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.
Concorde Memorabilia on the way to the Lounge.
First things first, a shower at the Elemis Spa !
Elemis products are offered in the showers.
Shower rooms look very low cost really… Too plasticky for me.
Looks like a long corridor in a college dormitory, not a very good first impression of the British Airways Lounges.
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 !
Reading materials, newspapers…
My choice of food with a very british Chili con carne and rice !
Coffee and cookies to finish !
Now it is time to board the flight ! Good Bye Horsey ! Hello A380 !
The British Airways sculpture featured in their latest advertisement.
A 787 waiting for it's flight to either Toronto or Newark.
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.
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.
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 !
Video screen out for the demonstrations that will start soon as we are now ready to depart.
Reading material from the seat pocket
And we start the safety demonstrations with the very famous stuffed rabbit !
British Airways backbone… the Boeing 747-400 !
Now time to explore the video system which is available from the time you board the aircraft.
I will use the Airshow first to check our stats and our where abouts on the ground before we depart for LAX.
Our GPS is a little off… rest assured, we took off from the runway !
Controls for the video system.
We are between a oneworld friend and a company 747 !
We continue our climb over England.
Here is the Club World amenity kit and it's contents.
The flight stats as we near our cruising altitude.
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.
After the glasses were cleared, the crew reappeared with their trolley to serve the food.
I chose the Salmon for the starter.
For the main course I picked the Mushroom Risotto
Our A380 continues its journey over the Atlantic Ocean
Another 7 hours and 46 minutes before we get there !
The amazing chocolate dessert and a tea with milk.
Dessert plate is cleared and chocolates are offered as a nice treat to end the meal.
I will then get comfortable and watch a British serie before I nap a little.
Bottle of water is handed to everyone.
Feeling a little hungry ? Chocolate and Ice cream for the Club Kitchen !
Well we are now over North America !
And another visit to the Club Kitchen for another snack !
Visit to the very roomy restroom
And we continue our journey over Canada
Before we landed in Los Angeles we were served afternoon tea with a choice of either sandwiches or salad.
We were then offered scones with clotted cream and jam.
Starting the descent towards Los Angeles
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…
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.
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 ??
There were scones served before the arrival in LAX… I put a picture.
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
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 !
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 !
Well… You'll have to travel on BA in J on a 380 then… or wait for another FRist to post that picture !
Concerning the papers, I didn't really pay much attention as I prefer to read the news online.
Pleasure !
Maybe have a look to FR#4669 :)
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 ;)