Review of British Airways flight London Los Angeles in Business

Airline British Airways
Flight BA 269
Class Business
Seat 51K
Aircraft Airbus A380-800
Flight time 11:00
Take-off 09 Dec 13, 16:05
Arrival at 09 Dec 13, 19:05
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
manureva744
By 11247
Published on 10th February 2014
As soon as I had gone through security, I headed to the British Airways South Lounges to spend the time I had before my flight to Los Angeles.
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Concorde Memorabilia on the way to the Lounge.
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First things first, a shower at the Elemis Spa !
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Elemis products are offered in the showers.
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Shower rooms look very low cost really… Too plasticky for me.
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Looks like a long corridor in a college dormitory, not a very good first impression of the British Airways Lounges.
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After I was all clean and showered up, I went upstairs and parked my belongings near an armchair and went to discover the Lounge.

The food !
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The drinks !
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Business center area.
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Reading materials, newspapers…
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My choice of food with a very british Chili con carne and rice !
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Coffee and cookies to finish !
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Feeding grounds !
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Now it is time to board the flight ! Good Bye Horsey ! Hello A380 !
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The British Airways sculpture featured in their latest advertisement.
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On the way to the gate
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A 787 waiting for it's flight to either Toronto or Newark.
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I am one of the last passengers to board the flight.

Here is my original seat on the very first cabin on the upper deck.
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I get confortable and get a glass of champagne to celebrate my latest addition to my A380 operators collection ! I flew on the EK, QF, AF, CZ, LH, TG and BA Airbus 380s.
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The menu !
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View from my seat before I am asked by a woman to change seats so that she can travel with her 2 friends, as her seat is a window seat I gladly accept !
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In my new seat 51K !
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Video screen out for the demonstrations that will start soon as we are now ready to depart.
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View from my seat !
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Good Bye London Heathrow !
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Reading material from the seat pocket
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And we start the safety demonstrations with the very famous stuffed rabbit !
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British Airways backbone… the Boeing 747-400 !
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Now time to explore the video system which is available from the time you board the aircraft.
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I will use the Airshow first to check our stats and our where abouts on the ground before we depart for LAX.
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Our GPS is a little off… rest assured, we took off from the runway !
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Controls for the seat.
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Controls for the video system.
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We are between a oneworld friend and a company 747 !
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Our time to go now !
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And we lift off !
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The Airshow confirms it too !
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We continue our climb over England.
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Here is the Club World amenity kit and it's contents.
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The flight stats as we near our cruising altitude.
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The crew then rolled in the trolley to serve the apéritifs. I requested a Kir Royal and a glass of water. The drinks were served in proper stem glasses and they were offered with a pack of nuts.
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After the glasses were cleared, the crew reappeared with their trolley to serve the food.

I chose the Salmon for the starter.
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For the main course I picked the Mushroom Risotto
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Our A380 continues its journey over the Atlantic Ocean
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Another 7 hours and 46 minutes before we get there !
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The amazing chocolate dessert and a tea with milk.
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Dessert plate is cleared and chocolates are offered as a nice treat to end the meal.
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I will then get comfortable and watch a British serie before I nap a little.
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Bottle of water is handed to everyone.
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Feeling a little hungry ? Chocolate and Ice cream for the Club Kitchen !
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Well we are now over North America !
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And another visit to the Club Kitchen for another snack !
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Visit to the very roomy restroom
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This is British Airways !
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And we continue our journey over Canada
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I requested a cup of tea
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Before we landed in Los Angeles we were served afternoon tea with a choice of either sandwiches or salad.
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We were then offered scones with clotted cream and jam.
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We are over the USA now !
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Getting near LAX
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Starting the descent towards Los Angeles
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Minutes before we land !
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Landing was smooth, we taxied to our gate and I was out of the aircraft in no time ! Immigration was OK, customs a little longer…
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See more

Verdict

British Airways

8.5/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew8.5
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Meal/catering6.5

British Airways (North) Galleries Club - 5A

7.5/10
Comfort7.0
Meal/catering7.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Services7.0

London - LHR

6.9/10
Efficiency6.5
Access5.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Los Angeles - LAX

7.1/10
Efficiency4.5
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

Excellent flight on British Airways.

The lounge was comfortable, but a little full. The food was not the strongest point with local delicacies missing… I couldn't find any desserts a part from the cookies either.

Showers were a huge disappointment. They looked ran down and didn't look up market.

The Club World seat was very comfortable, a little tight but very private.

Food was nothing to write home about but it was good.

Afternoon tea was also disappointing. Sandwiches or a salad when Air France serves a hot meal on CDG-LAX.

Information on the route London (LHR) Los Angeles (LAX)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 25 avis concernant 5 compagnies sur la ligne London (LHR) → Los Angeles (LAX).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Virgin Atlantic avec 8.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 11 heures et 12 minutes.

  More information

9 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 100446 by
    jetsetpanda 2283 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this exciting and informative report.

    I find the hot food presentation at the lounge a bit sloppy and not very visually pleasing. It reminds me of a cafeteria setting under heating lamps.

    The J cabin looks comfy and private enough. After all, wasn't BA the first to introduce the concept of privacy to all seats in J? It's nice to see Elemis toiletries in the amenity kit for J.

    Food looks minimalist and rather disappointing. The sandwiches from the second meal service could have been presented better. Pastries and cakes from a box is a major turn off for me.
  • Comment 100462 by
    Durian 1171 Comments
    Thanks for this FR! Nice brand new cabin! Lucky you were able to switch to a window seat, the 2 in the 1-2-1 must be a bit dark and claustrophobic. The risotto looks yummy. No scones in a BA high tea ??
  • Comment 100474 by
    lagentsecret 12186 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this FR

    The showers looks cheap with all this plastic

    I agree with Jetsetpanda about the food presentation at the lounge : not classy at all and not appetizing

    Same for the onboard presentation, especially the sandwiches.

    The seat seems to be comfy

    Looking forward for your next leg

  • Comment 100510 by
    pititom GOLD 11487 Comments
    Thank you for this FR. It reminds me of all my BA flights : everything's just fine untill they serve the second offering. Why is it always so poor ?

    As others said, lounges can be improved in the shower and food presentation. But lounges with no hot foods and no showers often get better rates as there is nothing to complain about. Still, the showers are a shame ;)

    Thanks for sharing !
  • Comment 100518 by
    marathon GOLD 10114 Comments
    I wish the dormitory bathrooms of the colleges that I attended had been up to that kind of standard ! :) I like the comparison, though.
    Quite an attractive choice of food - I disagree with 007. Were the newspapers in English only ?
    I noted that you were last to board, but what is really missing in this FR is an overall view of the cabin, which could have been taken in flight from the rear.
    Thanks for this FR !
  • Comment 100607 by
    Leadership TEAM BRONZE 5460 Comments
    Fantastic report!

    This is the first one on a long haul flight with BA's A380.

    As you said lounge is ok but showers rooms looks clearly too cheap, they benchmarked from 1 and 2* hotels?

    You were indeed lucky to get a seat change with a window seat, nice airshow with the 3D A380 and registration info!

    New amenity kit, but content seems to be the same.

    Catering looks pretty good I must say, salmon looks generous and better than current salmon starter at AF, risotto is nicely presented and the dessert looks very good (shame it is plated in an inapropriate plate)

    Unfortunately the afternoon tea service is a letdown with no warm offering.

    Once thank you, it has been a pleasure to read it ;)

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