BA269 LHR-LAX 2 MAR 14 (ECONOMY)

As promised a trip report from the economy cabin on one of BA's new A380's
-re posted on BA-flyer for those of you who may have read this before!!

last year when BA announced the routes for the A380 and LAX was listed I thought that that was a good enough excuse to re-visit cars land at Disney's California Adventure (best ride ever!!)

so I decided to book it and within a few moments i had booked my flights on the A380 and 4 nights in the Hilton Anaheim with a view over the disney parks.

BA's system for selecting seats allowed me to choose a seat but i had to pay for it. as the flight was to the US i decided to pay for a seat to ensure i was as far forward as possible. but then had the choice of upstairs or down. after a while i chose an upstairs window seat which was £7 more expensive as upstairs is in a 2-4-2 layout.

Online checkin was easy and quick but then on arriving in to LHR to drop my bag i was informed that i was too early and was told to come back in 20 mins .

i was through security fairly quickly as i was directed through the priority lane as nobody was using it. and through in to Terminal 5.
once i was able to drop my bag i was informed that the flight would leave from the C gates and as i could not find a seat that wasn't in a corner somewhere i decided to get the tram over to T5C and sit over there.
over in 5C i found a seat in the gate area which was quiet at that time and sat with my plane on one side of me.

G-XLEC

and VS adverts reminding me i was not flying VS on the other.

VS upper poster in T5C

when boarding time came there was an announcement that boarding would commence shortly strictly by row number at which time a stampede started towards the gate, families and those requiring assistance were called through the crowd and were sent down to the aircraft, 5 mins later the crew turned up. all 22 cabin crew together reminiscent of a movie or tv programme all of them in a line pulling their cabin cases . shortly after the crew boarded priority boarding commenced, and after what seemed like half of the full load had been priority boarded they called economy from the back forward which was well managed with pax who were sat further forward being sent back to the end of the queue to wait their turn.

once on board there were a large number of pax speaking german and who were not in the correct seats, as they were all having a conversation with each other a member of the cabin crew came forward and started shouting at them that if they didn't take their seats the flight would not leave on time. (perhaps they should have started boarding earlier rather than 30 mins to push back)

once on board and settled the doors were swiftly closed and we pushed back.
I do like the A380 it is a nice light roomy aircraft and is a lot quieter than the 747 however I found that with the shaped headrests BA have fitted there was little option than to stay in the middle of the seat as it was uncomfortable to try and lean to the side to change position or sleep.

BA A380 upper deck Y cabin
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the IFE system was great responsive to a gentle touch although the choice left little that i wanted to watch so i ended up with BBC iplayer in my iPad and a documentary on the 747. (as mentioned in an earlier feed on V-Flyer)

food was served but only 2 choices rather than the 3 i am used to with VS.
i went for the roast chicken.

Meal (roast Chicken)

the flight was uneventful and smooth all the way (really boring) and although the crew went through the cabin with drinks a couple of times interaction with pax was at a minimum . it would have been nice to see they were still onboard occasionally.

on arrival in to LAX one of the cabin crew was speaking to the pax in front of me on the exit row saying that the A380 was popular with the crews and explaining that the mood lighting is supposed to shave 4 hours off jet lag. (or so Airbus say) and was saying that BA have 14 on order to replace the 747-400's in the BA fleet.
I chose correctly to pick a seat upstairs as when i walked quickly off of the plane i managed to be 2nd in line at immigration and through to bag claim in 10 mins of leaving my seat.........where it took 55 mins for my bag to appear.
and then 15 mins in a queue behind a Philippine airlines flight clearing customs.

all in all a good flight but with a crew who were not very approachable or even visible throughout the flight in a seat that was definitely not the best Y seat i have ever flown in.
sorry BA but you haven't done enough to make me switch from my usual VS.

[buns]

Thanks for the interesting TR

I found this a very illuminating view of the "dark side", as what comes across loud and clear was the approach of the staff

One day I will board the 380 - hopefully with an outfit that has sorted out how to cope with a large number of passengers

buns

Thanks for the interesting TR

I found this a very illuminating view of the "dark side", as what comes across loud and clear was the approach of the staff

One day I will board the 380 - hopefully with an outfit that has sorted out how to cope with a large number of passengers

buns

Air France seem to do a good job.

Thanks for posting this TR and made better with a few pics .
Hope you enjoyed the trip

Air France seem to do a good job

Ditto Singapore Airlines

Great TR, thanks

I did a short hope from LHR to Paris when Air France were doing promotional flights a while ago now. Really pleased I did.

R-P

Thanks for an interesting TR. I like to hear about experiences in Economy.

Have to agree re Cars Land, it is THE best ride ever. We managed to ride it 3 times when we were there last August despite 'technical issues'.
Hope you had a fab time. We are trying to decide which Disney to visit next time. Florida wins on choice of parks and flight time, but we loved Disneyland and DCA, all walkable from our hotel - Paradise Pier - what an amazing view of Cars Land too
Also interesting feedback on BA flights as we have lots of Avios miles to use, and not so many FC miles.... decisions decisions !