I’m at London Heathrow Terminal 5 to fly British Airways Club World to Los Angeles.
I haven’t flown BA long haul for fifteen months,
so will be interested to see how their product has evolved.
There were dedicated check-in desks for Business Class passengers at one end of the terminal.
I queued for a couple of minutes before getting checked-in.
Then on to fast track security which was fairly fast and efficient.
As I arrived at the terminal, I got a notification via the TripIt app telling me the gate would be on
the B pier, so I headed there to try out what I hoped would be a quieter galleries lounge.
A transit takes you from the main terminal to each of the satellite piers.
The galleries lounge on the B pier was empty and
tranquil – very different to my previous experiences of the main terminal lounge.
There was a coffee and tea station, and a buffet of hot breakfast items.
The lounge was a nice space to rest ahead of boarding.
But as I left it was starting to get busy.
The flight was departing from gate B38, a few minutes’ walk from the lounge.
The aircraft was a Boeing 777-300ER registration G-STBH. It was nine years old.
There was some delay boarding the aircraft, as queues to queue started to form.
Club World suites were situated across the front three cabins of
the aircraft. There were 76 suites, in a 1-2-1 configurations. All seats had aisle access.
At the front a small cabin of just 12 seats was situated immediately behind First Class.
I was in this cabin in seat 5K.
The seat was 21 inches wide and reclined to form a full flat 79 inch bed.
The entertainment system had an 18.5 inch touch screen.
Beside the seat where several storage compartments.
One held a bottle of water and the amenity kit. The kit
included socks and eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, lip balm, creams, ear plugs and a pen.
Pre-departure champagne was offered.
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Beside the seat an armrest could be raised after take-off.
Because we needed to be de-iced, there was some delay before we pushed back from the gate.
As we finally taxied to the de-icing area, the crew took us through a manual safety
demonstration. I didn’t think it fair to film any of this.
We pushed back and taxied to be de-iced near terminal 3,
then on to take-off from runway 0 9 Right.
About two hours behind schedule we were on route to LA, with a flight time of around eleven hours.
After take-off I explored the storage and entertainment system. Inside the first
compartment was an international power socket and USB, a second USB and headphone jack,
and a controller for the entertainment screen.
Good noise cancelling headphones were provided, which were comfortable to wear.
The entertainment system features a good range of films and TV shows,
including an extensive back catalogue. I rewatched The Talented Mr Ripley.
Wi-Fi was available for a fee. At £20 for the entire flight,
it was 50% cheaper than a similar Virgin Atlantic flight.
On to the service, and a hot towel was provided, before drinks were brought around.
Drinks orders had been taken pre-departure.
For the main meal there was a choice for each of the starters, main course and dessert.
The tray table pulled out from below the entertainment screen and folded forward.
The meal started with beef tataki with asparagus.
Wait, no it didn’t. That wasn’t my order. Maybe I let them serve it just to get the pics…
I actually started with the roasted sweet potato salad which was nice and light.
It came with a couscous side salad.
For main course I had the braised beef cheek.
It didn’t look great but melted apart and tasted very good.
I finished with the British apple crumble and apple compote.
No separate cheese course, but tea and coffee were then offered.
There were four bathrooms for business class between the front two cabins.
The central ones were pretty pokey with little space.
However they were well maintained throughout the flight. White Company products were provided.
Back in the seat, and the bedding was also provided by The White Company.
There was a thin mattress cover,
a soft blanket and a good quality pillow. All made for a comfortable bed.
There was a lot of turbulence with the seat belt sign coming on.
Throughout the flight, the crew were proactive in offering more refreshments.
About ninety minutes prior to landing, a second meal was served.
This was a full meal of three courses, rather than an afternoon tea option.
I started with a Ploughman’s selection, which was good.
Followed by the shepherd’s pie. This was a little too hot, but very tasty.
The dessert was a crème caramel.
There was more turbulence before we began our decent.
We came into land on runway 2 4 Right and taxied
to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, via a few holding points.
Overall, the onboard experience was substantially better than my last Club World flight.
For the meal service, it was good to see the different courses being served separately. And
the crew were far more friendly and attentive than last time. My only criticism was all the delays:
we were slow to board, very slow to depart, and also waited what felt like an age to deplane.
Immigration was busy, but there were no queues for Global Entry. So I was straight to baggage,
where I waited about ten minutes for by suitcase. /
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