As I am only a lowly Blue Executive Club member and was travelling on a non flexible WT+, I was dained not privileged enough to be able to select my seat at the time of booking[:(!] However, I availed myself of the on-line check in facility the previous evening and stayed with seat 25k which had already been selected for me. This turned out to be a wise move as the queue for WT and WT+ was very long, whereas the fast bag drop queue was only 3 people deep[y]
I enquired about the possibility of upgrading to CW with miles, to be told by the check-in agent that they currently did not have the facility to do that at BDA, but that it was coming. I'm assuming I would have received a different reply if I had offered cold hard cash. Still, don't ask, don't get!
By 6.30pm I was walking through security which took all of a minute( I kid you not) and straight into the departure lounge. Here there is a small Duty Free shop, well stocked with the local tipple, Goslings Rum of which I purchased one bottle. After that there is a drinks and snacks vending machine and that's your lot! MrG, who flew out the previous Wednesday on the same flight informed me that the BA Executive Lounge there provided basic drinks and snacks.
The boarding process was started at around 7.45pm for a 8.05pm departure. This just seem to be a free for all so I waited till the queue had died down and made my way through. The aircraft used on this route is a Boeing 777. I was greeted at the door and made my way to 25K. The CW cabin appeared full as I passed through and there was not a spare seat to be found in WT+ either! As I arrived at my seat, a very nice lady who was to be my travelling companion for the flight, smiled and said she was waiting for the seat occupant of 25K to arrive before she got comfortable in her seat. I knew we would get on just fine [:D]
The Captain announced a flying time of 6hrs and 10 mins. We pushed back around 8.15pm and were airborne around 8.30pm. I had a chat with the nice lady sitting next to me, who asked me about the class of seat she was sitting in, so I'm guessing she had been upgraded. I also helped her sort out her leg rest and lumbar support once the seat belt signs were off. Having once spent 10 hours in VS Y from SFO, sitting next to a psychotic looking man with smelly feet [:$], this lady was a breath of fresh air! A complimentary newspaper (The Mail on Sunday) had been offered before take off, which I flicked through as the drinks service started.
The meal service arrived an hour and 15 minutes into the flight and was a choice between, no surprise here, Chicken or Beef. I opted for the chicken and some white wine to accompany the meal. The meal tray consisted of a starter of prawn cocktail, small bread roll and butter, a plastic cheese square with cracker, a small cube of Cadbury's crunchie and the hot meal. There was also a small bottle of water and a cup for tea or coffee. The dessert was a crumble thing with fruit and nuts in it. The Chicken nearly broke the plastic cutlery when I cut into it, It probably would have bounced if I'd thrown it across the cabin[:w] However, the prawn cocktail and the crunchie saved the day[y] The crunchie taking me back to my childhood for some reason!
By the time the trays had been cleaned away, it was well over 2 hours into the flight, so I decide to have a little snooze. It was a bit of a Father Ted moment, where Ted and Dougal would go to bed and a couple of seconds later, the sun was shining and it was morning! That's not to say that I got much sleep, it's just felt like the cabin lights hadn't been off for that long[:0]
Breakfast was served an hour and a half before the scheduled arrival time. This consisted of a small carton of Orange Juice, a nutrigrain bar and an egg mayonnaise roll from the All Day Deli. The roll was surprisingly tasty, so I scoffed it down!
We eventually landed at 7am local time, 20 minutes late of our scheduled arrival time. A short queue at immigration and a 10 minute wait for my case, meant that I was outside the terminal and waiting for my Dad to pick me up by 7.30am. Not bad [y]
So overall, a good experience. I have tried not to do a direct comparision with VS PE as WT+ would loose everytime [;)] So as a stand alone flight it was satisfactory. The cabin crew were friendly, charming and professional, even stopping for a chat on occasions. Having flown CO and AA quite a bit recently, this was refreshing and it felt nice to be back on a piece of British metal once again.
I can't comment on the IFE as I did not use it. The amemity kit was a palstic bag, containing, socks, eyeshade and a toothbrush.
My one major gripe always with the WT+ cabin is the lack of a dedicated toilet[n]Plus the fact that the toilet used for the front section of WT and WT+ on this flight was in a disgusting state[V]Here's hoping they've run a bit of Jeyes around the bowl by the time I make my return flight[;)]
