Two for the Price of One: British Airways BA202 Boston to London Heathrow (World Traveller Plus – Premium Economy)
In this epic…
Two for the price of one? Or when two become one?
Off to Manchester Airport on the edge of my seat…
BA Domestic – BA1387 Manchester Airport to London Heathrow
Heathrow Transit, American Airlines Flagship Lounge
American Airlines – AA87 London Heathrow to Chicago, Main Cabin
Streamlined Immigration?
The Crowne Plaza O’Hare
Evening adventures with the Sony A5000
The Hyatt Regency O’Hare
Off to O’Hare, American Airlines Admirals Club
American Airlines – AA1205 Chicago O’Hare to Boston Logan
A Boston Omnishambles
British Airways – BA202 Boston Logan to London Heathrow Terminal 5 in World Traveller Plus
Transit and changes… from holiday to work, British Airways Galleries North Lounge
British Airways – BA974 London Heathrow to Hamburg
IBIS St Pauli, Hamburg
Trade Show 101 (or… don’t sleep on your glasses).
Airline Interiors Expo – round-up
Rushing back to Hamburg Airport
British Airways – BA967 Hamburg to London Heathrow
Homeward bound
Mixing business with pleasure
BA202 Boston Logan International Terminal E to London Heathrow Terminal 5
British Airways, Boeing 747-400, Seat 14K, World Traveller Plus
3,264Miles Flown, 20 Tier Points Earned, 816+1,632 Avios earned*
(I’m STILL arguing with British Airways over these Tier Points as I should have 90TP to my name as well as a bucketload more of Avios…)
I was welcomed aboard the BA plane, and turned right to the World Traveller Plus Cabin. It seems I had “lucked out” on one of the older 4 class planes that had the oddest configuration – First Class at the Front, World Traveller Plus, Club World (Bottom Deck), Club World (upper Deck) and World Traveller.
What BA’s product designers were thinking when they put a lower product in front of their premium product, and behind their top product, I’m not sure to be honest.
The seat sadly the old World Traveller Plus seat. In many respects it’s a good seat with plenty of recline, plenty of space (although the window seat is nowhere near the bulkhead) … and very old IFE system.
The seat. It’s not bad… just a bit past its prime.
Seat controls
Power outlet (Empower – how quaint).
The World Traveller Plus Cabin
Boarding was speedy, with the cabin crew wanting people loaded quickly as we running late thanks to Swissport.
Menus and welcome drinks were distributed.
Water. Yes I know.
Menu – not overly extensive.
The In-Flight Entertainment System is the old one used on many a British Airways flight – a small screen, but with Audio/Visual on demand.
Welcome screen
IFE Menu
These are new… New Headphones. They worked pretty well as they generated noise.
BBC News. Because I needed an English accent on my news after watching more than 3 minutes of CNN.
At least watching the news settles me whilst loading finished.
Getting the last units loaded.
About 40 minutes late – our Boeing 747-400 pushed back for the short trip back to London.
Fancy Purple.. must be an A350. Would prefer compared to this aging queen.
The American Airlines hanger
Alitalia. Airbus A330
Jetblue Embraer E-190
The taxi to the runway was a long one – mainly so we could depart with minimal noise interruption.
Follow the green lights…
With a roar, the four Rolls Royce RB-211s powered up, propelling the Boeing 747-400 into the sky.
Climb out was nice and gentle as the Queen of the Skies took its rightful place.
After climb-out, hot towels and drinks were offered.
Cabin post takeoff
Dinner shortly followed, with me going for the beef. Normally a very safe option
With the plane beginning its climb and me sleepy – but nowhere near full asleep I decided to dine. Because sleeping is sometimes best after a hearty meal.
The tray
Bread, Tomato and Mozzarella, Water, Lily O’Brien Passion fruit desert
The Beef
Beefy close-up
Heck- it’s a little bit pink too.
The meal actually was quite nice. The beef was cooked well enough for me, and the sides worked well. The sweet was nice and rich – lovely after a meal like that… and I skipped the tomato and mozzarella. It plated nicely and very much tasted like a premium meal as opposed something you’d get in economy.
And with the meal eaten and cleared, I pulled down the blind and snored my way across the pond.
When I woke up, I wasn’t aware of the time – so I selected the map… and found we had crossed Ireland and was well into the United Kingdom and passing Bristol. For a flight of this length and in this class… 4 hours sleep was better than I was expecting by a long stretch.
Over Bristol
The cabin was waking up around me, so I popped the blind up on my window – and saw a sea of cloud.
Sea of cloud
The announcement went for 20 minutes before landing, so the cabin was being prepared as everyone woke up
Cabin being prepared.
I looked to the side… and saw the flight attendant had left out breakfast for me. With minimal time on the clocks, I decided to look at it after the plane had landed.
What I did manage to do, was empty a 1 litre bottle of water. Hydration is important on flights like this.
The breakfast box.
Soon the plane did a loop or two at a stack before being released to land at Heathrow. And for once – I sat on the correct side to get a view of Central London.
Turning in the stack
The Thames Barrier in the distance – also London City Airport
Docklands
Docklands, the South Bank two RB-211’s
The city of London. Lots of London Landmarks in these images
The South Bank, London Eye, Waterloo Station and the Houses of Parliament.
Buckingham Place – Her Majesty’s office.
Pulled the zoom back a bit. Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and many more London sights.
Wembley Stadium in the distance
West London
.
A bit of the Thames
The undercarriage was released with our plane fast decelerating for Heathrow Airport
After landing on 27R, the 747 pulled off the runway and made a bee-line for Terminal 5
Terminal 5 A
An Iberia A320… with sharklets
Our plane taxied between T5A and T5B, and finally turned for T5B – coming to a rest at the gate.
With the engines spooling down and the jetbridge connected – it was time to leave.
Overall: Not a bad performance by British Airways at all (apart from the lack of upgrade Tier Points and Avios showing). The seat gave me space to sleep in comfort and the catering was pretty reasonable for an night-time flight. The crew was friendly and gave a reasonable service… for all that I saw of it when I was awake.
Next: I might be in London, but this trip is by no means over. In fact, there were more segments to fly more adventures to be done. I needed to get shot of my luggage, and check in for my next flight…
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