Review of British Airways flight London → Los Angeles in Premium Eco

introduction

Welcome to the final part of this long series of transatlantic and Scandinavian flight reviews. In this review, we'll fly in British Airways' World Traveller Plus cabin (Premium Economy) on a recently refurbished Boeing 777-300ER. This was a nice opportunity to see how the updated seats compared to the previous generation, as well as to the A350-1000 cabin from the outbound flight. 

Routing

Reviews in this series:

transit & lounge

Having arrived from Copenhagen at T5A, we didn't have far to go to Transit security. Once again, we made sure to go to the security lane immediately to the right after coming up the escalators from the Fast Track lanes downstairs. 

This security lane in particular saves a ton of time as there are updated machines which allow you to keep electronics and liquids inside of bags. As far as I know, there is still only one transit security lane with these new machines, though eventually all lanes should be equipped. 

The usual post-security view which I feel like I've seen a million times haha. A little less crowded than usual on this late October Saturday. 

I've mentioned this many times before in previous reviews transiting through Heathrow T5, but the path one must take from the South security area, Transit security, and South Fast Track security, to reach the British Airways South lounges is completely nonsensical. The lounges are actually located just to the right of security on the mezzanine level, but there is no direct access–only for the Concorde Room. For all other South Lounges, you have to walk in the opposite direction, take the escalators down to the main level, and pass in front of all the luxury brand shops–which I presume is the whole reason for this odd routing…

Then take the escalators back upstairs to end up just about 50 metres from where you were to begin with–it's one big circle route. 

As usual we headed to the British Airways First Lounge, to which we have access with our oneworld Emerald status. The First Lounge is right there coming off the escalators. BA usually station an agent in the lobby to direct passengers as it's easy to assume that it's also the location of the Club Lounge (Business class), which is actually located another level up. 

No matter how many times they rearrange and reconfigure the First Lounge, the famous life-sized horse lamps are always a familiar and constant sight. 

There are many seating areas and several champagne bars located. 

We headed to the restaurant area to sit down and have breakfast, as we hadn't really eaten yet. 

There was the usual selection of hot dishes for a full English breakfast, as well as some sandwiches and baked goods. 

Nothing fancy, but it's hot and tasty. 

For a change, my four-year-old son was a bit bored with the children's playroom–probably since we're here so often–so we decided to sit out in the main lounge area after breakfast. 

It was a little less busy than usual that day and we had no issue finding some seats…conveniently located near one of the self-serve champagne bars. 

We then came into a particularly quiet time in the lounge, with a lot of seating by the windows opening up, so we moved again to enjoy some sun and great views of the tarmac action. 

Well…the sun didn't last long—of course, this is London after all—but still had great views. 

boarding

As our flight was due to depart from the B concourse, we left the lounge about 15 minutes before boarding to leave enough time to take the underground train. 

Coming off the escalators into T5B, I was pleasantly surprised to see it so uncrowded–very rare these days. 

Arriving at the gate, we queued up for boarding Group 1 just before boarding was due to start. Once again, we were kindly brought forward by BA gate agents to pre-board with our young child. British Airways are more generous with family pre-boarding than most, allowing pre-boarding for families of children under 5-years-old, rather than the usual 2-years-old with most other carriers. 

Pre-boarding actual brings you to a holding area with seating behind the boarding podiums. There are always perfect views of aircraft from here. 

Our aircraft G-STBD, was delivered in 2011 with the first batch of 777-300ERs in the BA fleet. The interior was refurbished from tip-to-tail in late 2021. 

In the pre-boarding section we were really well-placed by the escalators to the jetway. Once we were advised that boarding could go ahead, we were among the first to board. 

This 12-year-old aircraft looked brand new with these sleek new cabins. 

I'd flown on the BA 777-300ER many times in the past in both Business and Premium Economy, and the new cabins are a vast improvement over the previous interiors. The change is most evident in Club World, where the old cramped forwards-barckwards 2-4-2 configuration was replaced with the very spacious and private new Club Suites. 

The change is not as drastic in Premium Economy, where the 2-4-2 configuration has not changed. However, the new seats look really nice. The legroom in the bulkhead is phenomenal. 

I always hesitate with getting seats either in the first row or the last row. I always like the last row for more privacy and mostly because I don't like bothering passengers behind with seat recline…but that extra space in the front may make me rethink my seat choices next time I fly World Traveller Plus on the 77W.

So we headed back to our seats in the last row. 

The first row of Economy, just behind us also has a massive amount of legroom, but it's also an exit row and there is no window. 

When I looked it up, I really expected that this aircraft had just been refurbished in the last few months so I was surprised to see it had already been two years. It still looks brand new and is holding up well. 

The Premium Economy seats on the 777-300ER are noticeably wider than those on the A350-1000 from our outbound flight. At 19.5" wide, they are a full inch wider than those on the A35K. The armrests are also noticeably wider. BA took full advantage of the 777s wider fuselage by installing wider seats. 

Along with the 38" seat pitch, this makes the general dimensions of the new 777 Premium Economy seat identical to what you'd find in short-haul Business/First class in North America. 

Legroom is very good with the standard 38" seat pitch. There are foot-rests in addition to leg-rests which make for a comfortable "cradle" position for sleeping. 

Each passenger in Premium Economy has access to a 110V universal power outlet as well as a USB-A charging port. BA's new cabins had just missed the new trend of USB-C power. 

Some of the premium amenities in World Traveller Plus include noise-cancelling headphones–the same as found in Club World–and a small amenity kit with basic contents such as toothbrush, earplugs, and eye mask. 

Screens are nice and large with good resolution. 

Unlike most other airlines, BA offer a pre-departure beverage service, which includes sparkling wine, water, or orange juice. 

Printed menus were distributed during boarding. 

Three options of mains for the first meal, pretty decent for Premium Economy. It's also nice to see lamb on the menu…a nice change from the usual chicken, beef, or fish options. 

Checking out the in-flight entertainment as boarding continued–there is a ton of content in several languages. The aircraft is also equipped with Wi-Fi. 

There's a nice and modern airshow for all the AvGeeks. 

the flight

Boarding wrapped up on time, the flight didn't seem completely full in Economy, though was mostly full in the premium cabins. 

We pushed back a few minutes early. 

The safety video played as we taxied to the departure runway. 

10 hours and 22 minutes of time in the air expected for this flight. 

That day we took off heading east, the opposite is more common in my experience.

This took us over the city again, before making a turn to head in a northwesterly direction towards our destination. 

The airshow is pretty detailed with some facts about cities on the route and throughout the BA network. 

The Wi-Fi was available once we reached 10,000 ft in altitude. 

Messaging-only plans start at £2.99 while full browse & stream plans start at £4.99 for 1 hour. There are 4 hour plans for £11.99 (which are a good option on shorter transatlantic routes), and full flight plans are £19.99, which is the best value for longer 10+ hour flights like this. 

Shortly after takeoff, the first in-flight service began with an apéritif, which includes choice of full bar. I had a sparkling wine, which was the same Cava served on Iberia flights. 

My son's Child meal was served first as usual. The contents were perfectly adapted for younger kids, with a more appropriate amount of food for a 4-year-old than we are used to getting in Business, where the appetiser alone is usually more food than this and just generally too much for a young child. 

For my meal, I went for the Chicken Tikka Massala, which is always a good option on BA. 

This gives a good idea of how deeply the seats recline in Premium Economy. I don't even think this was at full recline. 

Towards the end of the meal, as I was having a coffee the passenger in front of me fully reclined–the seat slammed back suddenly and knocked into my tray table spilling the hot coffee all over my pants. In my experience, the recline mechanism is not smooth and seats tend to slam back suddenly if you're not aware of this particularity. The other passenger was very apologetic, but of course I did not blame them as I know it's not the passenger's fault that the recline mechanism is faulty. So yes, word of caution, take care when reclining in World Traveller Plus as the seats do often slam back quickly. 

About mid-flight the Wi-Fi cut out near the poles, which is rather common on these types of routes. Just be aware that this can happen because of the satellite coverage. 

Wi-Fi was unavailable for over an hour. 

Ice cream was served about halfway through the flight, snacks were also available in the galley throughout most of the flight. 

I napped for most of the rest of the flight. A smaller hot meal was served about an hour and a half before arrival. 

I had the Chicken and vegetable pie, again very British and quite tasty. Nothing fancy, but good comfort food. 

arrival

We began our descent as the sun was setting. 

It's always nice to land at the golden hour with the beautiful colours of California sunsets.

We made turn east to line up for landing, passing just to the north of LAX. 

The aircraft then turned back heading west for final approach passing downtown. 

We landed nicely ahead of schedule. 

Deplaning took a while, even from the Premium Economy cabin, as there is a very long Business cabin between Premium Economy and the boarding door. 

Luckily, we'd arrived early and with Global Entry we always breeze through immigrations and customs.