Introduction
Review: Qantas First Class Lounge Los Angeles
Review: British Airways Business Class A380 Los Angeles To London
Review: The Park Tower Knightsbridge, London
Review: British Airways Galleries First Lounge London Heathrow
Review: British Airways Business Class 777 London To Los Angeles
What Did Ford Think Of British Airways Club World?
As I’ve written about in the recent trip report, my boyfriend Ford and I went to London for Thanksgiving, and flew British Airways there. I shared my thoughts on the experience, though I thought it would be interesting for Ford to share his perception of the experience as well.
For a bit of background, prior to this trip, Ford’s only “true” premium cabin experiences were in Emirates and Cathay Pacific first class. So perhaps it’s my fault for taking him in two of the world’s best first class products to begin with, and then taking one of my least favorite business class products. Oops. 😉
Stay tuned for more from Ford, and in the meantime you can follow him on Instagram.
Ben and I flew to London for Thanksgiving (perhaps the least patriotic of locales to celebrate) to see a number of my close friends. Most of them hold Thanksgiving dinners despite being foreign. It’s refreshing to know gratitude and thankfulness are international traits. So I will say that Ben and I are both grateful for the privilege to fly and travel, at all, let alone primarily in premium cabins, before I descend into a little rant. On that note…
After flying British Airways’ Club World, their Business Class product, I literally couldn’t help but write a post. Seriously, I cannot internalize these feelings any longer or I might get high blood pressure.
When we stepped aboard British Airways’ BA268 from Los Angeles to London, my first question was, “if this is business, what is economy?” Upon our return on BA283, my question became even more relevant, when the configuration in the cabin went from a disappointing 2-3-2 to a shameful 2-4-2. Seriously, can you get any worse than that for business class? People ostensibly paid thousands of dollars for a seat in what I would call a flatbed premium economy, at best. To be honest, British Airways should be embarrassed to hold themselves in such high esteem with such an egregious product. Didn’t anyone tell them that hubris is a Cardinal Sin?
Upon return on BA283, the gentleman seated in 10K, a window seat, in front of my aisle seat, 11J, was shocked to discover that he would have to climb over me in order to use the restroom or access the aisle. “This isn’t any good. Something is wrong here!” I explained that something was indeed very wrong, a realization I had only had after flying to London a few days earlier. He had his wife switch with him since she was a bit more nimble, but she still woke me up when she got up to use the restroom, despite doing her best not to. I don’t blame her at all. I blame the airline!
I recently had a friend who was outraged when she missed a flight from Boston to London on BA and was rebooked in Business as opposed to First Class, which she had initially reserved. While I adore this friend, she is admittedly a tad of a princess, so I thought she was exaggerating the difference in quality between Business and First. When I arrived in London and explained how thoroughly unimpressed I was with BA’s “Club World,” she gasped, “See! Now you understand why I was so bloody pissed!”
Beyond the details of the crappy seat, which Ben has enumerated in other posts, I was also amazed at the quality, or lack thereof, of the onboard service. Where do I begin?
To be honest, it’s hard to keep track since pretty much everything that can be wrong with the service was wrong – on both flights. I will say, however, that on the return flight the attitude of the flight attendants was a tad friendlier, although they still remained clueless and confused as to what was on the menu and looked at us as though we had multiple heads if we ordered a “salad” for the main course, as was printed as an option on the menu. Perhaps they should take 60 seconds to read the menu before they ask people what they’d like to eat from it?
On our flight to London, the flight attendant literally asked the man seated across from me to get out of his seat and close the bin because she couldn’t do it herself. I won’t take this opportunity to bash the fitness of the crew, but I will say that it isn’t so much a single act, like asking the man to close the bin himself, that is so atrocious as it is the lack of professionalism and service in the aggregate – her cluelessness as to what was on the menu, the way in which she tossed Ben’s mini liquor bottle at him, her condescending attitude whenever we asked for anything, and her clear desire to do nothing other than make sure our seatbelts were fastened for takeoff and landing. Remember folks, BA flight attendants are primarily there for your safety, and they’ll let you know it!
In summary, don’t waste your money or miles on BA Business Class ticket unless it’s practically free or your expectations are a glorified economy class. In that case, it would only be a slight letdown. Given what we paid, I’d say it was quite a good value… but we did only pay marginally more than what economy would have cost.
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