We drove down on the Saturday and arrived at Le Meridien hotel Gatwick at around 10pm. Check-In here was smooth and the room was functional. The bed was a standard double bed (small for my liking) and it had a hideous view of the North Terminal Car Park. To be honest, the only reason I chose this hotel was that I had arranged to have my car serviced by Vines BMW who operate a 'Sevice While you Fly' and collect from Le Meridian car park. This saved me 150ish on the car parking and the car was waiting for me on my return.
We left the hotel and crossed the walk way to the North Terminal the next morning at 8am and went in search on the Club World check-in (which isn't that easy to find). A very helpful check-in agent checked us in swiftly and issued us with our boarding passes and gave me directions to the lounge. No problems with Mrs B's seat assignment. A quick stop at security and a flash vist around the terminal shops and it was off to the lounge where I was expecting to be able to get some breakfast. After waiting at the lounge check-in desk for the check-in rep to finish her personal phone call I asked where we could get some food. We where directed back out of the lounge and told to go upstairs. After checking in again on the upper level we found a fairly busy lounge and a small selection of breads and cereals. Where was all the hot food. There was none. I have obviously been spoiled by the VS lounge food offerings. We quickly departed the lounge in search of some hot food which we found at the cafe/bar at the end of the terminal. Food was very good but overpriced. The time seemed to pass quickly and soon it was time to board the plane.
A short walk to Gate 58 and a short wait in the decant area and we where the first poeple on the plane. Trouble was we where in seats 11J&K (which were new club world seats) which are a right turn after boarding. This meant that we had half of economy and WT+ bumping past us for the next 20 minutes or so. This made it very difficult for the cabin crew to get to us with the usual pre-take off stuff (drinks, papers etc). The seats where dirty and looked as though they had not been cleaned after the last flight. Crumbs and smeared food where all over the seats so I asked for a wet cloth and cleaned them over myslef. We did finally get a drink which due to a very bad seat design ended up in my lap within 2 minutes.
Flight took off nearly 30 minutes late and it quickly transpired that the IFE did not work. The cabin crew worked on this for about an hour before throwing in the towel and informing the entire aircraft that we would not have any IFE for the whole trip.
Food was served which was a choice of:
Starters:
Loch Fyne smoked salmon with dill creme fraiche
Fresh seasonal salad served with vinaigrette
Main:
Grilled fillet steak with red win sauce, butter bean mash and roasted root vegetables
Seared cod with butter and caper sauce
Penne pasta and tomato basil sauce with Mozzarella cheese
Spicy chicken with a cariander and mango sala with a spicy lemon dressing
Desert:
Toffee apple souffle with creme anglaise
Hereford Hop and Brie cheese
Chocolates
As I had eaten in the terminal I opted for the Fillet alone and asked for it to be served as late as possible. (I actually asked if I could have it later to which I was told it would have to be cooked now, but could be served after everyone else had been served)
The tray was deliverd and to my surprise we had metal cutlery including a metal knife. The fillet was delivered in the middle of everyone elses service (so my late request was ignored) and I have to say it was the worst meal I have ever eaten on an aircraft. The meat was fatty, barely warm and undercooked for me (I like my meat well done). The gravy and the mash had a film overthem as if they had been left standing to congeal for some time. I took one mouthful of the meat and left the rest. The choice of wine was poor but what they did have was very good.
After the meal trays had been cleared away the cabin crew were not seen again until abou 2 hours before landing when they got ready to server afternoon snacks. I think this was appauling as with the IFE being out I would have expected them to be round offering extra drinks etc to the passengers. I work out that the crew in Club class where not seen for nearly 5 hours during the flight.
Afternoon snacks where served from a choice of:
Sandwiches of roast beef with whole-grain mustard and Brie cheese, apple and celery
or
Sandwiches of Chicken Caesar with Red Leicester cheese and mature Chedder cheese with Chutney
I choose the latter which where pretty good.
Landing was pretty much straight in and we arrived at the gate bang on time. We where off the plane quick and as we where the forst international flight in the immigration hall was empty and we managed to walk straight up to an official and get checked through in just a few minutes. Cases came of fairly swiftly and luckily for me there was a guy in front of me in the queue for customs who had connected in from the middle east. He was hauled off to one side for a complete bag search (the same one I had last time I arrived) and in the commotion we where waived straight through with no checks.
After placing our bags on the conveyor once again it was up the escalators for the mandatory security scan into the airport main terminal before jumping on the monorail over the main building. At this point we always skip straight past the arrival belt and go and collect the car. The car had been arrange last minute with Airline-Network and Dollar. Only 1 person in front of me at the desk and everything was fine and waiting for me. I collected the paperwork, went back and collected the cases which where now waiting for me before crossing over to the car park to collect the car.
The car was as requested but one word of warning, these are older cars and have a few bumps and scratches on them. If you use dollar be sure to check your car over and get the bumps noted before driving off. All in all we took 45 minutes from arriving at the gate until we drove out of the car-park. This part of the journey was by far the easiest.
All in all I am dissapointed with the level of customer service I experienced from BA on the run up to and during the flight. I certainly would not consider using them as my first choice in the future. I did complete a complaint form whilst on-board about the IFE and on my return I have found that this has not even been acknowledged at this time. I will keep you informed of what happens. To be honest I don't want anything from them as this will probably require me to use their services again in the future.
I would also like to make a point about the club seats themselves. These I feel are poorly designed. During this flight I ended up with 3 drinks being spilt either on me or the seat due to knocking them as I got up or sat down. The drink tray is completely in the wrong place. These were the new more comfortable club seats but they still do not come close to the VS UCS. The only plus for them is they convert from a seat to a bed without getting up. At only 6ft in lenght the flat bed is too short for me (at 6ft 3') and I found it very difficult to get comfortable whilst laying flat and the shoulder space is not enough (as I quite wide at the shoulders also). I was also very aware of the other passengers around me during the flight which is due to there being no real privacy when in your seats. The VS UCS offers far greater privacy that the BA Club seat.
As a final comparison I would give the BA New Club World seat a rating of 4/10 (I would rate the VS UCS at least an 8/10). Obviously I would give the IFE 0/10 as it was non existant and the crew didn't even have (or offer) any kind of portable equipment around. Service I would give 2/10. Check-in was OK at the airport but OLCI didn't work and the check in desk was hard to find so I give this 4/10.
Hope you found this TR useful and I will post the return TR shortly
Paul
