BA195 LHR-IAH 27 DEC 11 (WORLD TRAVELLER) - NOW WITH PHOTOS

Here is the TR from my recent flight...I need to decrease the size of the pictures, so I will do this and add them later along with the return TR!

We started our holiday with a clear drive to LHR and smooth service from Meteor meet & greet..well except our number plate had come off on M4 so duly noted on documents.

T5 check-in area was fairly quiet and we were met by a friendly check in agent with lots of polite chat about cats, flights and other stuff!

Off to v bar for breakfast, after a little duty free shopping , then to boarding in a very long queue at 9.50am for 10.15 take off.

BA 747 at LHR T5.JPG (32.77 KiB) Viewed 3169 times

Boarded with smiley gate agent but one up to VS as no name check (see LHR-HKG TR)

We then have the obligatory but required pilot briefing and he tells us that the flight time is 9hr 55 after 15 min taxi to runway

After 20mins satin our seats the pilot comes back on to announce that a hydraulic leak has been spotted around the landing gear and the engineers have been called back??
The World Traveller cabin was full and WTP had some spare seats but no cheap upgrade offered at check in. I would say that the legroom seemed a little more than VS but other than that no major differences. On demand movies was a defo positive.

Mmmmmm woman sitting next to Mrs Petmadness seemed to think she owned both arm rests...let the battle commence, I say!!
No surprise as the wife won the duel

After 1 hour the pilot tells us that there was no leak and the liquid was from previous work....watch this space for a potentially interesting landing

FSM introduced himself and enlightened us on the service we will be receiving which consists of drinks, followed by lunch then afternoon tea prior to landing. Friendly & welcoming.

It seems that my friends IFE was not working but it was remedied quickly.

By the time dinner service arrived there was no beef left so I went for the chicken and leek - which looked like typical airline food but tasted pretty good!

Very good chicken and leek dinner - tasted better than it looks!!.JPG (35.99 KiB) Viewed 3175 times

Served with a couple of mini bottles of white wine and a chocolate caramel dessert to rival the Gu served on VS. We were short a child's meal but again this was rectified by the CC after a short wait.

Now this is merely an observation - The CC were more mature than VS! There I said it !! It seemed that most of them could've been having a bad day at the office as they were not particularly friendly but did rectify a couple of problems that we encountered.

World Traveller cabin halfway through the flight.JPG (35.6 KiB) Viewed 3175 times

A "free-for-all" tuck shop was in play which lasted for a couple of hours and there was always soft drinks available.
After a film, an hours sleep or so and 200 pages of my book, afternoon tea arrived in the shape of a Cheese sandwich and chicken ceasar sandwich accompanied by a muffin and tea or coffee. Again the food was very acceptable and I do like the little box they serve it in

The view - can't remember where!.JPG (36.28 KiB) Viewed 3175 times

Landed at 3.30 pm with no issues and as we were at the back of the plane I thought the immigration queue would've been large - somehow we were ushered into a new area with no queue at all , through in 15 mins, luggage in 10 mins and customs...well it was all going well until the agent couldn't find the stamp in my wife's passport !! Thankfully after 5 mins it was found and away we went by coach to the rental car centre. We had booked our car through Alamo via VS and checked in prior to departing which made the car pick up process very slick!

Same plane very different sky - beautiful Houston sun on landing!.JPG (29.09 KiB) Viewed 3175 times

Then we were off into the blue skies of Texas!!

Thanks for posting...I'm doing BA WT in Oct to BGI, so was interesed to read this...

BA crew more mature? Well, as long as they get the job done, I'm fine with that - it's not a dating agency afterall!!!!!

Thanks for your comments Concorde and enjoy your WT experience ! Maybe I could have written this comment in a slightly different way as it was merely a note about the age of the crew and not a reflection on their ability to do their jobs in any way. There was no doubt, however, that some of the crew on the flight wanted to be elsewhere! I guess we all have days like that but it shows more in a job like theirs.

Thank you for the great TR.

Petm - Sorry, that was meant to be a slight joke more than any kind of comment on what you had written!!

I often see comments re BA/AA and others that the crew are "mature", my view is that if they are curteous and do the job, I don't care if they are 21 or 51!

Of course, being a normal kind of guy, if they get the job done, are curteous, 21, female, and stunning, that's a bonus! (Not sure my wife would see it the same way though!!).

Now, crew that definitely wanted to be elswhere, that's a different story! Had my share of them recently...

Thanks for the TR!

Glad to hear Mrs Petmadness won the armrest battle! LOL

Pleased to hear of smooth overall flight.

Now with 100% added pictures....had trouble putting 1 in the right place but live and learn!

Thanks for the photos - I do think the BA livery looks great from many angles, including those you attached .