December 2009
Published: 02/12/2009
WINNING ENTRY FOR DECEMBER 2009
Review of British Airways B747-400 First class
2old4coach
London-Johannesburg
The Concorde Lounge: Flight 57 leaves Terminal 5 at 8pm which gave us time to enjoy the Concorde lounge. The BA Concorde lounge is a haven away from the hustle and bustle of Heathrow. The Concord lounge is reserved for passengers flying international first class, so it is less crowded and gives the lounge an air of exclusivity. The lounge features a full bar with a good choice of champagnes, a full sit-down restaurant and large seating area. There is no need to browse a buffet for a hostess will serve you food and drink wherever you are seated. The lounge is not to be missed! Oh! This is a flight review, we almost forgot...
Boarding: The boarding process is standard at Terminal 5 for BA. There is a Premium boarding area and a Coach boarding line. Since there are quite a few premium seats and Silver and Gold status members boarding at the Premium line it makes no sense to rush to queue up if you are travelling in First. (SFO boards from the lounge, a much more elegant process, which I will explain in a latter report.) At the door we were greeted by the purser who personally escorted us to our seat and addressed us by our proper names.
The Aircraft and Seating: This aircraft's A section seats 14 in First class in 5 rows. We picked seats 2A and 2K, which are across the aisle from each other. Seats 1A and 1K are blocked for the super elite in BA’s programme, however 1A and 1K are available at check-in online 24 hrs in advance. I find seats 1A and 1K to be less desirable because they are next to the common-use closet and up against the nose, giving a somewhat cramped feeling compared to other seats.
The seating in this B747-400 is the old-style full-flat seats that were introduced some time ago. They may not have the bling of the new seating offered by so many Eastern carriers, but they’re still quite comfortable. I would rate the sitting position as a ten, sleeping as a ten and dinning at a ten. (The crew makes up your bed with a bed pad and comfy duvet when you are ready for sleep. All in all quite elegant. BA is also in the process of designing an update its First Class product.)
Entertainment: Older style AVOD system with 7 inch screens.
Food: Excellent. Lobster tail appetizer and some wonderful fish for main course (please excuse the lack of specifics, I do not remember the exact menu and I forgot to note down what I had. The wines were also excellent, as was the cognac! (Perhaps that is why I cannot remember the fish.)
Service: BA’s international flight crews are simply the best. I love the way we feel when we are taken care of. The Asian carriers, like Singapore and Cathay, do have super-efficient and elegant service staff but they lack the warmth of the BA crews. The heartfelt service ethic is evident at BA. They always make us feel special.
Baggage: Our bags were first off the belt.
Arrival Service: This was one major failing of BA for our flight to Johannesburg. On the website they listed an arrival lounge and the telephone agent confirmed this, but when we checked-in at London we found out there was no lounge as advertised. No big loss for our schedule but if my plans were different it could have been a disappointment.
Conclusion: I love the private suites on Emirates, the service on Cathay and the bling at Singapore Airlines, but I will fly on BA given the choice because of the excellent service and the genuine friendliness of the staff.
COMMENDED
Bmi A321-200 Business class
PJordan
Dublin-London Heathrow
When checking on line I noticed that the boarding passes were a new format and when printed, looked very slightly blurred. When I approached the security area in Dublin, the machine was unable to read the barcode. The Bmi ticket desk is only a short walk away and a very helpful gentleman issued both boarding passes with apologies for the delay.
I returned to the business boarding area at Dublin and was through within seconds. At busy times, this is a boon. The Bmi lounge is located midway along the shopping area and close to the B pier (from which most Bmi flights depart).
Boarding was on time and while passengers are called by row numbers, Business and Diamond Club Gold card holders may board at leisure. As I like row 1, I often board early to ensure space in the overhead cabins (all hand luggage must be stowed when in row 1). Luckily there is a wardrobe available for coats/jackets, and this frees up some space in the overhead bins as well as avoiding wrinkled jackets!
The business cabin on most UK/IRL Bmi Airbus 200 series is 3-2 configuration. This often extends a couple of rows into economy cabin and these seats are often allocated to Diamond Club members; a welcome bonus when flying economy. Sometimes Bmi use former BMED aircraft on the Dublin London route. These have a 2-2 business configuration and the seats are huge with an enhanced pitch.
Business service offers a cooked breakfast with warm breads. The orange juice served is of a very high quality and when mixed with a glass of Champagne (Cattier or Charles Laffite) makes for an excellent follow up to breakfast. Cabin crew are invariably friendly and most obliging.
Arrival at LHR entails the usual trek from T1 to arrivals which is longer than usual as the moving walkways are closed for maintenance. Returning from LHR the security at T1 is very efficient, and within a few minutes one is free to explore the excellent range of shopping on offer. The Bmi lounge is being refurbished and only the ground floor is operational. There is a good range of magazines and newspapers on offer with plenty of nibbles and drinks to choose from.
It is a fair walk from the lounge to the boarding gate and this is Bmi's sole disadvantage compared to Aer Lingus at LHR (their lounge is adjacent to the gates). The service from LHR is identical to that from Dublin, save for the meal being (in this case) beef with potatoes and vegetables. Arrival at Dublin is usually at the B pier which is a short walk to passport control and baggage collection.
Business return fares are on the region of €450, but it’s very possible to secure an economy return for well under €100. All told I consider Bmi to offer the best of both worlds - a very good business product with a keenly priced economy service.
Asiana Airlines B777-200ER Business class
raipol49
London-Sydney, return via Seoul Incheon
BACKGROUND Asiana currently operates 4 times weekly from London Heathrow T1 to Seoul Incheon with onward connections to points in Northeast Asia and Sydney.
CHECK-IN HEATHROW This was total chaos on the day we travelled. The Asiana computer had packed up and Bmi, which handles check-in for Asiana, seemed totally lost. Area C in Terminal 1 (normally the check-in area) was deserted and we were told to go to area B. Here the queue went back as far to the main hall and after inquiring where the business class check-in was we were told to go to area A. Here about 50 people wanted to check-in, more than the available seats in the business class section for the flight. It was just a free for all. We could only check-in as far as Seoul. We were told by stressed Bmi staff that we had to reclaim our luggage in Seoul and check in again. Our pre-allocated seats 3A and 3C were already taken and we received seats 7A and 7B which were not business class. Bmi could not explain why and asked us to sort it out at the gate or on board. One had the impression there was a lack of co-operation between Asiana and Bmi. It took nearly an hour to check-in so no time to visit the Star Alliance lounge.
CHECK-IN SEOUL INCHEON Here Asiana redeemed itself with excellent ground service. At the aircraft’s door all transit passengers were greeted by Asiana staff who directed us to the transfer desks and here the new boarding passes were issued quickly with the pre-allocated seats and we were told that the luggage would be retrieved from the belt and redirected to our Sydney flight departing in a couple of hours’ time.
CHECK-IN SYDNEY Check-in is made by Qantas staff and it took a matter of minutes. We received even a pre-filled in departure card which we more or less just had to sign. We also received already the boarding passes for the Seoul-London flight on the next day. Our luggage was checked through to Heathrow.
THE LOUNGE IN INCHEON For us one of the best business class lounges. Very spacious and quiet. There is a dining area, a rest area, TV area, a library, a business centre with free internet access and plenty of computers, showers. Bar contained the usual drinks stock and there is always some hot and cold food available.
BOARDING HEATHROW At the gate the Asiana supervisor allocated us seats 1A and 1C. With the chaos, boarding took longer and we left an hour late.
BOARDING INCHEON and SYDNEY Asiana uses the Air New Zealand lounge at Sydney. It was quite busy since it caters for a number of different carriers. Although very spacious it is not a good as Asiana’s own lounge on Incheon.
THE SEAT Asiana has a 2-3-2 configuration on its 777s over five rows. There are some older aircraft in the fleet which feature only 4 rows. Seat row 1 give a bit more space however, the lighting reflects on the TV screens and this makes watching not very good. The best rows are two to four or two to three respectively. The seat has a good recline that was almost horizontal but not fully flat. Seating for the meals and sleeping was comfortable. There is some storage space in the seat in front and in an area cut out of the shell in front. Pillow, blanket, ear phones (not noise reducing), slippers and eyeshades are automatically provided. A toilet bag is offered only for flights out of Incheon.
THE FLIGHTS On each flight coats were immediately taken by a crew member and drinks (champagne, orange or apple juice or water) were offered before take-off. The food choice included canapés, salad, main course, cheeseboard and desert. The main course is usually beef or fish as well as Korean dishes Bi Bim Bab or Ssam Bab. The steaks were generally excellent (not overcooked) and in particular the Ssam Bab was great. There are 3 red wines and 2 white wines on offer besides the champagne. The Sancerre 2007 and the Cellier Aux Moines 2005 were very good.
Service on all sectors was attentive and the crews very friendly. At the beginning of the flights the chief steward as well as the crew member responsible for you introduced themselves and at the end of each flight the cabin crew gave a personal thank you which sums up the personal service.
IFE This is the weak point of Asiana’s in flight service. The B777 aircraft with five rows have AVOD whereas the older four row B777s are not equipped with the system. The older aircraft was in service on the flights Sydney - Seoul - London. The program on the AVOD is adequate but in comparison with the competition poor. The films are in English, Korean and other languages.
STOP-OVER IN INCHEON One drawback with Asiana’s schedule is that an overnight stop in Seoul is needed when flying Sydney-London. Transit passengers are handed complimentary hotel vouchers at Seoul and are bussed to the hotel. We stayed at the Seoul Royal in the city centre with Asiana also paying for dinner and breakfast. All was very well organized and the transfers were smooth.
ARRIVALS To arrive into Sydney can be a pain when several flights arrive at the same time. Despite holding an “express card” it took 30 minutes to clear immigration plus another 15 minutes to clear customs. To get through in 45 minutes was not too bad in the circumstances. On our return flight Incheon’s immigration was cleared in a matter of minutes. In Heathrow we arrived slightly early and after a long walk found there were no queues at immigration. Our suitcase came on the belt just as we reached the baggage hall. All in all we took 25 minutes from leaving the aircraft to greeting our driver. That’s a new record for me at Heathrow.
VERDICT Having now flown a total of 10 long haul sectors with Asiana. I can say of the first eight flights there was a 100 per cent product consistency. This was dented in the last two sectors by the older aircraft with no AVOD. Service all around was always very good and because of the service consistency Asiana has become one of our favourites. I only wish they can improve their IFE.
PRICE Very attractive if you have time for the stop-over in Seoul. Check with Asiana.
Bmi A320-200 Economy class
kathcake10
I recently travelled on Bmi on a short haul trip to Edinburgh. Luckily we had self-service check-in which meant we didn't have to take our place in the normal queues. The line for check-in was very long, and would probably have taken around 20-30 minutes to get through. When flying with other airlines I have not seen a line as long as this one was.
The gate didn't open at the time it was supposed to and ended up opening around ten minutes later. The queue for boarding wasn't too bad however and it was relatively quick to get on the plane. On my return again the boarding was very quick and I found no problem with this.
The flight left well on time, in fact it was about five minutes early, which is definitely a positive.
When taking my seat on the plane I found it to be very uncomfortable and quite hard, like there was some wood directly under it. There is very little leg room on cheap flights such as these which unfortunately can be a negative if you need to stretch your legs.
As we were only flying for an hour I didn't order any breakfast but the hostesses were coming around with small snacks and hot/cold drinks for passengers quite quickly. The toilets were very small, as is to be expected on an airline restroom, but they were clean and didn't smell at all.
There was no entertainment offered on this flight, for example no head phones, TV programmes etc which may have made it quite boring for some people. Although the flight was too short for a film, a general short TV programme may have made the journey more interesting.
The flight back was delayed by five hours but I have to say this was not Bmi's fault. Thanks to the snowy conditions planes were delayed for hours, and they did offer a £5 food/drink voucher to make up for this delay.
Overall, for a no-thrills cheap airline, Bmi offered what it said on the tin! Basically you go from A to B without giving you much back in return.
Thomson Airways B767-300ER Premium class
morley_tripper
Cancun to Manchester 6/12/09
What a difference from the outbound flight. The plane was delayed two hours on the inbound flight so boarded remotely by buses which was chaos. Once onboard I was in seats 2A, and 2B, but would not pick these again as the bulkhead wall meant you actually had less space to stretch out than seats behind. Also if you want to play any of the games it’s quite a stretch to reach the PTV.
Cabin crew while not unfriendly were lazy on this flight. Drinks were offered once about an hour into the flight, with no more offered for the rest of the flight. The whole service, meals duty free etc., seemed very rushed so they could dim lights and sit in the galley for the remainder of the flight.
Meals were tasty again, two hot meals served, an evening meal about 90 minutes in and a hot breakfast before landing. Entertainment was turned off nearly a full hour before landing with no explanation given
Arrived into Manchester 1hour and 45 minutes late, and then had to wait 35 minutes to actually get a stand due to passport problems on another Thomson plane on our stand. In this time I watched 3 other jets taxied to other stands on the terminal!
The flight crew was very apologetic for the delay to our flight, on boarding and later with the issues in Manchester. The main gripe was the cabin crew who just did not seem interested in really doing much, a problem I might add I have always encountered on Thomson flights from London.
The flight itself was pleasant and again I will use them again as they are competitive on price for what they offer.
