This is a Trip Report from the Upper Class cabin
Ground Staff
Food & Drink
Entertainment
Seat
Cabin Crew
Was disappointed with both legs of this trip. Certain areas of service and catering really do seem to be in decline. Travelling alone this wouldnt have mattered so much but Id used my gold card renewal companion voucher to bring my husband along. He usually flies BA and finds my enthusiasm for Virgin dubious. It was pretty galling to have him be right.
Things started well enough. Car arrived exactly on time and we were at JFK pretty early. We hadnt bothered to OLCI, bag drop lines always look long here, so headed to UC check-in desk.
Ill preface what happened next by explaining my husband uses a very common and very slight abbreviation of the actual name on his passport, which is only ever used by his grandmother. In thirty years of travel this has never been raised as an issue, even flying out of Ben Gurion on El Al. The agent at the security checkpoint took our passports & e-tickets and immediately told my husband he couldnt travel. Once we realised what the problem was he provided various other kinds of ID but she was adamant that he wouldnt be allowed to travel as the passport name and e-ticket receipt didnt match exactly. Eventually persuaded her to see if anything could be done and she went off to consult with a supervisor, for what seemed like an hour but was probably only about 10 minutes, whilst we tried to figure out how wed restructure the trip if he indeed couldnt travel. During this period the UC line backed up behind us but nobody stepped in to deal with these passengers. A supervisor eventually came over with boarding passes and said we were fine, to relief all round. Of course all of this is perfectly valid in a post 9/11 world but I did have a problem with the agents peremptory handling of the situation. There were ways of addressing this in a more customer sensitive way that would have spared us the mild heart attacks. Wondered if this might have something to do with the outsourcing of staff at JFK?
Then headed to the clubhouse where we planned to have dinner before our goodnight flight. Not really keen on the new design, its all a bit bright and glaring, particularly waiting for a night flight. I preferred the clubby atmosphere of the old lounge.
Plenty of space so we found a chairs by the window and a server came over to take our order. We both ordered drinks and one of the specials. Sever came back about ten minutes later with a glass of wine for me and told us our order was no longer available. Hed forgotten my husbands drink. We chose again, waited another ten minutes and a beer finally appeared with the news that our second choice was also off. Third time lucky ordering a burger but not when they arrived overcooked and unappealing.
Boarding uneventful. Flight was full and we had 14 & 15 A, which Id worried might be too close to the bar, but were fine. Id intended to go straight to sleep but was still hungry after the dinner debacle so ordered a cheese plate and a glass of wine. The sauvignon blanc was very good but the cheese plate seems to have morphed into some nasty triangles of dry plastic cheese and some wizened grapes. Im sure when Ive ordered this in the past its been much more interesting.
Crew gave the definite impression they wanted everyone tucked up and asleep as soon as possible. Husband was extremely impressed with the flat bed and needed no encouragement. I changed into a sleepsuit, took a sleeping pill and next thing we were approaching LHR.
Revivals lounge was great. Love the new Cowshed products in the showers. Had some excellent coffee and eggs benedict and headed into town.
Overall a slightly disappointing flight. Husband loved the bed and the Revivals breakfast but felt BA still had the edge on service and catering, a view that was only confirmed by our return leg.
Not the result I was hoping for!
