British Airways flight to Venice (British Airways in general)

Member Name: steveo38ms

Product:	British Airways in general
Date:	09/08/09 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Made to feel special, and not an inconvenience

Disadvantages: Unable to book your seat at the time of booking

I recently took a trip with British Airways from Gatwick airport to Venice Marco Polo airport.

I booked directly with British airways on their website which is quite easy to navigate and
use. Their website can be found at www.ba.com

It is quite a comprehensive site offering you the opportunity to book complete holiday packages including flights & hotels, flights only, hotel accommodation, airport parking, car hire, airport transfers and local tours. There are also local destination guides on line which are quite useful to read.

How to book your flight.
First you pick your departure airport from a dropdown list then the same with your destination airport, the dates you wish to travel, the class you wish to travel and finally number of passengers. Once you have typed in this information the website searches for appropriate flights on those dates.

There may be several flights a day to or from your destination with different prices. It also shows you different prices for the days either side you wish to travel if you are conscious of cost. For example early morning flights maybe more expensive than flights mid day. Monday or Friday may be more expensive than going mid week.

Once you pick your outward flight it then goes on to the return flight and you can choose the time of your return flight. The single fares are added together to give you the total cost of your flight which includes all airport taxes. You will be quite surprised at how much the taxes are for each leg of the trip. I believe the consumer is being ripped off unfairly in the so called name of green taxes bearing in mind that aircraft these days are more fuel efficient and less polluting and carry more passengers.

You also have the opportunity of making a further payment to offset your carbon footprint for taking that flight or adding extras such as insurance hotel bookings or car hire.

When you are satisfied that you have the correct flights and the fare is suitable its time to book it. You can either pay by debit or credit card. Personally I would recommend paying by credit card then you have the added reassurance of getting your money back if the airline went bankrupt although I think it is safe to say that despite the current trend in airlines folding BA is not as likely to cease trading just yet and hopefully they wont and will ride the out current economic storm.

Once your payment has gone through you are given a booking reference number to quote when you check in to book your seat or on arrival at the airport if not checking in on line. You are then sent a confirmation email with your reference number and flight details on it.

One thing that is quite annoying with British Airways is the fact that you can not choose your seat until 24hours before your flight. You have to be quite quick as most passengers are doing the same thing to ensure that the seat they want they are able to choose. Despite the fact that you could have booked this seat up to nine months prior to your trip you still could end up not sitting where you want. (Check out http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/British_Airways/i nformation.php ) I can not understand why BA doesn't allow you to choose your seat when booking as other airlines allow you to.

Once you have chosen your seat, you can check in for your flight and print off your tickets which have a bar code on them. This enables you to turn up at the airport and go to the fast bag drop and go straight through to security to airside. If you are travelling club class you will also pick up a lounge pass to enable you to enter the lounges.

At the airport.
I chose to travel in club Europe so I was entitled to use the club lounges which are very comfortable and relaxing prior to your flight. I had printed off my ticket so I just had to turn up at the fast bag drop. Alternatively there are separate checking desks for club passengers where they will issue you with fast track ticket through security and a lounge pass.

The lounges are very relaxed and have an assortment of refreshments appropriate for the time of day you are using the lounge. It is very peaceful in the lounge. There is internet access and the choice of reading materials to read prior to departure. Wash rooms which are very clean to freshen up in before you flight. You have to keep an eye out for your departure on the monitors as no flight announcements are made.


On board.
Prior to take off you are offered a pre flight drink of orange juice or Champagne. No prizes for guessing which I chose!! After take off we were served a hot meal which by airline standards was very acceptable and nicely presented. We were offered more to drink which was all complementary.

The cabin crew were absolutely fantastic and were a credit to British Airways. They were friendly and welcoming, very professional and nothing was too much trouble for them. I have also flown to New York recently with BA and the service is still consistently of the very high standard as expected throughout the BA fleet. Good reliable and comfortable service.

The inside of the plane was clean and the seats were leather and quite comfortable.

There was no entertainment system on the plane as it was just a short flight but there were the in-flight magazines which passed away some of the time. We were offered the opportunity to buy from the BA catalogue but did not buy anything.


The return flight was of a similar high standard although there was an hours delay due to air traffic control problems over France and also massive thunderstorms apparently however the time was made up on the return flight and we arrived pretty much on time.


Would I recommend B A.?
Absolutely because it's a quality product - and usually across the airline, you know what standard of service you are going to get. The price you see is the price you are going to pay unlike some of the budget airlines who invariably can work out more expensive and charge you for things that are included in BA'S price. For example check in at the airport will cost you an extra £40, booking fee £10 if paying by debit or credit card. Luggage for the hold is also charged on some budget airlines.

So all in all is BA good value for money. I would say yes and I would urge you to fly the flag with British airways.

Bon voyage and happy flying.

Thank you for reading my review I hope it is of some use.

Summary: Very enjoyable trip with a quality airline (No - I am not associated with them)