A fab airline (British Airways in general)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	British Airways in general
Date:	30/03/09 (134 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comfy seats, great entertainment and food, easy booking and online check in

Disadvantages: Messed up our details, no games

~ Booking and check in ~

We booked our flight online with BA which was so easy. At the time they had a sale on and they were the cheapest airline we could find to fly to New York. Once you've booked, you a confirmation email and they'll send you reminder emails occasionally to remind you that you need to enter various details online such as passport numbers.

With BA you can check in online which opens 24 hours before departure and there is no fee for this like there is with some airlines. It's so easy - they send you an email and a text telling you that check in is now open. You simply log onto the BA website, enter your reference number and name and then follow the easy steps to check in. You can change your seats and you are shown a seating plan of the plane so you can pick the best seats. This is a great reason for checking in online so that you can get the best seats before everyone else. It also means that you can print off your own boarding pass and so don't need to arrive at the airport the normal 2 or 3 hours before departure, you only need to get there 45 minutes beforehand to check your luggage in.

We arrived an hour before but in the future we'll definitely leave more time because there was a problem with our passports and we were kept waiting for a while. This wasn't our fault it was BA - they had entered my name in the system twice and my husband's name wasn't there. This meant we had to wait for ages for them to sort it out and so we ended up having to run to the gate because they had made us late.

~ The plane ~

If only we could afford to upgrade to first class - the seats were amazing! They had big chairs that reclined a load more than the economy chairs with a footstool and partition screens that you could put up or down in between you and the next person. They looked great and we were so jealous! Our seats were still good though, nice and comfy with head rests that you could pull out to lean on. Each individual TV showed a huge number of films - there were about 30 new releases and even more older films, plus the usual selection of comedy, documentary and drama programmes as well as music to listen to. I actually found that the 8 hour flight wasn't long enough for me because I was so busy watching the TV! The only complaint I'd have is that the games section was only for first class which was annoying - I like a fun game to play to take a break from watching something and it's fun when you can play against other people on the plane.

Complimentary drinks and a small snack came around at about half an hour after we took off. The food came about 2 hours into the flight and was great with a choice of red meat or white meat each time which was good for us as we don't eat red meat. They also do a vegetarian option which you have to pre-order and they delivered this to you before the other food came out. The food came in a good quality looking packaging and tasted yummy. You got a starter salad, a hot main course, a bread roll and butter, a dessert and a bottle of water and then tea or coffee with a mini chocolate bar. A smaller meal came about 3 hours after this, so you got a chance to watch some more TV or have a nap, and included small snacky items such as a sandwich or croissant and yoghurt and a juice (depending on whether it was breakfast or lunch). The staff on the plane were perfectly happy to get you a drink any other time and went out of their way to help you.

However, some of the staff we found to be a little rude to others, such as passengers who didn't understand much English, and one stewardess spoke to them like they were stupid. But overall they were nice and helpful.

~ Overall ~

The only other thing I would have liked from BA was to let me know about the Visa Waiver Program. As the flight was going to the USA, I think they should have let me know how to go about getting this information so that we were actually able to get into the USA. I didn't know anything about it until a family member told me and if they hadn't, we'd have ended up probably being refused entry without the necessary documentation.

I'd definitely fly with BA again, they would be one of the top couple of airlines I'd look at - they are a great company and the flight was brilliant.

Summary: One of my top airlines