#14823 by Gelding
01 Sep 2006, 16:57
Well after my first adventure with the dark side i thought it only right to bore you all with a Trip report!

Trecked down to LHR the night before as we got a deal with Novotel for a room and some parking. Place was OK pretty much standard fair for an airport hotel.

Up bright and early the next day and got the airport hopper to T4. Well I say to T4 what I actually meant was get on the bus, ask for a ticket, THEN get told it doesn't actually go to T4 and I would have to go to T1 and get the HEX to T4 instead. Nice Start. Despite a brief argument with the missus as to the location of said HEX it was nice to be proved right when she turned round and saw the sign with "HEX This way" behind her ;-)

Arrived in T4 and to be honest was expecting a bit of a bun fight at the check in. Bit of a snake for Y but the Club World desks were pretty clear. On a side note there was a lady directing traffic at the front of the CW queue and man was she dishing out the orders! Certainly wouldn't have messed with her. After shoehorning the wifes carry on into the baggage size check we proceeded to check in, pretty straight forward stuff really, nice lady efficiently sorted us out and we were on our way. Security was OK too and we soon found ourselves airside in a total of about 30 mins, with a good 3 hours to kill before we even got on the plane!

Went to the BA lounge and went to the smaller one by gate 2. The lady on the check in desk told us the other one was nearer but it clearly wasn't. Got in and to be honest after the delights of the clubhouse I wasn't expecting much, but I have to say I was very supprised. The lounge wasn't too busy and we managed to sit down and get some breakfast. Good selection with bacon sarnies, granted the smallest bacon sarnies I have ever seen, but hey the plates were plenty big enough so i took a few ;-) Took an trip out to check out the rest of the shopping mall that is T4 then went back to the lounge and went on the net for a bit then it was time for boarding.

Now this is what I like about BA compared to VS they have a seperate lane for priorty boarding so your not put in the awkward position of having to push past people to get to the front. Once on board coats were hung and drinks were offered. Seemed to be operating a sligtly more vinatge crew than VS but they seemed nice and bubbly and soon enough we were in the air.

Menus were passed out and dinner orders taken, couple of drinks rounds too. Checkout out the IFE and was the standard BA fare except with a comedy sized screen, shame the inflight duty free didn't sell binoculars....

Dinner arrived and I had a salad with sundried tomatoes to start which was tasty and a decent size too. Next was a steak with veg and potatoes. I have to say this was the best piece of meat I have had to eat in the air, perfectly cooked and juicy. Can't remeber what was for pud but I think it was a apple tart of some type. Knocked back a bit more wine then settled down with the laptop for some entertainment as i didn't fancy shagging up my eyes trying to watch the BA provided screen! I found the seat comfy, maybe a touch narrow but certainly not that bad. I really liked the fact you can recline to a bed without getting up. Didn't fancy sleeping so i decided to "Raid the larder". Now this was the plan although I was expecting a trolley of somesort not a basket with a couple of bags of malteasers in!

Rest of the flight was pretty uneventful although the service was attentive throughout and very professional, the drinks were flowing thats for sure!

Touched down on time and into the mess that was immigration at Toronto and about an hour later we were in a taxi on route to the hotel.

Well have done both CW and UCS both definatally have their pro's and cons

VS wins on :

Seat in a bed is much wider and a bit easier on the shoulders
Clubhouse is better than the BA lounges
IFE (if you get V-Port)

BA Wins on :

Straightforward conversion of the seat
A REAL AND USEFUL AMIENENTY KIT!!!
Food was miles better
Professionalism of the staff (not saying VS are unprofessional, BA just seem more consistent with it)
Price (got the tickets in the fare sale!)
Priority Boarding

All in all I have to say I wasn't expecting big things from BA, but they really opened my eyes. Good, professional service, decent seat and great food. With the NNNNNCW being unvailed on Monday it will be instresting to see what BA come up with next because it could well see them edging the lead as to me the only place they were lacking (and not by much) was the seat. Rumor has it they will be like the new Ethiad seats, now if only they slap the 23" screens in like Ethiad too.......
#136470 by VS045
01 Sep 2006, 22:54
Thanks for the TR, Gelding!:D[y]

Rumor has it they will be like the new Ethiad seats, now if only they slap the 23" screens in like Ethiad too.......


I'm afraid that's only in Diamond zone (F) AFAIK[:p]

VS.
#136471 by VS045
01 Sep 2006, 22:58
Just had a look around on the internet and pearl (biz) is 15" - still that's good enough for me:D

VS.
#138998 by jamie
14 Sep 2006, 11:37
Thought the 'raid the larder' would have had a lot more choice??

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