Review of British Airways flight London Paris in Business

Airline British Airways
Flight BA336
Class Business
Seat 5F
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 01:15
Take-off 10 Mar 14, 16:25
Arrival at 10 Mar 14, 18:40
BA   #65 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 960 reviews
Leadership
By BRONZE 5172
Published on 17th May 2014
Dear all,

I know this is not the most exiting leg of this trip but unlike Yann (yd75) I like to do all the FRs of a serie.

Our routing:

  1. Paris ORY - Madrid (Iberia, Business, A321)
  2. CLICK HERE
  3. Madrid – New York JFK (Iberia, Business, A330-300)
  4. CLICK HERE
  5. New York JFK – Los Angeles (American Airlines, Business, A321)
  6. CLICK HERE
  7. Los Angeles – London LHR (American Airlines, Business, B777-300ER)
  8. CLICK HERE
  9. London LHR – Paris ORY (British Airways, Club Europe, A320)
  10. [YOU ARE HERE]

Unfortunately none of us have Emerald status with oneworld, we will have to settle with the regular gallery lounges, and we decided to go to the South one as the view on the tarmac is slightly better there compared to the North lounge.

photo 1

Its 4pm on a Monday morning, it’s crowded and WiFi is inoperative.

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Press

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Comprehensive buffet for a business class lounge



My selection, Champagne is still available “on request” if you can find a waiter.

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As I said the view is pleasant

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Low-end shower facilities and amenities

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We are heading to the gate and … surprise it’s a bus gate, a first for me at Heathrow

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Seems like Dove Olympics aircraft are still flying around

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Our scheduled A319 has been swapped with a bigger variant, an A320.

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This is one of the newest example, with slimline seats in all the cabin, I prefer the previous version, seats were wider in Club Europe and I feel like the pitch used to be better too.

photo 21

Iberia is the sole operator beside BA to operate to and from Terminal 5.

photo 22

Safety video played

photo 23

We pushed back some minutes late but thanks to a very short taxy we are in the air in no time.

photo 24

Terminal 4 with the iconic Malaysia Airlines A380-800, Royal Brunei B787-8 and Delta “Pink” B767-400.

photo 25

Lavatory

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The reason I like BA for medium flight: the presence of airshow and nothing else!

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Hot towel handed out

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This is afternoon time which for BA mean selection of sandwiches and scones

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Clotted cream and cake

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Seems like BA changed their Champagne supplier, bye bye Pommery, hello Brut Monopole.

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We are making good progress, we barely have time to finish our tray

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6 rows of Club Europe on today’s flight with some empty seats, economy was chock a block though.

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I have 3 seats to myself but on the other side, all 3 seats are taken, 5A was occupied by a business men and 5C by a grandma, but shortly after takeoff, grandpa who was seated at 6D decided to move to 5B! the men in 5A was quite pissed by this situation.

photo 39

Approaching Orly with the last ray of sun.

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Our A320 resting at Orly Ouest

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Video:
See more

Verdict

British Airways

7.5/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew8.5
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering7.5

British Airways (South) Galleries Club - 5A

6.4/10
Comfort7.5
Meal/catering7.5
Entertainment/wifi3.0
Services7.5

London - LHR

7.4/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5

Paris - ORY

6.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access6.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness6.0

Conclusion

As usual, British Airways did pretty well, their lounges at Heathrow are pretty nice but a bit crowded, food selection is appropriate with salad bar, sandwiches and some hot dishes. Waiters are not that polite and it takes some time before being served.

The boarding by bus was a bit chaotic. On board crew was very nice and attentive and took good care of their Business Class pax and also politely sent back a Y-pap who wanted to seat in CE (she probably did not notice it was a different cabin ^^).

Presence of oshibori is nice for such a short flight, a PDB would be a plus.

The afternoon tea tray affair is not my favourite but for such a short flight it’s adequate, and scone was nice, I also like to have my own bottle of Champagne to ensure the refill throughout the flight.

To sum-up, the three of us did not regret our journey, we were very pleased by American Airlines with their new A321T and B777-300ER, they clearly step upped the game and the “New American” campaign is not just communication. I wish I could say the same for Iberia but their crew ruined our MAD-JFK flight and I will not wish to fly them again despite the nice lounge and new seat.

I hope you enjoyed reading this trip, I personally liked to share this experience with you and I can’t wait for my next trip.

Take care :)

Information on the route London (LHR) Paris (ORY)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 14 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne London (LHR) → Paris (ORY).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est British Airways avec 7.3/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 15 minutes.

  More information

8 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 109136 by
    Chatokay 277 Comments
    Thanks for this FR :)
    Some pictures doesn't seem to load, at least for me.
    I can understand why the PAX in 5A was pissed, considered that the middle seat in business is supposed to be neutralized. Did the FA allowed grandpa to stay there ?
  • Comment 109138 by
    pititom GOLD 11489 Comments
    Thanks for this report and the whole series as well.

    Standard cross-Channel flight. But it is supposed to be an Afternoon Tea, not an Afternoon Champagne ^^

    You wouldn't take IB again, if the same fare were renewed ;) ?
  • Comment 109211 by
    indianocean SILVER 7572 Comments
    WTF!!! I flew on the same flight five days later and there wasn't any scone on my meal tray.
    Galleries Club look alike Galleries First except low ceilings and more passengers.
    I really sympathize with the passenger seated at 5A
    Thank you for this report
  • Comment 109243 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Thanks for sharing. BA has been serving Pommery forever, this is the first report I've seen a different brand. I wonder if this is an ex-BMI plane with these different seats? Euro-business cabins are fine if you're connecting from international to a short flight, but I would never pay 5X the price of economy on a short-haul for essentially just some champagne and a snack and a guaranteed empty middle seat. Everybody makes fun of US carriers, but at least we have real J seats in 2X2 config. Thanks again for sharing this series!
    • Comment 295049 by
      Leadership TEAM BRONZE AUTHOR 5461 Comments
      Yes you right, but when you are connecting from an intl flight, it is always pleasant to stay in J, which is not possible if you are connecting to a domestic UK destination, where only one class of service is proposed.

      This particular aircraft is owned by BA since day 1. There is no overhead screens on ex BD planes if I recall correctly.

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