Airliners-India.com

yashkhullar · Member Joined: 20 Nov 2014 Posts: 44

DISCLAIMER:
This is the first time I am writing a TR and that too for a trip that I took 3 months back so spare for me if I missed on any details! I took some pictures without the intention of doing a TR.

Flight: BA142
Aircraft Type: B747-400
Class: “Club World” Business Class
Seat: 64B (upper deck)
Route: DEL-LHR
Date: January 12, 2016
Departure Time: 03:40 AM

Background
Due to my University located in Pittsburgh, USA, I make about 3 round trips a year to PIT from DEL. Most of my travel is on Club World (CW) or World Traveller Plus (WTP) on BA with the last domestic leg being on AA. The route that I usually take is: DEL-LHR-JFK/ORD/PHL-PIT. The winter schedule of BA apart from offering bad timings does compensate by brining in the 747.
I am aware that BA does not have the best hard product out there in J mainly due to its 2-4-2 configuration but the upper deck of the 747 is not that bad. Inspite of a substandard product and non-optimal routing (vs direct flights of AI and UA), I choose to fly BA since I have been loyal to them for quite some time plus the option of a layover in my favorite city (London) just tips the scale in the favour of the British. This is me describing my experiences on the DEL-LHR sector which was a consistent non-eventful flight like always.

On the Ground
Since leaving home is always hard, I try to maximize my time by reaching the airport as late as possible. Also the lounges in DEL are not much worth writing about which leaves me with zero incentive to reach early. I left home at around 1.30 am and reached T3 at about 1.50. A porter with a BA placard was standing outside to help with the luggage. After the usual good byes, I headed to the BA counters and all of them were deserted inspite of it being a full flight. Another good thing about BA is its liberal baggage allowance. I was allowed 3X32 kg of checkin luggage. Even when I am in WTP, I get that much allowance. Anyway, I completed check-in at about 2.20 and was given a lounge card for either Plaza Premium or ITC (dont rememeber which one as I have got both while travelling ba). I headed to the immigration counters at which I got done with the formalities rather quickly however security took too much time. Since Delhi was on alert due to republic day, there were heightened security measures in place at IGI. I think it was the my first time that shoes had to taken off here. At about 2.50, I completed immigration and security and headed straight to the gate since boarding was about to start.

Boarding
The best part about the Mid-J config of the 744 that ba sends to DEL is the WTP plus cabin in between the F and CW sections of the jumbo. Its a rather different experience of WTP in that section. Apart from the better service, I really like the fact that one has access to the 'Club-Kitchen' for snacks such as fruit, ice-cream and cookies inflight. Anyway I boarded through the second aerobridge and climbed the stairs to the upper deck to get to my seat. Due to me being BA silver at the moment, I get free seat selection at the time of booking but I booked really late and both 62A and K were taken by that time. 62A and K according to me are the best CW seats across the BA fleet due to its extra storage by the window, privacy, easy access without climbing over and tons of extra legroom. I settled for an aisle and chose 64B but for the LHR-ORD flight I was lucky to get a window and went for 61K.

Within a few minutes of settling in, I was offered pre-departure beverages. I selected orange juice.

Ba usually has a set of indian crew on its flights to India who are dressed in a more indianized attire than the rest of the crew. But the upper deck had a set of 2 British crew (seemed so from their accent). About 15 minutes after pre-departure beverages were served, the crew came around with menus for the flight which read as:

Shortly thereafter they came around with the Elemis amenity kits. (The kit bag later doubles up as a perfectly good travel shoe bag!)

Just clicked this picture of an unused kit that I found!

The captain made his accouncements about the flight and all, the doors were shut, pushback began and so did the safety video.

In-Flight Description
After a long taxi, began our takeoff roll and I could feel the age of the plane due to its the noises and rattling. The seatbelt sign was turned off about 15 minutes after takeoff, at which point I reclined my seat and made myself a bit more comfortable. The entertainment system was the old one while 18 744s are getting a cabin refresh that also upgrades the IFE to some Panasonic system that I had a chance to test out in my next flight. I was secretly happy at the lack of a good entertainment system as I could catch on some sleep. Once we leveled off at cruise altitude hot towels were distributed. Then the crew came around to take meal orders for the snack. The main meal was breakfast that was to be served before landing. I chose the veg option for the snack and I requested the crew not to wake me up for breakfast since I wanted to maximize my sleep. Service began with the cart being rolled through the aisle with drinks and packaged nuts. About 20 minutes after the initial beverage service, the crew rolled the cart through the aisle with the salads while the dessert (strawberry cheesecake) was served alongside.

Then came the main-course. A memeber of the crew then came around with a basket offering both indian and western breads. I chose the former to go with my main-course. I think there was another round of the bread service. It was not an exceptionally gourmet meal but I wouldnt except anything more. But I really really liked the cheesecake probably due to my excessive sweet tooth!

The meal was done about an hour and half into the flight. After the meal, I decided to crash considering it was pretty late due to IST. The seat is very narrow and just a tad bit short for me but I did end up getting 6 hours of sleep. When I woke up, the breakfast service was mid-way and I didnt feel like eating much. I requested for a coffee and some bread and the service was prompt. Soon came the 20 min to landing mark and the cabin was prepped was landing. We landed at LHR on time and docked at the satellite B gates.

Disembarkation
While exiting the plane, I met with a school friend of mine who was in CW on the main deck. We were both happy to get company through the long(ish) layover of about 3-3.5 hours, both of us had. She was heading to Washington and both of us had a similar departure time. To those not conversant with T5: There exists one main terminal (A) and 2 satellite terminals (B&C). Which gate your flight departs from is information provided about 90 min before departure. In such a scenario, one is supposed to head to the A Gates, clear security and wait for the gate to show up on the screens. After taking the train to the A gates, we passed through security quickly due to us being fast-track and decided to chill at the Galleries Lounge. We went to the South one where 2 more lounges are located: First and Concorde Room. By a stroke of luck, I have had the opportunity to try out the Concorde Room at JFK (more on that in probably a future TR).Then we got ourselves slots for a complimentary 15 min spa treatment at the Elemis Spa.

Bottomline
The flight was a fairly standard one. While the crew did not go out of the way to serve you, they were effecient and did the job. Ba could use a hard product refresh on their CW. For me the best part about Ba, is that its usually a no-surprise trip. BA handles IRROPS very well and its this sense of security and reliabilty that makes me stick to them.

More on the lounge and spa experience and the flight to ORD in the next TR

Hope you enjoyed this and please provide me feedback so that my next TR turns out to be better!

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Yash, thank you: the sheer number of hits/reads in such a short time after posting your report, tells you how high it has scored on the popularity scales. Thank you for a very well-written report, with the thoughts in your mind getting very well visualised by the reader. Very nice description of the pre-boarding events. The food looks good, though a bit on the oily side. We look forward to your LHR-ORD leg, and most importantly, the descriptions of the Concorde lounge as well!
Thanks for sharing this nice piece with us.
Cheers, Sumantra.

Nimish · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:42 pm Post subject:

Lovely report - thanks for sharing. BA has it's own loyal following over the years, and anyone with work or family in LHR benefits from the stopover there.
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stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Great report!
- Yea the first few times the (any) lounge is fun but if you do it over and over I guess you just want to get to the airport as late as possible hehehe.
- I can never understand which meal the airlines serve, is it based on destination time zone or departure or some combination? Eating dinner at 0430 doesn't seem like fun.
- The seat and screens don't look very amazing, but there is the charm of an old 744
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ameya · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 2:02 pm Post subject:

What a nice TR!

Enjoyed the pics - specially food and the description
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