British Airways said they’d be flogging off a few pieces from their art collection, which is pretty substantial. This is Cool Edge by Bridget Riley, which BA seem to have had in their collection for some time.
The estimate is £800,000 to £1,200,000 which makes it just a little bit outside of my price range. And taste range to be honest. But, if anyone wants to buy it, it’s up for sale at Sotheby’s (https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/evening-sale-london/bridget-riley-cool-edge)…..
There’s not much exciting news in aviation at the moment, although the arrival of G-ZBLA into London Heathrow from Boeing’s base at Charleston is newsworthy. These aren’t good times for Boeing, and I’m not entirely convinced by their recent aircraft, but this is the belated arrival of BA’s first 787-10. This was meant to be a glorious new aircraft for BA, fitted with their new Club Suites and deliberately with four-cabin service at a time when First is being removed from some destinations, but the whole health situation at the moment means that this is tricky timing.
There will be twelve of these aircraft to add to BA’s existing 787 fleet, with this first one expected to fly to Atlanta next week as its inaugural passenger flight. There are 256 seats on the aircraft, with 8 in First, 48 in Club World, 35 in World Traveller Plus and 165 in World Traveller. I suspect this configuration might prove to be a little too business heavy given current events, but there might be a sweet spot in terms of pricing for Club World seats to the benefit of passengers (I’ll be happy in economy though, I have cheap tastes).
This is the new Club Europe catering that will be used by British Airways over the next three months or so, something of a change from the more substantial and usually cooked offering that was previously provided. Clearly not quite as exciting, but needs must given the current situation. Those passengers in Euro Traveller, who were previously given nothing as it was buy on board, do now get basic soft drinks free of charge.
It’s a relief, for the first time in months, to be able to book a flight and see this e-mail arrive. OK, it’s just a domestic flight for later in the year, but nonetheless….
British Airways e-mailed this morning with the subject title “something to make you smile”. And, the e-mail did, so that’s my loyalty to the wonderful BA confirmed for years to come. And, most importantly, I hope that BA are able to ensure their staff all remain in employment and that routes don’t need to be dropped.
Dear Mr White,
We all love to hear some good news every now and then. And so today, we wanted to tell you something that we hope will make you smile.
As the world prepares to fly once more, we know there is still a long road ahead, and we wanted you to know that we’ll be right there with you every step of the journey.
To say thank you for all your loyalty and support, we’ve added 12 months extra onto your Silver Executive Club membership. So you have more time to enjoy your benefits, whenever you’re ready to return to the skies.
What’s more, it will be even easier to retain your Silver status next time you’re up for renewal, as we’ve decreased the amount of Tier Points needed by 25%. This is the same for upgrade thresholds too, making that next Tier more achievable.
You can read more information here, and other ways we’re supporting you during this period.
We hope that put a smile on your face. Thank you again for your loyalty.
Your Executive Club Team
Along with the temporary suspension to numerous destinations, sad to see that BA have recently announced that they have stopped flying to four locations.
They’re:
London Heathrow – Beirut (Lebanon)
London Heathrow – Helsinki (Finland)
London Heathrow – Leeds Bradford (UK)
London Heathrow – Moscow Sheremetyevo (Russia)
The Leeds Bradford link to London seemed relatively popular, but there’s been an environmental argument for a while about whether this is a sensible use of aircraft. Moscow continues to be served by Moscow Domodedovo, but BA must be expecting that a permanent fall in the number of people prepared to go to Russia.
Disappointed about the removal of the Helsinki route as I planned to use that next year to get to Tallinn (after getting a ferry across the Gulf of Finland), a direct BA route they shut down in 2019. It looks BA has given up on great swathes of eastern Europe, which will be a handy boost to Ryanair and Wizzair. There’s always Finn Air, who are Oneworld, but I rarely see anything keenly priced there.
Hopefully when things return to some form of normality then BA can start looking at new routes to replace the ones that have been lost.
This flight was back in October 2014, and I hadn’t intended to upload the photos so there aren’t many interesting ones of how the aircraft looked. But there’s a lot of food photos at least. Anyway, with the caveat that this is a very limited trip report, since there’s not much text about the flight itself, here we go…..
Woooo, I was lucky enough to get seat 1A.
The First seat has a television screen which comes out and the whole area turns into a bed. For those travelling with someone else, the footrest can also be used as a seat. The table comes out and so it’s possible to dine as two people, such is the generosity of space.
I still have the menu, so this is a photo from today…..
Photos of the menu.
Proceedings started with a Kir Royale (Creme de Cassis and champagne) and warm nuts. How decadent.
The amuse-bouche, although I’ve long since forgotten what it was and they don’t list that in the menu.
The starter of lobster, mango salsa and a Thai sweet chilli glaze.
Butter chicken with rice, dal and a toasted naan.
The dessert of a cheeseboard.
And coffee to end the proceedings with.
Unfortunately, the mists of time have meant I’ve forgotten anything of particular interest about this flight. The First experience was one I certainly couldn’t afford if I had to pay for it, but it of course makes flying an absolute pleasure. For me, I find the attentive service all a bit much, I could do without the tablecloth, the placing of the napkin and the laying of cutlery, but I can understand why this is such a treat for a special trip.
I haven’t taken photos of breakfast and, from memory, I think that’s because I ordered another cheeseboard. There’s dine on demand on BA flights in First and so you can have whatever you want at any stage. This flight arrived in at something like 07:00, which meant that I had access to the Arrivals Lounge at Heathrow T5, where I could have a full English breakfast after my busy flight of eating.
BA crews were nearly always excellent in First and I always tried to stay awake for the entire journey, as it seemed a bit much to just fall asleep with all this luxury. I probably won’t travel First for some considerable time in the future, so trips like this were always an exciting treat.
The current Coronavirus means that I can’t write about any recent flights on British Airways, so here’s one from six years ago. As a rider at this stage, I wasn’t intending to post these photos when I took them, so they’re not really a very complete set covering the aircraft’s exterior or interior. But, I took a photo of all the food, which is something I rarely neglect my obligations towards….
Back in 2014, British Airways decided that China was their future and they started a flight to Chengdu as their third destination in the country, as they already flew to Shanghai and Beijing (as well as Hong Kong). There was a documentary at the time where BA management, including their boss then Willie Walsh, said how important China was to them, although their enthusiasm waned and Chengdu was dropped a few years later, in early 2017. This flight was in Club World, or business class, with the aircraft being the Boeing Dreamliner.
The screen for the IFE.
The foldable foot rest, which then joined together with the main part of the seat to form a bed. BA have recently announced a new Club Suite, which looks amazing, so the days of having to step over someone else will soon be firmly in the past.
The menu.
The watermelon, feta and cucumber salad.
The Szechuan braised pork with bean curd, an appropriate dish as this was the area of China that we were flying to.
The summer berry cheesecake with mascarpone cream.
The breakfast menu.
Fresh fruit and the mango fruit smoothie. The smoothies on BA are world class and I always tried to get refills if they had enough.
The continental breakfast option.
I took these items from the Club Kitchen on board to nibble on between meals.
I can’t remember much about these meals, primarily because I ate them six years ago, but I was rarely disappointed with BA’s food. I also know that I got my first choice for all meals on this flight, which is always a bonus. Unfortunately, I didn’t note the registration number of the aircraft or much else.
Above is the BA aircraft G-MIDT after we had arrived back into Gatwick on service BA2645. I haven’t flown on this particular aircraft before, it was brought into service in 2001 for use by bmi British Midland and then was taken over by BA in August 2012.
Boarding was smooth and without any delays, they called Groups 1 to 3 in one go and then Groups 4 and 5 went separately. There were sufficient seats in the boarding area for customers this time, something which isn’t always the case at Malta’s airport.
As seems usual in Malta, there’s a short walk to the aircraft and then customers use steps to board.
We had the aisle and middle exit row seats, with no-one sitting at the window, so Liam moved there. The cabin crew noted how sun-burnt Liam was to add to the occasion, with the crew always being efficient and pro-active during the flight. The loads were light, I’m not sure that the aircraft was even half-full in terms of the Euro Traveller cabin, a result perhaps of the current coronavirus situation. That did though mean that there was no shortage of space in the overheads and boarding wasn’t delayed whilst bags were shuffled around.
Boarding was though delayed as a result of French air traffic control, an element of which was on strike, which meant that we departed around twenty minutes later than expected. However, the pilots kept us informed and nearly all of this delay was made up en route back to Gatwick, a flight which took just under three hours. The flight itself was uneventful, all calm and comfortable, with the cabin crew making appropriate announcements, although the pilot seemed to get distracted when making her announcements, but I admit that it is rather more important to fly the plane.
Another perfectly acceptable flight from British Airways, with Gatwick South being well staffed so we had no delays getting through border control and then back to the long-stay car park.
And my fourth visit to the delightful island of Malta….
Earlier on in the day the flight was expected to be delayed by around ninety minutes due to adverse weather conditions, but there was then a change in aircraft and the delay became relatively minor. Not that this was a problem, we had arrived at Gatwick early, so we had plenty of time in the BA lounge. The gate was called and it was once again the set of gates at the end of the long corridor, a little bit of a walk from the main terminal. The boarding process was though very well managed, with all the customers boarded by group and this was carefully enforced. There are enough seats in the area as well for customers to wait before boarding.
Parked up at Gatwick, the aircraft G-EUUT, which has been operated by BA since 2007, which I was on when I returned from Palma to Gatwick South in November last year. The aircraft that I should have been on today, before the aircraft change this afternoon, was the one which went tech last year en route to Palma…..
I had an exit row aisle seat and Liam had the middle seat, although the window seat wasn’t used so we had the row of three emergency exit row seats between us. The flight was uneventful, which is a useful thing for a flight to be, with the buy on board seeming to be quite popular on this evening’s flight. Then there was just the matter of getting through border control at Malta airport and then the checks for the Coronavirus where everyone was corralled through a checkpoint….
The flight wasn’t unreasonably priced, costing £44 for a single journey, which I reduced by using Avios. The flight, which took just under three hours, was around 80% full, which meant it wasn’t sufficiently busy to cause problems with space in the overhead lockers.
