LHR - SFO, BA285, 15/03/2007 World Traveller Plus
I'd been looking forward to this flight for some time. It was to be my first trip to San Francisco, and also my first trip in British Airways Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus) cabin. I had checked in online the day prior to my departure and snagged seat 17J, on the right side of the cabin which had both extra legroom and a bulkhead - a winning combination in my eyes. The flight looked pretty open, and even when checking in, it seemed like the flight would be far from full.
I stayed overnight at the Premier Travel Inn at Heathrow, as this flight was departing at 10.30 am. This allowed me to sleep a little later, which is always important. I turned up at Terminal 1 around 8.30 to drop my bags, and made my way towards the BA area (Zone G, I believe) to be bet by some rather stressed out ground staff just shooing everyone away screeching 'ZONE L! ZONE L!'. Screeching groundstaff isn't normally an auspicious start to any trip, but off I went. The upside to this is that there were only a few people there waiting for to check-in/drop bags and pretty quickly my bag was checked, and my boarding pass was issued. Check-in desk staff member was polite, and didn't mind a bit of idle chit-chat - something (like smiles) that seem to have disappeared sometimes in airlines these days!
After dropping off my bag, I spent some time outside in the morning sun, and then headed for security. The layout was atrocious, and the queues all over the plane, and the process made slightly worse by the fact that training was taking place too, making the scanning process twice as slow as it would normally have been. Thankfully a charming businessman smooth talked his way through one level of barriers and into another queue and yours truly followed him. It took about 20 minutes to get through security all in all, so with the way things are going at Heathrow, that isn't all that bad. This left me with plenty of time to roam around the shopping mall that is T1 departures, and wait for a boarding gate to be announced. Soon it was coming close to boarding time, and a delay was announced - departure was now to be 11 am, instead of 10.30. Not terrible, but I hoped it wasn't the beginning of a cascade. Luckily, however, it wasn't and soon boarding Gate 56 was announced as the departure gate.
Gate 56 is a bit of a hike, it must be said, from the main terminal area, and when you get there it's quite small for the passenger load of a 747. It was also very, very HOT. Being an all glass structure, it was like a greenhouse that bright sunny morning and not at all pleasant. We were left waiting a little while while last minute preparations were being made, but boarding commenced on time with First Class/Club World/Executive Club Gold/Oneworld Emeralds being allowed to go through Fast-Track, while us lesser folks waited in turn. Passports and boarding cards were checked by security and ground staff, and soon we were heading on board. We were greeted by the cabin crew and directed towards 17J. The first thing I noticed it how narrow the WT+ seat appears to be, in comparison to Premium Economy on Virgin (especially their new generation) and even some seats I've seen in Economy on other carriers. Stylish looking and nicely spaced, but very narrow. However, as everyone was almost boarded, it appeared that I was being very lucky and not have a companion in 17K. Even though we were a little late starting out, the captain assured us we would be on time when landing in San Francisco, so all seemed well in the world.
Take off was smooth, and soon the crew was up and about preparing for service. Having the free seat next to me was useful as I could spread out all my clutter. Drinks service commenced quite quickly, and as per usual everything was pretty much on offer, though I'm not all too fond of the Worcester Sauce flavour pretzel sticks they serve as a snack. I much prefer the sour-cream kind
. After drinks were dispensed, the meal service took place promptly. The announced the choices over the intercom, which was good (I hate being just given the 'chicken or beef' question with no explanation of the contents of the mystery dish). The choices today were either pasta bolognese or a cod bake. I was very surprised to see a fish dish on the menu, but happy - I like fish 
. Being in 17J meant I got first meal service, which was nice. I chose the fish, unsurprisingly and the cabin crew asked me to let her know how it was - it was the first time she'd seen it being served on board. The meal came with a nice salad starter (green salad, potato salad, small piece of smoked salmon, lemon wedge) which was really tasty. Desert consisted of a vacuum packed piece of apple pie and custard which was a bit of a let down..way too plasticky to be tasty, plus a Cadburys chocolate bar. Trays were collected promptly, and I settled down to watch Casino Royale on the IFE/read/listen to music. Cabin crew came around regularily with juice and water, and it was also available in the galley if you wanted more. The crew, it must be said, were fantastic on this flight - professional, yet friendly, present but unobtrusive - just how a crew should be, and when they do it well, BA do it fantastically. Towards the end of the flight I got handed a survey form from the CSD, and filled it in. Mostly good comments, especially about the crew. I don't know how much attention BA pay to the forms, but it was good to get one. The snack pre-landing was pretty unremarkable (cake, etc) but still nice to get. Soon we were almost at SF, and after a smooth landing and a quick disembarkation (being just behind First/Club helps) and through Immigration (not too bad, or too lengthy on this occasion) to collect my bag, which was pretty much waiting on the belt when I got to it - now that's good ground handling. All in all I was from plane to kerb in approx 20 minutes, which was great. So, all in all a really good flight and value for money. Good crews really can make up for lack of AVOD and an aging Premium Economy product.
