Gold Star Service From A Fantastic British Airways Cabin Crew

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A Brief Preface

I’ve been meaning to write about this experience for some time and just haven’t got around to it but, now that we’re living through a period when most of us can’t travel and when airline crews must be going through a terrible time, I thought it might be nice to recognize the really nice, kind and thoughtful service Joanna and I received on a flight earlier this year.

Down the years I’ve been one of the biggest critics of BA’s premium cabin products and BA’s management teams, but I’ve said time and time again that I really like the airline’s cabin crews. The more I fly with British Airways the more I like their onboard staff and a flight I took earlier this year reinforced the fact that they’re the best reason to fly with BA.

Here’s what happened:

I was heading home to LA and I was flying out of London in the Economy Class cabin of an antiquated British Airways 747 (I fly in steerage a lot more than some people seem to think). Joanna flew back with me and I had booked us into the only Economy Class row on this aircraft which has extra legroom – row 40.

BA’s 747 Economy Class cabin is set out in a 3-4-3 layout and Joanna and I occupied two of the three seats on the left side of the aircraft. I gave Joanna the aisle, I had the middle seat and another passenger took the window seat.

It was quite cramped but I had a reasonable amount of legroom so I was ok.

When boarding was complete, all 4 center seats of row 40 remained unoccupied so I asked one of the flight attendants if I could move to the closest aisle seat in the center section (40D). A fellow passenger followed my lead and took the aisle seat on the opposite side of the center section (40G).

Shortly before take-off, the cabin services director (I think that was her title…it may have been something else) came to thank me (by name) for being a Gold Executive Club member and to say that I should ask if there was anything I needed during the flight. I always get a little embarrassed when this happens as I genuinely don’t need or expect any special attention and I can usually ‘feel’ other eyes in the cabin looking at me…but I still appreciate it when a crew member takes time to come and say hi to me.

Based on most of my previous long-haul flights with BA I was pretty sure that this would be the end of my recognition as a Gold card holder…and that was perfectly fine with me. I really didn’t need any more recognition.

Shortly after we leveled out, a different crew member appeared through the curtain ahead of me with two glasses of champagne – one for me and one for Joanna. I also saw another two glasses delivered to passengers somewhere behind me.

This wasn’t necessary, it certainly wasn’t expected, and it didn’t take much effort, but it was a really nice gesture and a really nice way to start the flight (I was offered more champagne a little later on which I politely declined).

The champagne had arrived shortly after I had opened up my laptop to start working (the best way to get through a London – Los Angeles flight in Economy Class) and I was just starting to enjoy having the extra elbow room that my typing style seems to require (and that the empty seat next to me offered) when another passenger appeared and sat down in the seat next to me.

This was both disappointing and bad luck as she could have chosen to sit in the other empty seat in the center…but she had as much right to be in the center row as I did so, as far as I was concerned, that was that.

This, however, wasn’t how the cabin crew saw it.

My new row-mate was quickly told (politely) that she couldn’t self-upgrade to the bulkhead seats without asking the crew first, and that if she wanted to stay in the bulkhead row she’d have to move along one seat to give me room to work. Specifically, “because this gentleman has paid to have an empty seat next to him”.

I may have gone a little red with embarrassment at this point because not only I had I clearly not paid to have an empty seat next to me, once again I genuinely hadn’t expected any special treatment. Having said that, boy was I pleased that the crew seemed hell-bent on making sure I was comfortable!

The seat width of a standard BA Economy Class seat is pretty bad, but the bulkhead seats are even narrower because the tray tables and the IFE screens are stowed under their armrests and, as it turns out, it’s quite challenging to work in these seats.

Not having someone in the seat next to me was the difference between an uncomfortable and unproductive flight and a flight during which I got quite a bit of work done and was genuinely comfortable for my 11+ hours onboard.

I couldn’t thank my BA guardian angel enough and, fortunately, this didn’t appear to bother my original row-companion or the self-upgrader because both slept for most of the rest of the flight.

If the crew had stopped there, I’d still be writing this post because they were fantastic, but that wasn’t quite the end of the good treatment.

Lunch was served somewhere around 90 minutes into the flight and, to my shame, it was Joanna and not me who picked up on the fact that we were getting slightly different treatment.

Everyone around us had paper napkins, plastic cutlery, and plastic cups – we had cloth napkins, metal cutlery, china cups, a propper glass, and a different dessert to everyone else. The main meal (which was fine) may have been standard Economy Class fare but I‘m pretty sure we were given the trays used for Premium Economy passengers.

Once again, this was a very nice touch that wasn’t expected, that didn’t dent BA’s bottom line and that was really appreciated by Joanna and me. It wasn’t a massive, over-the-top-gesture (I would have hated that) but it was a gesture that showed a bit of thought had been put in and a gesture that put a smile on my face – for me, those are the best kind of gestures around.

Bottom Line

I never expect special attention or higher levels of service just because I have a good level of status, and that has almost as much to do with the fact that I don’t think that having a shiny status card makes you more important than anyone else as it has to do with the fact that my parents didn’t bring me up to be up a spoiled, entitled brat…but I really appreciated the special attention on this flight.

The champagne and upgraded lunch service were very nice indeed, and having a smiling, polite crew was great too…but it was the extra personal space that I had throughout the flight that made the biggest difference to my trip home.

British Airways has a policy of doing its best to give Gold members an empty seat next to them where possible, but that certainly didn’t come in to play here (I think that policy may only apply to short-haul flights) – I was just very lucky to be sharing my flight with an awesome cabin crew.