My first BA Club World flight

The thought of travelling on the Virgin/Ethiad plane was just too much for me to take lol so have booked myself on BA Club on the LGW-MCO route.

Was originally told I couldn't pre-select my seat (I'm not a gold member or paying full price) but due to my having some medical conditions customer services put the flight on hold for me whilst they got clearance from medical screening and 10 minutes later called me back to advise they had preassigned my seating (I'm very happy with the seat they've assigned to me) so I'm all set.

So, as it's my first BA Club World flight I'm sure I'm going to have lots of questions but one of the things I'm wondering about is the so called 'kitchen' - can someone explain how this works exactly?

Also, having been used to the Virgin Clubhouse (albeit at LGW) I understand the BA lounge isn't quite so 'extravagant' but can someone elaborate on what the facilities are like please?

Thanks

Clare

I wasn't that impressed with the kitchen, apparently it depends how the crew are feeling, whether it gets set up correctly. It's basically a small fridge containing 'luxury' items. On my flight this was penguin bars and hula hoops, some rolls, wraps and a selection of drinks.

Still, was nice to be able to grab some mini cheddars when I was feeling a little peckish.

Originally posted by firsttimer

Also, having been used to the Virgin Clubhouse (albeit at LGW) I understand the BA lounge isn't quite so 'extravagant' but can someone elaborate on what the facilities are like please?

The BA LGW Club operation is, even more so now, about ferrying passengers to Euro holiday destinations, and less and less about transatlantic business passenger care. It is fairly common to be offered a 50 pound upgrade to Club Europe on most economy tickets purchased with BA, when you do online check-in, and even at the airport. With this, comes lounge access.

The lounge is big, on two floors. There are bar/drink areas scattered around, in the best tradition of BA terrace lounges, all strictly self-serve - no waitstaff service here. Last time I was there, they had the usual assortment of snacks, pretty much exactly what you used to get in the LHR T1 BA lounge, minus the food bar in the middle of the T1 lounge where they put 'specialty' items. It's the mini croissants, then the sandwich selections at lunch/dinner time, and all the crisps/biscuits etc etc.

There's a business area with three computers available for your use. The furniture is Terraces standard, and was at the time showing a bit of wear and tear. I don't know if it has been updated (been abt 8 months since I was there), or if there are plans to update it; I doubt it will change much given the shift to LHR of the most profitable business flights to the US. There are reasonable shower facilities available.

No comparison to any clubhouse, IMO, other than the sheer space of the place, which makes for a very relaxing environment when the lounge is not busy.

Ive not used the LGW BA facilities for a while ...... but its still a reasonable place to pass the time waiting for your flight.

As for the CW kitchen ..... I have had mixed experiences with this on different routes..... on my flights to/from Seattle it was very limited and on a recent trip to Sydney it was full of a huge amount of goodies [:)].... also noticed a difference on day/night flights. On the 747 its usually in the galley at the bottom of the stairs and you can pretty much help yourself to whatever is there.

Hope that helps

Mark [:D]

Thanks everyone, I think it will be interesting to try a different airline's product, hopefully it will be a good experience [:)]

Clare