woke up as the crew was finishing to do the breakfast run.


We were entering the UK above Wales

The captain came on the PA saying that we were going to be landing in an hour. I went to the gallery to ask the crew if they had some items left from breakfast. B, which was the friendliest of the two FA’s asked me if I would like a bacon roll and some fruit to go with it, which I accepted.

She looked confused when I walked back to my seat (I assumed she was going to bring the tray, despite she didn’t offered to do so) but a few moments later she came to my seat with the items. Along with the bacon roll, which was fabulous was a nice croissant and a blueberry muffin which I barely touched.


One last pic of the cabin.


Landing was smooth and we docked on terminal 3. We parked at the same gate in which I boarded the reverse flight last year. I thanked the crew and had a long walk towards immigration. The crew didn’t distributed fast-track passes, however I couldn’t be bothered to walk back to the gate, so just queued at the regular line, which was moving fast anyway.


Couldn't get a shot of our bird, but here is her twin.


Now I think the 747 on this picture was indeed ours.

I was asked a couple of routine questions at immigration and was let off back to the UK. My carry on didn’t take long to appear and I headed out into the new AA arrivals lounge. I had another shower which turned out being a good idea and had some breakfast before leaving.


Baggage claim

Some pics of the arrival lounge that was very well kept. It remained empty throughout my stay since access is very restrictive (limited to F, J and OW emeralds) and I guess there is a lot of people that just want to get home after a red-eye.



Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated.