Hello Everyone and welcome to this flight between Lyon and London, a routine that was about 7 years long.
I usually left from Heathrow, I had to go to the funerals of someone close to me, so it was a last minute flight and I did enjoy the cheaper fares from gatwick (BA opens also a route to Lyon from Gatwick in the winter for the Ski season).
You may have noticed I lived for a good couple of years abroad. I have kept some pictures, emails and documentation of the flights throughout the years, and I have been flying on the same route, at identical periods (Christmas, Summer holidays, Easter…).
I thought I could do something different, instead of posting FR sporadically I am suggesting to pick up one flight per year, so that we are able to compare and note the evolution of the product offered by BA.
My aim is here to analyse the evolution of service legacies have offered over the years.
At the time, the fare included (for free): A checked in luggage in the haul A cabin luggage Seat selection Complimentary meal and drinks (incl alcohol)
For the quality and level of service detailed above, the average price ticket I paid of a SINGLE flight on the LYS - LHR is:
£56 for 2012 £49,6 for 2013 (including a flight redeemed with Avios) £57 for 2014 (including a flight redeemed with Avios) £65 for 2015 (including a flight redeemed with Avios) £50 for 2016 (including a flight redeemed with Avios) £52 for 2017 (including a flight redeemed with Avios) £17 for 2018 (including 3 flights redeemed with Avios) - hence the lower average ticket price £94 for 2019 (including a flight redeemed with Avios)
the dove flight
Now let's have a look at the report itself
Avios Miles earned with this flight: 250 Status earned: 5
I booked my flights on the BA website directly.
The flight was operated on an A319 of 144 seats.
at lyon - saint exupery airport
My dad dropped me us the high speed rail station where from the T1 is just a short walk away. I was travelling with my sister.
I was some time in advance so I could walk a bit outside. These were the times when I wasn't trying to time my presence at the airport just in time! Access to T3 was where the scafolding is.
I went at the checkin counters, BA were the first one when arriving up the second floor.
onboard the a319
Aircraft: Airbus A319-131 Registration: G-DBCD Engines: 2x IAE V25200 Age: 17 Years Layout: Y144 Observation: with the dove livery, just like G-EUPA, G-EUPG and G-EUPH
On cruise…
Still the old cabin with these super comfy seats.
I really liked the screens on the cabin
A picture from my sister's seat… Try to look for me!
The generous service. Free booze, free snacks and refill free and not even asked for it, they offered it! And all that for two passengers. You don't see on the picture but there were crisps offered, orange juice and coffe, as well as water
The good old curtain was splitting the J and the plebe, just like nowadays.
Really weird that the weather was bad in Lyon but crossing the channel it turned like a great british summer!
Starting the descent over Kent
Time for the magazine review with first up, an article on this dove livery, that was made for the London 2012 Olympic games
Followed by a word from the Pilot
The network coverage
on approach
And finals
landing…
Taxiing towards terminal 3
at london - Heathrow airport
Back then floghts from Lyon were arriving either at Terminal 1 or 3.
It was terminal 3 on this day.
Walking towards the tube.. I actually never went outside the terminals at LHR..
Hello Piccadilly line and goodbye all!
See more
Verdict
British Airways
8.4/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering8.5
Lyon - LYS
7.5/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness9.0
London - LHR
7.8/10
Efficiency8.0
Access6.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness8.0
Conclusion
We are going to see that the level of service has been going down over the years, but not the ticket fare, all in the name of the free market and the high competition.
In 2013, on the LYS-LHR legs, I paid on average £49 for a single ticket, using a "free" flight redeemed with avios. In 2012, on the LYS-LHR legs, I paid on average £56 for a single ticket (so £112 for return).
The cabin was fantastic, I have read somewhere that the seats row had a pitch of 34"! Seats were super comfy and generous. The cabin crew is a real plus, nothing too fancy but you know what you get on board BAW: no bad surprises of staff being grumpy (unlike AF at the time) In terms of entertainments, there were a magazine, the screens in the cabin which were really strong for a 2012 product (I am not adding the Wifi criteria on my ranking) Finally the food on board was free, generous with refill automatically offered,
5 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Hello my friend thanks for stopping by. Yes this was the "dove" livery indeed painted on this very a319 on 2012 for the london olympic games but it was still visible for a few years after 2012.
I am suggesting to publish a FR per year to really diagnose what and when went wrong for BA, together with my quick analyse of price ticketing.
Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist. We understand that ads can be annoying, this is why we only display a maximum of 2 non-invasive ads per page.
To continue using Flight-Report, we invite you to add Flight-Report to your blocker's "white list".
2 Comments
Wasn't this A319 in a special livery for the Olympic games in London? I tried to remember the name of the livery but can't figure it out.
That was again once upon in time.
I remember, back in 1996 being served a full cold meal on a flight with BA from BSL to LHR, and an english breakfast from LHR to ABZ.
Those days are well gone !
thanks for stopping by.
Yes this was the "dove" livery indeed painted on this very a319 on 2012 for the london olympic games but it was still visible for a few years after 2012.
I am suggesting to publish a FR per year to really diagnose what and when went wrong for BA, together with my quick analyse of price ticketing.
Login to post a comment.