This is a review of British Airway’s Club World flight on a Boeing 747-400 from London to Miami flown in November 2018. With BA retiring all of its 747s in July 2020 during the pandemic, let this post take you on a walk down memory lane with The Queen of The Skies.
In true ‘making the most of it style’ I redeemed this business class ticket using 125,000 avios (plus £536.50 tax) for a return flight. To learn more about avios, flight redemptions and points collection, I highly reccommend signing up to the daily emails from Head For Points.
The Flight
Boarding for our flight was delayed by 30 minutes, which would have been good to know before we left the comfort of the Heathrow Terminal 3 Qantas lounge. Instead we were waiting in the BA scrum alongside 50-60 other passengers in boarding groups 1-3. It was hot, Wi-Fi was slow and the chairs were uncomfortable. Our group (group two) was eventually called, and there was little to no queue to get on the plane.
The Seat
As a BA silver card member, I was able to choose our seats at the time of booking, and immediately chose the upper deck of the 747-400, the exclusive 20 seat cabin which is about as close to a private jet as I will ever get! (And you get to go upstairs…in a plane!) I chose seats 63A and B which were recommended on SeatGuru, but I should have researched this more carefully as the more coveted seats of 62A and B were also available at the time of booking. The seats in row 62 both provide aisle access and don’t require stepping over a stranger’s feet, whereas seat 63A does. I rectified my seat selection for the return leg.
The seat was the traditional (and soon to be phased out) BA yin and yang business class seat, which provided various seat settings including, when the foot rest is pulled out, a full flat bed. The seat was provided with a White Company blanket, light duvet and a seat topper (which I don’t really think did anything but get in the way). There is a pillow which was great when in the sitting position, but for me, a little too big for sleeping, and having a smaller pillow option would have been a nice bonus.
The amenity kit was also from The White Company, and contained socks, eye mask, lip balm, moisturiser and toothbrush and toothpaste.
As it was an afternoon/evening flight, I didn’t expect to get much sleep, but I have to say I found the bed a little uncomfortable when I did try to get a couple of hours nap. However, in anything but lie-flat, I was more than happy, and for eating, reading and TV watching, it was a fantastic way to spend the time.
Food and Drink
The food and drink on board was of a high standard, starting with the very drinkable Canard-Duchêne “Cuvée Léonie” champagne served on boarding. To eat, I chose the smoked salmon as a starter, which I found tasty, though the sauce was quite strong, and the crayfish tails were covered in it so there was no avoiding the taste. I had pre-ordered my main but there was no mention of this when taking my order, but as they had my first choice, it didn’t seem to matter anyway. The trout I ate was not presented particularly well, but it was tasty, and had a good ratio of potato and vegetables with it. To finish I went for the mango crémeux, which was a great sweet treat that wasn’t overly sickly. I just about had room for the cheese selection, which included a punchy Shropshire Blue, a mild Brie and medium Cheddar. I could have done with a few more crackers which probably would have been provided if I’d asked (which I didn’t… I’d eaten so much I was about to burst!)
Around 90 minutes before landing we were served Afternoon Tea, which was the perfect sized portion of sandwiches, carrot cake and warm, fluffy scone with jam.
Cabin Crew
We had two members of cabin crew looking after us for our flight, and both were cheery, helpful and polite throughout the flight. One of the crew, Michelle, even leant me her power adapter so I could charge my phone throughout the flight – a nice little token of BA staff going above and beyond!
In Flight Entertainment
As this was an afternoon/evening flight, I knew I wouldn’t be getting much sleep, and I’d already checked out the film choices online before I flew. It wasn’t great to be honest, but I’m not sure if this can be blamed on BA, or just the quality of films around at the time. I settled in to watch Ocean 8, and spent the rest of my time watching my iPad or reading.
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