Review of British Airways flight from Denver to London in Business

introduction

After almost two weeks, it was time to head back to London from Denver. I had just driven 2191 miles starting in Denver, visiting some new and old places in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. All things considered it was a great trip, with just a major snowstorm at the end putting a bit of a spanner in the works.

the old airport

Firstly a pre-airport tourism bonus - a trip to FlyteCo which is a restaurant and brewery at the base of Denver's former main airport - Stapleton International Airport. Really cool, and the food was good…

the new airport

After lunch at FlyteCo I headed to the rental car drop off on the south side of the airport. I used their bathroom facilities to change my shoes into something more comfortable from the flight, and putting my walking/hiking/general travel shoes in my checked bag. Then I jumped on the next available shuttle bus to the terminal.

I'm not sure if I got off the shuttle bus in the wrong place, or if it only stops in one place, but I had quite a trek to get through the terminal to the side where British Airways operates. However, when I arrived at the check-in desks there was no queue in the Club World/premium line - and only a small queue for the WT/WT+ line. I was checked-in by the friendly agent very quickly and directed that I could use the Capital One lounge above gate A34.

I was then directed to west security, where my passport was briefly checked by the agent and a photo was taken. Like the inbound flight, no stamp or anything. Security was quick, only having to take off my shoes and place those in a bin. No need to take anything out, which is always great.

I had heard reports of people struggling to get access to the Capital One lounge when it initially opened, but recently it seems like British Airways has negotiated access for their eligible passengers above that of card-holders. Seems a bit backwards, but I appreciated being able to walk straight in whilst others were trying to negotiate access.

I had arrived quite early, and I was in the lounge by 15:00 which is before the inbound flight had even landed. I caught up on some personal emails and finished my accounting spreadsheet from the trip - I always like to be able to see how much money I have spent all in one place…

I chose to have some sugary snacks in the lounge, and had conveniently sat near the chilled water dispenser - very convenient for someone who predominantly drinks water.

Before heading to the gate, at approximately 17:30 I got changed into more comfortable clothing in the lounge's spacious facilities. I then made the very short walk from A34 where the lounge is to A37, where our flight was to board from. G-XWBC was awaiting us, looking a little dirty.

The flight

I took my seat in 9K. Having been in 9A on the way out, I thought I might get some good London skyline views on the way in the next morning…

Menus were handed out before departure, along with a pre-departure drink of either water or orange juice. I believe champagne was on request, based on overhearing another passengers' request, but as I do not drink alcohol I did not ask.

There were lots of announcements regarding the fact this flight was full. The flight on Thursday had been cancelled due to anticipated poor weather conditions, which I encountered close to the New Mexico border to the south of Colorado Springs. The result of this is that both Friday and Saturday flights were full by midnight going into Friday.

After a few threats from cabin crew that they would have to delay the flight whilst they offloaded excess cabin baggage, eventually space for all cabin bags were found, including in the half-empty bin above my head.

The taxi out to the runway was quick and soon we were airborne.

A glorious sunset behind us, glinting off the engine cowling.

One annoying thing about this particular moving map view on BA's A350s is that there are only 3 characters available for the speed in km/h. 28km/h? No. 1028km/h!

The in-seat power was not switched on until we were at cruising altitude, which is a bit unusual in my experience on BA long-haul.

Service was quite slow and began with a drinks run almost an hour after departure.

In the hope of maximising sleep, and because I didn't fancy the options, I declined a starter and dessert and just went with the main course. Initially that meant that I was just served a tray with the salad and bread.

The bread was approaching levels of stale-ness but was edible for now.

We were over Toronto by the time that the main course was served. I went with the lamb loin. The potato au gratin was very good, and so was the jus and the sautéed spinach; the lamb was a little over-done but still tasty. The roasted onion was huge and I didn't touch it.

By this point in the journey I was hoping to have been asleep, so I asked the crew to clear away my tray when I went back to the bathroom to get ready for sleep and that I would be declining breakfast in the morning. I hoped to eat in the arrivals lounge…

The cabin was kept quite hot, and I overheard some people at baggage reclaim later saying that the crew had set it to 28ºc "by accident". Despite this I slept quite well, and awoke just as we flew over the Irish coast.

I was asked if I wanted anything to drink and took just an orange juice. If I had known what happened later I would've eaten more!

A very wet and miserable landing in London Heathrow, we only broke out of the cloud about 3 miles before touchdown so didn't really see anything of any skyline! A quick taxi and we pulled into one of the C gates.

I was not the first person off the plane but a speed-walk through the foot tunnel meant that I beat everyone who took the transit. Result! The e-gates worked properly and I was in the arrivals hall 14 minutes after gate arrival. Unfortunately…

… we then had a three hour wait for our bags, involving a move from reclaim 5 to reclaim 10.

The reason was given that the cargo doors had malfunctioned and engineers had to be called to get them opened. Lots of people gave up, mostly American tourists it appears, with BA promising to get people their bags within 24 hours. Unfortunately I had things in my bag I needed for an imminent work trip, so I waited along with people who had ski equipment to collect which they didn't trust to be delivered in one piece.

After they managed to get the cargo doors opened, there was then another delay because the elevator to get the containers off the plane had broken down. What a drama!

A broken sign on the column at reclaim 10 didn't fill anyone with confidence either.

At 12:33, almost exactly three hours after I had arrived in the baggage reclaim, I had my bag and was through finally.

I got lucky that I had arranged a lift home and the person giving me that lift was flexible, so I called them once I had my bag and headed to the Arrivals Lounge to see if they had any food options remaining.

Considering the fact that I had not eaten breakfast onboard to maximise sleep, I was really hungry at this point. I had a few of the remaining breakfast pastries but the rest of the spread looked rather unappetising. I then had a piece of cake but only afterwards realised that there were flies on the other pieces. Revolting! They covered the sandwiches but nothing else… why?

My lift arrived at 13:00 and I was home by 14:00, not helped by the M25 being shut to the south of Heathrow affecting traffic even though I was going north.

When I got home, there was an apology email from BA. Unfortunately it was completely untrue, the reason given is not what happened. Generic reply? Actually closer to the truth than what we were told? Who knows.