Review of British Airways flight from London to San Diego in Business

Introduction

Welcome to the fifth and final review in this transatlantic series of flights. 

Like every year, we flew back to Europe for the Holidays. After several weeks visiting with family and friends it was time to head back home to Southern California. As usual, we flew back through London to catch the nonstop BA flight to San Diego. 

routing

Reviews in this series:

transit & lounge

Arriving off the underground train from T5B, we headed right through the Fast track transit lanes and upstairs to transit security—as always, we made sure to get in the queue for the security lane all the way on the right as that lane has newer machines that allow electronics and liquids to stay inside cabin baggage, which saves a ton of time. 

From there we headed to the BA First Lounge where the familiar ever-present horse lamps were there to greet us at the entrance. Access to the First lounge is reserved for those with oneworld Emerald status and First class passengers on oneworld carriers other than BA—BA First class passengers have access to the exclusive Concorde Room across the hall. 

There are several staffed bars in the lounge, as well as self-serve champagne bars. 

There is a terrace area with nice tarmac views. This was my favourite place to sit prior to having a kid, but now we tend to stay closer to the children's playroom. 

There's a self-serve bar in this area as well, with soft drinks, wines, and champagne. 

Checking out other parts of the lounge, it was obvious again that the seating had been de-densified–there were more chairs here along with some sofas on a previous visit two months earlier. 

As usual, we went to the dining room in the back so we could sit near the children's playroom. 

The tables in the dining area have QR codes on them, but it is no longer possible to order food through the online menu, as had been the case for the last several years

This feels like cost-cutting and cheapens the experience of the First lounge. There were generally a few better cooked-to-order options to order through the online menu then there were at the buffets. So now there's essentially no difference between the food offering in the First and Club lounges. 

Only some drinks are available to order from the menu, which is pointless if you're able-bodied, as the same drinks are available from self-service bars. The only interesting feature anymore is the option to book in a time slot for a shower. 

Hot food options at the buffet were mostly limited to English breakfast items at this time of day. 

boarding

We left the lounge about 15 minutes before boarding time to allow enough time to catch the underground train out to the B satellite gates. 

With several flights leaving from this end of the B Concourse, it was pretty crowded by the gate. 

Luckily, we were waived over by BA gate agents to pre-board and were able to bypass the crowd. We already had Group 1 priority boarding, but BA agents at Heathrow are usually very good at having families with small children pre-board—we never have to ask. BA allow priority boarding for families with children up to 5 years old, which is much more generous than most other airlines who limit this to babies up to 2 years old. 

As a result, we were able to go right on to the aircraft, among the first passengers to board. 

Interestingly, we boarded from door 1L—normally A350s, and indeed most widebodies at Heathrow, are boarded though door 2L, unless there are two jet-bridges attached. 

So it was different to see only one jet-bridge attached to the forward-most door. We made our way through the very long main Club World cabin to the mini-cabin where our seats were located. 

My 4-year-old son knew exactly where he was going as we always select seats in the last row in the mini-cabin of Club on the A350-1000. 

The mini-cabin only has 3 rows and is generally quieter with a lot less foot traffic due to the cabin divider just behind and no lavatories on this side of the boarding doors. 

Club Suites are laid out in a spacious 1-2-1 configuration, giving all passengers direct access to the aisles. 

Placed at each seat are a large pillow and bedding, including a mattress pad, and noise-cancelling headphones. 

An amenity kit and a bottle of water can be found in a small storage space off to the side. 

Just below are the touchscreen seat controls. 

Inside the side console are the entertainment remote controller, the headphone jack, a 110v AC power outlet, and 2 USB-A ports. No USB-C ports on the A350-1000 yet, as the cabin was designed just before USB-C was popularised. 

Cabin crew came through with pre-departure drinks shortly after settling in with the usual choice of water, juice, or champagne. 

Another A350-1000 was parked at the next gate. 

Let's have a look at the menu while boarding continues.

For Lunch there were 3 choices of appetisers, which is nice, but only 3 choices for mains: Beef, fish, or a vegetarian option. Once again, I find the options a bit underwhelming and not particularly creative. In my experience, BA catering is usually quite good with quality ingredients, as one would expect from highly reputed Do&Co catering; however, the dishes lack originality, and because I fly Club World so often, I feel like I see the same or similar options over and over again. As I've said many times before, I'd love to see more interesting proteins like lamb, duck, prawns, or crab from time to time. 

the flight

Boarding wrapped up on time and doors were closed shortly after. 

The aircraft was pushed back from the gate right on time. 

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

Taxi time was about 20 minutes as there was a bit of a queue for departure. 

We took off at 1:23PM. We an estimated 10:16 flight time to SAN, we were due to arrive over a half hour early. 

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

Wi-Fi is free only in First class, and for a fee in all other cabins. Messaging-only plans start at £2.99, while full internet browse & stream plans are available for £11.99 for 4-hours or £19.99 for the full flight. 

On these longer flights, I usually find the full flight plan to be a better value. However, note that coverage can be spotty closer to the north pole. I usually experience about an hour or so of poor connection when overflying Greenland and the Canadian Arctic on this route. Otherwise the speed is quite decent and I usually have no trouble uploading photos and videos to social media or streaming videos. 

Legroom is very spacious, as you'd expect. The Club Suites, a customised version of Collins Aerospace's popular Super Diamond model, are very well designed with lots of storage areas, and just generally making optimal use of space. There's convenient shoe storage below the ottoman. 

Seats lay fully flat to make a 79" (2m) long bed. The padding is already comfortable, but BA go the extra step by providing mattress pads—my kid fell asleep before I could get that on the bed for him. 

We began our Atlantic crossing over Wales. 

BA's Highlife Entertainment offers a ton of content in multiple languages, including films, series, documentaries, music, audio books, games, and children's programming. 

The interface is modern and intuitive and the system includes a touchscreen controller, on which content can be selected to play on the main screen. 

As an AvGeek, I always love the option to have the map on the little screen as I watch a movie on the main screen. 

Shortly after levelling off at cruising altitude, cabin crew were in the aisles for the apéritif service. As I fly Iberia about as much as British Airways on transatlantic flights, I find IB's pre-meal service to be a bit better as they have a choice of several tapas. On the other hand, BA's wine selection is generally better. 

The champagne on offer in Business was Heidsieck & Co. Monopole, Silver Top Brut NV

For the appetiser, I had selected the trout, which was tasty and visually well-presented. 

Gin cured Hampshire ChalkStream trout
Citrus pepper cream

For the main course, I wasn't particularly inspired by any of the three options. Beef is always a gamble in the air, as it's often overcooked due to the re-heating. Sometimes you get lucky, but I generally avoid beef options…well, this time I guess I was feeling lucky and went for the beef option. Took a big L on that one…again, it looked like it would be good, but was tasteless, chewy, and very tough. It was basically like eating a hot shoe. 

Fillet of British beef
Bone marrow crust, artichoke gratin, grilled broccolini
flamed corn and chimichurri

In retrospect, I should have gone for the North Atlantic cod—fish options are always a safe bet, in my experience. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!

At least the cheese plates are always reliably good. When flying BA, I enjoy trying new British cheeses with which I was unfamiliar. There was one French cheese, but the other two were British. 

Selection of artisan cheeses served with savoury crackers, apricots, plum chutney
Camembert
Coastal Cheddar
Shropshire Blue

I watched movies and napped for most of the rest of the flight. There wasn't much to see out the window as it was cloudy for much of the flight.

The clouds broke as we were over the Rocky Mountains. 

Beautiful snowy mountain vistas over Utah. 

The pre-arrival meal was served a bit over an hour before landing. I wasn't terribly hungry so I asked to skip the appetiser. I continued with the British theme, and went for the fish pie. 

Traditional British fish pie
Pollock, smoked mackerel, marinated garden peas

It was very good and very filling, much better than the hockey puck beef dish from the first meal. 

The further south we went, the scenery changed from snowy mountains and pine forests to deserts. 

Deserts that still had snowy peaks here and there.

We even flew just to the west of the Grand Canyon, which was also snowy on this mid-winter day. Breathtakingly beautiful—photos can't do justice to the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. 

We began our descent over the Salton sea. From this altitude, it looks like a beautiful shimmering blue inland sea in the middle of the California desert. In reality, it's incredibly polluted from all the agricultural runoff. I only visited once thinking it would be beautiful—it was not. And don't even think about swimming there—strictly forbidden. I do not recommend a visit.

Best seen from a distance. 

Looks like we'll be getting in well ahead of schedule. 

It gets greener again as we approach the coast. 

Passing the Otay Lakes just to the north, we fly right over my neighbourhood nestled between the lakes and San Miguel mountain. 

I could see my house!

It's always beautiful to land in San Diego around the golden hour.

Heading up the coast past the Naval shipyards. 

Coronado Bridge

Landing in San Diego, it's always nice to have a seat on the left for the very close-up views of downtown. 

We landed well ahead of schedule. 

Taxi time is always short at SAN with only one runway. 

We arrived at the gate almost a half-hour early. 

Passing by the other daily A350 to SAN on the way to baggage claim. 

As usual, immigration was quick with Global Entry and bags were delivered within minutes; however, passengers arriving from international flights in San Diego must stand in line to have all luggage scanned by customs prior to exiting. This usually goes quickly, but it's something I don't think I've ever had to do in any other US airport.