Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: British Airways

  • British Airways – Aircraft at Norwich Airport

    British Airways – Aircraft at Norwich Airport

    These British Airways aircraft have been parked at Norwich Airport for some time, but today is the first time that I’ve seen them. I’d very much like BA to fly from Norwich, but this isn’t how I envisaged seeing them there. I’m fairly sure that this is the fleet from London City Airport, stored in Norwich and in Southend.

    One of the last aircraft that I took was from Florence back to London City airport, at the end of February 2020 when the current health crisis started to unfold in Italy. That was G-LCAA, which is one of the aircraft now parked at Norwich Airport.

    Speedbird will be back soon enough…..

  • British Airways – Retirement of the 747-400

    British Airways – Retirement of the 747-400

    I’m not that much of an aircraft spotter, but I’m slightly saddened that British Airways has announced it is permanently retiring its entire 747-400 fleet, four years earlier than expected. That’s not entirely surprising given current events, but it’s an unfortunate end to what is perhaps one of the most beautiful aircraft that there has been.

    I’ve flown on many of BA’s 747-400 aircraft, but this flight from London Heathrow T5 to Boston in May 2019 will be my last on-board one of their fleet. It’s aircraft G-CIVE and for this aircraft, its last passenger journey was 24 March 2020 when it returned to London from Vancouver.

    There are 31 of these aircraft that are now being scrapped, although there are hopes that BA might be able to save one from being entirely destroyed, perhaps sending it to an aircraft hanger or museum.

    This is G-BYGC that I saw last year at Heathrow T5, painted in an old BOAC livery.

    And this is what Alex Cruz said about the decision:

    “This is not how we wanted or expected to have to say goodbye to our incredible fleet of 747 aircraft. It is a heart-breaking decision to have to make. So many people, including many thousands of our colleagues past and present, have spent countless hours on and with these wonderful planes – they have been at the centre of so many memories, including my very first long-haul flight. They will always hold a special place in our hearts at British Airways.”

  • British Airways – Selling Off Art

    British Airways – Selling Off Art

    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)…..

  • British Airways – First 787-10 Arrives

    British Airways – First 787-10 Arrives

    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).

  • British Airways – New Club Europe Catering

    British Airways – New Club Europe Catering

    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.

  • British Airways – Booking Again

    British Airways – Booking Again

    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 – Executive Club

    British Airways – Executive Club

    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

  • More BA Routes Lost

    More BA Routes Lost

    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.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Chengdu)

    British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Chengdu)

    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.

  • British Airways (Malta to Gatwick South) – Fourth Time

    British Airways (Malta to Gatwick South) – Fourth Time

    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.