BA 854 LHR-PRG 26 June 2009 (Y)

The long awaited trip to Prague, Europe's scenic-est city and a chance to depart from Terminal 5.

I do still get a bit excited before I go on holiday, so I couldn't sleep the night before the 0755 departure and at 0400hrs had a brainwave. Get the Nightbus to Heathrow! It's free with my Travelcard and it would be great...

Don't get the Nightbus to Heathrow. Just don't. If you need to know why, PM me.

So, Terminal 5. Lots of BA staff, and lots of queues at the bag drop. A couple in front of us where arguing about why they were being charged excess baggage, so I nimbly switched lines and the whole process took about two minutes. We then passed through a passport check and joined the lines for the X ray machines. Again there were staff guiding passengers to queues, and I think it took about five minutes in total.

Had a quick wander around T5, it's nice, but wasn't the jaw dropping experience I was half expecting, had a very nice breakfast at Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food - it was very tasty, with super delicious mushrooms (I normally leave mushrooms on the plate) and my eggs were prepared perfectly - you'd be surprised how often a request 'well done' or 'fried hard' is ignored, so well done there.

The good thing about T5 is it's a short walk to the gate, and the seating was very comfortable. We watched several planes landing in quick succession, and I have to say that the two Virgin planes that landed looked head and shoulders better than the rest. Maybe I am biased, but they just looked imposing, solid and sexy!

Our plane was called, boarding in row order, we just waited as Matt doesn't like to be on board too early.

The crew welcomed every one onboard, the flight was busy but no where near full.

The plane, an Airbus A320 looked tired.
The seats were extremely uncomfortable, but maybe that was because of the Nightbus.
In my seat pocket, there were sweet wrappers, a copy of Highlife that was so creased and torn it was almost unreadable and the previous passengers boarding card.

The safety video didn't work so they did this the old fashioned way, and soon we were off.

For some reason, I thought BA still served meals on board flights, certainly on domestic flights it's always been the case. For breakfast, we were presented with a bread roll, with cream cheese and ham. It also came with a little sachet with milk, sugar, a stirrer, a paper towel and a waste paper bag. I really hated this. It's bad enough being handed a lunch item as breakfast, but the waste paper bag confirmed that yes, this was rubbish.
Coffee was served in paper cups, but the cardboard wasn't thick enough to stop it burning slightly as you held it, and of course, cardboard sleeves were not forthcoming.

The flight was uneventful, we landed on time at Prague Terminal 1, where our taxi was waiting to take us to the fabulous Hotel Josef. More on that later.

Terminal 5 was nice, but not that special. I think the BAA have played a blinder in making a virtue out of what should really be the minimum standard a traveller should expect.

I asked Matt, now that you've sampled British Airways, how did he think British Airways differed from our previous short haul flights with Ryanair and easyJet?

'It was an improvement, but not as significant as I thought it would be.'

Thanks for the TR! As I did this flight back in April, it's good to hear about another experience of it. As I had a Starbucks before I went on to the flight, I didn't bother with the coffee, I think I had the cream cheese and tomato on my flight which was edible if lacking in flavour.

As for the x-ray machines, you sure breezed through compare to the 15-20mins for me. Was there any business travellers?

Look forward to the return flight.[y]

It might have been longer, I think I was so tired by that stage that it was all a blur.
Club Europe looked full. I wonder what they got for their 125 extra.

quote:Originally posted by Sealink
. I wonder what they got for their 125 extra.


Use of Galleries before the flight(s) which may have given you that 'wow' factor you were looking for.
Priority Boarding
Larger seat
More attentive from the CC given ther ratio
Champagne and full bar service
Proper meal with china crockery etc
Priority Luggage
plus greater miles and TP earning

All in all 125 well spent in my view.

Regards,

Hackneyguy

I was asking tongue in cheek really - I could have booked Club in the sale for a supplement of 89 per person each way, 125 was offered at online check-in, but this was the reality: the seats were the same size (with the middle seat vacant, which is what I had way back in Row 16!), we don't use priority boarding as Matt gets too nervous if he boards early (and they boarded as 'Rows 1 - 16' and then all other aisles anyway; our luggage was off first anyway), and finally, I'm glad I didn't spend 89 or 125 each way per person, as the aircraft was tired, regardless of seating position.

Or to put it another way: when I saw PE and the UC bar on my flight last year, I thought 'I'm having that next time', BA Club Europe looked rubbish tbh.

[ the seats were the same size (with the middle seat vacant, which is what I had way back in Row 16!), [/quote]

The seats ARE much wider in Club Europe. They are pre-adjusted by the CC to suit the load of the flight - sort of winded up so they spill over more into isle but give around 3 inches more width.


Hackneyguy

[HighFlyer]

Meals onboard with Euro flights can be a mixed bag. JP might have a better idea than me but I know it can depend what time/flight you take as to whether you get the measly breakfast offering or the proper meal. This post over at FT is for CE but gives you an idea how the offerings change according to the time.

I recall taking a flight somewhere, cant recall where, and took the later flight than the one I did last time. I was all ready for my meal and was told they didnt do it on the later flight and offered me a tea and a sugary thing instead. Most dissapointed, I realised why the later flight was half empty despite only being about 40 minutes later than the previous. [:)]

Thanks,
Sarah

Hey i have to admit with my pass I once thought take the night bus to Heathrow I now know ill stick to my usual of, if its too early for the tube to get me there use the night bus and get the Heathrow express. if not take the tube, but thanks for the advice.
I see T5 is once again proving not a great jewel in the crown for Heathrow- from the photos i have seen it already looks dated with the signs that BAA insist on using, but hey GREAT TR enjoy Prague one city i would love to go too.

Alex

Prague is fantastic. If you get a chance, eat at Mozaika, just round the corner from Jiriho z Podebrad Metro stop. Also lots of great places to (mostly) drink and also eat, around Namesti Miru.

The problem with CE is that if you are on an 8am flight, you basically don't get any of the main benefits. If you were on the 2:30/3pm flight to Praha, you would be able to get there and have a nice lunch.

Cabin is what it is, and as others have said food on the plane can be hit and miss (though on the whole I find it decent). I don't really bother with it anymore unless I am going to be at the airport for hours waiting for a connection.

quote:Originally posted by HighFlyer
Meals onboard with Euro flights can be a mixed bag. JP might have a better idea than me but I know it can depend what time/flight you take as to whether you get the measly breakfast offering or the proper meal.


Both Mrs F aand I flew out of T5 on Sunday. Mrs F off to LED and myself to BEG.

Breakfast in Y to LED, depart 9.30am (flight time 3hrs approx) full hot meal with yogurt and fruit, pastries et all and a cuppa[y]

Breakfast in Y to BEG depart 8.15am(flight time 2hrs 45mins) Cheese sarnie and a cuppa[:#]

Luckily I got the magic bleep at the gate so got my first ever real op up on BA so had the hot meal breakie, but no yogurt [:?]

No idea how their breakie policy stacks up then.

Iain

PS Checkin and security was all done and through in 8 mins[oo]

[HighFlyer]

Nice feedback Iain! [y]

BA split their Euro destinations up into 'zones' which define what sort of meal you get (see here for the bands over at FT).

LED is band 4, BEG is band 3B, which explains the discrepancy between what you and Mrs F received. I can understand that rationale from BA but Joe average customer must be left thinking 'I got a lot more than this on my last BA flight'.

Thanks,
Sarah

Thanks for the heads up Sarah, now I know. We always have breakfast before we travel back in the morning in the terminal as we know it is rubbish on board (to BEG anyway)

Iain

Thanks for all the feedback, and thanks Sarah (or should I use HighFlyer?) for the link to the BA zones. That makes sense now.

Thanks for the TR, PRG is a beautiful city and hope you had a great time.

Dominic

One thing I forgot to mention in my first post was the taxi from the airport. It cost about 18, which was fair enough, but the taxi driver regaled us with all sorts of dangers to look out for. Pickpockets on the tram, pickpockets on the metro, pretend police, thieving chambermaids, and so on and so on.

Of course, London has none of that, eh? [ii] But it still was a suitably gloomy welcome to the city.

It's really unfortunate you had such a poor experience - though I have to say customer service is a whole different concept in these places. My friend's been there almost 15 years, he speaks very good czech by all accounts, but most of the waitstaff insist on replying to anything he says in english, since he is obviously not a native [:)]

On the plus side is the city itself - though I must confess I've never experienced it as thoroughly as I would have liked to, and I have to have been there at least 10 times in the last three years. Most of all, the people are actually very warm when you get a chance to know them, and the pub culture strikes me as a whole lot more entertaining than in the UK these days, if you can stay away from stag night high points. I love Ujedz at 4am ..........

quote:Originally posted by HighFlyer
JP might have a better idea than me but I know it can depend what time/flight you take as to whether you get the measly breakfast offering or the proper meal.
Thanks,
Sarah


Its been a couple of years since our euro TP runs so not really up on it at the moment.We have a Zurich trip at the end of the month out in Y back in CE so will be a good comparison,unless I crack and pay the 100 upgrade.

Just read your TR - good read.

I always take my own sandwiches from Pret onboard BA flights as their veggie choice for their sarnies is egg most of the time - I had a cheese sandwich for the first time ever on my last flight out of LHR.

I think that for a short European hop paying the extra for CE is a waste of money but each to their own. The money is much better spent on a much longer flight where the seats are a lot bigger and the food much better.

I always check in online 24 hours beforehand and have always had an exit row on BA European flights so have never had an issue with the room.

[:X]