Hello All,

I'm wondering if any of you have flown British airways before (Economy class). This is my first time flying with them and just want to know what to expect.

Most of the trips I've taken were with Air Canada and a charter flight when I went to Cuba.

Welcome vampcheerleader.

Welcome to the BB. I have flown with BA a couple of times but it was a few years ago - booked to fly with them again June 6th when we go on our Italy Bellissimo tour. They were very good, preferred them to Air Canada but things could have changed.

Where and when are you going?

Scottie

I'm going on the best of Ireland tour May 14. I've heard they were a good company to fly with, but I don't know anyone that has

Hi

I have flown with British Airways a number of times, once in business class many many years ago and the rest of the time in economy.

I am afraid I am not fond of BA at all. Business class was nice, but economy is cramped and often unpleasant. I expect that this is the same with most airlines. I am trying Emirates this time around and have my fingers crossed for a slightly less cramped experience.

However while I acknowledge that all economy seating is sardine-like, my major gripe with BA was the attitude of the staff. Again this is just my experience, but I have found them to be rude and obnoxious, and one of the cabin crew assaulted my mother on our last flight. He grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her back to in front of him as he had not seen her boarding card.

In general the only way to be noticed by the cabin crew is to be screaming child. If you are not making a fuss you are invisible. That's fine unless you get dehydrated and need fluids.

A few things you need to know, British Airways will not allow you to select your seat on the flight until the 24 hours before you fly, but if you can organise a seat selection it is well worth doing. If there are two of you flying aim for the seats at the very back where they are in a 2 3 2 configuration instead of a 3 5 3 configuration. You get fed last, but you have more room.

If travelling with another person British Airways can split you up so you are not sitting together. They did this to my mother and I on our last trip (the one with the obnoxious assaultative cabin crew member). We arrived at Heathrow some 6 hours before our flight and checked in only to be told that we would be separated, when I queried this I was told that there were no seats together in the entire flight.

My mother struggles to open the airline food packets so this was unacceptable to me. No matter what I said the check in supervisor was immovable, she would not seat us together. I was livid and suggested that we would need to get a member of the cabin crew to help mum. Immediately after saying this, 2 seats together became available! Funny that!!!!

If you have a problem with seating (you're with family etc) and the check in staff won't help go to the British Airways Customer Service Desk. They will help.

We have tried BA and Qantas. Qantas was much better, but they sell flights on a share arrangement with BA so when you arrive for your flights you aren't sure if you will get Qantas or BA. So we are trying Emirates.

I hope that helps, but I am sorry to give a generally negative evaluation of British Airways.

You will have a wonderful trip I am sure
Enjoy

Best wishes
jeni

We also, are not big fans of BA. Yes, seating is cramped in economy, but that is par for the course. Our "annoyance" is with the lack of service once the meals have been served, however if you are prepared to get up and walk to the galley to get whatever it is you require, you will do well. After the meals are over and done with you will find it pretty difficult to find any cabin crew.

Having said that they were not rude or nasty.

we flew with them in 2005 and were able to pick our seats in February and we wern't leaving till July. were flying BA in June with our 2 grandsons and hope we are able to sit together as we wern't able to get our seats ahead of time. i'm hoping at check in to get the last few rows with 2 seats in each. if not I have to have a isle seat.

I want the 2 seaters for the kids as this is there first time on a plane (there 12 and 14)
and i want them to sit next to a window

I don't mind BA economy it is a tight fit
We flew KLM in 2007 and there 747economy just seemed a little less cramped. but they lost our luggage. I still like them though

Sounds like BA haven't improved since I immigrated in 1980, and had to fly with them all the way to NZ.
I was assured with immigration that I could take my engineering `tools of trade` ( extra luggage). But when I got to Heathrow, they wouldn't let me take the tools on board ! So my friend that drove me to the airport had to take them home with him.
Three months later, and after replacing hundreds of dollars worth of equipment, BA changed their minds, and forwarded my tools ! All in a cardboard box, as they had managed to smash my two tool boxes to smitherines. Beautiful wooden tool boxes that my father had pass down to me !
Bless BA's `cotton socks` !

Hi VampCheerLeader,
My preference is not to fly BA because they do not allow seat selection more than 24 hours ahead of the flight unless you are flying full fare or on a corporate flight. It seems, however, that my last flight (for an Insight tour) somehow qualified me to preselect the flight.
I'm not sure if the problems with the flight were more to do with flying in and out of Heathrow (connecting to Zurich) or the airline itself. We were late leaving Toronto and when we arrived at Heathrow there was no gate available so we had to park on the tarmac and board buses to the terminal. This was delayed because they needed to find staff to drive the stairs up to the doors of the aircraft. The good news to go with the bad news was that my connecting flight was also leaving late and with a lot of running I was able to make the connection.
The aircraft in economy offers little in the way of comfort. The electronics in many of the seats were not functioning. I was moved to one at the back and then when we had extreme turbulence I felt it to the max.
However, I cannot say that BA is much worse than AC.

I have been on both AC and BA in the last couple of years. I agree that I don't like that you can't preselect seats until 24 hours ahead of flight. You can do this at home on the net but I have not been able to this before flying back home again.
I am tall so I find BA has shorter legroom. I have not found the service lacking with either airlines.

Nation, we moved to Montreal in 1960, we travelled with BOAC on a propeller plane. I did not speak English and my mother was travelling with us 2 kids in first class. The attendants were non existing and it was a very long flight. We left London, before the existence of Heathrow, went to Manchester, then Glasgow, then Gander, Newfoundland and finally Montreal. My sister was sick every time we went up and down, she got no help and I remeber a lack of food, maybe because I did not understand. I think we never travelled with them again until a few years ago now known as BA.

My immigration flight from England to New Zealand in 1980 took 43 hours ! We were not allowed off the plane at Bombay because of sickness there. So all they did was change the headcloths, and of course, nobody fancied eating the food picked up there.
Then there was warfare at the next port of call( which I cant recall ). So we had to land in some desolate airfield !
By the time we got to Singapore the atmosphere amongst the passengers was to say the least `a bit high` !!
Once again, we were refused alighting from the plane. This time because the pilot said we had to circle three times to wait for a thnderstorm to pass. Which delayed us even more.
But ! I have to admit , I became a `rebel` ! As soon as the air hostess opened the door for some fresh air, and ready to take on some passengers,( it was climb steps in those days to get on board !) that was my signal to up out of my seat, and head for the steps !
Big protests from the hostess, with threats that they "wouldn't wait for me" !!
I told her to carry on without me, jumped on a passing airport bus, went to the terminal and bought what I had promised myself back in England, a Yashica camera !!
Rushed up to the shop, told the guy how much I wanted to spend. He handed me this brilliant camera, threw in a flash and some rolls of film, and I was on my way back to the plane in a matter of minutes.
When I climbed the steps , there was the hostess, folded arms, tapping foot, and a stare that nearly set of my flash !!
I smiled, faced the passengers and held up my `trophy` bag. A great cheers went up, and a dozen passengers decided to do the same, heading for the door !
It was silly of the hostess, because we all knew that we had over two hours before new passengers came aboard, and our scheduled take off time !
Even though I no longer use that camera, it has pride of place in the spare room !
I have to add that the flight on to Australia, then on to New Zealand turned out to be the best part of the flight. That incident at Singapore relieving the pent up atmosphere in the plane ! We all had a good laugh ! But the hostess didn't talk to us from Singapore onwards !

Interesting tale Nation.
Kathy

Nation ~ You rebel

quote:

Originally posted by vampcheerleader:
Hello All,

I'm wondering if any of you have flown British airways before (Economy class). This is my first time flying with them and just want to know what to expect.

Most of the trips I've taken were with Air Canada and a charter flight when I went to Cuba.

Yes - depends on the crew, plane, day, time of month etc etc. I've found BA to be generally good. Smile and be polite and the crew will probably do likewise ...