Flight routing
- 1
- 2SK531 (ARN-LHR)
- 3BA181 - Premium Eco - Heathrow –> Newark - Boeing 777-336ER
We start this report at London's Paddington Station, where I caught the Heathrow Express to Terminal 5. You have no idea how giddy I was.. Finally, after over three years, I was back on BA. Hasta la vista United, hello tea time! Without further ado,
As we zip towards Heathrow, here are a couple of details about today's trip. If you can't tell already, I. Love. BA. Massive fan, starstruck. It was the first airline I ever flew on, and even now, their crews are world-class, friendly and personable. The seats, although slightly dated on some aircraft, are incredibly comfortable. They also operate a massive fleet of 777's, and if you've read any of my reports, you'll know that I'm a sucker for the 777. They operate a wide variety, some with the fabled GE-90 engine, and some with the not so fabled but glamorous Rolls-Royce Trent 800 series engine. Both sound great and offer incredible thrust.
Airline: British Airways
Origin: London Heathrow, LHR
Destination: Newark Airport, EWR
Aircraft: 777-36N(ER)
Registration: G-STBE
Seat: 24K
Class of Travel: World Traveller Plus
With that, we are home. Terminal 5. No 747 for me today, god bless their souls, but a 777 will do me nicely for today.. I'm not fussy. "A warm welcome to our home." Why, thank you. If you arrive a bit early, like we did (my excitement and I), there is a Nero's off the the left hand side of the terminal which offers great runway views. I'll attach a picture I got of a Gulf Air 787-9 in from Bahrain below.
I like the new self check in machines at T5, they are quick. sleek and easy to use. Boarding pass in hand, let's head through security, which took about five minutes, and out into the shopping mall… I mean, Heathrow.
With no lounge and my Itsu down the hatch before a good picture could be taken, let's roll on to the bus that would bring us to our aircraft. This was an incredibly busy day at Heathrow, and all the regular international gates were taken up. We were relegated to the old bus gates on the A pier. Hey, I'm not complaining, it afforded me this shot of our gorgeous 11 year old 777-300.
What an absolutely incredible aircraft. I mean, wow. Did you know you can fit an entire 737 into the engine cowling of a GE-90? Ha. Ooo! I can see my seat! Just there, on top of the wing. Lovely, my seat and a nice pre departure beverage will be waiting for me. Ah. No it won't. Because some lady was being very fussy, and distracted the crew, so we were taxiing, and missed it. Please, please, don't bring two roll-ons and a bloody behemoth of Harrods shopping as a carry on. It doesn't fit. That's the end of that. They gave us all double drinks and some once airborne to make up for it. They were incredibly apologetic.
This picture was taken upon arrival into Newark because Little Mrs. Fusspot at the beginning of the flight prevented me from getting any cabin photos. Jokes aside, she was lovely, and we chatted while waiting for the loos. She was on a trip to see her grand son in the states, and was bringing some gifts back to him.
We waved goodbye to London, Europe, and civilisation, and made our way back to school, hot dogs and cowboy hats. We climbed up to FL380 for our trip home that day, and no sooner than 20 minutes after take-off, the meal service commenced. Here is the menu:
I think that BA's catering has always been high class, especially ever since they introduced Do&Co as their catering provider. I tend to try and be safe with catering on planes, so I went with the Curry. For pudding, I had the panna cotta which was absolutely delectable. Even before Do&Co took the reins though, I think BA has always had good catering, especially in premium cabins. The meal started with a mocktail, which was called Citrus Twist. It was actually rather nice to my surprise.
The starter was nice, the curry was well cooked, tender and moist. The rice was lovely and not overdone at all. Harrogate water, although bottled, gives off a premium feel. The Panna Cotta was lovely.
Obviously, as with my tradition, especially as being on BA, I finished off with a nice cuppa. Can't beat it. I then broke out the bedding, and watched Mamma Mia as we cruised towards Newfoundland.
A couple hours whizzed by, and very quickly, we were starting our descent into my hometown airport. Seriously, I hate this airport with every fibre of my being, but at least I get to fly, so we'll weather it for this. The pre landing meal consisted of a cuppa along with a savoury pastry. It was actually quite nice.
As we continue our descent, here is a more in depth picture of the IFE. It had good tilt.
We graced the ground at EWR at about 21:35PM, and taxied quickly into our gate.
What I did notice, along with the fact that EWR actually looks like a nice airport from the outside at this one particular angle, is that the Club Seats, although old, looked goddam comfortable walking up from the back. Also, the BA First is still a leading product.
With that said, thank you very much for reading, and I do hope you enjoyed the report!!!! Here is a picture to leave you guys with above! Keep safe and keep traveling.
Nice report! I am also a big fan of BA and they have been my preferred carrier for years. There are many things that one can criticise BA for (mainly their awful IT), but their cabin crews are consistently fantastic and they've been making some nice improvements to the customer experience since the pandemic. I avoided them for 2 years at the height of the pandemic due to the ever-changing and complex entry and transit rules through the UK, but began flying them again frequently as of last year and have had nothing but positive experiences.
I'm also a fan of the Premium Economy concept in general and find BA's World Traveller Plus to be a good value. I usually buy tickets cash rather than miles and when Business class is too steep, I really like having the option of Premium Economy. Although BA are really great at having Club World fare sales, so that doesn't happen often.
One of the things I like most about the WTP seats is they have a huge amount of recline. The most of any carrier's Premium Economy, in my experience. This makes for very comfortable night flights. I have no problem sleeping in BA WTP seats, whereas I do have a difficult time in many other Premium Economy seats. Because the recline is so good, I tend to prefer the last row of WTP so I don't recline into someone's lap, haha.
Thanks for sharing!
Hey Kevin!
Thank you so much for the positive feedback. I booked my summer flights in Virgin Upper Class on the A350 to London. I can change by flights to BA Club Suites for only ten dollars difference. Should I do so? I feel like I would prefer BA. I prefer a more posh, sophisticated, and straight-forward Business product. What do you reccomend?
Thanks for reading!
That’s a tough call right there! Admittedly, I don’t have a lot of experience with Virgin, but the little I have flown them has been good experiences. As far as the hard product, BA Club Suites are probably just a bit better than the VS A350 seats and soft product seems very similar. I do think VS have a better lounge product compared to BA if flying BA in J without oneworld Emerald status, which would grant access to the Galleries First Lounge in LHR and the new Chelsea lounge in JFK. Without Emerald status it’s just the plain old Galleries Club Lounges at LHR (which is nothing to write home about) and the Greenwich lounge in JFK which is just the AA Flagship lounge with a new name. I’ve been on the oneworld status hamster wheel for about a decade so I I generally don’t book outside of oneworld but if I didn’t have status or wasn’t working to build up status then I’d be curious to try out Virgin Atlantic A350. Hah, how’s that for a non-answer ?