#62 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
967 reviews
Hello everyone, welcome back to the final flight report of my Edinburgh trip!
I was flying back to Hong Kong from Edinburgh, transferring at London Heathrow Terminal 5, as there are no non-stop flights between Hong Kong and Edinburgh. This trip report features my flight as I fly from London Heathrow and Hong Kong.
Aircraft: G-ZBKB (Boeing 787-9)
Age of aircraft as of flight: 8.4 years
Flight number: BA28
Scheduled flight time: 20:45 (UTC) - 17:45 (+8) | 13h0m
Actual flight time: 21:17 (UTC) - 17:24 (+8) | 12h07m
Seat: 38K (World Traveler/ Economy)
After deboarding from my last flight, BA1447 (Edinburgh EDI - London Heathrow LHR), which was parked at gate 2 of the terminal main building, I followed the purple signs and proceeded to the transfer counters. To my surprise, the transfer procedure was very rapid and convenient, which took me less than 2 minutes to get through (basically just walk across a corridor and a few doors and I'm there). Note that I do not need to retrieve my bags, they go straight to Hong Kong.
I then hopped on the underground transit and proceeded to gate C66. London Heathrow Terminal 5 has signs that are big and clear. The C gates are located at the furthest satellite building from the main building of T5. As it was nearly 19:30 as I got there, very few people were at the terminal except for those waiting for our flight. Upon arrival at my gate, boarding would start an hour later.
At the gate waiting area, there are televisions that were broadcasting BBC news, as well as an information screen that interestingly shows their survey results towards their service performance. However, there were no power outlets near the benches, which makes it slightly inconvenient.
Boarding started on time at 19:45, and passengers were called out according to the boarding groups. It took a really long time for the premium class passengers to finish boarding (which makes sense as they take up a large portion of the seats). Being seated at row 38, my boarding group was group 6, which was surprisingly not the last boarding group.
And here is our aircraft, G-ZBKB, the second Boeing 787-9 delivered to British Airways in October 2015, making it 8.4 years old at the time of the flight. I found myself to be super lucky (or not?) as I could fly on the two oldest Boeing 787-9s during the same trip, alongside with G-ZBKA which I flew a week ago on BA28 (Hong Kong HKG - London LHR).
There was no queue at the jet bridge, no crowd clogging up in front of the door, as opposed to the flights I have been on. I think British Airways is trying to separate the distance of passengers to avoid queues forming, and passengers can get to their seats as quickly as possible.
A slight incident happened during boarding: I had some trouble finding out my boarding pass for this flight (as 4 boarding pass of this whole trip were placed together in the same bag haha) and I kept getting the wrong boarding pass. The flight attendant at the door was very humorous and commented "Wow you fly a lot!" and helped me to find the correct boarding pass. Luckily there was no queue behind me.
The aircraft, alike all other of the type in the fleet, features a premium-heavy four-class layout: 8 First class seats (1-2-1 configuration), 42 Club World seats (2-3-2 configuration with some reverse seating), 39 World Traveler Plus seats (2-3-2 configuration), and 127 World Traveler seats (3-3-3 configuration). If you're travelling in World Traveler, please note that row 41 is missing a window.
And here is my seat, 38K, which is the 9th row Economy seat on the right. This seat is reclinable and features a headrest. The head rest could only move upwards and downwards, but its sides could not be adjusted. The seat padding is slightly uncomfortable in my opinion, as it obstructs the blood flow along my upper thighs and causes great discomfort.
A simple pillow, blanket, and headphones wrapped in a charity donation bag were waiting for me at my seat.
The seat features a rather small screen which is controlled by a remote (on my last flight my neighbour could use it as a touch screen but I couldn't), a double-sided remote which is connected to the seat in front, a USB charging port (which does not work), a double-folded tray table, and a seat pocket.
A safety card and a paper bag is placed in the seat pocket. Legroom is said to be 31 inches, which is rather sufficient for me (around 5'7") and for a long-haul flight, but it can be quite uncomfortable for taller passengers. An entertainment box with 4-5 inch thickness is present to the right side of the seat, which uses up a portion of the leg space, so I had to sit a bit diagonally for my maximum comfort.
A power outlet is also featured under the seat.
(You can also see the blanket of my seat neighbour lying on the ground as he doesn't need them at all, he slept on the tray table for the duration of the flight haha)
To me, the seat design is considered relatively old and poorly maintained.
I found the dining table to be sticky, and it would get stuck as I try to pull it towards me. Also, the USB port is not working at all, though my neighbour's did. My charger would slide out even if I stuck it in, don't even talk about whether there is power or not. I had to use my plug and connect it to the socket beneath my seat to charge my phone. To add on, the fabric cover on seat 37J (diagonally in front) is partially exposed. Alongside with the terrible IFE hardware and other seat features e.g. 2-3-2 business, I think BA's 787-9s desperately need a cabin renovation and re-configuration.
After boarding has finished on time, the captain informed us that the ground crew were still loading the luggage, so some waiting is required. We ended up waiting for 10-15 minutes until 20:55 when we finally got pushed back. Note that there is no crew from Hong Kong on this flight, instead, they're mostly British and mostly male for the Economy cabin.
G-YMML, the Boeing 777-236ER in "GREAT Festival of Creativity" livery, is spotted from the window parked at gate C65, ready to depart to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. But please note the condensation droplets on the window (it wasn't raining at that time), they will freeze later in the flight, which makes it difficult to take pictures.
The safety video is played. However, for the first half a minute of the safety video, the cabin audio system was lagging and some strange sounds came out. Then it all went silent. It was then mysteriously fixed afterwards and the rest of the audio is played normally.
The safety video is original, and is full of British humour as usual.
We then taxied to runway 27R. After some waiting, we finally took off from 27R at 21:17, that is, 32 minutes behind schedule (mostly due to the luggage loading issue). It was mostly cloudy that day so not much scenery can be captured. After takeoff, we immediately turned left to Southwest and headed to the Channel.
The British Airways entertainment system features the following sections: Listen, Play, My Journey, Kid's Zone, BA Recommends, and Watch. The TV is small though (when compared to the seat), and is controlled by a remote with buttons on both sides (keyboard on the other side).
The Games section is divided into multiple sub-categories: Kid's Zone, Puzzle, Trivia, Arcade, Multi-Player, Board Games, Casino, Sport, and Learning. Some of the examples are tetris, sudoku, and millionaire.
The Watch section is divided into television, movies, and video favourites. The movies section offer quite a nice variety of 130+ choices.
The Listen section feature sub-categories of Well-Being, Radio, Music, Podcasts, and Audio Playlists.
The "My Journey" section shows the flight information and the interactive flight map. The interactive flight map is very functionable, though it is not too user-friendly with the remote control, but it is good enough for avgeeks like me. More on that on my flight report on BA28 (HKG-LHR) published previously.
A thing to note here is that the entertainment screen keeps showing that my flight goes to Beijing (PEK), and the estimated flight time was incorrect for the duration of the flight (uhm I'm going back to Hong Kong…). This is particularly interesting as the same aircraft actually flew in from Beijing before our flight. I also overheard that the IFE system of some certain passengers have to be reset by the crew members.
As for the Wi-Fi… welp, it didn't work. I tried to log in and connect to the Wi-Fi according to the instructions from the safety video, but I couldn't access my browser or send messages from Instagram.
A pre-meal snack was provided 40 minutes after departure.
As for starters, a small bag of baked pretzels and drink service is provided. Drinks on this flight include coffee, tea, water, sodas, apple juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, and tomato juice. The picture shows a cup of cranberry juice.
The main course is served 1 hour after the pre-meal snack is delivered, that is, 1 hour and 40 minutes after departure (23:03 London time). I personally think that it is taking slightly too long. The meal service is done from the front of the cabin towards the back.
The main course is consisted of several components. They include (clockwise from top): a bread roll, Harrogate water (as usual), a hot main dish, crackers, some butter, a mixed vegetable grain salad, some whole milk, and a wild berry crumble with custard.
There are 2 choices for the main hot meal available: a chicken with rice, and a vegetarian courgette and tomato pasta (chosen option).
This meal is fine, but it's slightly weird like my last flight.
Firstly, let's talk about the main course. Remember me mentioning that when a non-Asian carrier provides a Chinese option and another option, ALWAYS CHOOSE THE OTHER OPTION? Well, that's why I chose the pasta option. It is almost like pasta in a blended in a mixed vegetable sauce (I'm not sure as the cover says it consists of courgettes, but I also see peas and I tasted cheese?), with 2 pieces of tomatoes on top. I like the choice of pasta though, at least it isn't mushy. It tastes averagely fine, not particularly outstanding, but not particularly disgusting either.
As for the chicken rice (oriental) option, from what I heard from other passengers, it is also averagely fine and tasted slightly spicy.
An interesting thing is that when the attendant asked us for the meal choice, they asked us whether we want "Chicken or pasta" which is confusing. I had to ask the attendant for clarification several times before she would tell me it's rice. This might be a trick to convince more passengers to choose the Oriental option instead of the Western option.
Secondly, the grain salad. It is a salad consisting of some grains, beans, and bell peppers, along with a dressing at the bottom. I personally quite like the salad, as it tastes quite fine. The grains aren't undercooked at least.
Thirdly, it is actually a compliment this time. The dessert is pretty nice this time (well, what can go wrong with pre-packaged dessert?), I like the crunchy toppings mixed with the slightly tart berry sauce and crumble. The crackers are nice too.
The only thing I'm still questioning about is the milk package and the cheddar cheese. I ate the block of cheese with the bread roll at the end (like a barbarian) and am very confused what on Earth the milk does. This cheese-milk combination already appeared in my last flight, and can anyone please tell me what those 2 things do? Where should they be added?
Overall, I think this meal is quite average, it's not the worst I've seen, but it could've been better. The dinner pattern also quite predictable, as I had very similar items on my last flight HKG-LHR too: a grain salad, crackers, a block of random cheese, and some milk. The portions this time are just fine. A 5/10 for this meal.
I slept shortly after dinner service. I could sleep quite well (for 4 hours) thanks to the humidified cabin on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A bit of view over France before I sleep!
I woke up after around 4 hours (4am London time), and the flight was over Central Asia (detour due to the Ukraine-Russian War), and it was nearly midday! I wondered why I wasn't waken up by the strong lights. Turns out the cabin crew have locked all the windows (although they denied it somehow) so the cabin was quite dim and passengers could rest and adjust to jetlag. I only find it weird that the window and the whole cabin becomes purple. Another nice feature of the dreamliner (though it might not completely block out the light in some cases).
Remember I mentioned about the condensation on the window upon takeoff? Well, guess what, THEY HAVE FROZEN! Droplets of ice were all over my window so I couldn't take any pictures. I even had to look for spaces without ice droplets for pictures, and I had a hard time focusing my phone camera on the wing as it always focuses on the dirty spots on the window… Anyone please tell me what I should do?
Since my seat is a window seat, I had to climb over 2 strangers to get to the galley and the toilets (Since I'm seated alone on that seat). My neighbors were sleeping soundly. I signaled a crew member that I wished to get out, so he grabbed a torch and helped me climb out.
Snacks and drinks service were provided during "night time". I didn't take a photo for that, but passengers can get snacks such as chocolate, fries, crackers and buns from the galley.
I stayed in the galley for some significant period of time, as my legs were in incredible pain from the obstructed blood flow, and I needed to stretch. I chatted with the crew for a bit, who are funny and energetic. I love their spirit! They also told me the load factor for the flight today is 100%, and the flight was extremely crowded. Another thing they told me is they only rest for 3 hours in the crew rest, taking turns. Hats off to them!
I took a visit to the bathroom. For Economy class passengers, there are 4 lavatories available for use: 2 in front of the cabin, 2 other in the rear cabin next to the galley. The design is simple, and the hygiene is fine.
I wonder whether I have stayed in the galley for too long, that when I told one of them my situation (my neighbours are sleeping nice and sound over the table), they were very willing to get me back into my seat. That flight attendant told me that "You're supposed to wake them!" and brought me to my seat, woke the two other passengers, and helped me back into my seat. They are very helpful in a hilarious way. Can anyone please teach me what are the manners for sitting in a window seat for a long-haul flight?
As I got back to my seat, the ice on my window has partially melted and evaporated, so I could see the nice views outside. I then played some games and fell asleep for a short time.
Picture madness!!!
At around 07:50 London time (15:50 Hong Kong time), 2 hours before scheduled landing time, breakfast is served. I don't know if I should find it weird or normal, considering the destination time is in the afternoon… and yet, there I was, having breakfast.
It comes in one tray. It consists of a hot meal, diced fruits, a chocolate muffin, and beverage.
As for the hot meal, passengers can choose between an English Breakfast (chosen option) and another breakfast option (vegetarian), which I think it's an omlette so far as I remember.
The English Breakfast consists of baked beans, a sausage, eggs, mushrooms, and half a tomato. Fruits include diced up cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapples, and 1 single grape.
Everything tastes right and decent, because it's hard to go wrong with the most consistent meal item on the BA menu. Portions are just right too. A 8/10 as per usual.
The descend began over Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. We turned South and East, before turning North and West to come in for runway 25R. The weather is pretty nice, and it's close to sunset. And most importantly, the water droplets on my window have vaporized, so I got some nice photos.
The aircraft landed at 25R at 17:24, which is 21 minutes earlier than scheduled. We then taxied to gate 5. An interesting thing happened, in which an EVA Air Airbus A321 was just pushed back on the taxiway, blocking our flight and a Shanghai Airlines flight on the way. We waited for a few minutes and eventually we arrived at gate 5 exactly at 17:45, the scheduled arrival time.
Parked next to us at gate 10 is a Qatar Boeing 777-367ER A7-BOC, @Starvelk's greatest enemy, previously owned by Cathay Pacific.
I can see the cargo hold door slowly opening.
I then made a last-minute request for a cockpit visit, which was thankfully granted.
Then, I deboarded through door 2. Door 1 was not used for deboarding, and the front jet bridge was not used at all.
There are some crowds at the immigration counter, and a large proportion of them are Chinese tourists.
I got through customs pretty smoothly, and then I headed to the baggage claim area. Not too much waiting is needed before my baggage arrives.
I would also like to talk about transport for leaving/ arriving at Hong Kong International Airport.
1. MTR (Railway). Follow the signs to the Airport Express, and then just hop onto the train. You will pay after you have reached your destination (Either Asia World Expo, Tsing Yi, Kowloon, or Hong Kong stations). Please be reminded to check the ticket price and payment method before taking the train.
2. Bus. There are a few bus companies available. The bus company you travel on depends on where you're going to. All bus stations can be accessed by walking down the ramp next to the Airport Express (Railway) station. Remember to follow signs to the bus stations.
The major bus companies that you're likely to travel by are:
2(a) Longwin Bus (Orange/ Black). They serve all of the New Territories.
2(b) Citybus (Red/ Yellow). They serve all of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.
If you're going to Tsing Yi, both bus companies offer service there. Please be reminded to check with your bus app/ Google Maps before taking the bus. Cash and e-payment are accepted.
3. Taxi. I SERIOUSLY DON'T RECOMMEND IT. Though it can be quite fast, it's VERY costly. Plus, most other public transportation can bring you to most places in Hong Kong, so that's not necessary.
As this is the last report of the Hong Kong - London Heathrow - Edinburgh series, I would like to thank you for joining me here. Do stay tuned for the upcoming flight reports!
My experience on the British Airways Boeing 787-9 is very average.
The catering is relatively average in quality. The seat hardware is aged and somewhat poorly maintained on the Boeing 787-9, such as the broken USB port, so I would suggest avoid flying on them until they get a re-configuration. Legroom of 31 inches is still fine, but the seats may not be the most comfortable. The entertainment screens are still controlled by a remote.
On the other hand, the British Airways crew are caring and attentive at all times. The IFE system feature quite some games, music, and shows to spend time on.
I would suggest that if you concern about catering and seating, BA's might not the best choice for you. It's still *quite* fine if you don't have any other alternative options. I think the experience would've been better on BA's other long haul aircraft.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 13 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne London (LHR) → Hong Kong (HKG).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Cathay Pacific avec 8.4/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 11 heures et 59 minutes.
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8 Comments
Getting a BA B789 is unfortunate since they have the older cabins with older IFE. CX A359 would be far superior in cabin comfort with the wider seats afforded by the A350s wider cabin and better pitch. I think all of your criticisms are fair, the BA B789 is not a competitive product in the current market (especially to Asia). The glitchy IFE just makes it all the worse.
The milk is likely pre-placed on the tray to be saved for the coffee/tea service after the meal. The pasta main in the dinner service looks very poor for BA, but as you said the English breakfast can’t really be messed up as a staple on BA.
If I had the choice I would've chosen to fly on Cathay... I have flown on other routes on Cathay and I'd have to admit, it's pretty nice (except some of their catering items...) however British Airways offer better transfer options at a lower ticket price. I'd really like to fly on alternative choices if there are any.
Well... ok my bad I didn't get it. I don't have the habit of drinking coffee of tea after the meal, nor would I deliberately add milk (cultural differences haha). Thanks for telling me about that. Also I'm not sure if there is such a beverage service, as I'm very likely asleep after the meal trays have been collected away.
Maybe it's the lighting issue, but though it might not look good from the pics, it still tastes savoury and it's pretty average, not particularly terrible haha
Thanks again!
Regarding the cheese, most Brits would eat it on top of the jacobs crackers, and just use the butter with the roll... And use the milk for tea/coffee after the meal.
Well I have very limited experience flying on long-haul... but hear this out. I'm seated at 38K, the passenger on 38H drank 2 full cans of beers after dinner service before getting very unconscious and slept for hours; and the passenger on 38J was sleeping over the tray table for the whole time since takeoff, they didn't even needed a blanket at all (refer to the power outlet photo above), and that person is so nauseated that when the FA asked if they needed food they rejected and continued to sleep. Sitting alone (My family are on another row), I was actually quite shocked about such a scenario. Also I'm the annoying passenger who regularly takes things out of the overhead bin and always has to use the bathroom, I rather minimize the number of times I get out of my seat haha (But I want a window seat!). I think things would get better if the passengers next to me aren't sleeping so hard haha. Got a long way to go from being a professional flyer!
I hope so too, or I'll fly on other airlines/ other aircraft instead of the BA 789s. These seats are nearly killing me lol
Mate it's a large chunk, hard as brick haha. But thanks for telling me how to properly eat them and not looking like a Barbarian. I did butter the bread though.
Thank you again!
Their 787s look old and dated and I would've easily guessed that they were at least 10 years old (if not more) from the cabin! Compared with CX still refurbishing their 20+year old 773s, it does go a long way to show how refurbishments are important!
The food looks...fine... I expect more as they get their meals from Do&Co, which is known for having the best meals in the world. But considering what CX serves on its LHR-HKG leg, I'd say the meals were just as what I'd expected.
The only merit about BA compared w/ CX is probably the cockpit visit! I always get denied for those when I fly on CX lol!
Really??? Well I'm not sure if that's the case... I don't really feel like their meals are any particularly outstanding, but just... averagely fine...
I think the BA crew are more relaxed regarding this. So far I think my cockpit visit requests are quite successful haha. Maybe try requesting in advance.
Agreed... There are definitely worse airlines out there, and genuinely speaking I expected more from British Airways, given their positive image and reputation from my first impression.
Sure, post-covid long haul air ticket prices from Hong Kong can actually shock you... sometimes I'd rather go onto connection flights rather than flying on the more expensive direct option. The choice of carrier is a decision passengers would make as well, like I know people who fly on EK for HKG-DXB-LHR because they offer great service, while some others avoid LH simply because of the catering... Yep all in all I agree that it would be better if British Airways can make improvements to their Y class to increase their competitiveness in the market.
Thanks for the in-depth analysis!
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