Review of British Airways flight Zurich London in Business

Airline British Airways
Flight BA713
Class Business
Seat 03J
Aircraft Boeing 787-8
Flight time 01:50
Take-off 12 Sep 21, 14:00
Arrival at 12 Sep 21, 14:50
BA   #65 out of 95 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 960 reviews
Esteban
By GOLD 1480
Published on 25th November 2021

intro


Each year, my mom and I go to Jordan but 2020 was … you know what it was. We had to cancel the ticket. We moved the trip to early 2021, then moved it again and eventually September was the good one.

The only "problem" was now the documentation needed to go to Amman since we were transiting through London.

To the UK we needed:

- Green pass
- PCR no older than 48H before departure
- PLF no older than 48H before departure

To Jordan we needed :

- Online questionnaire including scanning of green pass and passport. Waiting to get a green QR code that will avoid a PCR test on arrival
- PLF to be completed with all travels of the last 15 days
- Install the AMM application to be tracked in case of contact with a Covid case.
- Insurance certificate that all costs related to Covid will be covered by the insurance.

And to be fully complete, to transit through LHR on the return, another PCR test done in Jordan upon return.



Routing

  • British Airways - B 787 - Zurich > London Heathrow - Business You are here
  • British Airways - A 320neo - London Heathrow > Amman - Business Coming soon
  • British Airways - A 320neo - Amman > London Heathrow - Business Coming soon
  • British Airways - A 320 - London Heathrow > Zurich - Business Coming soon

let's go to zurich


To go to Zurich from our place, the best is to go by train from Basel. My father dropped us off close to the station in Basel.


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The train was on time and comfortable, as almost usual with the Swiss Trains:


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Arrived at ZRH airport:


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zrh landside


BA Checks from Terminal 2, Check in Zone 2, not that easy to find if you are not familiar with the location.


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There were people on the general lane, but the priority lane was almost empty. AF check in desks were closed:


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The agent was super friendly, checked all our documents and in no time we headed to security:


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There was here also almost no wait.


zrh airside


ZRH is really a nice airport:


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Our flight leaves from Gates E, the agent told us we can use the lounge at terminal A.


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The agent there told us it is better for us to head straight to Terminal E since the lounge there re-opened. Ok, then let's go:


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Train to Terminal E:


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Passport controls:


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And the train to the terminal:


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We had a bit of pain to find the lounge but eventually made it :)


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aspire lounge terminal e


Here we are:


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We were warmly welcomed and went first to the right side of the lounge:


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But on the other side, there is a fantastic terrace with a view over the appron:


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The offer was pathetic. Here the drinks:


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It's noon, there is a "salad bar" and apples:


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And just one hot dish:


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Bread:


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And softs, with butter:


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The coffee machine serves only black coffee, the milk is out of order:


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The only good thing in that lounge is that there is a view:


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Our dreamliner arrives:


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That's my selection and it wasn't great at all:


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LX home town:


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Helvetic E195-E2:


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Icelandair 757-200:


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Private Jet:


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the flight


Our baby:


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Boarding started on time and with a strict respect of the priorities:


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Almost there!


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Aircraft doors:


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My first time aboard a BA Dreamliner:


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My seat:


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A quick lavatory tour upon departure:


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The premium economy wasn't sold on that flight:


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A nice view over the engine and the wing from the W class:


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Safety Card:


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Corona kit:


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There is only one storage place for this seat:


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Seat controls:


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It is possible to have some privacy by rising this electrical blind. Not really usefull for us since my mother was on the other side :)


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The seat:


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The table:


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The IFE but we never received any headset:


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Remote control:


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Without headset, I just used the moving map:


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The dreamliner big windows:


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No individual ventilation nor lights above the seat, there is a light in the seat, though:


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We pushed back on time:


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And took of from runway 28, the smallest of the 3 runways in ZRH with "only" 2'500 meters:


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Airborne:


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With some nice views:


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Over the clouds:


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Being seated reverse helps to take nice pictures of the engine:


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For lunch there was a choice between a cold chicken curry and a rice salad with sweet potatoes. We both took the chicken:


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The bread with under blister but hot. The chicken dish was really nice and perfectly adequate to the flight time. The dessert was fantastic. I had a tea and some apple juice. The tray was really nice for the flight. The crew was pro-active and really attentive.
Time to get some rest:


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Cruising:


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Leaving France:


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Arriving over the UK:


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It's really beautiful:


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Starting the descent:


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London in sight:


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2 years I haven't seen London!!


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Approaching LHR:


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The most beautiful airliner in the world. I would have so much loved to fly with it:


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Landed and full reverse:


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Virgin Atlantic A350:


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Taxiing to T5C:


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We parked close to a brother:


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A321neo:


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Fuselage shoot:


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Then it was the start of a long transit :)


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My bird a last time :


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See more

Verdict

British Airways

8.6/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering9.0

Aspire Lounge - E

4.5/10
Comfort9.0
Meal/catering1.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Services2.0

Zurich - ZRH

9.8/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness9.0

London - LHR

9.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

It's always a treat to fly on a wide-body on such a short intra European flight. The only thing is that I would have loved to have it for the flight to AMM.

The crew was fantastic, the food appropriate, the only thing is that the IFE was not available due to the lack of headset.

Nothing to say about ZRH, LHR did its job also.

The lounge was meh at is best, the food offer was a shame.

Next part to AMM is coming soon :) Stay tuned!

Information on the route Zurich (ZRH) London (LHR)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 8 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Zurich (ZRH) → London (LHR).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est SWISS avec 7.8/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 53 minutes.

  More information

6 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 587550 by
    GPC 103 Comments
    Toujours un plaisir de lire vos FR!
  • Comment 587676 by
    flyLars 56 Comments
    Thank you very much for this series of Reports, Stephan. I do speak some french and therefore also absolutely enjoy reading your many reports on the french site. As often as you fly on LH Group Airlines in the last time and booking class changes due to Corona, you are on a good way to the Senator or even HON, aren't you? BA boasts some nice service on ZRH-LHR though I prefer flying them from STR as they have an own lounge there. Also really nice to see them deploying an 788, even though only because of bigger cargo demand, but still nice for the passengers.
    Cheers and looking forward to many more reports.
    • Comment 587709 by
      Esteban GOLD AUTHOR 19853 Comments
      Thank you so much Lars for your nice comment, much appreciated!

      Indeed, the LH double miles promotion offered me a fast track to SEN, achieved in only 5 months. HON is a bit to far from me, I should have taken some cheap flights in First class but even "cheap first class" means "expensive ticket".

      BA's 787 are really nice, but you'll see the 320neo to AMM was another story.
  • Comment 587836 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Whoops, I started the series on the 2nd leg, haha. Well damn, how ironic that you got a long-haul cabin on this short sector and Club Europe on the 6h flight! This makes that 2nd flight look even worse in comparison. Haha

    Catering looks good for a 1.5h flight.

    Thanks for sharing!
  • Comment 588323 by
    Matthevv 163 Comments
    Hi Esteban,

    Thanks for this amazing report. Lots of BA on the website recently! It's great to see my beloved again. The lounge actually looks great judging that it's an Aspire lounge (much better than their other lounges...). Though like you said the food offering was somewhat tragic (in fact, instead of fruit station I read FRUSTRATION haha).

    Looks like you've had a nice short hop on the 787. How cool is it that both LX and BA used wide bodies on that route during COVID! I'm curious how you found the comfort of the seats in Club World cabin, as I had the same ones on the A380 flight from Frankfurt (report soon), as I thought they were actually quite comfortable with a few problems though...

    I must say, BA's business class short haul catering is surprisingly good, and your meal looked super tasty as well!

    Great pictures of landing in London too, despite the cloudy weather.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Mateusz

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