I received an ‘e’ mail from BA just before Christmas that said if I booked a flight and hotel through the BA website the hotel would be discounted. So it was about time that myself and the girlfriend got away so I went to www.ba.com and came away 30 mins later with a trip to San Francisco.
--------------Booking the flight-------------- There are, as with any airline, a number of ways to book a flight, through a travel agent, using the airlines website, using a broker such as lastminute.com etc. For this trip I used British Airways web site as this would give me a discount of my hotel costs.
I find BA’s website a lot better for booking flights than any of the other airlines websites, the main reason for this is it is very easy to see all the options available to get the best price.
You start by entering the airport you wish to leave from, the destination airport this can be the name or the three letter airport code if you know it, number of travellers, the dates you want to travel and finally the class of travel, economy in my case. Once the “get flights” button has been clicked the system goes off and returns the flight costs 7 days before and after the date you entered for outbound travel, this is great as you can adjust your travel dates based on cost, select the date you want and click continue. The return dates are shown in the same way, again select your date and click continue. The site will then give you the flights available on the outbound date, select the one you want, the return date flights are then shown. Once the flights have been selected a summary screen is shown where the total cost including the dreaded tax is given, you also get the option to look at upgrading and changing flexibility etc, and then the next screen requires passenger details and finally payment.
In my case booking was quite painless and a confirmation ‘e’ mail was received shortly after, giving all the details of the trip, you don’t actually get a ticket these days instead you have an e ticket.
--------------Checking In-------------- As BA do a lot of e ticketing now, this is where you are not given a paper ticket, you can check in and chose your seat online. For my trip I didn’t do this as the seat selection online does allow the selection of seats that have more leg room such as exit or bulk head.
Once arrived at Heathrow Terminal 1 it was easy to find the appropriate check in desk with plenty of staff around to point the lost traveller in the right direction. The queue was quite short, but this was not surprising as BA have loads of desks available for check in. Once at the desk I presented our passports and the e ticket was found in the computer, a few security questions later, our bags were checked and we were free to go shop and drink in the departure lounge.
All in all a pretty painless process, and with out the additional hassle of remembering tickets is great as it is one less thing to worry about.
--------------The flight-------------- We were in economy class for the trip, which meant we were first to be called for boarding after people with special requirements as our seats were at the back of the plane. The flight was slightly delayed but this was due to a passenger being offloaded, I never understand how people manage to check bags in and then miss the flight, but it happens!
Once we had taken off the complimentary bar came round offering a range of drinks including alcoholic, I think this is one of the good things BA do, as some airlines do charge for alcoholic drinks.
Soon after the bar service the inflight entertainment was started, this is a seat back TV with around 18 channels of different films and video, there are also a number of radio stations available. Unfortunately my seatback TV was not working so I informed the stewardess, after a number of resets there was still no joy, I was informed that the flight was full and we couldn’t be moved., but fortunately thanks to the person who didn’t turn up and some shuffling of other passengers we were moved to a pair of seats together with working video. The films that were being shown were fairly recent with Alfie, The Bourne Supremacy, Collateral and others.
About an hour and a half into the 11 hour flight the in-flight meal was brought round there was a choice of two dishes, not the most exciting of dishes but it was palatable and was about the right amount, I can never eat a lot when flying.
The flight was a day time flight so the cabin was quite busy with people milling around, one thing that I did like is that you were free to go up to the galley and raid the snack box and get yourself a drink either alcoholic or non, the snack box is a box full of treats such as Twix, mini cheddars and other things that are really nice but bad for you.
The next meal service was about 2hrs before landing this was not a hot meal but a Deli, which was a cold sandwich, accompanied by a hot drink, not a bad snack again quite light in the choice of fillings etc.
--------------Recommendation-------------- I like BA as an airline they provide a decent service, it is probably not the best you can get, but I have never had a problem with them. I particularly like the website and especially the booking facility and also the online check in which I have used when travelling for business, as it allows you to have more time at the office or in bed if it is an early flight.
I paid £250 plus taxes for the flight, it was pretty cheap and I feel the service I received, especially the moving of passengers around to fix the problem with my seat back video was excellent. I would happily travel with BA again but I wouldn’t pay over the odds just to travel with them.
More details
Class flown most frequently
Economy
How often do you travel with this airline
Frequently
Where did you book
Directly with this airline
Safety
Very safe
How well does it cater for disabled people
Don't know
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