V-Flyer

My somewhat hectic weekend in Bermuda was coming to an end and it was time for my first Club World flight with BA.

After arriving on Friday evening, having a couple of hours combat-zeds on the plane, I had gone into Hamilton with my buddy (who’s wedding reception I was there to attend), and spent an evening in “The Lemmon Tree” and then “The Onion” and had rather too much to drink! It would appear, that there is something of a drinking culture in Bermuda, and whilst drinking, everyone discusses everyone else’s business, as everyone appears to know everyone, or at least, someone who knows someone that links everyone - if you see what I mean!

Saturday saw a late rise, plus preparations for the wedding reception that went very well indeed - this ended at around 2am local, when the temperature was still a pleasant 25C! This was a rather drunken evening spent outdoors with a bar and barbecue, a DJ and the local scots pipe band!

Sunday spent tidying up then a trip to Horseshoe bay for a good long swim in the sea, and all too soon, it was time to take myself off to the airport for check in.

Rolled up at BA CW check in at around 18:30 for my 20:15 flight. The check in person was very polite and helpful, issuing my board card for 14D and giving me directions to the lounge - nice and efficient, no issues there.

I had been unable to complete online check in that day, BA’s (otherwise very good) website had for some reason decided that I was unable to check in online - oh well, no harm done.

Spent a good hour in the lounge drinking ice-cold Corona (a beer I had somewhat grown familiar with over the previous two days!), and in a suitably nmellow mood, arived at the gate in time to be priority boarded via the outside stairs.

Shown to my suite, and was then greeted and referred to by name for the remainder of the trip - a very nice touch, and something that wasn’t unique to me, I heard others being greeted by name as well.

First impressions were of a very spacious suite, these seats are positioned down the axis of the plane, wither facing forwards or backwards. I immediately loved the seat, as there was endless leg room unlike VS UC where the otterman thing gets in the way of stretching your legs out (you get more leg room in VS PE IMHO).

The seat was very comfortable, and the little drawer down at shin level is great for tucking away things you want quick access to on the flight.

Was handed a nice little amenity kit, not much better or worse than VS - but the pouch is slightly nicer, and there appeared to be a couple of extra little sachees of stuff I didn’t investigate.

Then, the double seat allocation thing happened again! This time, however, it wasn’t me, but someone just ahead of me...two guys allocated the same seat. No stress though, the cabin crew sorted it out and the guy was re-seated in CW - again, nicely handled by the crew, but how can they make that mistake, if you read my other TR, it had also happened on my outbound flight...how/why?

Bubbles handed out and accepted (water and orange juice also available), and very soon, safety briefing and taxi to the runway for an on-time departure.

I really like the B777’s on this route, the cabin feels really spacious, and they take off like a “real” airplane - good acceleration and positive climb.

Hot towels and drinks/meal service commences.

The dinner choices were good actually, 3 main courses were on offer. However, I wanted to get off to sleep as quickly as possible, and asked if there were any alternatives.

The CC told me of the “good night express” (or something like that), which I ordered, and which arrived within 5 minuts. It was a kidn of panini thing, with cheese, olive oil, tomatoes etc, accompanied by a side salad and choclate!

It was pretty good, and was perfect for me - just enough to moderate the affects of the very nice chardonay on offer, but not enough to make me feel too full to sleep.

After my third (large) glass of chardonay, I put the seat into bed mode, and put my head down.

Now, I personally really liked this arrangement. True, you haven’t quite got the privacy of the VS UC suite, it is essentially open on one side, there is no quilt and no sleep suit. Whilst these things are nice on VS, I personally find the changing thing a bit of a trauma, and for the sake of a few hours, I was more than happy putting a blanket over my legs and laying down fully clothed.

I had a pillow (provided along with the blanket) and I found the seat/bed extremely comfortable - so much so that I completely crashed out, and achieved about 4 hours sleep on a 6:20 flight.

I woke up to the smell of coffee and bacon rolls, both of which brought me somewhat back to the land of the living, and the CC looking after me filled up my coffee cup 3 times - what a hero! On the last of these, she said “well ok, as long as you drink it quickly, we’re landing in 15 minutes”!!!! I complied, and we had a laugh when she came back to collect my cup saying “are you sure you’ve had enough, Mr F”

Very smooth approach and landing, and a medium taxi to our gate - arrival time, 06:25 on Monday morning!

Only hand luggage for me, so zoomed through immigration and customs, shuttle to south terminal, and was on the train into London 26 minutes after leaving my seat.

I could have used the Sofitel arrivals facilty, but just wanted to get going on this occasion, and it worked out well for me.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this flight, and again found all the staff (ground and cabin) to be very professional and friendly, quite willing to pass the time of day, and not at all stand-off-ish. The CW cabin is very nice, and I personally really liked the suites which I found to be far more ergonomically correct than the UC suites on VS, but with marginally less privacy. For me, the leg room when in seat configuration was terrific.

For a route where VS and BA both fly, say, LHR/SFO, and if the prices were identical, I’d choose VS UC given the choice, but if I can get good prices and/or upgrades to BA CW, I would have absolutely no hesitation. I’m sure things have changed over the years, but my personal opinion is that there is not a lot to choose between the two offerings.

I’ve either been lucky, or BA staff have been taking happy pills, as none of the reported grumpiness or lack of interest was present in any crew members I encountered on my entire trip.

The seats and seat area on both my flights were fully functioning, clean, and showed little significant wear.

Really, a very pleasant experience - and the miles(soon to be avios) are in on my EC account already!!!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Bermuda for the weekend.....madness!

Great TR and thank you for the detail and comparison. Good to know these things - aren't the CW seats narrower or did you not notice?

And, I'd do the same anytime, mad weekend in Bermuda, count me in!

Great TR really enjoyed reading it.
Your comment on perhaps getting lucky with great service, I have had two business flights in july and last week and both were highly proffesional so i think the recent new staff that ba have recruited are certainly having a positive effect on service, and lets face it needed changing!

cheers

alex

Thank you for the TR.

Slinky - you asked about the CW seats being narrower than UC?

I have to admit, I'm not sure htere's much in it at all. There mioght be half a CM difference in the width of the cushions, but that's it, I'd say.

The thing I noticed, and this could be a pro or a con, is that I liked not having a "wall" all around me. This is mainly due to the fact that I'm qite broad, ajnd found that in UC I found the proximity of "walls" to my shoulders and upper arms a pain. I also found there wasn't really sufficient width when in bed mode to get my arms comfortable.

In CW then, you drop some of the privacy for the ability put your arms in comfortable positions and not feel as if you were boxed in...

The other comment I'd make, is that if I'd had my daughter with me (mini Concorde being 9 years old), I'd have found CW better in terms of monitoring her.

Awesome TR - mental weekend!