Review of British Airways flight London → Paris in Economy

welcome to this air fran… british airways flight!

Hello all,

I am posting a report on an old flight today, that lead me to discover the island of Madagascar.

I was going there a few weeks and the plan was to volunteer at my friend's charity to build up a new school but also to enjoy whilst we are there and do some sightseeing.
We were 3 going from the UK and booked together with Air France, as Air Madagascar at the time was blacklisted by the European Union (Yes I am a risk averse person!) 
My two friends could afford a bit more holidays than me so they left about 5 days before me. Here is the routing: 

Everything went fine up until this 15th of september, when Air France staff decided to go on strike… I am not sure if you remember, but AF used to strike a LOT. And the strike was really popular as at least 60% of the flights were cancelled! You can follow this link to read more about the extend of the strike.. 
https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2014/09/15/greve-a-air-france-moins-d-un-vol-sur-deux-lundi_4487314_3234.html 

My flight being on 30th of september, 15 days later I felt "safe". I Still called every week AF customer service to make sure my flight was still scheduled.

and here is the drama!

Let's just say my level of stress slightly raised when I received this email. Usually you are told don't worry we rebooked you on another flight… Usually..

I remember calling the call centre for a good hour, awaiting for some time.. The lady on the phone was professionnal but she couldn't find any other flight.. The best option was another AF flight departing from London 3 days before..

Two things I must say:
1. I didn't want to change my long haul flights, as they were confirmed and she advised me to do so.
2. My friends were there and we agreed that someone (!) they know will pick me at the airport and I will see them the following day in a nearby town. And there wasn't much of data nor coverage and I didn't manage to let them know about the drama.. 

I pushed the lady on the phone to book me with BAW and she agreed to do so. 

Avios Miles earned with this flight: 175

If you notice well, not only did I change airline, but my flight was scheduled to arrive 15min later than originally…

I did checkin properly with British Airways. For memory this was the time when you had complientary pieces of luggage checked in the hull.

What did stress me out however, is that I could not check in my second leg, CDG to TNR, neither
on the app
online on the AF website
on the phone with an agent

Because the first leg wasn't an AF flight (!). 

I was told to manually check-in at the counter in CDG. What I did back then was to book an emergency seat and pay for it, to make sure my spot was safe. 

at london - heathrow

I arrived at the airport earlier on at Terminal 5 to make sure my luggage was checked in properly. Which gave me the opportunity to do some spotting at terminal 5 hall B.

This is my biggest regret by far: living in the UK and never flown on the BA queen of the skies..

At the time there was not such thing as boarding by zones, just Business class ticket holders and gold members were allowed to board first.

Here is my bird of the day!

onboard the b767

Aircraft: Boeing 767-336ER
Registration: G-BNWV
Engines: 2x RR RB211
Age: 22 Years
Layout: C24 W24 Y141
Observation: first used across the Atlantic, the B767s of BAW were used later on European busy destinations. 

The crew assigned to the cabin today felt professional and friendly.

My seat, equipped with some good old fashion and thick leather cover.

and we were wiating for the pushback…

another drama

Until the captain told us there was a heavy fog in Paris and that all flights were delayed of 45min - 1 hour…

So now my connecting time was at most 45 min.. 

The crew was really aware of the situation and taxied super fast.

A little souvenir of the B767 safety card. 

and we took off very shortly after.

The cabin felt actually confortable, although there were no IFE nor movies broadcasted. 
I was really imgining the B767 to be an old, outdated bird and I must say I was pleasantely surprised. 

Serviced started with a complimentary drink and snack. I did my best to remain calm and have a tea.

I couldn't believe there was a massive fog in CDG with this sky…

Still time for some magazine review..
The dossier of the month was about Peru 

Looking at the corporate pages, you could see that BA was proundly announcing that refreshment and snacks were offered with compliments… The good old times of legacies!

The maps of the hubs for speed bird..

The domestic network that now shrunk to very little..

European destinations 

And can you tell that BA focuses on North America? ;-)

at paris - charles de gaulle airport

We landed safely despite the fog and arrived at terminal 2 hall D, next to this old American Airlines B767.