intro
Let's take a break from the review trip to Cuba and return to the second quarter of 2023, I had to take a day trip from Los Angeles to Scotland. On the outbound segment, I flew American Airlines in economy to London, followed by a middle seat on BA economy (it was a family emergency) up to Edinburgh. On the way back I found award space on the new BA First Class on the last flight of the day to Los Angeles.
While it had been a long day trip to Scotland, I had a spectacular flight onboard the new BA First Class. The product is a big step up from First Class on the 777-200 with modern seats and sliding doors. The 11 hours flew by (pun intended).
The day started with an early morning departure from Gleneagles Townhouse (will write about this in a separate review).
A morning flight to London meant taking the tram to Edinburgh airport.
how i booked
This flight was booked using 85,000 miles+550 ish Pounds in taxes. Considering this is an 11-hour flight in First Class+4 hours in the Concorde Room, this isn't a bad value as BA miles are easy to come by.
the concorde room
After arriving from the short hop to London, I went to the Concorde Room. The Concorde room is only accessible to passengers flying in first class (mostly), so I always plan plenty of time to use it when flying first class.
I didn't get the chance to review the Concorde Room, hence why there isn't a separate post, but I did take some pictures of the private dining room. While I didn't indulge in any food, I took advantage of the LPGS that was served in the lounge. One mimosa and one glass of champagne, what could go wrong??
While the dining room is fantastic and private, this is the only part of the lounge that makes it a first-class lounge in my opinion. The showers are subpar, there are no nap rooms (there is a communal area to sleep with a few angled flat seats), and it feels quite small for how busy it is. The only other good aspect of the Concorde Room is the British service, which is always incredible and polite.
boarding/departure
My flight today would depart from C gates, which meant taking the train over?. Our flight boarded 50 minutes before departure and I was the first on board. Upon first glance, the cabin looked beautiful! There was a light blanket and a pair of great-quality headphones waiting on the buddy seat. Don't worry there is bedding for those wondering but I was so tired I didn't think about asking for turndown service?.
The cabin was the most elegant I have seen from any BA aircraft in any class.
The FA came over to ask what I would like to drink before takeoff. Why only have a mimosa when you can also have a glass of champagne? Nuts were accompanied while we were on the ground; it was a small but beautiful touch. Pyjamas were offered and I immediately changed into them.
We pushed back on the dot at 3:45 pm. 21 minutes later we were airborne, bound for Los Angeles. Here's our flight path for the day.
dining
Approximately 40 minutes after departure an Amuse Bouche was offered. There were 3 different options that were part of the singular Amuse Bouche. All 3 were fantastic, and a perfect way to start the meal.
A glass of LPGS was accompanied with the amuse-bouche.
Due to the beef carpaccio coming out shortly, the FA recommended two wines, for review purposes, I chose both?. This was brought out quickly along with the napkin as they set the table.
About 15 minutes later, the carpaccio with truffle sauce came out. While I felt the truffle was a little bit too rich, it was still very decent, and would have it again. Warm bread accompanied the starter, and the bread was great. The FA set the table beautifully, with cute salt and pepper shakers, a bread knife on the plate to apply butter, and two forks and knives.
I selected lamb chops as my main course for this afternoon. Food and wine sleep coma sounds fun! ?
The lamb was delicious and cooked perfectly. Take a look at that pinkish-red, restaurant quality. The potatoes were delicious as well.
At this point, I set the mood with the modern light next to the seat. Feels very modern but still classic BA, perfect!
Since I hadn't slept in 25 hours I was stressed and stress caused binging food?. I asked the FA if they had any pasta available and they quickly heated one up for me. While it was a little bit on the firm side, the Ravioli was still very tasty.
Why don't I go all out and try all of the food? So, I ordered the sea bass as well?. Maybe I should change the name of this review to "BA First Class Food Review ?. The sea bass was moist and very flavorful. All of the food impressed me from start to finish, props to you BA!
Unsure of how I had room for more food, I managed to order dessert. For this, I chose the crepes with ice cream. These were delicious and a good change from what I get on other airlines. The FA offered me a dessert wine, which I couldn't say no to.
Due to all of my courses, the meal service ended while we were over in Greenland. The service from the FAs was incredible, extremely accommodating, and felt like true British First Class service. I would love to fly with this crew again!
The rest of the flight
Traditionally, I would have asked the FA to make up the bed with the plush duvet offered by BA. Before I could even think of that I passed out for 6 hours with the small blanket. A day trip to Scotland is not for the feint of heart?.
I woke up about an hour and a bit before landing, still extremely full from that very large dinner service?.
Hula Hoops are incredible and since I was in London I stocked up on 15 bags in the airport. I cracked one open and had another glass of LPGS as continued on our way into LAX.
The view out of the window were serene.
Soon enough we were on initial descent into LAX. Speaking of this screen is a huge upgrade from any other screen on BA. While I didn't use it much, it was large, responsive and extremely high quality.
We touched down ahead of schedule in LAX and had a short taxi to the Bradley terminal.
I was here 2 days ago?.
Nice, the elusive New First cabin! These are definitely no longer "the World's Best Business class" from a hard product standpoint, but sadly still very rare as they're only on the newest 77Ws...and maybe some other newly delivered aircraft. I think most other 777s with F still have the old F with no doors..., even the ones with Club Suites, which is most 777s now--it's just weird to have a door in J but not F on those planes.
Everything looks perfect from the Concorde Room to the in flight experience...and this flight is long so it's definitely a great one to be able to enjoy the full F service. Yes, it's nothing revolutionary like EY, SQ, or EK F, but it's a very competitive product on the TATL market, especially since so many airlines, reduced the number of F seats (AF, LH, KE, etc), dropped Intl F altogether (UA, MH, etc), or will drop it in the near future (AA), it's nice to see BA maintain an F cabin on most subfleets out there--Though it was surprising to not see an F cabin when they introduced the 35K considering how long the cabin is. I'll also add that BA's F cabin is probably one of the most accessible Intl F products out there--it doesn't require a lifetime's worth of points to upgrade to, and even cash fares are often quite reasonable and under $1K difference with J fares.
As you mention the only thing missing is caviar. Ya gotta have caviar for it to be full on First class....but at lease they brought the canapés back...it was a crying shame when they even stopped those for a few years. Hell even EI have canapés in J!
Since i fly BA (and IB) like 90% of the time, I recently decided to switch all loyalty from AAdvantage to BA Executive Club. It sucks starting over for status from scratch after having had Emerald status for the better part of a decade (and I'll still have it with AA as I work on getting in on BA), but I should be BA Gold by autumn-ish, so that will help with my chances of an Op-up from J to F since BA always go for BAEC over other OW Emeralds, logically. That and BA's Tier Points system is just so much simpler than AA's nonsensical Loyalty points scheme. It's not like I ever got upgrades on domestic AA metal so I won't be missing anything as a BA Gold...plus now I'll have lounge access on domestic US flights, which is always something that annoyed me about having US-based status...no lounge when flying on a paid First class ticket is just dumb. Haha ok, somehow I've make this about me....there's a point...it all ties in to how much I like BA. They're far from perfect, but a heck of a lot better than any of the US3 from a service perspective in Premium cabins, which is what I care about most since I mostly fly TATL J.
I totally get that. Even though I'm French and live in the US (most of the year), I lived in the UK for a bit as a kid and there's something about BA that feels a bit like home.