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Tag: British Airways

Flights – British Airways (Heathrow T3 to Luxembourg)

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

My morning British Airways flight from Heathrow T3 having safely landed in Luxembourg. The load was a little light across the aircraft and the new boarding by group operated by BA was efficiently managed.

This is the breakfast on Club Europe, which as I’ve commented on before is what I think is the weakest meal that BA serve. It’s excessively salty for my taste (and I like salt….) and sits in a pool of grease, but I’m sure that it’s not an unpopular product. It’s a shame that they don’t offer the cold meats selection as an alternative though.

One minor thing which a few crew do is ask customers if they want tea or coffee when they serve the breakfast. It threw one customer, who wanted an orange juice, but thought that their selection was limited to tea or coffee. That promptly threw the crew’s service slightly as customers they’d already served then ordered additional drinks.

Indeed, the service on this flight was about as minimal as the crew could get away with, never asking if customers wanted anything else and never really being pro-active. Fortunately I’m pro-active in asking for more orange juice…. There were two crew to deal with a very light Club Europe cabin, which was just four rows and that was only half-filled.

Another problem I keep noticing on BA flights isn’t exactly a serious issue, but their cleaning crews even in their home base rarely seem to be able to check the seat pockets in the time they have. There are routinely things left in seat pockets from previous customers. Ryanair resolved this by removing seat pockets, creating a handy compromise of preventing customers from leaving things in them.

Although Club Europe customers can order from this BOB (buy-on-board) menu, it’s designed for Euro Traveller customers. Alex Cruz removed free food and drink from the Euro Traveller cabin and replaced it with this effort, operated by Bidvest. Most of the food is supplied by Marks & Spencer and the quality seems reasonable, not that I’ve ever ordered from it.

The sandwiches selection on the BOB menu.

One of the little illogicalities about the BOB menu is that the coffees that are served in Euro Traveller are much better than the ones in Club Europe. The Bidvest selection have the coffees which have in-built filters and there’s some attempt at selling branded products. The Club Europe coffees are the standard BA filter coffee efforts, and they’re not exactly a taste sensation.

The beer selection on the BOB menu.

So, another efficient flight which took just 55 minutes to get from Heathrow T3 to Luxembourg. BA continue with their strongest point though, which is to be inconsistent with their customer service.

August 1, 2025
Flights – British Airways (Limoges to Gatwick)

[I originally published this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]

After a very lovely week in Limoges it was time to depart back to the UK on board Speedbird. Limoges is not an airport which is difficult to navigate and it rather makes London City Airport look large. Mine was the only flight for a few hours and it took around two minutes from entering the terminal to sitting in the departure gate area.

I don’t intend to bore people with an in-depth review of the flight, as it was all efficient and well managed. The crew were welcoming and friendly, whilst being attentive throughout the flight. I was in Club Europe and the load there was light, just five customers, which meant that the bulk of the service was conducted by one crew member.

The cabin was clean and I took my favoured seat of 2C. I say favoured, but I usually get seat 34B on Ryanair because I refuse to pay for a better seat on most flights…. But when I get some luxury, I like an aisle seat, but not on the front because I can’t be near my precious laptop.

I’ve always thought that the food across British Airways in First down to World Traveller in long haul, and in Club Europe in short-haul (since that pesky Cruz took away short-haul food) is actually pretty good. It might not be the best in the world, and can’t necessarily compete with Emirates or Singapore, but it has always met my requirements.

That is with one exception, I’m not the biggest fan of BA breakfasts, especially on short haul where there is little other choice. So I’m always overly delighted when there is a choice for breakfast and one of those options is the plate of cold meats.

The quality of the cold meats was towards the higher end of the scale, with the cheeses having a depth of taste and the tomato a particularly pleasant flavour. The meats melted in the mouth and there was a choice of four bread rolls, with the seeded one taking my fancy.

Given it was a morning flight there was a lot of champagne and wine flowing in the cabin, although just for today I felt that this was a morning for orange juice. Although the champagne did look tempting…. The crew member pro-actively offered extra rolls, drinks and checked if I needed anything else, so I didn’t go without at any time during the flight.

Due to my position in 2C it meant that I disembarked the flight first. And disembarked is the correct word, I refuse to use the word deplane…. I don’t actually like this, as it means that I feel I’m under huge pressure not to get lost as I walk towards the terminal. It’s amazing how I can deviate from what an airport can think is its idiot-proof walk towards customs.

I took this flight for purposes of securing BA status next year and it cost £84, which I think is very reasonable for a business class flight. Although, having said that (well, written that) Limoges is one of the cheapest routes for business in Europe on BA, but it’s a seasonal flight only.

July 30, 2025
BA Switch to Revenue Spending Tier Points

I’m a bit of a Wizz Air boy (I use the word boy loosely, but it’s my blog and if I want to use it, then I am) now with my All You Can Fly, but I’m pleased that I didn’t try and renew BA status as it’s near impossible for me now given the changes announced today. Before I was able to use the system to have silver status for a few years, but that will now require a spend of £7,500 a year which is rather beyond what I’d spend. More details are at https://www.britishairways.com/content/executive-club/about-the-club and although I can see the financial reasoning for BA, especially given how busy their lounges have become, it’s beyond me. I’ll just have to get used to Wizz Air…..

December 30, 2024
Bucharest Trip – Day 1 : British Airways Flight to Bucharest

I mentioned in a previous post for my two loyal blog readers that I was on razor thin timing for my flight, having left the hotel just 2 hours 30 minutes before take-off. I considered the reality that it might take over an hour to walk to the bus stop, get on the bus and then arrive into Heathrow Central bus station. In reality, it was 11 minutes. But, that meant one thing, I was safely at Heathrow Terminal 3 ready for my British Airways flight to Bucharest. For all of its faults, I’m still keen to use British Airways and I opted for them to get me to Bucharest. Steve had used BA the previous evening, whilst Bev, Susanna and Thim had decided that Ryanair was for them. Bev would use a cattle truck to get there if she could, but I’m surprised that Susanna and Thim weren’t a little more decadent. But, naturally, I didn’t say anything about the matter.

Back to the flight though. The boarding gate process was handled well, there was no wait and there was a seat whilst they called the groups forwards. All very organised and calm, this felt well managed. It’s always pleasant when the boarding process feels calm, sometimes it all feels a little chaotic and stressful.

Here we are on board. I say we, but I primarily mean me and the other passengers. It was an Airbus A320 aircraft, registration G-EUUF (although I need to check this, as two sites have different aircraft registration codes for this flight which I haven’t seen before). Assuming it was G-EUUF, BA have had this plane since new when they purchased it in 2002 and I don’t think it’s one that I’ve been on before (but my records are quite patchy, I didn’t know I was going to become interested in recording this for some time). Once again, I should really get out more…

One of the vestiges of my status with British Airways is that I can still book these for free, so I got an emergency exit row seat. I’ll be back to silver status early next year (the lowest status I can get which gives me lounge access), required given that I do like visiting the airport lounges as I get excited by free cans of Fanta. Also for my comfort, there was no-one on else this row which was quite handy. Especially given that Thim was reporting he had a somewhat less comfortable experience on the Ryanair flight he was on. The seating area was clean and everything worked as it should,

Satisfactory leg room and the cabin crew were pro-active and friendly. There were also working power points on the service which proved handy. The pilots were the usual middle to upper class sounding British Airways flight crew, sounding reassuring and competent. Not that other pilots aren’t competent, it’s just that the announcements made by British Airways crew seem to be so quintessentially British that it fits their brand well.

There were no delays on departing and the passengers all seemed sensible and efficient which meant no issues with people trying to shove large bags in awkwardly to the overhead lockers.

The free snack and water, which I still think is a positive touch rather than the previous effort they had which involved giving passengers absolutely nothing.

And safely into Bucharest, twenty minutes earlier than expected. There was little to report from the flight, which is a positive thing as too much drama on board is often sub-optimal. I had mentioned to Bev that I didn’t want her, Susanna and Thim waiting for me as they got in 90 minutes earlier, but that was good since they didn’t bother anyway. Once again, I didn’t comment negatively on that situation. On the matter of the weather, it looked just a little bleak, but the temperature was fine for my needs and the rain wasn’t too bad.

I won’t go on about the European Union as my thoughts on this are well known to my two loyal blog readers (and for anyone else, #iameuropean) and EU citizens were able to breeze through passport control. Those from the UK had a much longer wait which was sub-optimal. Anyway, I was again impressed with British Airways, everything worked as it should, everything was clean, the crew were friendly and the service was efficient. The flight cost £42 each way, which I think is very reasonable, especially as I used Avios from previous flights to reduce that to £24 each way. All rather lovely.

November 12, 2023
British Airways and Avios Change
As another one of my random posts, I can’t say that I’m entirely thrilled at the below statement from British Airways today and it doesn’t seem to have gone down entirely well on Flyertalk either. My flights with BA are generally cheap ones (obviously) which means that my Avios collection opportunities will be going down. I just have to hope that they don’t do a similar revenue based policy with tier points, as devaluing those would be entirely sub-optimal….. To be fair though, they probably want to reward their higher spending customers rather than my rather frugal flight purchasing arrangements.

PRESS RELEASE
- The way British Airways Executive Club Members collect Avios is transforming from 18 October 2023, offering Members a transparent, consistent and simplified way to collect Avios
- Under the new collection model, Members can earn up to nine Avios per £1 spent, depending on their Tier status
- From the same date, additional enhancements will allow Members to collect Avios on ancillary purchases, such as upgrades and pre-paid seat selection
British Airways has announced that the way customers collect Avios will be updated from 18 October 2023, including the ability to collect Avios on ancillary purchases for the first time.

It means that customers will soon be able to collect Avios when purchasing additional items such as upgrades, pre-paid seat selection and excess baggage, either in advance or at the airport. The amount of Avios collected per flight will be based on the amount paid rather than distance travelled, in a more consistent and clearer approach.

Members booking flights from 18 October 2023 will collect the following Avios depending on their Tier status:
- Blue members will receive 6 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
- Bronze members will receive 7 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
- Silver members will receive 8 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
- Gold members will receive 9 Avios per qualifying £1 spent
This new model will also apply to flights marketed by Iberia.

Ian Romanis, British Airways’ Director of Retail and Customer Relationship Management, said: “We continue to listen to our customers’ feedback and ideas to evolve our Executive Club. This is a simpler and more transparent system offering more opportunities to collect Avios than ever before and rewarding loyalty based on customers’ cash spend. It’s a tried and tested model already used by a number of global airlines, including our sister airline Iberia.”

The update to the new collection model is the latest change to the Executive Club this year to keep improving the loyalty programme for Members. Most recently, the airline revealed a series of Avios-Only flights, with 100% of seats made exclusively available to Members as Reward Seats. The first Avios-Only flight to Sharm El Sheikh sold out within 24 hours.”
July 18, 2023
British Airways : Third Brewdog Beer Launched – Speedbird OG

As another of my random posts, I was pleased to see a press release from British Airways stating that third Brewdog partnership beer with them is being launched. This one is called Speedbird OG and follows on from the first Speedbird and then Jet Stream. How marvellous.

Anyway, here’s the text:

“Fasten your seatbelts. Return your seats to their upright position. Avoid the temptation to turn your phone off Airplane mode “just to see what would happen”. Speedbird OG is ready to land.

The Transatlantic IPA first brewed at 40,000 feet to celebrate the British Airways centenary in 2019 is back in the air once again. Designed by the winner of our Air Graphic Control can design competition, we’re delighted to unveil Ross Brock’s can art that our independent panel of creative experts thought was the perfect blend of blue sky thinking and British Airways colour palette compliance. Ross will win a year’s supply of Speedbird OG, along with a VIP trip to our Ellon brewery and a pair of British Airways Euro Traveller flights of their choice. Cheers for your help, Ross. Been a pleasure flying with you.

Pick up your Speedbird OG cans exclusively on board British Airways flights or fly onto the internet, pick some up on our online shop and store them safely in the overhead lockers (or the fridge, whichever you prefer).”

June 15, 2023
British Airways – Using Avios for BA Holidays
I was interested in this announcement from British Airways that passengers can use Avios to book BA Holidays, which is something new. As there are currently double tier points on BA Holidays until the end of the year, and rumoured for even longer, I’m tempted to complete some flights between November and December 2023 in what would be the start of my Tier Point year. I’ve lost my silver status which was handy for lounges, so I might well save some Avois during the year to help in getting that back in 2024.

Anyway, the copy of the press release is below:
- From today, British Airways Executive Club members can pay with loyalty currency, Avios, when booking a holiday package with British Airways Holidays
- Avios can also be used as an alternative to a cash deposit to secure a holiday booking
- Executive Club Members travelling before 31 December 2023 will continue to earn double Tier Points on packages of five nights or more
- Members can collect Avios on everyday purchases, including more than 1,500 retailers on the British Airways Avios eStore
British Airways Executive Club Members now have more choice than ever when it comes to using their Avios, with the new option to redeem them towards the cost of a British Airways Holidays booking.

Customers choosing a flight and hotel and/or car package with British Airways Holidays, can now use Avios towards the total price of a holiday when making their booking. After selecting their preferred package, customers will be able to pick one of up to nine different Avios payment options at check out, allowing them to choose the amount of cash and Avios they wish to spend, with the cash amount starting from as little as £1, subject to holding a qualifying Avios balance. Examples include:
- Return flights and two nights’ accommodation in Barcelona from £1 + 67,650 Avios for two people sharing (50p + 33,825 per person)**
- Return flights and three nights’ accommodation in New York from £1 + 246,275 Avios for two people sharing (50p + 123,188 Avios per person)**
Alternatively, customers can secure their holiday with a deposit just using Avios, paying any remaining balance with cash in as many or few instalments as they like, provided the balance is paid off in full four or five* weeks before travel for short haul trips or seven weeks for long-haul.

British Airways Executive Club Members will also continue to earn Double Tier points with British Airways Holidays. To qualify they need to book flights and hotel, or flights and car hire, for five nights or more and travel before 31 December 2023. This includes solo travellers and any holidays already booked.

There are a number of ways for customers to collect Avios to spend on holidays, including spending on the British Airways American Express Credit Card, travelling with Uber, converting Nectar points and shopping on the British Airways Avios eStore. With more than 1,500 outlets to select from, savvy shoppers can earn Avios from any purchase that they make when visiting www.shopping.ba.com.

Claire Bentley, Managing Director of British Airways Holidays, said: “Now more than ever we want to give as many options as possible when it comes to booking that much needed holiday, so we are really excited to offer our Executive Club Members the ability to spend Avios on a package with British Airways Holidays.

“When people book with us, they can do so knowing that we take their holiday seriously. As well as a wide range of holidays to suit all travellers and budgets, we have a dedicated helpline available to customers at any point during their holiday, so they can switch off and relax knowing that they are in safe hands.”

In addition to packages with British Airways Holidays, British Airways Executive Club Members can use Avios to pay, or part pay for flights, as well as seat selection, upgrades and on board food and drink.

Elsewhere, after much feedback from customers, British Airways recently rolled out its Reward Flight Saver to 100 per cent of its network. This proposition allows customers to purchase a Reward Seat at a low flat fee, plus a fixed Avios amount. Members can travel to and from Europe from as little as £1 plus 18,500 Avios, or to a long-haul destination, such as New York, from £100 plus 50,000 Avios.
March 2, 2023
2022 US Trip – Day 32 (British Airways Flight from Dublin to Heathrow T5)
This was the last day of my little trip home and I had chance to pop into the airport lounge at Dublin. This is a different one to where I was before going to the United States, I was off in Terminal 2 at the Aer Lingus lounge then. I’ve written about this Dublin lounge before, so won’t repeat that. I was fortunate to get a seat though, it was at near capacity when I got there and didn’t really let up. It’s an odd shaped lounge and they really need a bigger facility, but it was an entirely satisfactory place to spend three hours.

It had just turned midday, so having a farewell to Ireland Guinness seemed sensible.

Mine was the 15:20 flight and one of the gate staff made an incorrect announcement of the gate number which caused some people to get up and move. I hovered between the two gates thinking that this was far from ideal. I didn’t intend to miss a flight at this stage of the trip.

I had worked out that the flight could be three hours late and I would still be able to get my train home to Norwich. Above that I’d miss it, but I’d either get EU261 compensation or at least a duty of care if it was weather related. I think it transpired that the flight was about eight minutes late so I hadn’t needed to pre-worry.

Ready to battle the rain for one final time in Ireland.

No airbridge in Dublin. This was the tenth and final flight of this trip, along with the twelve or so rail trips I took in the United States. It’s aircraft Airbus A320 G-TTNS and for my own interest only, I hadn’t been on this aircraft before but that’s not surprising as they only took delivery of it on 1 October 2022 and this flight was on 19 October 2022. It’s one of the newest aircraft that I’ve been on I think.

It’s a short flight and it was entirely unremarkable, with the crew being the usual friendly and helpful sort. I was given water and crisps, but I saved them until I was sitting at London Liverpool Street waiting for my train.

Boarding the underground to cross London on the Piccadilly Line, which is always much less exciting when coming back from a trip rather than getting there.

I was able to get a seat.
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December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 31 (British Airways Flight from Heathrow T5 to Dublin)

I had just landed into Heathrow T5 from Newark and my two hour connection was shrunk down to 45 minutes due to some delays in disembarking. That meant I was down to only around 20 minutes in the lounge, although a slightly late departing flight to Dublin meant that I eventually had over 30 minutes. That gave me time for some charging of devices, a couple of drinks and a little snack. The lounge was busy, but I was able to perch at the end overlooking the runway, my favourite location in Galleries North as I like the higher seats.

I understand the importance of security and the UK require passengers to go through full security screening regardless of where they have flown in from. It is though much easier from a passenger point of view with the US set-up of domestic flights where you only go through one security process. I was fortunate that there wasn’t much of a delay before getting to the lounge, I think it was all done in fifteen minutes.

Waiting for the 08:25 service to Dublin, there were a few seats available here, but the airport felt busy in general.

Boarding was efficient and I got to take a photo of the aircraft before walking down the airbridge. I forgot to get the aircraft’s registration number just to check if I had been on it before, a slightly odd check that I do when I remember.

It’s only a short flight, but there’s a snack and water provided. This is perfectly sufficient, it’s useful for passengers to feel hydrated if nothing else. There’s a limited amount that I feel it’s useful to add about short haul flights, as there’s little chance of much engagement from crew on such a brief trip. However, they were welcoming and polite, with the flight being quite light in terms of passengers, so it all felt comfortable and efficient. I like the reliability of British Airways in this regard, a lack of anything to write about is often just because everything went as it should have done.

Safely into Dublin Airport, where I had just over 24 hours before returning back to the UK on the following day.

December 30, 2022
2022 US Trip – Day 30 (British Airways Flight from Newark to Heathrow T5)

After an entertaining couple of hours in the British Airways Galleries lounge in Newark, I then walked the short distance to the gate, an earlier flight than I had been anticipating. I was very impressed with how BA handled this, they made it easy not just to change flights but also to ensure that my seat reservations were carried over.

I don’t like the seats on this Boeing 777-300 aircraft, they’re too narrow for me. However, I was in an exit row on the aisle, which is my favourite, meaning that I did have plenty of space. The three seats were all taken, but I was fortunate that the person sitting next to me didn’t veer into my space once.

The crew members on this flight were exceptional, making an effort to build rapport with customers where they felt appropriate and being ever present. I’m rarely disappointed with the friendliness and engagement of BA crew, with the pilot making chirpy and positive announcements.

It’s fair to say that I had enough leg room.

The first drinks round took place around one hour after take-off and the crew member seemed pleased that I asked for Brewdog Jet Stream by name, so she gave me both cans on her trolley.

The crew member didn’t let me down with the Brewdog beer, she remembered me from before and pro-actively asked “would you like another Brewdog beer?”, which of course I did. So she went off on a mission and came back with another four cans, two raided from a different cabin, the other two from the trolley on the other side of the aisle. Apologies if anyone else wanted Brewdog Jet Stream, but the crew member was wonderfully hoarding them up for me. Incidentally, that’s the film Belfast on the IFE, a story about the violence in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

Onto the food, these meals are catered in the United States and it all entirely met my expectations. I can’t quite remember what sort of chicken dish this was (and I probably wasn’t entirely sure at the time), but it tasted better than it perhaps looks. It comes with a couscous starter, a chocolate dessert and then some cheese and crackers. For an economy flight, which cost me just £220 or so return, I felt I had received excellent value for money with this whole arrangement.

I then thought I’d have a nap after enjoying the heap of Brewdog Jet Stream cans that they had given me.

I admit this wasn’t to my taste, the breakfast option was a cheese bagel or a cheese bagel with turkey. Very innovative. I don’t like the smell of certain melted cheeses and unfortunately this went into the bin, as seemingly did many of those given to other passengers. I rarely eat the breakfast options on aircraft as they’re not often appealing to me, but BA seem to want to provide some sort of hot option. It’s a shame they didn’t have a cold option of just a cereal bar or something, it’d likely be cheaper for them and lead to less waste.

I had a two hour connection before my flight to Dublin, but there was a long delay disembarking and then it was a bus to the gate which all took up time. I was moderately disappointed that this was all eating into, well, my eating time in the BA lounge, and I was partly wondering whether I might be able to miss my flight to Dublin and get a later one since I was in no hurry.

Still my favourite airline, although American Airlines aren’t far behind. Who needs Emirates and Qatar?

And off we go to Heathrow T5, where I’ll pick up my flight to Dublin in my next post.

December 30, 2022