Aircraft British Airways Boeing 747-600
Route London Heathrow LHR to Vancouver YVR
Class World Traveller Plus, seat 13K
Seat pitch and width 35 inches and 18 inches seat width
Seat configuration Two-four-two
Luggage allowance One bag no more than 23kg checked in luggage and one piece of hand luggage also no more than 23kg plus a laptop bag or briefcase
Airport and lounge access Terminal 5 is the new British Airways dedicated terminal at London Heathrow so there is a lounge, however, unless you’re flying business class or first class or are a One World silver or gold card holder, this is inaccessible.
Sadly Heathrow Terminal 5 doesn’t offer free Wi-Fi outside of any airline lounge and the cheapest deal you can get is £9.95 for 24-hours access, which seems a little ridiculous.
Scheduled flight time 9 ½ hours
Punctuality A faulty IFE meant that ground crew had to work to repair it delaying departure by one hour. However, the flight crew managed to make up a little of that time on the journey.
Condition of the craft The UK national carrier has something of a reputation for flying old aircraft with aged interiors and crusty cabins, and although we’ve seen worse BA aircraft, this one was still didn’t stand up to the competition that’s on offer these days. The section of the arm-rest that contained the fold-out tray table was chipped and cracked and the air conditioning vent located above was covered in a layer of dust.
The bathrooms were kept fairly clean however, and didn’t – thank goodness – descend into anything resembling a battered bog in Bombay, as can happen on some airlines.
In-flight entertainment Having recently flown another BA flight where the IFE wasn’t even on demand, the selected offering here seemed like a giant leap forward. However, the 6 ½ inch screen was a strain at times and even though the offering was respectably up to date with movies like Sucker Punch, Thor, Battlefield: Los Angeles and The Green Hornet, you couldn’t help but feel sorry for anyone who hadn’t already seen these on a decent-sized screen.
In addition, the touchscreen wasn’t particularly responsive or intuitive and if a movie was left on pause for too long – roughly more than 10 minutes – the system defaulted back to the home screen, which meant you had to scan through it from the very beginning to get to the point where you actually paused it. A little frustrating as you can imagine.
The 3.5mm headphone socket was located in the side of the seat – so that if you chose to use your own headphones and the jack was one that wasn’t at a right angle, you ran the risk of accidentally knocking it and bending or even breaking it.
There was a power port for a laptop, but it was a very strange looking port that we had never seen before and couldn’t identify. When we asked the very helpful stewardess she wasn’t too sure about it either and said the only way we could use it was to purchase the in-flight charger pack that comes with 12, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 and 24v adapters and a whole host of connectors and costs £65 from the in-flight High Life shopping magazine, the description of which also says that it is not suitable for Apple MacBook computers.
Comfort The extended leg room was nice, but the seat width was noticeably less than just ordinary old economy on an Emirates A380…but that could possibly be blamed on the type of aircraft itself. However, there was a space of between 7 and 8 inches between the arm-rest and the side of the actual aircraft that meant if you tried to lean against the window to sleep you’d be really uncomfortable, providing you hadn’t actually disappeared down the gap.
When the seat in front was reclined it was extremely difficult to comfortably use a laptop. There are three so-called seat controls, the first extends a leg rest a little way, the second simply reclines the seat and the third – according to the diagram – is meant to push out a little a back cushion. But after repeatedly pressing this, nothing happened whatsoever.
One thing that was noticeable was the extra legroom – an extra 7 inches over ordinary economy according the the BA website. But ultimately, because of the Grand Canyon-sized chasm between the seat and the fuselage, it’s still very difficult to sleep. You just end up trying to lie in a straight line without leaning on anything, waiting for your head to flop when you do eventually fall asleep. Someone who is well over 6′ tall will definitely benefit from this extra legroom, but otherwise it seemed like a wasted opportunity.
Service Again, British Airways is often mocked for fielding…mores seasoned cabin crews than other airlines – certainly when compared to the likes of Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air, the latter of which quite openly will not employ a stewardess older than 30 – but age aside, the cabin crew on this flight were extremely polite and helpful. Much more so than some crews on airlines that are meant to be embracing a more youthful workforce.
Food and beverages There was no printed menu and the choice for dinner was roast beef or chicken in a white wine and mushroom-type sauce, we’re not entirely sure as we opted for the beef. The starter was a small offering of pasta salad and the dessert was a pear compote and hazelnut mousse. Together with a tasty Spanish red wine – which sadly and unsurprisingly ran out – and a pumpkin seed gallego roll, made a more than satisfactory meal.
Two other red wines were on offer, but sadly both were Merlot, one Spanish and one South African. The latter would be better suited to a Indian dish, like a curry or such like and the former wasn’t to our liking. Shortly before landing we were offered either a cheese or chicken sandwich that came with tea or coffee and little Kit-Kat chocolate bar. Thankfully the coffee wasn’t instant.
Flight frequency once daily in both directions
Cost of ticket £1,232 return from London to Vancouver
Website britishairways.com
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