PatJordan flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (24/05/2013 18:13)

DUB-LHR-EDI (Club Europe& UK Domestic)

Booking and check in

In the wake of their takeover of BMI, BA have returned to the London-Dublin route, in direct competition with Aer Lingus. As a result, Club Europe makes a welcome return to this route.

I needed to go from Dublin to Edinburgh and with no time constraints, decided to explore the possibility of a reward flight with BA via LHR.

There was availability for the dates I wanted, and little trouble in making the booking. The total charges and fees were 125euro and 10,800 Avios. This was for both flights, DUB-LHR-DUB in Club Europe and LHR-EDI-LHR in UK Domestic. This was excellent value indeed, and provided a further opportunity to sample the BA product on the DUB-LHR leg.

As a BA Executive Club Gold Card holder, I was offered the opportunity to select my seats online at time of booking. The front rows of the Airbus 320 were available, and I chose 1A for DUB-LHR-DUB on both flights. I chose the same seats on LHR-EDI-LHR.

On line check-in is available 24 hours prior to travel, and I used this facility to print my boarding passes for all my flights.

I arrived at Dublin Terminal 1 just after 6.20am for my 07.50am flight and proceeded straight to security. Since Aer Lingus and transatlantic operators have migrated to Terminal 2, there is a lower number of passengers using T1 which makes it far less crowded than heretofore. BA Club Europe includes use of the fast track security lane which is useful. I was airside in less than a minute.

Lounge (Dublin)

BA use the Dublin Airport Authority executive lounge in what was formerly known as Pier B. The lounge used to be the Aer Lingus Gold Circle lounge and retains the same panoramic views of the apron. There is a variety of seat types: I chose a deep beige leather armchair beside the business area.

A small range of newspapers and magazines is available, and restrooms outside the lounge.

There is a very limited range of food: fruit, cheese, biscuits, crackers, crisps and packaged bread. Orange juice is available in small cartons in the fridge. Not the most enticing of offerings, and certainly below the standard of the majority of BA lounges.

The coffee, however, is good and strong (perfect for early morning!) with a good range of soft and alcoholic drinks.

The lounge is a short walk from gates 301-313 (the old B pier) and makes boarding quite easy. Flight information screens showed BA 0831 departing from Gate 313, which is very close to the lounge. The flight was called for boarding @ 7.20am, and I proceeded to Gate 313……..where the screen showed the flight boarding as an Aer Lingus to Berlin. Having asked a member of staff, I was assured that BA would be the next flight to board from there. Seconds later, the screen changed to BA 0831!

Boarding

Boarding is through an airbridge and rearmost rows are called first to minimize delays. Priority boarding is usually offered to Club Europe and BAEC Gold & Silver cardholders, but was not on this occasion. I presume this to be an oversight on the part of Servisair, BA’s handling agent in Dublin. After my boarding pass was inspected, I proceeded to the jetway where a number of passengers were waiting. After some 10 minutes of waiting (in a chilly area) we were informed that there would be a delay of approximately 30 minutes due to a technical issue and we would be informed of any developments.

I returned to the lounge, and an announcement made that any passengers booked in Club Europe with hand baggage only should report to Gate 313 to be rebooked on a later morning flight. I duly went to gate 313 where an agent was dealing with a customer. No other agents were in sight, so (along with a number of others so instructed), I waited. After some minutes, a number of Servisair staff arrived, and without any preamble announced boarding for BA 0831, with apologies for the delay.

Communication appears to be an issue amongst BA, Servisair and Lounge Staff.

Being in row 1 my hand baggage had to be stowed in the overhead bins, so if the flight is busy it can be worthwhile boarding early to ensure space is available close to the seat. There seems to be a high load factor on this route, so it is worth bearing this in mind.

The Airbus 320 was immaculate, with blue carpets and darker blue leather seats. The cabin is configured 3-3 with the first rows allocated to Club Europe. These have the middle seat converted into a table top with space for drinks, etc. It also allows for much more personal space, particularly in row 1.The cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers by name.

Inflight

The Captain gave a welcome, apologised for the delayed departure (explaining the precise details of the technical issue!), and details of flight time( approximately one hour).This was followed by a safety announcement from the cabin crew. We pushed back shortly afterwards and were airborne around 9.00am.

When cruising altitude was reached, there was a hot towel service, followed by a hot breakfast :

• Bacon
• Sausage
• Mushroom
• Tomato
• Scrambled egg

This was served with a cuplet of juice, sliced fresh fruit and a choice of warm breads & pastries. Feeling self indulgent, I asked for a snipe of champagne (Pommery) and thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

We landed in Heathrow around 10.15am, and were on stand shortly afterwards. There was a technical issue with the jetty, which could not be pushed positioned in such a way as to allow the aircraft door to open. The Captain was very apologetic and said that steps were being fetched. The steps outside obviously weren’t the right ones! After almost 20 minutes wait, the correct steps arrived, and passengers began to deplane from the rear of the aircraft. At this point, a technician had arrived to the jetty and within seconds it was in position so as to deplane from the front!

As I was flying onward to Edinburgh, I had the option of using the flight connection centre or going landside and approaching security directly. I chose the latter as past experience of slow security clearance using flight connections can be an issue.

T5 security

The fast pass lane was empty, and I was airside very quickly indeed.

Lounge

My Gold Status meant I could use the BA First lounge in south end of T5. Given the amount of comments regarding the new catering company, I was very interested to compare the new offering. On approaching reception, I was warmly greeted and welcomed to the lounge.

It is a very large and impressive lounge with several seating areas, excellent views of the apron and a smaller selection of international newspapers and magazines than heretofore. There is a huge choice of seat types too: finding a comfortable spot is certainly not going to be an issue!

There is a business centre which offers complimentary internet access, fax and printing facilities.

The range of food on offer is much less than before: jars of biscuits, plain crisps….and little else

There is a dedicated champagne bar which had a choice of Bollinger Rose, Eric Lemaine or Tattinger. I had a couple of glasses of the latter and thoroughly enjoyed them!

As well as the aforementioned range of food, there is a hot buffet self service area. Up to noon, breakfast is available, with lunch after noon.

The breakfast buffet was somewhat tired looking. It was 11.30am, but the bacon and mushrooms were very dried up and unappetizing. The grilled tomatoes were cold.

The new caterers’ buffet consists of:

• Fresh fruit
• Breads, scones, pastries
• Cereals
• Yogurts
• Bacon
• Pork sausage
• Scrambled egg
• Beans
• Mushrooms
• Toast

Additionally a number of items are available to order from a menu and are served on request. Again the range is greatly reduced:

• Poached egg & kippers
• Breakfast sandwich
• Boiled eggs & soldiers
• Porridge

There are a number of very friendly attendants who regularly ask of there is anything further they can fetch. The lunch menu begins at 12 noon, and the buffet changes to:

• Jacket Potatoes
• Pasta
• Rice
• A couple of curry/chilli type dishes
• Salads (but no cold meats)
• Small range of finger sandwiches

This is a much reduced range and appears to be of a quality similar to a Galleries lounge. It is almost identical to that which Star Alliance offer in their T1 Business lounge. However it falls short of what should be available in a First Lounge. Remember this lounge is the BA & One World flagship.

The table service menu consists of:

• A range of hot sandwiches
• Caesar salad
• BA Burger with sea salt & cracked pepper wedges
• Poached Salmon, crushed new potatoes with horseradish and sorrel cream sauce
• Szechuan chicken with wok fried vegetables
• Elderflower panacotta, berry compote
• Delice Chocloate Opera
• British cheeseboard: applewood, long clawson stilton, denhay cheddar, Bath Oliver biscuits with chutney, quince jelly.

The staff who serve these meals are very friendly indeed, and I ordered the Szechuan chicken. It was served quickly, and was presented in three separate dishes: chicken, rice, vegetables. It tasted as nice as it looked.

I had a long conversation with Sindy (BA Customer service in the lounge) about the catering. My views are that the buffets are vastly inferior, but table service very good indeed. It seems that many others have voiced similar views, and these are being actively considered, which is good to hear.

It is a learning curve for the new catering company, and only time will tell if they are able to meet the former standards which BA customers have come to expect.

Boarding (LHR-EDI)

Boarding is through an airbridge and there is a dedicated queue for BAEC Silver & Gold members. Boarding began almost as soon as I arrived at the gate, and I was on board very quickly.

The Airbus was immaculate and cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers. The seats are upholstered in Navy blue leather with adjustable headrests. UK Domestic is a single class service and seats are configured 3-3 throughout the cabin. I had selected 1A which I particularly like at there is no seatback in front of me. Unlike Club Europe, the middle seats are occupied, and it was a very full flight.

Inflight

The Captain gave a brief welcome, and details of flight times, followed by a safety video shown on a drop down screen.

Given the short flight time (1Hour) the service is basic but quite acceptable. There is a full bar service and a choice of crisps, nuts, etc. The cabin crew were excellent in all regards. We landed at Edinburgh on time, and were quickly on stand. It was a short walk to the arrivals hall and I was outside the building within minutes of landing.

Returning to Edinburgh airport later in the day, I went directly to security, which was very quiet and I was airside within minutes.

Edinburgh is quite small, but quite busy. BA’s lounge is well signposted and is opposite the departure gates. The lady at reception was very welcoming. This lounge is large, bright with lots of natural light from windows in the roof. There is no outside view, however. Unlike most BA lounges, restrooms are outside and shared with other bars.

There is plenty of space and I selected a quiet corner to read. There is a business section with complimentary internet access, printing, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised with the range of food: plenty of sandwiches, Scottish lentil soup, bread rolls, biscuits (in jars!) cheese, crackers and cold cuts. When the lounge got busy later, the staff excelled themselves in making sure the food was replenished regularly.

There was a good range of savoury nibbles and a full bar, with champagne served on request by very friendly staff. The friendliness and professionalism of the new company’s staff is exemplary.

The boarding gate for London Heathrow was adjacent to the lounge, with a separate lane for BAEC Gold & Silver cardholders.

The aircraft was identical to that on the inbound flight, with equally good service. We landed in T5, and deplaned quickly. After a short walk, I was landside and used the Heathrow Express to transfer to T1.

Security Heathrow T1

I arrived at security around 8pm for my 9.40pm flight. There were few passengers and I was airside within a few minutes. I have found security at T1 to be usually much more efficient that T5, and today’s experience mirrored this. After a small bit of shopping I made my way to the lounge.

Lounge Heathrow

The former BMI Lounge is very big and was refurbished shortly before the BA takeover. I was curious to see what changes had been made since my last visit. The décor and furnishings remain unchanged, as does the very relaxing night time lighting. I was pleased to learn that I would be boarding from Gate 8 right beside the lounge.

There was a good range of newspapers & magazines, and a business area with complimentary internet access.

The food on offer consisted of the remains of a vat of mushroom soup: scraping the bottom yielded just enough to half fill a bowl. There were no bread rolls left, nor sandwiches. There was some tired looking sliced cheese with crackers. Bowls of fruit and crisps were available, with very few biscuits.

The very least I expected would have been a decent bowl of soup and a sandwich: I was very disappointed in the fare on offer.

Boarding

My Dublin bound flight boarded at gate 8, almost beside the lounge. There is a dedicated lane for BAEC Gold/Silver card holders and Club Europe passengers..

The Airbus 320 was identical to that on the inbound flight . The cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers. The flight was quite busy both in economy, and Club Europe.

After a welcome announcement from the Captain, we pushed back at just before 9.40pm. During a lengthy taxi, the cabin crew gave a safety demonstration. Followed by a hot towel service, however.

The meal offered was a cold plate (sliced salami, prosciutto with shredded vegetables) but no warm breads. Having had such a poor offering in the lounge, I was hoping for something more substantial, but given the lateness of the hour a light meal might be deemed appropriate. I asked for a glass of champagne, and was served a snipe of Pommery. This was nicely chilled, and a replenishment was offered which I gratefully accepted.

The flight landed on time, and after a short taxi, we were on stand and deplaned. There was no delay at passport control and I was landside very quickly.

Conclusion

The UK Domestic product is perfectly acceptable for such short flights. Given the full flights between London and Edinburgh, the travelling public agree.

As to the Club Europe product, I was disappointed with the boarding and deplaning on the DUB-LHR flight, but felt that LHR-DUB was let down by the very poor lounge experience. The new caterers in BA lounges have not yet managed to equal the previous standard, but may well get there in time.

PatJordan flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (17/04/2013 21:11)

DUB-LHR(Club Europe)

Booking and check in

In the wake of their takeover of BMI, BA have returned to the London-Dublin route, in direct competition with Aer Lingus. As a result, Club Europe makes a welcome return to this route.

I needed to go from Dublin to Manchester and with no time constraints, decided to explore the possibility of a reward flight with BA via LHR.

There was availability for the dates I wanted, and little trouble in making the booking. The total charges and fees were 45euro and 18,000 Avios. This was for both flights, DUB-LHR-DUB in Club Europe and LHR-MAN-LHR in UK Domestic. This was excellent value indeed, and provided a further opportunity to sample the BA product on the DUB-LHR leg.

As a BA Executive Club Gold Card holder, I was offered the opportunity to select my seats online at time of booking. The front rows of the Airbus 320 were available, and I chose 1A for DUB-LHR-DUB on both flights.

On line check-in is available 24 hours prior to travel, and I used this facility to print my boarding passes for all my flights.

I arrived at Dublin Terminal 1 just after 6.20am for my 07.50am flight and proceeded straight to security. Since Aer Lingus and transatlantic operators have migrated to Terminal 2, there is a lower number of passengers using T1 which makes it far less crowded than heretofore. BA Club Europe includes use of the fast track security lane which is useful. I was airside in less than a minute.

Lounge (Dublin)

BA use the Dublin Airport Authority executive lounge in what was formerly known as Pier B. The lounge used to be the Aer Lingus Gold Circle lounge and retains the same panoramic views of the apron. There is a variety of seat types: I chose a deep beige leather armchair beside the business area.

A small range of newspapers and magazines is available, and restrooms outside the lounge.

There is a limited range of food: fruit, cheese, biscuits, crackers, crisps and packaged bread. Orange juice is available in small cartons in the fridge. Not the most enticing of offerings, and certainly below the standard of the majority of BA lounges.

The coffee, however, is good and strong (perfect for early morning!) with a good range of soft and alcoholic drinks.

The lounge is a short walk from gates 301-313 (the old B pier) and makes boarding quite easy. We boarded from Gate 313.

Boarding

Boarding is through an airbridge and rearmost rows are called first to minimize delays. Priority boarding is offered to Club Europe and BAEC Gold & Silver cardholders.

Being in row 1 my hand baggage had to be stowed in the overhead bins, so if the flight is busy it can be worthwhile boarding early to ensure space is available close to the seat.

The Airbus 320 was immaculate, with blue carpets and darker blue leather seats. The cabin is configured 3-3 with the first rows allocated to Club Europe. These have the middle seat converted into a table top with space for drinks, etc. It also allows for much more personal space, particularly in row 1.The cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers by name.

Inflight

The Captain gave a brief welcome and details of flight times, and the news of a delay in departing for Heathrow: around 30 minutes.This was followed by a safety announcement from the cabin crew. We pushed back shortly after 8.20am and were airborne after a short taxi.

When cruising altitude was reached, there was a hot towel service, followed by a hot breakfast :

• Bacon
• Sausage
• Mushroom
• Tomato
• Scrambled egg

This was served with a cuplet of juice, sliced fresh fruit and a choice of warm breads. Feeling self indulgent, I asked for a snipe of champagne (Pommery) and thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

We landed in Heathrow around 9.30am, not too far behind schedule. As I was flying onward to Manchester, I took the option of the coach to the flight connection centre from which there was a further coach to T5. This short journey gave an interesting view of the substantial building work at LHR. At one point we drove past a (Cathay Pacific) 747 and (Singapore Airlines) A380. Looking upwards from the coach gave an unusual view of these majestic aircraft.

T5 security

Despite not being airside since deplaning, it is still necessary to clear security in T5. The fast pass queue comprised about a dozen passengers, but still took nearly 15 minutes to clear. The queue for non-fast pass was much longer and the wait time correspondingly longer too. It is difficult to fathom why there should be such slow progress through what is a pretty simple procedure.

Lounge

My Gold Status meant I could use the BA First lounge in south end of T5. On approaching reception, I was warmly greeted and welcomed to the lounge.

It is a very large and impressive lounge with several seating areas, excellent views of the apron and a wide selection of international newspapers and magazines. There is a huge choice of seat types too: finding a comfortable spot is certainly not going to be an issue!

There is a business centre which offers complimentary internet access, fax and printing facilities.

There was a vast range of food on offer: savoury nibbles, Walkers cake slices and biscuits, cheese, crackers and a full bar service. There is a dedicated champagne bar which had a choice of Bollinger Rose or Tattinger. I had a couple of glasses of the latter and thoroughly enjoyed them!

As well as the aforementioned range of food, there is a hot buffet self service area. Up to noon, breakfast is available, with lunch after noon.

The breakfast buffet includes:

• Fresh fruit salad
• Fruit Coulis
• Breads, scones, pastries
• Cereals
• Yogurts
• Cheeses
• Cold meats
• Muffins
• Bacon
• Cumberland and Vegetarian sausage
• Scrambled egg
• Black Pudding
• Beans
• Mushrooms
• Herb potatoes
• Toast

Additionally a number of items are available to order from a menu and are served on request. There are a number of very friendly attendants who regularly ask of there is anything further they can fetch. Late morning, I felt a little puckish and ordered kippers & poached egg from this menu. The kipper was smoked and accompanied by two lightly poached eggs and was delicious.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the BA First lounge, and on this occasion, wouldn’t have been too put out if my flight had been delayed. However, it was on time, so I left for Gate 6, which is at the opposite end of the terminal.

Boarding (LHR-MAN)

Boarding is through an airbridge and there is a dedicated queue for BAEC Silver & Gold members. Boarding began almost as soon as I arrived at the gate, and I was on board very quickly.

The Airbus 321 was immaculate and cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers. I was greeted by name. The seats are upholstered in Navy blue leather with adjustable headrests. UK Domestic is a single class service and seats are configured 3-3 throughout the cabin. I had selected 1D which I particularly like at there is no seatback in front of me. Unlike Club Europe, the middle seats are occupied, and it was a very full flight.

Inflight

The Captain gave a brief welcome, and details of flight times, followed by a safety video shown on a drop down screen.

Given the short flight time (45minutes) the service is basic but quite acceptable. There is a full bar service and a choice of crisps, nuts, etc. The cabin crew were excellent in all regards. We landed at Manchester on time, and were quickly on stand. It was a short walk to the arrivals hall and I was outside the building within minutes of landing.

Returning to Manchester airport later in the day, I went directly to security. There was a fast track lane and I asked whether this was open to BAEC Gold card holders. A particularly unhelpful staff member told me to contact my airline. There was a small queue for security and I was airside in less than 10 minutes. Thankfully, the remaining security staff were much friendlier than their colleague!

Manchester T3 is quite small, but quite busy. BA’s lounge is well signposted and is o on the upper level. The lady at reception was very welcoming. The lounge an unusual design in that it is a curved and overlooks both the apron and departure lounge. There was the standard choice of seats, and I sat overlooking the apron: I later moved as the large windows made it very warm.

There was a good range of savoury nibbles and a full bar, with champagne served on request (by very friendly staff). However, the food was limited to a few trays of sandwiches which were not terribly fresh.

The boarding gate for London Heathrow was beside the stairs to the lounge, however there was no separate lane for BAEC Gold & Silver cardholders.

The aircraft was identical to that on the inbound flight, with equally good service. We landed in T5, and deplaned quickly. After a short walk, I was landside and used the Heathrow Express to transfer to T1.

Security Heathrow T1

I arrived at security around 8pm for my 9.40pm flight. There were few passengers and I was airside within a few minutes. I have found security at T1 to be usually much more efficient that T5, and today’s experience mirrored this. After a small bit of shopping I made my way to the lounge.

Lounge Heathrow

The former BMI Lounge is very big and was refurbished shortly before the BA takeover. I was curious to see what changes had been made since my last visit. The décor and furnishings remain unchanged, as does the very relaxing night time lighting. I asked the lady at reception whether the flight departed from the adjacent gate 8,or the more distant gates 78-90. I was pleased to learn that I would be boarding from Gate 8!

There was a good range of newspapers & magazines, and a business area with complimentary internet access.

The food on offer consisted of the remains of a vat of tomato soup: scraping the bottom yielded just enough to half fill a bowl. There were two bread rolls in a large dish. There was some tired looking sliced cheese with crackers. Bowls of fruit, biscuits and crisps were available.

The very least I expected would have been a decent bowl of soup and a sandwich: I was very disappointed in the fare on offer.

Boarding

My Dublin bound flight boarded at gate 8, almost beside the lounge. There is a dedicated lane for BAEC Gold/Silver card holders and Club Europe passengers..

The Airbus 320 was identical to that on the inbound flight with one unusual feature: above the crew seats the VDU Screen displayed “BMI” in large letters! The cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers. The flight was quite busy in economy, but only a handful of passengers were in CE.

After a welcome announcement from the Captain, we pushed back at just before 9.40pm. During a lengthy taxi, the cabin crew gave a safety demonstration. There was no hot towel service, however.

The meal offered was a cold plate (sliced chicken in chili sauce with shredded vegetables) and warm breads. Having had such a poor offering in the lounge, I was hoping for something more substantial, but given the lateness of the hour a light meal might be deemed appropriate. I asked for a glass of champagne, and was served a snipe of Pommery. This was nicely chilled, and a replenishment was offered which I declined.

The flight landed on time, and after a short taxi, we were on stand and deplaned. As one of the first off the aircraft, it was a little disconcerting to find nobody to guide passengers towards passport control. However we found our way, there was no delay and I was landside very quickly.

Conclusion

The UK Domestic product is perfectly acceptable for such short flights. Given the full flights between London and Manchester, the travelling public agree.

As to the Club Europe product, I was quite pleased with the DUB-LHR flight, but felt that LHR-DUB was let down by the poor lounge experience.

1nfrequent flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (28/03/2013 23:27)

I flew BA from LHR to LBA. It was a trip of firsts for me – first domestic BA flight, first time using Terminal 1 and first time using a BA business lounge as a silver cardholder. I usually take the train up to Bradford but having had a couple of horrendous experiences the last couple of years (including a 5 hour standing room only experience that I never want to repeat), I decided to try BA on the route to see how it compared.

I was flying out on the last day before the long Easter weekend so I was prepared for both transport disruption and a heaving airport. In the event, the transport wasn’t too bad. I used the Tube to get to Terminal 1 but the carriage wasn’t too busy and apart from a 5 minute wait at Terminal 4, the journey took 45 minutes from central London. However Terminal 1 was heaving with queues to take the moving walkway, the escalators and the elevator up to Departures, which was jam packed with people.

I made my way over to Area B, which is where BA is based. Unsurprisingly it was also packed, with a very long queue for the ET/WT bag drop desks. There was only one BA member of staff being around to help people use the self-service check-in desks and he was busy on the telephone. Fortunately I’d checked in on-line the night before and printed out my boarding card. As a newly minted silver cardholder, I was also able to use the bag drop at the CW/CE desks where there was no queue whatsoever. The check-in agent was very friendly, put a priority tag on my suitcase and told me where to find the BA lounge.

There’s an entrance to the security checks next to the BA check-in desks, together with a priority channel that can be used by business and first class ticket holders and people with BAEC gold or silver cards. I was a little thrown by the fact that in addition to a manned desk, there were also electronic gateways that read your boarding pass and take a photo. A member of staff directed me to use the gate instead of queuing for the manned desk and I had some difficulty using it – the gate took several attempts to read the boarding pass and I had a problem getting my photo taken properly. As a result, I was a bit flustered when I finally managed to get through the gate and by the time I realised I wasn’t in the priority line, it was too late to turn back.

It took 25 minutes to get through security because of sheer passenger numbers – including a lot of families trying to get away for a break. All but one of the machines was running and the staff were very proactive in getting people through and very good with young kids who were obviously a little scared of the whole thing. I thought that they took a bit of a haphazard approach to making people take off their shoes – some did, others didn’t and it wasn’t immediately obvious whether you’d get picked on. I ended up just taking mine off and shoving them through because it seemed easiest. Interestingly, the staff were very hot on anyone trying to take photos of the queues – I saw one member of staff go after someone like a Terminator when she thought she’d seen a camera flash.

Once through security, the terminal itself looked okay – a good variety of shops and eateries and places to sit but obviously the strength of passenger numbers meant that it was all being stretched. I decided to head straight to the BA lounge, which was clearly sign-posted. However it wasn’t long before I found myself in another queue along with a lot of other confused passengers. A member of airport staff finally came along to tell people who were heading to Gate 5 that they could by-pass the queue and carry on down but everyone heading to Gates 7 and 8 (including the Aer Lingus and BA lounges) had to remain in the queue. One passenger asked for assistance because he had only 5 minutes to get to his gate before it closed. The member of staff said they didn’t have authority to help him but pointed to another member of staff who listened to what the man said, said that he’d go and ask and then never came back. No idea if the man made his flight but he was understandably anxious and frankly, the airport staff didn’t give a damn.

It turned out that the reason for the queue was that a second security check was in operation, this time with every passenger (including babies) having their pictures taken before being allowed through to the gate. By way of warning to others – once you are through this security check, you cannot go back to the main terminal, which is important because there are only 2 shops at the gates – a Costa and a WH Smith so if you need anything, you’re pretty much stuffed. I’ve got no idea if these checks are normal or a one off, but they did take everyone by surprise and there was nothing to indicate that they were in effect and it took 15 minutes to get through them.

Once I was through the second security check, I easily found the BA lounge. There was one dragon on duty who greeted me warmly. The lounge itself is a good size and was comparatively empty when I got there. There were a lot of comfy chairs and sofas and I selected one near the window overlooking the apron so I could see the planes loading up and taking off. By contrast there weren’t too many desks set up (although there is a separate computer bank). Food and drink was divided between 3 islands – each island had slightly different stock so my tip would be to take a walk around. There wasn’t a huge amount of choice on the food front – crisps, crackers and cheese (stilton or cheddar) and biscuits. There was more choice on the drink front with coffee/tea machines, a range of soft drinks and a range of spirits and wines. The only hot option was a red pepper and tomato soup, which wasn’t to my taste. I ended up grabbing a couple of bread rolls, some cheese and biscuits and a couple of cans of ginger ale. There were also flat screen TVs showing Sky news and a range of newspapers and magazines for those who wanted them.

At 6.25pm I made my way over to the gate where there were already a large number of people waiting. The gate finally opened at 6.40pm with a call for passengers with children or mobility issues and gold and silver BAEC members. There was a big problem with gate lice crowding the gate, which the ground crew didn’t try to address. Boarding was via an air bridge and I was greeted by a member of the cabin crew with a warm smile and addressed by name.

The plane was an Airbus 319 with a 3 by 3 configuration. It’s a single class flight and I picked seat 5D because it was the closest available to the front. All 3 seats are available for selection, but I was lucky that in my row the middle seat hadn’t been chosen, giving both me and the passenger in the window seat some extra room. The plane itself was clean, the seats comfortable and a little worn but perfectly fine.

Pushback was early at 6:58pm with the crew doing a safety demonstration as we taxied to the runway and the captain gave a brief update on the anticipated flight time. Lights were dimmed because it was a night flight and we were air-born by 7.20pm. Trolley service began at 7.30pm from the front of the plane. Service was efficient with passengers offered a range of drinks (including alcohol) and snacks (crisps, biscuits and nuts). I think that they’d made it to the back of the plane by the time the captain announced that we were 10 minutes from landing at LBA. The trolley then came back down to collect rubbish. Cabin crew were polite and supremely efficient given the short flight time.

We landed at 7.53pm and taxied to an air bridge and I disembarked at 8pm. The only bum note was the 20 minute wait for baggage but my bag was the second one off, enabling me to head off into Bradford.

Price wise, the flight was comparable to booking an advance first class ticket and you get the benefit of Avios and tier points. However, you do jump through more hoops, which represents more hassle and adds to the overall journey time. For me, the Avios and tier points made it more worthwhile than the train plus as a status holder with BA, I get to use the facilities, which is much more appealing than the train stations. On the whole, I think that I would take this flight again if I was heading up to the Leeds-Bradford area again but I recognise that it wouldn’t be for everyone and if speed is important, then you are better off by train.

KeaneJohn flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (24/03/2013 19:01)

Checked in relatively early and went through to the Menzies Aviation Lounge. Fast Track Immigration anything but although shorter than the usual queues.

The usual range of refreshments (stale bread, yoghurt, fruit salad and chocolate filled pre packed croissants) was available together with a limited bar and a range of hot drinks. 40 minutes before take off, flight came up as Final Call in the lounge. For those familiar with Prague security is completed at the gate room. A3. Despite having 2 x ray machines there was one long queue which was going down rather quickly and no Fast Track

After security boarded aircraft to be take seat 3F. Relatively full flght with overhead lockers above Club Europe filled a lot by people from Economy using them on way down the back. This meant one guy from 3A having nowhere to stow his hand luggage. He asked the crew for assistance and the CSM took it back to about row 7. The guy protested to the crew who just shrugged his shoulders and walked off. This is something that is going to get worse as BA introduce hand luggage only fares on routes out of Gatwick.

Boarding completed 15 minutes early but due to a departure restriction we were going to have a 15 minute wait followed by 15 minute taxi before take off.

Once airborne guy in 2F fully reclined his seat and so it was right in my face. I am 6ft6 and despite the little extra leg room my knees were now in the back of his seat. He even had has seat fully reclined for the meal service despite him sitting forward. DIdn't want to cause a scene by asking him to put it up whilst eating.

Once he had eaten he moved to the empty 3D leaving his 2F seat fully reclined. I asked him if he still needed that seat reclined to which he replied he did not so I asked the crew to move the seat forward. This caused a bit of disruption to a few people which I hope made this inconsiderate passenger feel uncomfortable.

Shortly after take off crew commenced in flight serviced. This seemed very disjointed with one person doing the food and another following with drinks. With the drinks trolley having to return to the Galley at least twice whilst the person doing food wanted something.

I was last to be served so had no choice was just presented with what was left over. Three slices of salami, a quarter of an egg cut in half again, a dollop of mayonnaise, a tiny piece of cheese, one slice of cucumber, and a piece of tomato.. Brunch. Served with cold coffee and some champagne. Didn't notice the coffee was cold until after the crew had gone back to the galley and pressed the call bell. 10 minutes later they had not come back through the cabin so gave up.

Cabin cleared away relatively quickly with regular drinks runs throughout. 40 minutes of holding before getting the 10 minutes to landing sign 5 minutes before our regular STA. Hot towels came out at this time.

Flight crew seemed disjointed and switched off for the vast majority of the flight really only gaining momentum in the last half. Catering offering shocking on a flight that had moved its timing forward 20 minutes which would have previously had a hot meal served.

Compared to outbound flight which was one of the best, this has to go down as one of the worst overall experiences due to the lounge, boarding, staff interaction and catering. Looks like I will have to review my choices of flight times on my regular trips to Prague.

Bunnahabhain flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B767-300 (European config.) (24/03/2013 12:05)

British Airways London Heathrow to Larnaca, Cyprus

BA operates a daily rotation between Heathrow T3 and Larnaca with a 2-class 767-300, departing at 0840 to arrive 1510, then returning at 1625 to arrive back in London at 1940. This aircraft type and configuration also operates the flights to Istanbul and Athens. Heathrow to Larnaca is also served by Cyprus Airways and Aegean; I'm unfamiliar with their fleets but those I saw parked at Larnaca were A320 family.

BA operates from Gatwick to Paphos in summer, presumably with a 737.

A lady who was in my hotel and the lounge on the return leg said she was flying with BA back to Birmingham; there was certainly no flight to BHX with any airline listed on the departure screens (Friday afternoon) for the rest of the day, so this is a bit of a mystery - she didn't seem to be under the influence of the complimentary alcohol and got her UK geography confused! At first I thought LHR must be closed again by the snow and she knew of a diversion. I know BA operates summer Saturday charters from Scottish airports to destinations in Spain, but haven't heard of weekday or winter ones to / from other UK airports - again this would be useful to know.

Heathrow - Larnaca

I arrived at 0700 for the 0840 flight, having checked in via the BA iPhone app. Bag drop is in zone G towards the far end. My hold bag was priority tagged at the separate Club Europe desk. Security was the usual claustrophobic experience that is T3 but relatively swift. The passport control desks immediately after security were unstaffed, which I had not experienced before although rarely use T3 so perhaps this is common. I headed for the Galleries lounge, much about which has been written elsewhere on the site.

Boarding was from the usual gate 24 cowshed for the remote stands. The fast track lane was signposted but blocked by a turnstile, so I joined the general queue for the buses at gate B; there was no obvious separate CE bus. The one set of covered steps (it was a right dreich day as we say in Scotland) led to the N2 door at the galley which separates rows 9 and 12 - there is no row 10 or 11, although there is row 13 which I thought most aircraft avoided. (Many hospitals I've been in don't have wards or rooms 13 either!)

Club Europe covers rows 1 to 9 in the front cabin, then 12 to 14 in the main cabin; Economy starts at row 15, separated only by a moveable exit sign, not any type of curtain. Configuration is 2-2-2 throughout Club, and 2-3-2 in Economy. The centre section seats D and F are separated by the small seat with fold down table; the left and right sections of seats A and B then J and K have the standard armrest separation only. Seat pitch and width seemed to be similar to Economy, but there must be slightly wider for the centre unused seat in Club to be narrower than the extra seat in Economy - if you know what I mean! 1 and 12 are bulkhead rows, with a galley in front of each; row 9 has a toilet in each aisle between it and the galley behind. Club service in rows 12 to 14 appeared to be from the N1 galley, with that at N2 serving the front half of Economy, whose passengers may also use the toilets behind row 9.

I was in 14J on the outbound; although immediately in front of the Economy seating which looked full, I had the consolation that 14K was empty. On the return leg I was in 9F. The centre section seats D and F offer more space with the centre seat and small table, and aisle access for all passengers. Unless you want to cuddle up with a travelling companion or prefer a window seat, choose these over the left or right sections. The bulkhead rows 1 and 12 avoid seat recline from in front, as well documented elsewhere. Row 1 is slightly better than 12 as there are no toilets, with possible first disembarking if the N1 door is used. Meal choice is also more likely to be available.

IFE is refitted flat screens of about 15 inches against the bulkheads and ceiling, as detailed towards the end of the pages in High Life.

We pushed back slightly late and took off at 0915. Despite the weather the climb out was smooth, however the passengers were not released for over 30 minutes - I have experienced this before out of LHR with no explanation from the crew on domestic flights, by which time it can be time to descend. One for a separate thread!

Service commenced from the front galley at row 1, so I was last to be served. Firstly hot towels, then an appetiser and drinks. The menu cards were then handed out; on the return leg this was done before the appetiser. Next the main breakfast course with drinks on request.

Menu;

Chilled fruit juice
Fresh fruit appetiser
Sweet curd with marinated wild berries

Traditional English breakfast
or
Smoked salmon crepe with breakfast potatoes and spinach-stuffed tomato
or
Bagel with cream cheese, Loch Fyne smoked salmon, caper berry and grilled courgette

Selection of breakfast pastries and warm bread rolls

I had the English breakfast which was tasty, with the full tray presentation reminiscent of halcyon days on the Shuttle 757s.

About an hour out of Larnaca there was another round of drinks, with the ubiquitous duty / tax free trolley in between. I do wonder if the fuel burn from the weight of these is covered by what always appears to be poor if indeed any sales, especially on short haul.

We landed at the scheduled arrival time of 1510, with a quick taxi. Airbridges were attached to both the N1 and N2 doors; the front CE cabin used the former. The passport control agents seemed to be caught out by the arrival and scurried to open more booths, which was eventually effective. Unlike in the reviews by the BT team, baggage reclaim was slow and the priority tagging had no effect, many of the Economy bags appeared before mine or other tagged ones. Another thing I always wonder about is at what point does the airline's service end on arrival and pass over to the airport operator, to which you seldom have any recourse.

The EU customs channel was closed (!!)

Larnaca - Heathrow

I arrived at 1430 for the 1625 flight, again having checked in via the iPhone app. Bag drop was at desk 64, with no queue and the standard arrangement for CE. I was given a voucher for the Cyprus Airways / Swissport lounge. There was no fast track security channel, and although the queue was short, I was held up by the lady in front of me who seemed to be wearing most of her hand luggage around her neck and was none too happy as to why it had to be removed.

The lounges are on the upper level of departures, accessed by lift or stairs to the left of the shopping area. There is also a Star Alliance lounge. It was relatively small and the food selection was limited to a finger buffet, otherwise it had all the usual facilities. Annoyingly the flight was listed as boarding at least 20 minutes before it actually commenced, at gate 25; this is common across airports and just causes crowding and frustration at the gate area. I know it's equally frustrating to be delayed by missing passengers, but there must be a way at least for those in lounges to be given more accurate boarding information. Feel an app coming on.

Boarding was a shambles, with the CE channel sign pointless and the announcements confusing. The three channels of boarding pass & passport checking funnelled into one narrow corridor, before the dual airbridges to the N1 and N2 doors, by which point things had become more civilised. As with baggage reclaim, no doubt the gate boarding process is not the responsibility of the airline, whose service effectively only begins when you step aboard the aircraft.

We pushed back slightly late and took off at 1650. Crew and passenger release was quick and service began with hot towels and menu cards, followed by the appetiser and drinks. The main course with more drinks was then served. The passenger adjacent to me in 9E continued to work on his laptop throughout the meal service and ate from his tray perched on the fold down table in what I can only describe as a well offside position; good job he wasn't in one of the left or right section seats.

Menu;

Appetiser - Selection of savoury appetisers!

Main - Chicken curry with Kashidi-style rice, or Salmon roulade in white wine sauce served with fresh vegetables

Warm bread rolls

Dessert - Chocolate fudge cake

Selection of cheese with crackers

I had the chicken curry, which was tasty but a bit dry in style for my liking. Wines were the usual selection of small bottles, with champagne available likewise. I didn't expect Bunnahabhain 18yo to be available - and it wasn't!

We were in the hold for about 30 minutes and landed around 2000, although the 09L landing meant a short taxi to the remote stand at T3. The sole set of coved steps was attached to the N2 door as on the outbound. The cabin crew member at that door started to let the Economy passengers disembark, and her colleague at the starboard side of the galley was trying to get her to stop them and allow the Club passengers off first, without success, so I joined the general scrum. There was a separate CE bus first in the line but it was already quite full of Economy passengers.

There was a long queue at passport control, although the e-gates were working.

This time I felt like Tom Otley as I strolled up to the carousel to see the bags from the flight already on the belt. It was the Economy luggage though - once again the priority bags came through after some time. Is it worth asking the CE check in agent to deliberately not priority tag your hold luggage?

Service from the crew on both legs was very good, especially on the return. This was perhaps partly psychological with being in the front CE-only cabin which feels more exclusive for the return, although to be fair to the outbound crew I didn't notice any difference in the pro-rata time they spent with the Club passengers in the last 3 rows in the main cabin.

Overall a very good service especially on board, with the wide body aircraft on a 4 to 5-hour route dominated by the narrow body series an advantage in terms of aisle access for all those in the centre seat sections, also 2-3-2 in Economy v the standard 3-3. I can't comment on the other carriers operating the route having never used them. The T3 remote stand saga is just a pain for whichever routes operate from there at any given time, and boarding at Larnaca was an embarrassing mess more akin to free seating on the LCCs.
Priority hold luggage tagging was simply useless on both sectors.
Departure times fitted well with hotel check in and out times for my leisure trip; for business friendly timings the other two carriers or a combination may well suit better.

My booking was with Avios only at short notice of one week, excellent value with the Reward Flight Saver at 40000 Avios and £40 return. I did not compare the cash only, part of each or upgrade with Avios rates. Interestingly the system does not allow a reward booking to Larnaca via LON from EDI, GLA, ABZ or NCL (stopping over in London each way due to the Larnaca flight times) as it does for most routes both short and long haul from London, for the same Avios rate and a slightly higher charges supplement. But it would let me book MAN-LHR-LCA - from the other domestic origins it says BA and its partners do not fly the route. So I had to make a separate booking EDI / LHR, fortunately the Reward Flight Saver was again available at 9000 Avios and £30 return. Over to the BA booking experts, crew and Alex McW on that one thanks.

KeaneJohn flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (23/03/2013 12:52)

Prompt and efficient check in at T3 and fast track security was fairly fast moving for a busy Thursday afternoon. Went to AA lounge first before settling down in a busier than usual Galleries Club. A couple of glasses of champagne and some nibbles before heading off to the LCC sytle gate 24 scrum and but to the aircraft.

Settled down in 3F but swapped seat to allow a couple that had been upgraded to sit together. Ended up sitting in 1D,.

Plenty of legroom and seat as comfortable as usual. We were not airborne until approx 1hr after STD due to a wait before pushing back and long wait for take off.

Hot towels came round before the bar service whilst supper was prepared. Offerings were warm chicken salad or a beef stew. Opted for the former which was delicious and served along with regular drink top ups.

With strong tail winds making up for some of the lost time on the ground arrived on stand just 18 minutes late. Lengthy queues for the Immigration were bypassed by use of the e-gates and surprisingly bags off fairly quickly.

All in all a very pleasurable experience with the in flight service virtually faultless by 2 members of crew that really went out of their way to personalise the service on this flight.

flydrive flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-400 (13/03/2013 14:27)

Gatwick - Dubrovnik return in CE for leisure.

Outbound:

Did not use check-in at the airport, but security quick and efficient although couldn't find any fast track. We went straight to the lounge to get a snack. While a good size, very busy with few available seats. It was late morning, and food on offer was breakfast; fairly good choice, although nothing hot besides beans or porridge. Requested and received champagne - twice. Always nice, but why not just put out the whole bottle! Guess that will have to wait until I'm Gold.

Boarding and departure smooth and on time. Had seats 1D and 1F, bulkhead. Plenty of room. Plane looked a bit worn, but relatively comfortable even though seats are simply economy with the middle one empty. Staff functional, although no particular warm welcome. Disappointed with food: flight was 2 1/2 hours, departing after 11 am, and the only food on offer was "brunch", which consisted of a cold plate with some meat and cheese and fruit. Uninspired. Drinks only came after the meal was served, and then the only offer was coffee/tea. I had to ask for something else, after which drinks were replenished often. I found this a bit odd - there was no juice or water on the tray, so it meant trying to down food with no drink. Given the relatively long flight, I was surprised there was no proper "drink, food, coffee, drink" itinerary. Flight attendants were fine but I did not notice any discernable difference from economy.

Flight landed early and being at the front, we were first through immigration, which was the highlight of the flight as far as I'm concerned.

Return:

Had to check in as on-line not available out of Dubrovnik. Easy and fast. Quick through security and up to a stifling and full contract lounge, which had plenty of drinks but nothing in the way of food besides packets of nuts and crisps. Flight departed on time.

Was seated further back in CE in A and C. This side of the aircraft is preferable if you are travelling with someone you actually want to speak with, as the gap between A and C is smaller than between D and F, while still offering extra room. If travelling alone, then D or F would be preferable. The leg room was a joke; except for B remaining empty, there is no difference from economy.

Service was perkier than the outbound, and followed a proper meal service with drinks, followed by dinner, coffee and more drinks. Dinner was a choice between beef stroganoff and cajun salmon salad, both of which were tried and found delicious. Flight attendants were a bit hurried, as there were 9 rows of business, but managed to still give personable service.

Landed a few minutes early and quickly out of LGW to the train station.

Verdict: A pleasant enough experience, with the punctuality the best thing going for a precious weekend away. CE tickets were a very good deal, only slightly more than economy, but in reality the benefits of CE were minimal except for the empty seat in the middle and slightly better food and service on offer. I certainly would not choose to pay a multiple of economy even for a longish European flight like this. It's just not worth it. But for about 50 pounds extra, it just about makes this a good value. I do think if BA wants to keep a business product, they need to keep up a noticeable difference from economy. The difference in pitch - or lack of - really lets the product down. I can deal with the economy seats (with middle empty) rather than proper business class, but the pitch needs to be upped if BA wants to be able to really charge a premium for CE.

flydrive

TominScotland flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (13/03/2013 01:18)

This was a connector flight to my long-haul from T3 and so it was perturbing to hear of a delay at check-in - 40 minutes at that time. I had tried to check in online for the previous 24 hours but had repeatedly received an error message in reply so it was the traditional route. I was booked on two tickets (GLA - BKK and BKK to Phnom Penh with Bangkok Airways and, oddly, the system allowed through boarding passes but luggage just to BKK. Fine, I had allowed myself plenty of time so off my luggage went, priority tagged and all but, with the delay, some concern on my part about connecting times.

I went upstairs, through a quiet security and on to the new BA lounge in Glasgow which seems to have slipped in, un reported on BT. It is, in fact, the old bmi lounge but totally revamped into a much larger space than the old (but still quite new) Terraces Lounge. I thought the catering, while fine, was disappointing after the old lounge - fresh fruit, for example, has gone. There is also a longer walk to the BA gates and no priority access to the adjacent gate.

Boarding commenced 10 minutes prior to the revised departure time and there was no priority called - just front and back lines which is quite a complicated request to make for most business travellers, many of whom had to be told that 21C is not at the front of the aircraft!!

Take off was 50 minutes behind schedule but, ith a short flying time, I did not anticipate problems with my trasfer to T3. Service was standard aboard and, indeed, we landed and were at the gate relatiovely quickly and 40 minutes late. This gave me 80 minutes for the transfer - no problems. So it proved for myself and I was in T3 and at my gate within 30 minutes..... My luggage? At the Gate, I was told, "I can see that it has been checked at T5 and again here at T3, Sir" so should be fine"...... Mmmmmmm

FormerlyDoS flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (27/02/2013 22:16)

BA GOT LHR

A320 with spacesaver seats.

Check in was fast, efficient and friendly security a little slow. Although there is a fastlane, BA don't pay for their business class pax to use it, so I stood there and watched a good number of SK pax pass my by - I think I might take SK next time.

The shared Menzies lounge is adequate, but no more, with a reasonable selection of drinks and a poor selection of food.

Boarding was fast for me, as I was the #3 pax by the desk, but I didn't hear any calls for priority boarding for CE pax, which is irritating, as was the experience of getting to my seat and finding the bassinet lowered, with pens and other things on it and the overhead locker full of crew luggage.

On boarding, I was 'sir', not 'Mr FDoS' and there was no 'welcome back', the crew were a little robotic and self absorbed - I was treated to a long and loud conversation from the front galley during the descent, inoffensive stuff, but a little gauche for a full service airline. Likewise, on arrival at T5, the two crew stood talking to each other whilst we awaited a bus on the remote stand and they made no attempt to talk to me, even though I was only a few feet away. They didn't say goodbye, either, when we deplaned.

There were no hot towels and the dinner order included the first drinks. I thought the prawn curry didn't taste of curry and was a little greasy, not that great, but the mini bottle of Pommery was very pleasant. It took a long time to be asked if I wished to have a refill (I only took a water), but at least I was asked.

So far, not that great, but things did pick up at T5; firstly, the 4 of us had a separate bus and the driver was very polite and friendly and then after a quick Iris (the m/c on the LHS was o/s, but the RHS was ok), the bags arrived quickly and the priority tagging had been respected, with all the tagged bags coming out first.

So, on balance, the trip was okay but this crew was not one of BA's better and they did let their company down a little.

SBingham flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B767-300 (European config.) (21/02/2013 23:41)

After two years of flying LHR to IST once or twice a month and being told the 767's would get a refurb. I found to my surprise that this plane had been done, they do look allot better and tv screens far more practical and well placed. The lunch served was great and choices offered. CC attentive and worked hard but this ethic came straight from the CSD who seemed to run a tight ship. Overall a nice enjoyable flight.

Henryp1 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (10/02/2013 19:11)

Sunday 1pm Heathrow to Berlin.

Check in nice and fast very polite and chatty agent. But security slow and pulled aside for a pat down. Only one agent performing, so had to wait while the couple ahead complained that its not fair and they don't get this in USA. To be fair I had omitted to take out a tube of hand cream and put into the plastic bag. But this did delay me by 15 minutes as the security guard undertook this very thoroughly. A good result and I was on my way.

Even now I still find the trek to the Galleries to be tiresome and feels quite tortuous at times, unless stopping off for shopping on route. Lounge busy but not packed. Lunch was quite nice and then a dash back to the post box before heading back to A19. Boarding quick and aboard into 2A with no real delay, just the scrum of passengers who followed.

Cabin full with I think 7 rows but service not noticeably slow. Hot towels, which are very thready and almost transparent followed by which I was surprised to have a nice salad with various meats and salad items. Followed by a small, warm rolls and cheese cake. Coffee good and hot.

Less than 90 minutes to Berlin and the tax free trolleys made a mad dash through the cabin and a good landing. Baggage off the belt quickly.

Overall a very good flight and experience. With CE I do believe it is very well worthwhile and I appreciate the smaller cabin and service.

norbert2008 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A321 (28/01/2013 12:24)

Lunch time flight from Brussels to LHR. Beware you need to take out your duty free from bags to pass security! Loung staff lovely and found me to tell me UK paper were now in. Odd food selection but nice pate in pastry. Boarding was odd. Please get your staff to police business class line and not let anyone just crash in. Again bright friendly crew. Very nice quick lunch goats cheese and beetroot salad, hot rolls and choc pud. Captain gave me the sad news about Murray loss too. Well done BA even had time for a nice chat with CSD.

norbert2008 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (28/01/2013 12:11)

Quick afternoon flight to Brussels. Lounge sandwiches were at time a little sad looking (maybe take some advice from M&S) but wine selection was very good indeed. Boarding was quick with everyone on and push back dead on time. Afternoon tea finger sandwiches brilliant fresh and nice fillings. Need to work on scones which crumble after being warmed. One for Heston? Lovely sort flight on time with perfect crew.

PatJordan flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (19/01/2013 22:26)

DUB-LHR (Club Europe)

Booking and check in

In the wake of their takeover of BMI, BA have returned to the London-Dublin route, in direct competition with Aer Lingus. As a result, Club Europe (the only business class on this route) makes a welcome return.

I needed to go to London one morning, and onward to Manchester later in the day, and decided to use some Avios to get a reward flight. There was availability for the dates I wanted, and little trouble in making the booking. The total charges and fees were 22euro and 9,000 Avios. This was for both flights, DUB-LHR in Club Europe and LHR-MAN in UK Domestic. This was remarkable value indeed, and provided an opportunity to sample the BA product on the DUB-LHR leg.

As a BA Executive Club Gold Card holder, I was offered the opportunity to select my seats online at time of booking. The front row of the Airbus 320 was available, and I chose 1D. I prefer the front row whenever available as there is no seatback close to one’s face. The downside is that any hand baggage, coats, etc must be stowed in the overhead bins, so early boarding can be advisable to ensure space in the bin directly overhead.

On line check-in is available 24 hours prior to travel, and I used this facility to print my boarding passes for both my flights.

I arrived at Dublin Terminal 1 just after 5.30am for my 8.20am flight and proceeded straight to security. Since Aer Lingus and transatlantic operators have migrated to Terminal 2, there is a lower number of passengers using T1 which makes it far less crowded than heretofore. BA Club Europe includes use of the fast track security lane which is useful. I was airside within less than a minute. Despite the early hour, there was quite a queue for security so I appreciated this facility.

Lounge

I assumed that BA would continue to use the former BMI lounge in TI, but this is now closed. Instead BA share the Dublin Airport Authority lounge adjacent to gates 301-313. This is the former Aer Lingus lounge and offers good views of the apron. There is a range of different seat types with a business area for those who wish to work. A glass partition remains with various handwritten quotes etched: this was replicated on the upholstery of older Aer Lingus aircraft and is a reminder of times past.

There is a limited range of food:
• Fresh fruit
• Cheese
• Crackers
• Biscuits
• Crisps
• Bread

The coffee is good and strong (perfect for early morning!) with a good range of soft and alcoholic drinks. Having had such an early start, I particularly appreciated the double espresso!

The lounge is a short walk from the boarding gates.

Boarding

The flight was called from the Lounge at 0755am, and I proceeded immediately to the gate. There was no queue, so I cannot tell whether there is preferential boarding for CE passengers.

Cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers and guided them towards their seats. The Airbus 320 was immaculate with dark blue leather seats and blue/grey carpets.

This Aircraft was configured 3-3, with the middle seats in the first few rows blanked off with a fold down table. This enhances the space available and gives added space for drinks, papers, etc. Unlike some BA cabins, there was no wardrobe so my coat went into the overhead bin.

The flight was very empty, and this may be due to the fact that there is another DUB-LHR flight scheduled for 0845.

Inflight

I settled into my seat and awaited the safety announcement. At this point, the Captain emerged from the cabin. This is a rare occurrence and usually indicates bad news. This was indeed the case: due to snow in Heathrow, our departure was put back to at least 10.00am. To his credit, he went on to explain that a number of long haul flights were circling Heathrow and had to be given priority, whereas we were on the ground and perfectly safe. This was very informative and went a long way to calming those who were anxious about being delayed by such a margin. The Captain invited passengers to use their mobile phones and invited anybody who wished to transfer to another flight was welcome to do so. He finished by inviting anybody with concerns to speak to him in the cockpit.

The cabin crew began to distribute tea, coffee, water and juice to all passengers, a nice touch.

Shortly after this, the Captain announced that our departure time had improved to 9.30am which was welcome. A few minutes later with the news that we were cleared to take off immediately, and were all passengers ok with this? Needless to say everybody was delighted, and we pushed back at 8.40am: a very welcome development indeed.

Once airborne, the crew (John and Massimo) began service. There was a fresh fruit salad with full English breakfast served with real crockery and cutlery. A basket of warm breads and pastries was offered a number of times, along with tea & coffee. I decided to indulge in a glass of champagne to accompany this excellent breakfast. Not only was this served with a smile, but a refill was offered with equal charm. I gratefully accepted!

Allowing for a short holding pattern approaching Heathrow, we landed at 10.05 and were on stand within a few minutes. Not at all bad for a routine morning in LHR, but for a dreadful snowy day this was an excellent achievement.

On leaving the aircraft, the Captain thanked passengers for their patience.

As a final touch of top notch service, the senior cabin crew, John Harris, stood outside the door and guided passengers around a patch of ice on the jetty floor.

Conclusion

This was a very enjoyable flight experience. The food and drink were of a high standard, and the service was exemplary. What could have been a long delay was made bearable by a very personable Captain taking the time to fully inform passengers of the length of and reasons for the delay. I found the extra space created by the non-use of the middle seats very pleasant indeed. Well done BA.

TonyWest flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-400 (09/01/2013 16:58)

This was a BA Product on Comair from Durban to Cape Town in Business class.

I was the only person at the Club check in, in fact the only passenger in the whole BA check in area. My boarding card was handed to me without a word or a smile. I attempted a polite word or two but it was a waste of time.

I went to security. Little was said there as well. My bag went through without a hitch. In fact the lady monitoring the screen seemed too busy in conversation to check anything. What a delight. The first time in ages that I did not have to remove my belt.

The new Durban airport is a splendid place. So much space and it is so quiet. Very user friendly.

I went to the BA lounge...operated by a company called SLOW. One of the best lounges I have ever been to. The lunch buffet would have done justice to a high quality hotel.

It was only in the lounge that I realised that I had passed through security with a litre bottle of water in my bag and my laptop. Naughty.

After a delightful hour in the lounge...free massages are available....It was a short distance to the gate. At the gate I handed my boarding card over. The gate agent just grunted "Id". I thought that a smile and a 'please' would have been appropriate.

The rather old 737-400, which had already seen many hours in the air from Gatwick, was as comfortable as could be expected.

The departure was 5 minutes early, with an excellent chat from the captain in English and Afrikaans. The cabin crew informed us, modestly, that they were an excellent crew.

I relaxed in my seat and noticed that the use of mobile phones was permitted as we taxied out. Then I thought it refreshing that BA in South Africa were happy for iPads to be used during taxi and take off.

It was only in the climb that I noticed that I had been remiss in that I had forgotten to attach my seat belt. The crew had not noticed. They do not seem to bother with a check on seat belts or that seats are not reclined for takeoff.

The meal service started with the offer of a drink. There were only 6 passengers in the cabin so service was slick. The light meal was a choice of a plate of cheese or a plate of cheese with a slice of cold meat. On the tray was a bowl of mixed nuts. I declined and just lived with a cup of coffee. In fact only one passenger accepted the meal.
The service was soon over.

The cabin crew retired to the galley and chatted happily for the next hour on the jump seat. In the mean time there was a constant trudge of economy passengers through the curtain to the Club toilet. One passenger with his child decided to sit in a Club seat to wait for the toilet and allowed his son to run up and down the Club cabin shouting. The crew thought this quite amusing. I did not.

The flight lasted about one hour and fifty minutes. I asked for a second coffee which appeared during a breaking the crews chat.

The approach and landing were uneventful with splendid views of Table Mountain. Again, the use of iPads were allowed and telephone chats started shortly after landing. I noticed that seats were in the recline and hand baggage on the floor.

It was a very long walk in the new Cape Town terminal from the domestic gates. But with a prompt arrival, I was through and in the car park in minutes.

My memory of this flight is a general awareness of slip-shod security in all areas and an appalling meal on Comair again.

But, I arrived on time. Maybe,BA Mainline should do an audit to bring standards to the required level.

1nfrequent flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (01/01/2013 22:35)

I flew TXL - LHR in Club Europe on the last flight out at 19:40. As per the outbound flight, I'd originally booked a cheap economy ticket but then upgraded to CE for £69.

Checked in on-line the day before but because my hotel didn't offer printing facilities, I opted to pick up the boarding pass at the airport. Arrived at the airport at 5.15pm and first surprise was that there were no self-check-in facilities at TXL (I was surprised because on my way to the gate I saw that there were self-check-in desks for Air Berlin and Lufthansa and because they're such a fact of air travel today I'd assumed BA would have them too). Check-in was at Gate A05 and arrived to find a small queue but there was no one manning the desks. Check-in staff eventually arrived at 5:40pm and started setting up, directing people into two queues - one for CE and one for ET. They did set up a desk for baggage drop off for those who already had their boarding passes, but anyone wanting to use it would have had to join either the CE or the ET line (depending on their status). I was at the front of the CE line and made the mistake of stepping forward when the check-in lady wasn't ready, earning a clipped instruction that I should step back again. When I was called forward, check-in was efficient but definitely not warm and I was told where to go for the BA Lounge. Because of the way TXL is set up, the BA lounge is out on the main concourse (i.e. on the wrong side of security) so you do need to leave yourself a bit of time to get back to the gate and through security.

The lounge itself was perfectly fine. There were two male lounge dragons who were polite but again, not particularly warm. Plenty of chairs - not least because there were only 4 of us in the place - and a view over the road leading in and out of the airport. Choice of the Daily Mail, Independent or Financial Times for newspapers (plus a range of German language papers) and the free wireless internet had a good connection. However the choice of food was appalling - salty crackers, boiled eggs, sponge loaf cake, crisps or a range of sandwiches with nothing to indicate what was in them (not great for those of us with allergies). The selection of drink wasn't much better and I was a little disappointed that there was no champagne given that it was New Year's Eve - instead there was only sparkling wine or cava from a bottle that had clearly been open for a while. There were main brand spirits (including Bacardi, Hennessy and Finlandia vodka) and for beer there was a choice of Beck's non-alcoholic, Beck's or Beck's Gold, Budweiser Budvar or a German pils. I went for the Beck's Gold and cake and browsed the internet until an announcement was made at 7pm that boarding had begun. As a side note, there were no toilets in the lounge so you have to use the ones near the gate.

There's no priority boarding for CE passengers so I joined the back of the queue, which was painfully slow as there was only one X-ray machine and the security team were being very inconsistent in terms of their requirements (e.g. some passengers had to take their shoes off, others didn't). Boarding was via an air bridge and was very quick. Another perfunctory welcome from the cabin crew and I found my seat (2D) quickly. There were only 3 people in CE and although the cabin crew asked to take the coat of the other passengers, I wasn't approached at all (which turned into a bit of a theme during the flight).

The aircraft itself was clean but a little worn. I did think there was better legroom in CE on the A320 rather than the A321 I'd flown out on. The light above my seat didn't work, but the cabin crew noticed it and immediately said they'd make a note of it and invited me to move seats (I didn't because it wasn't an issue). The first officer made an announcement to welcome the passengers on board and explained that they'd started boarding early because they wanted to make sure they made their slot. Safety demonstration was via an overhead monitor, with the monitors staying on during the flight to show the flight progress.

In the event we pushed back early at 7.30pm and were soon airborne, at which point I was offered a drink and a packet of nuts. Cabin crew had to explain that although they were offering a meal they only had one choice available - a cold prawn and rice dish with a chocolate mousse. I did take it and it was nothing special (and I was bit perturbed by the chunks of mango around the 3 prawns and lump of cold sticky rice) while the chocolate mousse was way too sweet and sickly for me. Again, I think that BA needs to get the CE food sorted out because I don't think it's value for money - especially if they can't offer a choice to a cabin filled with 3 people. The other couple in CE definitely got better service from the cabin crew than me at the meal time, with their being offered several drink top-ups, which was a little irritating. I did eventually get offered a top-up, but I did feel like an afterthought for the entire 100 minutes.

Flight got in on time and we were promptly off the plane. There was a pretty long queue at passport control but thankfully they opened the electronic passport booths so I was able to side-step it and was out in 5 minutes. My bag was one of the first out thanks to the priority tag so I was on the Heathrow Express 15 minutes after we'd landed.

All in all, I remain unconvinced that the CE experience is worth the money and I'd have to be hard up for tier points before I'd pay more than £250 for a return to Europe unless I was looking at a flight over 3 or 4 hours.

1nfrequent flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A321 (27/12/2012 20:33)

I flew Club Europe LHR - TXL on the 7.05am flight. This review's a little long because it was my first time flying CE and I tend to write my reviews for people who, like me, are mainly leisure flyers.

BA had sent me a 15% discount voucher in October, which I used to buy the cheapest economy fights available to Berlin between Christmas and New Year for about £96 (plus £4.50 credit card booking fee). A month before I was due to fly, I was offered the chance to upgrade for cash for £69 each leg. Given that at the time of booking a CE seat on my flights was about £325, I thought that the upgrade was good value given that I'd never flown CE before and was curious about it and because I'm pretty close to hitting silver BAEC status so I figured the tier points would be useful (not least because it means I'll hit silver after my next flight).

I'm currently BAEC bronze, which meant I got to pick my seat 7 days before flying. Small gripe - I have my preferences registered on the BA site and always prefer an aisle seat but the computer had allocated me 2A, which is a window. It's not a big thing and I guess it's inevitable because the computer always starts allocating people from the front of the cabin, but it does make a bit of a mockery of asking for preferences in my opinion. This time it wasn't a problem because the CE cabin was only half full so I selected aisle seat 3C. Check in was available 24 hours before the flight - I used the on-line check-in facility, which is very easy and printed out my boarding pass.

I got to LHR at just after 5am and found Terminal 5 to be very busy. There were long queues at the economy bag-check desks, which didn't bode well for business bag drop. Lo and behold there was a queue owing to several large families with large number of bags and only 3 desks open. I got lucky and picked the line where there was only 1 person checking in so was processed faster than I'd anticipated but there were two couples behind me who I believe were already running late and were doing the typical British thing of tutting loudly and complaining under their breath at an Indonesian family who were having problems finding a passport.

Went through the fast-track security, which wasn't quite as fast as I'd have liked owing to my decision to wear heavy lace-up boots in anticipation of cold weather in Berlin. The staff were perfectly friendly and patient, which is more than could be said for one gentleman who got a pointed response for his bad manners and worse attitude when I didn't unlace my boots quickly enough for his liking.

Skipped Duty Free as there's nothing I need (and nothing I can afford right now thanks to Christmas) and headed straight for the Galleries Business lounge. Lounge dragon was very friendly and let me know that it looked like I'd be boarding from A10, which would mean using a bus rather than a walkway. She told me that I'd need to be at the gate by 6.45am at the absolute latest if I wanted to get on the flight.

Lounge itself was quiet and I availed myself of the breakfast facilities. There were a lot of bacon rolls out under the hot plate (in both brown and white rolls), together with white and brown tosst, a selection of fruit, yoghurt, variety of juices and hot porridge. There was also wine and champagne for those who could stomach it at such an early hour (and evidently there were!)

Ate a leisurely breakfast while reading the Times and at 6.10am decided to mosey on down to the gate. A10 is only about 5 minutes walk from the Galleries lounge and the flight was going from A10b. Although the flight was scheduled to start boarding at 6.15am, we didn't actually start getting loaded onto the bus until about 6.30am with priority being given to the CE passengers, gold and silver BAEC loyalty card holders, families and people with mobility issues. Boarding onto the bus was pretty orderly and it filled up very quickly so we were off and running by about 6.40am. It was a bit of a trek across the airport apron, although I quite liked getting a behind-the-scenes look at LHR (no doubt because I don't have to do it very often). Boarding the plane was less orderly when the bus stopped with people herding up the stairs in a higgledy piggledy fashion.

Cabin crew were at the entrance to say hello but they seemed to be trying to balance that with getting ready for departure. I found my seat very easily and got myself settled in. I noticed a couple of economy passengers slide their hand luggage into the CE luggage bins, which didn't draw any comment from cabin crew. I think that's a bit cheeky although given that CE was only half full there was no harm done - had the cabin been full though, I would hope that cabin crew would have made them move it.

Plane itself was clean but clearly very well used. CE seats looked a bit battered and worn. I was also surprised that it was in a configuration of 2 seats on the left and 3 on the right with there being 5 rows in total. Had the cabin been full, I would not have been amused to have been stuck on the middle seat in that row of 3. I've previously flown AA domestic by way of rough comparison and I don't think CE gives you the same leg room or seat room (although the seat itself was comfortable enough). I'm not very tall but I found the leg room a little cramped so if you're over 5'8" you should look to get the front row because they seemed to have more space. As it turned out, I had a row of 2 to myself, which was great because it gave me more room to speed out (and I did).

CE was half full, economy was about 75% full - mainly students or musicians who were on the final leg of a trip from Australia.

All passengers were on board by about 6.55am and the CE cabin crew brought around piping hot towels. The pilot then gave a brief announcement that the flight would be departing on time, with a flight time of about 1 hour 20 minutes. We pushed back from the stand promptly at 7.05am.

Take off was a little bumpy due to strong cross-winds and about 20 minutes after we were air born the cabin crew came around with breakfast. There was a choice of continental or full English. I know that a number of people on Business Traveller have pointed out that BA has a problem of not packing enough meals for the different option and it was no different here. By my count they'd only packed 4 continental breakfasts for a cabin of 10. Fortunately I got the last one but I know that the passengers behind me were disappointed by the fact that they didn't get a choice. I understand the need for BA to think about weight and not be wasting food but for the cost of the CE ticket I think you should have a better than 1 in 2 chance of getting your first choice meal.

The continental breakfast was a selection of cold cut meats (salami and what looked like 2 types of cured ham) together with a smoked soft cheese, two slices of what looked like gouda, 2 grapes, 2 slices of cucumber and a yoghurt. Cabin crew also offered a choice of hot roll or pastry and I went for a mini croissant, which was warm but a little greasy. Passengers were also offered a choice of soft drink and tea/coffee. (I find BA coffee to be undrinkable and went for tea). I didn't really get to see what the full English was but it seemed to include a sausage and some kind of omelette thing.

Plates were cleared away about 20 minutes after breakfast was served. I think this was a fair amount of time because it meant you had time to eat without being rushed but you weren't hanging around waiting for things to be cleared away. Duty free shopping was then brought around and I took the opportunity to use the toilet facilities, which were scrupulously clean but again, very worn looking.

We got another pilot announcement about 10 minutes prior to landing. Landing was a little bumpy, again due to strong winds and we got in about 20 minutes later than billed (making a total flight time of 1 hour 40 minutes).

Disembarking was very quick. It was my first time at TXL so I hadn't realised Passport Control was practically on top of the gate with baggage reclaim just behind it. There didn't seem to be any priority baggage in operation on the belt, which took 20 minutes to get started and I was waiting another 10 minutes for my suitcase to come out. Bit irritating given that a load of economy passengers got theirs first but I guess that isn't BA's fault. All in all I was out and heading for the bus into Berlin within 30 minutes of landing, which won't be true for my return flight into LHR! I'll be interested to see how the new Berlin airport works once it eventually opens because luggage aside, I did find TXL to be fairly efficient.

All in all, I did enjoy the flight and I think that the crew were incredibly efficient but my satisfaction's mainly because I didn't pay a lot of money for it. Had I paid for the full £325 for it that was being charged at the time of my booking, I think I'd have felt a little ripped off because Galleries lounge aside, you don't get a huge amount on the actual flight when you consider the flight time. To be honest, I think that in future I'd only be looking to take CE on flights of over 2.5 hours and only then if the price is right or I really need the 40 tier points on each leg.

1F

AJB2793 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (18/12/2012 22:31)

Was curious to see how these flights, which used to be operated by BMI, had changed following BA's acquisition. Boarding began on time, and was prompt and efficient. The price compared very favourably to Aer Lingus.

Crew friendly and polite when we boarded - still a two class service, for a flight of around an hour.

Main difference is two seats instead of three in business, and a very light lunch going out of Salmon Salad in Business compared to a bag of crisps and a free drink in Economy - the difference in price for a non flexible Business ticker was around £150 each way.

Cabin crew in Economy got flustered very easily, forgot the person next to me's drink, then accused him of drinking it, then said if they had any left they would come back, and then remembered that they hadn't given him it, and had only given him a glass with ice. The drink in question - a Diet Coke! Drinks are free though which is a bonus to Aer Lingus, and the wine is decent.

All in all a very pleasant surprise and I would use again - I just hope BA stick with the route

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (17/12/2012 07:26)

Arrived after staying at the near by Sofitel as this was an early flight and would have meant an early start from North London.

Check in no problem, headed for the galleries lounge for light breakfast of juice, pan au chocolat and tea. Knew the gate meant being bused off stand, but got on board ok.

Apologies from captain for delay as steps couldn't be moved and needed a tug, but off within 10 minutes, then a long taxi to run way past a group of 380's (QF, SQ & EK). Vegy meal was a vegan offering, but was a tasty group of vegies, with tea.

Polite staff and short flight saw us still land 10 minutes early into ZRH. No problems with bags and immigration

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (17/12/2012 07:19)

Had checked in on line & arrived 2 hours ahead, to receive boarding pass & check in bags.

Immigration & security check, was delayed behind a spanish women who seemed to be in a hurry, but was duly carefully checked by the security team. After buying chocolate headed to the DNAta lounge, good selection of drinks and snacks.

Boarding route a bit up and down, but on board ok. Push back about 5 minutes early, Snack was a fruit platter, but vegy orders not known about, however having seen the spare as the current tasteless tofu which the partner received, opted for the fruit platter and a selection from the bakery which was fine.

Usual pommery champagne and a good cotes de Gascogne white wine. Landed 10 minutes early near security, immigration busy and directed away from fast track. Bags arrived wit no problem. CSD very polite and pleasant.

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (10/12/2012 18:11)

Arrived from coach at airport, had book in on light, but were changed to 1a and 1c, so were pleased.

After shopping headed to lounge, for a few snacks. Went to gate to find delay of 20 minutes to departure, boarded and apologies from capt Margaret.

Push back just after 7pm and short taxi and air borne soon afterwards. Mostly male crew served aperitifs, then dinner a vegy curry (very good)' a few wines then stacked over Lhr landed about 30 minutes late, bags arrived ok, a good flight despite the delays.

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (10/12/2012 18:04)

Checked in on line and had 2 together with friend in same row on opposite side. Bag drop efficient, found the lounge in t3' enjoyed the soup and a nice glass of white, then headed for the gate.

As this was T3 it was the large gate area with buses to the stand. Queued for about 10 minutes and was one of the last on board (why don't they use 2 sets of steps to speed things up).

Drinks then afternoon tea was served. Unfortunately as a Vegy meal was given tofu in a salad along with the fruit and scone (why a vegy sandwich wasn't possible don't know e.g. Cheese or egg).

Good cote de gascogne white and pleasant crew, arrived promptly despite leaving about 10 minutes late. Overall good flight.

TominScotland flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-400 (05/12/2012 22:44)

I took a taxi to Tunis Airport for my flight back to Gatwick. No airside outlets at the airport accept Tunisian Dinar so my taxi driver had a big smile on his face as I paid him double the fare (all of 10 Euro) to lighten my pockets. Check-in was open even though I was very early and I was able to drop my bag and pick up my boarding pass to Gatwick quickly. I checked my bag to Gatwick only as the timing of this flight meant that a night in a Gatwick hotel beckoned before I could connect north.

There were no queues at Passport Control and Security was cursory. I made my way to the Tuniaair Lounge which BA use. It reminded me of many evenings waiting for flights in Tehran - comfortable but sombre with very limited food and beverage options. Still it was a good space to wait for the flight. I had noted that the inbound flight was due 30 minutes early so was hopeful for an on-time departure. Indeed, we were called to the gate some 45 minutes early, walked straight onto the aircraft and were fully boarded within 15 minutes and were on our way immediately. The flight was very empty and, interestingly, the Economy section appeared to divide according to passport - no UK landing cards were handed out in the front rows where many passengers requested them towards the rear. Odd.....

I was in 11C, an emergency exit seat which gives very generous legroom with a free seat to my left. Service began soon after take off and consisted of a tasty wrap and drinks. There was no second drinks service on the flight but tax free goods were offered during the flight.

Despite a strong head wind, we landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule and parked at a gate on Pier 6 which meant a very long walk to a virtually deserted Immigration Hall. Bags came through quickly although my Priority Tag did not mean mine came first by any means. However, I was soon out and headed for the Sofitel in North Terminal.

FormerlyDoS flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (05/12/2012 04:07)

A one hour hop from London to Lyon, departing from T1.

Having checked in online, with hand luggage only, I used the fast track lounge and thought the charming person manning the entrance (who couldn't be bothered to reply to my greeting) was going to kick off because my Club Europe boarding pass did not say 'fast track', but he seemed to bite his tongue and let me through.

The security queue was short, but there was a backlog of trays after the scanner, making it difficult to retrieve bags, with 3 staff standing looking the other way and chatting - useless service.

The bmi lounge was always been a decent place to kill an hour or two and still is, in fact BA have added to the soup offering on the Agas and there was a vegetarian and a classic lasagne, both of which I tried and both of which were tasty. Others have commented on the limited selection of drinks compared to T5, but as I was just on water, couldn't really comment other than saying there looked to be a number of different spirit and wine bottles on the self service bar.

The FIDS said 'gate will open at 1630', but at 1635 this message was still displayed and with a notional 10 minutes to boarding time (and if they boarded on time, only a short time after to final call) I asked the front desk and was informed that it was gate 21. By the time I got to gate 21, the FIDS announced gate 17, so back I went, to find it was not set up with a premium lane; however, the gate staff called people requiring assistance, then CE, BAEC cards etc and there was no mad rush by the passengers, very civilised.

As I was in row 1, I got on board very early to stow my small Rimowa suitcase and laptop bag, noting that CE was rammed (three rows only) and everyone's hand luggage just fitted in, not always the case.

The flight was crewed by ladies wearing 'Thunderbirds are Go' hats, so I guess it was mixed fleet, but the CSM (male) was less frenetic than the on previous flights and without the hats one could have thought it was EF. The service level was very good, with the CSM working CE very efficiently on a rather short flight.

I didn't try the salad on offer, as I had eaten the lasagne and frankly I was glad this was the case, as my neighbour remarked that his tasted like a 'plate of weeds', but I can't vouch for whether this was really the case - but it did look like one, the presentation had lots of improvement opportunities.

The aircraft had the space saver seats and I have to say that these are on a par with the infamous Lufthansa NEK thrones, which are designed by sadists wishing to inflict the maximum discomfort in the shortest available time. The BA version lacks thigh support, is hard and just generally looks like a Ryanair seat. I found the seat starting to become irksome after about half and hour, was fed up of it after three quarters and very glad that I got off after an hour.

The captain made some PAs that gave us all the info we needed, without going on for too long and soon we arrived at St Expury in light snow.

In summary, the Heathrow experience was normal, you cannot fault it for consistency, it is nearly always awful in T1, with the lounge an oasis of calm by comparison to the rest of the place, the flight did what it needed to, but was pretty average in hard product, with service and we got there without. For the one way cost of £416.05, it was a little underwhelming.

Immigration at Lyon was fast and pleasant and I got upgraded from booked my mini economy car to a Citroen C4 turbo diesel automatic, which proved to be one of the nicer cars I have hired in recent years, so a nice end to the day.

beavington flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (04/12/2012 23:11)

This was an early morning flight to Munich from T5.

Checked in online so went straight through to security which was quick. Got there just before the morning rush and just as a new machine opened up so no queue.

Boarded from A18 which was fairly fast and efficient.

Flight departed on time. Crew and service were good as usual. Breakfast was a croissant with egg and tomato.

A bit of turbulence coming into land through some snow in Munich otherwise a good flight.

SBingham flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (03/12/2012 21:38)

Lounge at Heathrow was good but staff are hard to find. Flight left on time and service ok but food not what you would expect for the fare. No in flight entertainment. Arrived on time and bags through quickly

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B767-300 (European config.) (21/11/2012 18:53)

Straight forward check in and boarding well controlled, but then it was one of the worst club europe experiences to date. Seated in rear 3 row section, no cabin crew visible, so no jackets taken and no help for passengers, 2 passengers in wrong seats, dealt with this ourselves. Push back prompt and take off not long after.

Service painfully slow. The economy crew had finished pre-meal drinks service before we got ours despite being fewer passengers, same with meal, economy was finished before we were served in club. Asked the CSD to speak with me when convenient. Her hands were shaking, tried to be polite when she returned. I asked if there had been a medical emergency as the service was painfully slow, she explained she was a member of crew down and was also monitoring another member of staff. I explained about how no one had been in our section for boarding and how no jackets were taken until after take off.

She apologised and drinks arrived afterwards. Remainder of flight uneventful, but crew member hadn't labelled a jacket correctly and asked us whose it was, wasn't my size! Fairly inept crew, who didn't seem to work well together.

Very poor experience, wrote in, nothing a month later, filled out an e form and resent letter, got a reply and a voucher, which I've used. Haven't experienced anything this bad in club europe previously.

Tidmtrax flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (21/11/2012 17:47)

BA Airbus 320 CE LHR - BLQ

Arrived T5 Business car park at 1205 station B beckoned and I bounced in a very cold pod to T5.
Obtained boarding pass from self service machine and proceeded to Security south, refused entry along with tens of other people as it was closed, apparently it was to busy and could not cope with any more passengers!

Walked with what appeared to be the rest of T5 passengers to the north security and went straight through to the xray area. I was allocated line 7 and stood stationary for 5 minutes whilst a bag already in the xray machine did the hokie poky many times as various security staff looked at the screen and walked away. A comment was heard that it would be quicker to get it out and have a look inside with the offending passenger assisting to identify what was causing the problem. As you can imagine this did not go down well with the staff on duty. Finally through at 1240, got dressed and went into the scrum ahead.

Up to the lounge and surprised to see that although busy there were plenty of seats. Although there was plenty of discarded cups plates and food at most of them.

After some lunch, luke warm chicken stew and boiled rice I settled dow to wait for the 1500 departure to BLQ. Left the lounge at 1400 and made my way slowly to the B gates.

Departure was from B37 and boarding started at 1440 with the regular call for BA card holders and these travelling CE etc. Went through the fast track and got seated without any problem. Aircraft Airbus 320 and in relatively good order. Flight almost full with a couple of empty CE seats

CC upfront was one male one female, both very efficient at not helping passengers stowing bags etc. and no offer to hang coats or jackets. Not a problem for me but several passengers obviously wanting some assistance. Push back was on time but take off was delayed due to a line of 9 aircraft in front take off was at 1530.

Service started shortly after the seat belt sign was switched off and consisted of Afternoon tea!
Three finger sandwiches and a sweet treat plus warm scone, sandwiches felt as if they had been made several days ago and had nice crispy edges, a cheese and pickle, prawn mayonnaise and unfortunately I was not able to identify the third, although it looked to be some form of meat?
CC did follow this up with another round of drinks for those wanting one.

Toilet was the usual affair requiring a good deep clean and a new seat, I am always amazed that as they use a white/Cream seat (when new) they are allowed to get into such a state and that no one from BA management discuss this with the contract cleaners. It reminds me of those dreadful public toilets of years ago that smell of stale urine!
Rather a bouncy flight but very little of note except the Sandwiches!

Touch down on time and disembarked to a bus after 5 minutes waiting for the stairs. It is Italy.
All in all a pretty average flight, with a level of service that has become accepted as normal.

MichaelKerr flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A321 (09/11/2012 04:48)

My flight was the Wednesday morning from Heathrow Terminal 1 to Baku. The flight departed about 20 minutes later than scheduled due to replacement plane brought from hanger.
I have been using this route for seven years and without a doubt BA have got it right.

Greeted by a cheery and friendly cabin crew with a pre-flight champagne to get the journey started.
Food was excellent, the bar was as frequent as you wanted and the crew were very attentive.

I was in row eight in the single seat and could not have asked for better. The seat was comfortable and adjusted every way you could wish for as well as lumbar massage.

The entertainment was by way of a good sized widescreen TV that kept me occupied for the complete journey.

I was going to change to Turkish or Lufthansa for the journey because of the new flight times but the upgrade of the cabin has made me rethink and I will stay with BA.

SBingham flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B767-300 (European config.) (07/11/2012 23:29)

The 767's on this route are in desperate need of a refurbishment. In-flight entertainment is poor with no choice of movie and to add insult it was a children's animation. Crew great and attentive.
seats need updating. Arrived 20 mins early and bridge into main terminal so i was happy.

KeaneJohn flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (02/11/2012 07:00)

Quick and efficient bag drop and fast track security was actually fast with just one person in front of me. Had a mooch round the shops, bought a couple of things that I wanted and did a bit of lounge hopping.

First went into the American Airlines lounge. Basic and functiional, Great breakfast buffet, nice bacon rolls with mustard and sauces/ketchup available. Tasty coffee but lukewarm orange juice. Perfect sized fruit salad and yoghurt. Not many plug sockets around so headed off to BA Galleries lounge. A drinkable glass of fizz and an OJ and another bacon roll. This was hard and the bacon greasy. Also the pastries and muffins were under the heatlamps so dried out.

Flight called for boarding and heading to Prague was a bus from the infamouse gate 24. Lightly loaded CE Cabin (just 5 people) , Ontime departure, approx 20 min taxi before being airborne.

Nuts and drink service by great CSM followed a hot towel. Hot food options were beef stroganof or stuffed chicken. I chose the latter and it came with a pasta and roasted peppers. It was presented like any dish in a top restaurant would be. It tasted incredible with the chicken cooked just about perfect for the cabin.

Arrived about 5 minutes behind schedule and had to wait a few minutes for the gate to become available.

Prague had experienced quite heavy snow and the jetbridge had some at the entrance. Unfortunately I slipped on this and whilst I didn't injure myself I did fall onto my hand luggage damaging a few items. Baggage delivery for priority tagged luggage was again in the last wave of luggage.

Luggage is most definitely containerised for this route and it appears to come off in waves, transfer luggage first then the rest of the luggage. It really does defeat the object of being one of the first off the aircraft and using the E Gates for Passport Control if you have to wait 30 minutes for the bags to be delivered. BA don't seem to be able to address this issue and it really lets them down.

beavington flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (17/10/2012 19:56)

Boarding from Heathrow Terminal 3 was by bus.....hurry up and build the D gates at T5 please!

Departure was on time

I always find the crews on BA friendly and professional.

Dodgy breakfast roll and coffee was served

Landed in Prague early and was quickly off the plane and on my way

NTarrant flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (03/10/2012 17:33)

Checked in online and downloaded my boarding pass to my Blackberry. No luggage to check in so arriving at Gatwick North it was straight to the Premium security.

Security:
No problems although it would be nice if the guys checking boarding passes gave a greeting and smile, although not an unpleasant experience. There were only two people in front of me and it was my turn by the time I had taken off my jacket.

Lounge
The BA First lounge was only about a quarter full if that, it was 0630. An attendant went by and I asked for a bacon roll which came by the time I had got a cup of tea and drunk a very nice berry smoothie. The roll had two good slices of bacon.

Boarding
I spotted the "boarding" come up on the screen and gathered my things and headed for gate 55E. On arrival they had just called for Club Europe, Gold and Silver passengers so joined the small queue and straight down to the aircraft.

The cabin crew member greeted me with a "hello sir", rather than by name. I was in seat 1F so not far to go and stowed my bag easily.

In-Flight
Push back was bang on time. Soon after take off breakfast was served. The tray contained a plate of fruit which 50% was melon, a carton of orange juice and the cooked breakfast of bacon, sausage, tomato, mushroom and scrambled egg. The bacon was very good as was the sausage and there was no grease.

Pastries were also served as was tea and coffee. After the tray was finished I was thinking that we didn't get any hot towels, then the Purser came out with hot towels, which I quite liked having after a meal.

Arrival
We arrived five minutes ahead of time and the first officer bid farewell to passengers as well as the other crew.

All in all a very pleasant flight.

sph1977 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (08/09/2012 07:28)

Brussels to Heathrow.

Checkin: Disaster. Could not get near the Club Europe desk for the economy queue. I went and had a seat for half an hour and came back to find one of the check in agents trying to sort the queuing system. In that time, I observed all the other airlines round about with their clear queues. Eventually, I had to push past some of the rest of the line, something I really don't like doing. My bags were not priority tagged because they had 'run out'.

Security: My boarding pass allowed me through the fast track channel and I had cleared security within a few minutes.

Lounge: Very nice and tidy and very quiet. Worked for half an hour before the flight was called.

Boarding: Free for all. At the end of the boarding announcement 'Club Europe may board first'. Too late.

Onboard: I was seated in 1A, which was one of the non-convertable seats (which I find pretty uncomfortable). I prefer the seats that can be widened. The food was good, a tastly chicken salad. The flight arrived on time.

Arrival: I was guided through the fast track channel to my next flight, which made passport control very fast indeed for T5. That was only to hit the endless queues which are a feature of all channels at T5 security. Will they ever get their act together?

Fire the agents at Brussels please BA.

Tom.Large flew British Airways Club Europe (03/09/2012 16:30)

Amsterdam to Heathrow evening flight - quick, easy and good service

GordyUK flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-400 (10/08/2012 10:14)

As a loyal BA customer it pains me to write this but if this had been someone's first experience of Club Europe, they would have been disgusted. As someone who has used it a lot, I was still dissapointed.

The aircraft is ancient & grubby. We sat on the plane at the gate for 90 mins while a tech fault was fixed. The service itself was very poor. No menus, no hot towels, the same 2 choices of food (chicken pasta or beef randang) that ive had on the last 4 flights!!

Boarding was a shambles. 4 flights all leaving within 15 mins of each other and a gate that could barely cope with 2 flights. No priority boarding for Club.

The most annoying thing of all is the crew's indifference to the Club Europe brand. The seat screens between the cabins weren't lowered, the curtain was so bedraggled it hung there like a strand, seperating nothing.

Eurotraveller passengers were using the club bathrooms.. i lost count after 9 and crew did nothing about it.

The "lounge" at Pisa Airport is a disgrace and shouldn't even be part of BA's affiliation. No food, no ice and a lazy receptionist who couldn't be bothered to get off his backside to replace anything.

All in all, nothing about this flight was Club Europe standard.

PatJordan flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (05/08/2012 18:10)

LHR-AMS (Club Europe )

Booking and check in

This was my first time flying British Airways for some time. Since they ceased flying from Dublin, the BA schedule didn’t really meet my needs. However, on foot of IAG’s takeover of BMI, I was now a Gold member of the BA Executive Club, and was curious to see how the airline performed. I needed to fly LHR to AMS, and decided to have a look at what British Airways had to offer.

www.ba.com is an easy site to navigate and selecting a flight for my preferred date and time was no trouble. BA offer an advance check-in facility up to 24hours before travel, and complimentary seat selection to BAEC Gold card holders. I proceeded to book an economy class seat, and noted the booking process offers two upgrade options: to Economy flexible and to Club Europe: I felt the £400 premium for CE was not a viable option, and declined. I used the seat selection option and chose my preferred seat.

Within a few minutes, I received my confirmation email, and was amazed to find a further option to upgrade to Club Europe…for £69! Whether this is an offer intended to target those who haven’t flown BA for a while, or other commercial reasons, I don’t know, but I was sufficiently tempted to give it a try.

The principal advantage to me was a wider seat and enhanced food & drink, and to be honest, the feel good factor too! I again used the advance seat selection and opted for 1F.

I arrived at London Heathrow Terminal 5 just after 10.00am for my 1.15pm flight and proceeded straight to security. Club Europe allows use of the Fast track lane and I was airside within a minute.

Terminal 5 is vast, and is very bright and airy. There is a good range of shops and cafes, most of which are of a high quality.

Lounge

My Gold Status meant I could use the BA First lounge in south end of T5. On approaching reception, I was warmly greeted and welcomed to the lounge.

It is a very large and impressive lounge with several seating areas, excellent views of the apron and a wide selection of international newspapers and magazines. There is a huge choice of seat types too: finding a comfortable spot is certainly not going to be an issue!

There is a business centre which offers complimentary internet access, fax and printing facilities.

There was a vast range of food on offer: savoury nibbles, Walkers, cake slices and biscuits, cheese, crackers and a full bar service. There is a dedicated champagne bar which had a choice of Bollinger Rose or Laurent Perrier Grand-Siecle. I had a couple of glasses of the latter and thoroughly enjoyed them!

As well as the aforementioned range of food, there is a hot buffet self service area. Up to noon, breakfast is available, with lunch after noon.

The breakfast includes:

• Fresh fruit salad
• Fruit Coulis
• Breads, scones, pastries
• Cereals
• Yogurts
• Cheeses
• Cold meats
• Muffins
• Bacon
• Cumberland and Vegetarian sausage
• Scrambled egg
• Black Pudding
• Beans
• Mushrooms
• Herb potatoes
• Toast

The lunch menu included:

• Chicken Korma & Rice
• Mashed potato
• Slow cooked belly of pork
• Beef ribs
• Mini Steak and Ale pies
• Extended range of cold meats and salads
• sandwiches

Additionally a number of items are available to order from a menu and are served on request. There are a number of very friendly attendants who regularly ask of there is anything further they can fetch.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the BA First lounge, and on this occasion, wouldn’t have been too put out if my flight had been delayed. However, it was on time, so I left in search of Gate A23, and was pleased to note it’s close proximity to the lounge.

Boarding

Boarding is through an airbridge and there is a dedicated queue for Club Europe and BAEC Silver & Gold members. Boarding began almost as soon as I arrived at the gate, and I was on board very quickly.

The Airbus 319 was immaculate and cabin crew warmly welcomed passengers. I was greeted by name, and on leaving the aircraft was thanked for my custom and addressed by name: a very nice touch indeed. My jacket was taken and I settled into my seat.

The seats are upholstered in Navy blue leather, and in Club Europe, configured 2-2. Having selected row 1 there was no seatback in front of me, which I particularly like. There were only a few other passengers in CE but economy was quite busy.

Inflight

The Captain gave a brief welcome and details of flight times, followed by a safety video shown on a drop down screen. This later displayed ground speed, temperature, distance from destination, etc. We pushed back on time and were airborne quickly.

Given the short flight time (45minutes) there was a small lunch served: salad with cold chicken and fish along with a choice of warm breads. Coffee was served separately and there was a full bar service. I asked if there was champagne and I was given a snipe of Pomery which I enjoyed.

The cabin crew were very pleasant indeed, and when I asked for a second glass of bubbly, were only too happy to oblige.

We landed in AMS well within schedule and after a short taxi (unusual for AMS!) were on stand.

Conclusion

A very impressive flight. Excellent service on board, magnificent lounge, good booking process and very good value for money. I truly enjoyed what was my first BA flight in several years.

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B767-300 (European config.) (07/07/2012 16:17)

Had checked in on line the evening before and wasn't suprised to see the only 2 seats together were in the middle 9d & f in the back row of the front section of club europe.

Completed bag drop at LHR in club area, member of staff asked about frequent flyer programme and entered our Avios number.

Security was no problem and after shopping through to the lounge. Due to mid morning flight only had tea and croisants which were good.

A young child was having a temper tantrum in the lodge and the parents tactfully left the lounge with him.

Boarding was at A5, a bit chaotic and fast track existed in name more than anything else. Once on board full as expected.

Push back prompt and not too long a queue before take off.
Once levelled out menu cards came around and pre meal drinks trolley arrived from the back, were given meat canapies (had ordered VLML), but CSD was on hand and ensured we were given vegy versions to accompany the nuts and champagne.

Main meal tasty and enjoyed the sauvignon and tried the Ausy chardonnay (preferred the sauvignon from South Africa). Chatty stewardess cleared our trays away and following duty free it wasn't long before we touched down in Istanbul (Ataturk).

I was first off and joined the queue to buy my visa, immigration was long winded and it took time to get into the lines properly, bagage was collected later, but took over an 1 1/2 to get to bagage claim area. Good flight and well organised CSD Martin.

Henryp1 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (17/06/2012 09:46)

Prague to London mid afternoon. Very easy check in at the pleasant airport. Fast track good and fast. Through to a common shared lounge, dreadfully small and terrible buffet selection, really not worth mentioning. A quick cup of tea and then out in to the terminal for shopping, a nice selection of shops. Relatively easy boarding with priority line.

Good on board greeting and efficient crew. On board service good from the friendly and well coordinated crew. Afternoon tea, was adequate for such a short flight.

A quick flight time and crew maintained their presence in the cabin, helpful and chatty.

Passport control in T3 did at 1st look confusing, but egate in use, 4 in line and non egate line through in less than 3 minutes. Baggage a little slow, but to car park within 30 minutes of leaving plane.

Another good Club Europe flight and worth the cost even on a short flight. Well done BA.

Henryp1 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (17/06/2012 09:26)

Early morning Saturday flight. Check in T3 which is not a very nice place, gloomy, grim and sad. The initial look of the check in agents told the same story, but once approaching the desk big smiles and very effficient service.

Straight through at security as no line. Into the lounge, a little busy but lots of space. Breakfast poor, dry rolls with either bacon or mushrooms and a limited continental offering.

Boarding was great and cheerily met on board with jackets taken, we sat in 1A and 1C, not the best seat if boarding before other passengers, as there is always a queue of passengers waiting to move down the aisle. Take off was timely and with ease to get comfortable to settle down.

Cabin manager was fantasitic and very enthusiastic, intuitive and just overall a very nice lady. There was a trainee in the cabin with her, but this did not delay or spoil any aspect of journey. Breakfast arrived and in a way its nice to receive the full English in the foil tray, despite appearence it was fine and lots of tea.

Being such a short flight time, after a quick flick through the papers it was time to land. Pilot out of flight deck to say good bye. A superb light with BA, no faults at all to write about. The Club Europe product is a well known service, as always its either what you like or dont. As for value for money, absolutley yes.

KeaneJohn flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (15/04/2012 20:25)

Hassle free check in at the premium desk on a Friday afternoon in T3 completed promptly and efficiently by a helpful and enthusiastic agent. Directed to fast track and asked if I knew where the lounge was.

Security was cleared quickly and was soon entering a quiet lounge. Average food offerings well stocked bar and champagne on demand. Checked a few emails and had something to eat before settling on some comfy chairs with some nibbles and some fizz. The lounge became busier as the afternoon progressed.

Left the gate for a leisurely walk to the notorious bus gates 10 minutes before gate closing. I checked with the agent to see if my luggage had made the flight something I do routenely now after flying through T5 on its opening day, to be told in a jovial manner that it was.

First bus was boarding and even though its a short ride I wanted a seat so waited for the second and final bus to arrive. Got a seat at the back of the bus so was the last one onto the aircraft and took my seat in the final row of the CE Cabin.

Formalities over the door was closed for a short taxi and an ontime departure.

Inflight manager was bubbly and well presented for this short flight to Prague. After take off hot towells were given out followed by a drink from the bar with a bag of Club World nuts. On my 4 CE sectors this year I have noticed that this is now done from the galley without a cart in the aisle which makes a nice touch even if the CSM was running back and forward to the galley.

Dinner service began shortly after with a choice of pork or chicken. I opted for the pork which came with another champagne as the CSM had noticed that my bottle was nearly empty.

It has to be said that the food was of near restaurant quality in presentation and taste.

Tea/coffee was served then the tables cleared away though the CSM passed through regularly making sure that nobody went without anything. I even asked her if she could acquire a bag of the Dornan nibbles that are served on domestic flights and in the Y cabin as they are quite tasty and she popped down the back for me.

Shortly before landing I thanked the CSM for what was one of the best in flight experiences. She was genuinely overwhelmed of the positive feedback and people rarely give positive feedback.

We landed a few minutes behind schedule after a late change of arrival runway meant us having to do a circuit of the airfield before landing and pulling up to A3, BA's gate in Prague.

A quick disembarkation thanking the CSM again for a great flight was preceeded by a few longish lines at immigration to be reminded that the e-gates were working for people that had Biometric passports. This is however where the efficiencies ended.

I was the first one to arrive at the luggage carousel and despite my bags had been tagged as priority 20 minutes later I was still there.

In this time an Easyjet flight from Gatwick that arrived on stand 6 minutes after us had all their luggage delivered and claimed.. True a lot of people try not to check luggage in with Easyjet but it was a bit of a bone of contention.

Baggage for my flight came off in 2 waves, transfer baggage for the first 10 minutes and then ordinary baggage of which mine was one of the last ones. Now it is true I was in the car that my hotel had sent for me 25 minutes after landing which isnt bad but a lot of Y passengers would have been on the road 10-15 minutes earlier. Its not a great deal in the grand scheme of things but you have paid a premium for a better experience and this was the only aspect of the flight that let it down.

Inflight experience gets 98/100 overall flight experiece is only 75/100 spoilt by the delay in baggage delivery.

Hope BA can do something in Prague about this in the future as it is generally one of their better outstations.

sph1977 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (01/02/2012 23:29)

We flew from Heathrow to Lisbon - we being two adults and a 2 year old!

Check In - Lisbon flights depart from Terminal 3. Club check in is right at the end of the check in zone (handy) and we were checked in fairly quickly and given our boarding passes. The check in assistant said little and wasn't particularly friendly.

Security - we guessed that we'd be allowed through fast track and were so admitted. There were no queues and we were through in minutes.

Lounge - The lounge in T3 is outstanding. Much quieter than T5, with a great selection of hot and cold food and drinks. Our toddler was happy to play with his toys in the 'kids zone' room, conveniently well insulated so that he didn't bother other travellers! The baby changing room in the lounge is possibly the nicest I've ever seen anywhere.

Boarding - was really early and at a gate miles away. It was a farce as we were bundled onto a bus which went nowhere until the last passenger turned up.

Seats - The A320 was fitted entirely with the non-adjustable economy seats, the type you usually find towards the back of BA's short haul fleet. This was very surprising - the only difference in the club seats was a few extra inches of legroom. The middle seats were left free but we all sat on the right for easier child control! We also discovered it's very hard to get a 2 year old to keep his seatbelt on and the crew (maybe reasonably) wouldn't allow him an extension seatbelt. Worth thinking about if you're about to travel with a toddler.

Meal - Afternoon tea was served and it was decent, if a little lacking in substance. I've flown Gatwick-Funchal with TAP in business class and the food was far better with them. Our toddler received his pre-ordered child meal which consisted of some finger sandwiches, a packet of m&m's (very useful as a bribe later), cheesy crisps, a yoghurt and a carton of juice. This all met with his approval.

Crew - were very nice and friendly and service was attentive throughout the flight.

Bags - were priority tagged and appeared amongst the first 20%.

KeaneJohn flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (31/01/2012 12:39)

I arrived at Prague Airport at 1245 for a 1440 departure to find nobody in line at the Club Europe desks. Check in formalities were over quickly and I went through passport control and up to the Menzies Lounge. The offering here was extremely poor with the only glasses available liquer tumblers or wine glasses. A rather flat bottle of Demi Sekt Brut that could have been bought in a supermarket for less than £4 was their "champagne".

Interesting to note the Emirates uses this lounge for their departures. Headed to the gate 30 minutes before departure as the security is done at the gateroom. After I had gone through security as I was approaching the podium I was called as the last remaining passenger to board immediately, a bit OTT I thought.

On board seating was of the spacesaver variety with the middle seat in a set of 3 empty. I actually found this more comfortable than the compressed seats, very much akin to the seating comfort of LX short haul business class.

Coats were taken and the cabin settled. Pushback was 20 minutes early and take off not long after.

Hot towels came round followed by a drinks order. Passengers were addressed by name by a very friendly and efficient Cabin Services Manager throughout the service.

This was an infamous Afternoon Tea service something that I wasn't that keen on. There were 2 finger sandwiches that were very tasty, warm scones were served together with a piece of very dry carrot cake. The CSM came round with ordinary tea but offered a range of teas, one of them being my favourite Earl Grey. This was the perfect finishing touch.

It was a shame to see so much food waste with nobody eating the carrot cake let alone the expense for BA.. Maybe BA should have prepacked smaller portions of cake such as they do have on Virgin Trains and one extra finger sandwich.

We pulled onto stand 20 minutes ahead of schedule and a dedicated Club Europe bus was waiting for the 6 Club Europe passengers to arrivals.. E gates were working so straight through again and surprisingly luggage was starting to come through. Although mine was tagged priority it wasn't one of the first off but I was walking out of the customs hall just as other passengers from the flight were arriving at the belt.

I was even on the Heathrow Connect service to Ealing Broadway 7 minutes after our scheduled time of arrival.

In summary an excellent experience enhanced by an excellent crew and early arrival to be let down only by the Prague deparures (gateroom security and poor lounge).

The Afternoon Tea was not so much of a let down as I thought it would be but given the choice again, I would opt for the departure from Prague a couple of hours earlier in future to get a full hot meal service.

KeaneJohn flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (28/01/2012 11:48)

I checked in at Manchester Airports Gold, Silver, First and Club check in desk for my flight down to Heathrow and onwards to Prague. Was greeted by a disinterested staff member obviously a bit miffed that I had interrupted her texting on her phone. Asked about the transfer process to be told that she would tag my bags through to Prague. I also asked if there was space saver seats on the Prague flight or if it was the compressed seats on the left hand side. I was told seating was 2 x 2 configuration- something that I knew already but didn't have my question answered. I normally never make a point of leaving the check in desk until my bag has been tagged and on its way down but the the dagger looks I got from the agent before she had affixed the label meant that I turned away.

The Executive Club lounge was quiet but had ample refreshments with a team of 3 people making the lounge spotless and tidy, I asked the same question about spacesaver seats to the lounge host who said he would try to find out for me. 30 minutes later he came back to tell me that is was the compressed seats that would be used for my Prague flight.. I hope it didn't take him this long to find out !

A punctual boarding was quite promising save for the fact that Manchester Airport had been covered in a smattering of snow in a freak storm that lasted about 15 minutes. This was sufficient to close the runway and required planes be de-iced. Captain advised us we were no 1 in the queue for de-icing by which time the runway was expected to be reopened. 30 minutes later an update from the Captain to inform us that a Thompson Aircraft was being deiced. Proactive crew came round with water and orange juice and then followed with the notorious ipad approaching people with tight connections at Heathrow. Regular updates from a clearly frustrated Captain informed us that 3 aircraft (Manchester based!) had been deiced we would be next and we finally pushed back 80 minutes after STD. A short taxi and we were airborne. Drink and snack served so efficiently. I have no idea how the crew can provide such a quick service on a 28 minute flight. Landed at Terminal 5 with extra staff meeting the aircraft for passengers with missed connections again a nice touch.

Fairly effortless transfer to T3 and straight to a rather busy Galleries Lounge. Staff worked tirelessly to replenish and clear away. Just enough time for a glass of champagne and some cheese and biscuits. A few other savoury nibbles would have been welcomed as they only seemed to have full size packets of crisps.

I asked the lounge host if the Club Europe cabin was busy and was told that it was half full and when she returned my boarding card to me she advised me that she had taken the liberty to block the empty seat next to me. An extremely nice and welcome touch.

Boarding for the Prague flight was from the infamous gate 24 via bus to the aircraft. Something that let the overall experience down.

Once on board settled into a half full cabin with coats taken quickly and efficiently. We were 10 minutes late pushing back and had a 30 minute taxi but after take off a welcome hot towel was given out followed by a bar service with nuts. The nuts offered were branded Club World but to be honest were not as nice as the mixed back of savoury snacks served in Euro Traveller and on the flight from Manchester.

Supper was served after that with the options of chicken or fish. I am not a great fish lover at the best of times but this cod looked amazing so I thought I would opt for that. I am so glad that I did. It was very tasty probably one of the best meals I have had on an aircraft in Business Class and went down well with some champagne. Crew were very attentive with nothing was too much trouble (including sourcing a bag of Euro Traveller nuts!) Landing was 20 minutes late and with a short walk to immigration, use of the biometric passport gates I was at the luggage reclaim counter within 2 minutes. Priority tagged luggage was the first to be appear with my bag as the second. All in all a very pleasant flight experience and a most welcome improvement to the Club Europe service. I mentioned this to the Cabin Services Manager who seemed to genuinely appreciate the comments.

A couple of members of staff really enhanced the overall experience one that was only let down by the initial check in experience and boarding by bus at LHR T3. I

Living next to LCY I have used LX/LH for my European and Long haul Business Class flights via ZRH/FRA so it has been 3 years since I experienced BA. I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased as I have another 6 flights with BA between now and April.

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A321 (13/12/2011 18:37)

Arrived over 2 hours ahead of time, self check in and bag drop worked well.

We were guided to the novia? lounge. This facility had plenty of hot and cold drink, as well as light snacks, we spent the time reading the independent close to the SAS gates.

Boarding was about 25 minutes before departure to a very empty cabin with only 4 of us. Door closed 15 minutes ahead and push back was 10 minutes early. After a short taxi we took off.

The purser Jane did a spendid job, drinks were offered and then the meal arrived a vegetable taglietellie, which was very good. My partner asked for red wine and was offered 3 different red choices. Similarly there were 2 choices of white wine.

Service was very polite and we were asked about how long we'd been in Copenhagen. Due to being early we were stacked and flew in over central london, still arriving early.

Well done BA, good to see some excellent service.

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (13/12/2011 18:29)

Checked in the evening before and were able to select the back row together, but little other choice.

Arrived at Terminal 5 a good 2 hours ahead of departure and once bags were checked in found the lounge airside. Good range of food and drinks.

Headed to gate just as boarding commenced. 16/20 business seats were taken and the flight overall seemed fairly full. Push back was prompt and take off 20 or so minutes later.

Pre-dinner drinks were offered, followed by our vegy specials, a rice dish with a bit of spice, very palatable. Drinks and refills were offered and the crew worked hard, being both polite and pleasant. Arrived slightly early and bags arrived soon after arrival.

An exellent 1 1/2 hour flight.

DisgustedofSwieqi flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (04/12/2011 08:49)

Picked up my boarding pass at Orly West and made my way to the Iberia lounge, which is landside and the opposite end of the terminal to BA's check-in desks and boarding area, which is in the non Schengen part of the terminal.

I've used the Iberia lounge for several years, as it also hosts other airlines I use and it is not one of my favourites, although it has received some improvements in the last year. The selection of drinks and snacks do not compare to the Galleries lounges.

I walked down to the gate a -45 minutes, to allow for the 200m stroll and also passport and security fomalities. By the time I cleared security, the lfight was boarding and I took advantage of the business class lane, which then fed back into the main queue - it probably saved me a few minutes in line.

I was greeted by name at the door, by a cabin manager who was wearing the 'Thunderbirds are go!' hat and directed to my seat.

The cabin manager was personable and polite, also appeared very much on top of her job.

We departed on time and the flight to London was around 45 minutes, with a meal of assorted mezes (tasty) and a mini bottle of Pommery champagne, which washed it down very nicely.

The cabin manager did a couple of rounds during the flight, to check if I wanted anything else.

On arrival at Heathrow, deplaning was efficient and Iris was working. With hand luggage, I was out of the terminal 20 minutes after touchdown and onto the HEX.

Good flight, good service, like BA 15 years ago - well done.

DisgustedofSwieqi flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (02/12/2011 13:48)

Mixed fleet flight from Orly to Heathrow.

GordyUK flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-500 (02/12/2011 11:07)

This was the return leg of the CPT/DUR I have reviewed the Traveller class for.

This time we were able to purchase an upgrade to Club for ZAR500 which seemed worth it.

Again the flight was rammed full. We were very lucky to have 1D/F with no one sat between us (every other club row had seat E filled).

People say Business class on shorthaul isn't worth it. I totally disagree!. Once that curtain was closed, the atmosphere couldn't have been more different from the hell that was the previous journey.

That said, the food was very poor. I have always loved the food in Club Europe but this was some over spicy mezze, and that was it.. 3 dips in cute pots with breads. I thought it was a starter!. Nothing else. No dessert or cheese and actually thinking about it now, despite being offered a drink before lunch, there was no offering with/after lunch. Not even tea or coffee. If i'd paid full price for this I would have been raging.

The crew, as always were great but I have seriously marked them down for allowing every man and his dog to pile through the curtain to the Club lavatory. There is only 1 up front!

TridentGold flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-400 (28/11/2011 06:39)

This was a BA/Comair service on a 1hour 20 minute flight from Durban to Johannesburg.

I have flown this route many times in the last couple of years on 5 different carriers and Comair deserve a mention.

Check in at the excellent 18 month old King Shaka International Airport was busy but very efficient. I was served with a smile, checked in, and baggage tagged to London in 5 minutes. Security at Durban was very busy on this Friday afternoon, but they make a real effort here to keep things moving and I was through to the BA Lounge 10 minutes later.

This lounge, called The Slow Lounge (no kidding) has to be one of the best small lounges in the World. All of the (many) staff are helpful, friendly and deliver great service. The range of food and drink available is staggering and the ambience with it's unique mix of fusion music easy to relax in.

There were delays due to weather, but the lounge staff kept everyone up to date every 15 minutes or so. The inbound aircraft was 35 minutes late but a stunning turnaround had us all boarding within 20 minutes of arrival.

The seats are the very comfortable old style Club Europe type with two on the A/C side where I was sitting. Immediately after departure, drinks and a full dinner service for those who wanted it were provided. BA Comair always seem to have a good selection of wines and a choice of four hot main courses, and this flight was no exception. Even on this busy service, everyone was served promptly with a smile.

Arrival into Johannesburg was 30 minutes late, but we were off the plane quickly and I myself hurrying along for my connection to London after a thouroughly pleasant short haul flying experience. This quality level is typical in my experience with BA Comair and is significantly better than main rivals SAA.

RocketRoy flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (05/11/2011 08:11)

SUPERB!

Stanislaw55 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (01/07/2011 15:50)

BA - A320 - Club Europe.

Not worth the money! These are economy type seats with no one sitting next to you. At 34 inches seat seperation it is the same as Jet blue economy, and their seats in economy are better then BA's Club Europe class. Get rid of the middle seat and make the seats more comfortable. The middle seats are NOT bringing in more revenue, and they make customers unhappy with this class of service. You need a more substantial seat, rather then the current flimsy-economy class seat.

Service on BA's flight is always at a high level.

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (19/12/2010 16:09)

Having arrived at a snowy and misty Oslo airport, I wasn't surprised to see that the BA flight before had been cancelled. Check in was prompt and we were in aisle seats 7C & D.

We found our way to the Norwegian lounge, which had a small selection of snacks and drinks. At the gate we boarded and the Cabin service director (CSD) was friendly and told me she had my special meal on board. We were told of a probable delay of around an hour due to low cloud at Heathrow, so drinks were offered, this time was revised forward and we pushed back within 30 minutes. After de-icing at the end of the runway we took off an hour later.

A round of drinks was offered and then the meal service, in fact my vegetarian was a seafood, which was fine, but apologies were offered.

Service was very friendly and the CSD kept connecting passengers up to date about arrival time, which was only 15 minutes late.

There was a slight delay until our gate became available and then we exited from the front. Bags arrived in a reasonable time Have already given ratings on yesterday submission

peterandrew62 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (19/12/2010 15:57)

Having checked in the evening before, walked to fast bag drop we were asked if we knew where the lounges were and headed to security. The galleries lounge is large and spacious and there was plenty of food and drinks available, with a view over the arrivals runway.

A general boarding call was made at the gate and we headed to our seats 5C & F on the second to back row.

Push back was fairly prompt and it was a short taxi to the runway. We were warned it was busy, but seemed to take off in a reasonable time.

Lunch was a vegetarian curry like dish with lentils, which we had pre ordered, with plenty of choice of bread rolls, with sliced fruit as a desert. Tea or coffee were offered as well as any requests for drinks from the bar.

Arrival was slightly ahead of time, although we were backed right at the end of the terminal. Bags arrived within a reasonable time and we headed into the centre of Oslo on the fast airport express

MakingTravelEasier flew British Airways Club Europe, on a Embraer 170 (05/11/2010 17:12)

The 170 is the smaller brother of the 190 and it certainly shows. On this flight I was in Club Europe and there is a noticeable difference (at least in my mind) in the seat pitch.

With the tray down for eating and coffee there isn't much room between (my slightly larger than average!) stomach and the tray! Whereas on the 190 there is oodles of room - even at the back of the plane.

In every other respect the seat is the same as the 190. Very comfortable for a short haul journey and the planes have that nice new feel. Again, overhead bins aren't huge but are a substantial improvement on the old AVRO planes they have replaced.

MakingTravelEasier flew British Airways Club Europe, on a Embraer 170 (05/11/2010 17:08)

Steveh63 flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B777-200ER (Config. 2) (22/10/2010 14:55)

As you can see by my rating below I was not impressed by my recent Flight LHR-IAH in Club World on B777-200ER (GE Powered).

Boarding was via the down stairs coaching station in Terminal 5 (Gate 10) when my Wife and I got there we told quite clearly that we had to go to the back of the queue as there was no priority lane for this flight. After standing for 15-20 minutes we finally got onto a crammed bus which took us to a remote stand.

We then had to queue again as there was only 1 set of stairs being used to board the Aircraft.

Although I managed the steps up to the doors on the B777 without to much trouble many senior passengers were struggling.

At no time did I see any assistance offered from any BA Staff. When we got on board the APU was not working which meant there was no Air Conditioning available and the inside of the cabin was very hot.

After take off I found out that there was no AVOD available which shows how far BA have slipped behind their rivals whilst the cabin service and quality of food left a great deal to be desired. The boarding quality was more like Easyjet low cost rather than BA Club World.

EdwardFerrell flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (16/09/2010 15:11)

Row 6 on the A319 LHR to BCN -- no middle seat as it is one of the optional Club versus Euro seats. Great for travel with one other person

kmcottrell flew British Airways Club Europe (06/05/2010 14:18)

OxfordDon flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (15/12/2009 21:17)

terminalfive flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-500 (06/05/2009 20:02)

Not the best flight - A319 are much better product from LGW. Staff not up to high BA standard on this short flight

terminalfive flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (15/04/2009 21:49)

LGW - TRN. Smooth flight - good service with cream tea! Very good for short haul and A319 aircraft have added comforts (tv screens with flight details etc)

terminalfive flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-300 (15/04/2009 21:45)

TRN - LGW - was meant to be a A319 but plane type was altered for operational reasons. Despite age of plane (only a few 300 types left in service) flight was pleasant. Food and service good. Negative point - luggage. Had to wait 30 minutes to check in luggage due to the fact that there was no separate J class queue and at arrival at LGW had to wait another 20 minutes for the bag to arrive. Too long

terminalfive flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (14/03/2009 21:46)

LHR - MXP - facilities in T5 excellent - smooth boarding and quickly off. Seats now in a 2-2 configuration in club europe so whereas before 1C was my favourite seat for the added leg room now 1 D becomes an attractive seat. Inflight service good and better than most european rivals in business class

terminalfive flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-400 (05/02/2009 22:28)

Gatwick - Turin. Smooth boarding, sitting in 2C. Service as always decent on BA but 737-400's older and less comfortable than the newer A319- 320's on BA's fleet

up-in-the-air flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A319 (15/01/2009 17:07)

I am a 1A kind of girl but any of the window seats in Club Europe are good, especially if there is no one sitting next to you. Flying short-haul routes on this plane mean that you don't need seats that recline much as you are not going to be sleeping anyway.

I usually like the food served on board and the free fizz is always good. The last flight I went on was delayed for a while but I guess that happens from time to time. Generally, I really like BA. (I haven't rated the IFE because there isn't any on this flight.) The cabin crew are a pretty friendly bunch too.

MakingTravelEasier flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (18/12/2008 19:06)

Flew in 1A to CDG last week on a newer A320 and it had the same "new" seats that the A321 ones have. I find these much harder (maybe because they are newer) than the ones on most of the rest of the BA fleet.

It had plenty of legroom which normally can be less on these planes.

The plane had the new moving map software which is excellent. A big improvement on the existing system.

MakingTravelEasier flew British Airways Club Europe, on a A320 (Domestic) (18/12/2008 19:03)

Flew in 1A on a nice new A320 to Paris last week. They had the new software for the moving map which is excellent. A huge improvement on the old format.

The seat (like those on the A321) is quite hard although there was plenty of legroom even in the bulkhead seat.

MakingTravelEasier flew British Airways Club Europe, on a RJ85 (18/12/2008 19:00)

Avro Regional Jets

First thing to comment on Club Europe on these planes out of London City is that the current Club Europe configuration is the opposite of all other BA planes.

The squished up seat is on the RIGHT HAND side of the cabin.

The seats on these planes are pretty old now and not as comfortable as most of the rest of the BA fleet. The window seats are very cramped as the plane is very narrow and if you are tall or big you will notice it. I'm not tall and I could notice the difference. So unless you really want the window go for an aisle.

Front bulkhead seats don't have much legroom and the ailse ones are both narrower as the tray table is built into the seat so these can be quite tight.

Finally, make sure you get on quick as the overhead bins are tiny, especially if you are in the middle of the plane where they are non existent!

rburtor flew British Airways Club Europe, on a B737-400 (03/10/2008 18:49)

Out of LGW where the food is good and service to match. Seats are uncomfortable and old 737's show their age with well worn leather and pieces of seats falling off and head rests wobbling off your head and down your back !