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Late last week I traveled out to Cyprus on a British Airways 767 departing from London Heathrow Terminal 5.
If you’ve ever tried to capture a half decent photograph of an aircraft’s interior you’ll know that it’s anything but easy – normally you have at least a dozen people in the way and the cabin is a place of chaos as passengers fight for overhead bin space. Well, I was bored of the Galleries First lounge so I thought I’d head down to the gate area to see if I could get as close to the front of the priority boarding line as possible.
Boarding/Pre-Departure
As I made my way down the escalators from the lounge to the gate level, British Airways had yet to announce the gate for the flight. As luck would have it, just as I was walking past the first set of monitors the gate flashed up as A18 – one of the closest gates to where I was standing. 30 seconds later I was the first person in line to board.
When you get in line at a gate 50 minutes before take-off you tend to get a bit of attention from the Gate Agents (usually wondering what on earth you’re thinking) and, sure enough, one agent asked me if I was really that keen to get going. Rather sheepishly and in a please-don’t-think-I’m-a-complete-loser-tone, I explained that I just wanted a passenger-free shot of the interior of the aircraft and she was kind enough not to roll her eyes or burst out laughing 🙂
About a minute after the gate agents had begun to process those who need a bit more time to board (the older passengers and, those with infants) the same gate agent approached me, asked me for my passport and boarding pass and after checking me through, told me to head on down to the aircraft – how kind of her was that?! She was actually even kinder than that as I heard her stop the passengers behind me and tell them they weren’t ready to board yet.
Escalators down to the jet-bridge at T5 Gate A18
When I got to the aircraft the crew were only just about ready for passengers to board but every single crew member that I encountered was smiling and every single one of them was very pleasant. Was I about to get one of the lengendary-if-rarely-spotted great BA cabin crews?
The Cabin/Seat
The British Airways 767s are configured in a 2-3-2 seating formation…
…and the only difference between Business Class (Club Europe) and Economy Class (Euro Traveller) is that the head rest has a little bit more padding and in Business Class the middle seat in the row of 3 is blocked. I don’t believe there’s any difference in leg room and all the seats are the same width.
I had reserved an exit row seat which had more leg room that most people could possibly need:
And, when you compare it to the leg room passengers in Business Class get…..
…which, as I said, is the same as what Economy passengers get…..
…you can probably start to see why I can’t see the point in paying for a Business Class ticket on flights such as these.
Even the bulkhead seats have more room that the Business Class seats:
The only concern I had was that, because I was seated in the window seat of the exit row, there was a chance that the exit door mechanism would limit my legroom:
As it turned out there was no ned for concern, I could stretch out just fine:
In fact, there are a couple of advantages that the window seat has over the aisle exit row seat:
- It has a window (hopefully that’s obvious!)
- You can still stretch out even when the jump seat opposite you is occupied by a crew member (for take off and landing)
The biggest surprise I had was when I looked around the aircraft interior and noticed what good condition it was in. British Airways’ 767s aren’t exactly the new aircraft on the block (in fact they’ve been around the block quite a few times) but this one was almost pristine (at least in the areas I looked at).
A quick chat with the nearest flight attendant yielded the information that the aircraft was refurbished “at least two years ago” and the guys over at the British Airways forum on Flyertalk confirm that it was, in fact, refurbished as far back as 2012. That’s incredible. I would have bet good money the aircraft had only recently been refitted.
Connectivity/Entertainment
British Airways doesn’t have WiFi on any of it’s aircraft (unless the one solitary 747 on which they were trialling WiFi is still in service) so, unsurprisingly, there was no WiFi onbard…and we’ll be waiting some time before there will be.
Entertainment-wise there are no personal screens on British Airways’ 767 so you’re left to crane your neck towards the screens that pop down from the cabin ceiling:
The screens you can see in the photo above are the most watchable from row 27 as the closest screen is almost directly overhead – no onboard entertainment is worth the crick in your neck you’ll get from trying to watch that screen – so don’t expect a cinematic experience.
The controls for the onboard audio are in the armrest:
The entertainment on offer was a news round up and then the latest in the series of Mission Impossible movies – which ever one that is.
Food
Drinks and a snack were served 20 minutes after take off with a choice of:
- red/white wine
- Various sodas (coke etc…)
- Fruit juices
- Spirits (Gin, Vodka, Brandy, Whisky)
- Beers (Heineken or Tiger)
Interestingly, when they announced that drinks would soon be served, the announcer mentioned (and I’m paraphrasing here) “if at any time you’d like extra drinks just ask one of the crew near you or push the call button above your seat.” Wow. “Push the call button”? So nice to find a cabin crew that are happy for the call button to be used – on a US airline, pushing the call button is the quickest way to get attitude from a flight attendant – no idea why.
Lunch was served around an hour and a half after take off (4 hour flight in total) and, surprisingly, we had a choice: Chicken Salad or Sausage and Mash.
I’ve had enough chicken salads on planes to know what they’re like so I wanted to see just how bad British Airways’ sausages and mash were:
To be honest it tasted better than it looks – you’ll just have to take my word on that.
The one thing that caught my eye was the fact that the meal came complete with all the nutritional information printed on the front:
I’m not sure if this is new or I just haven’t noticed it before….but I like it. The chicken salad (which the passenger sitting next to me ate) also came complete with nutritional information albeit in a different format.
As well as the hot meal there was a roll, some butter, a block of cheese, some crackers and desert….
….which was something called “sponge millionaires”.
It was ok. Nothing special but not bad for an Economy Class desert.
Overall the food wasn’t too bad. The fact that were were give an choice of meals was very good and it was all helped by the fact that the crew serving the meal weren’t acting like they were doing anyone a favor. They were very good.
Amenities/Service/Other
With this being an Economy Class short-haul flight I didn’t expect anything at all in the amenity department but each seat had a small clear bag waiting for us when we boarded:
In case it isn’t clear, that a set of earbud headphones, a toothbrush and a mini tube of toothpaste.
The print on the toothbrush cover even suggested more may be on offer….
…but when I checked with the cabin crew they weren’t aware of any other amenities that were onboard…in fact they seemed quite surprised that these were on our seats.
Nevertheless, a nice touch from BA.
Service-wise the crew were fantastic. Possibly the best British Airways crew I’ve had in years. Every one of them seemed happy to help and there wasn’t a single sign of temper, irritation or moodiness between them. The were all a real credit to themselves.
Overall
I’m not shy of giving British Airways stick and I tend to do it on a pretty regular basis…because they deserve it. But I have to give credit where credit is due, this was a very good flight. Yes we took off half an hour late but high winds and a padded schedule still saw us in Cyprus a little ahead of time.
The food was fine, the seat was comfortable, the views of the sunset over the Med were great and the crew were fantastic. There’s not much more you can ask for out of a short-haul Economy Class flight.
I wouldn’t consider paying for Business Class on this flight in a million years (must be one of the biggest wastes of money you can find) but, if British Airways can maintain this level of service in Economy Class and if you can snag an exit row seat, who needs Business Class anyway?
[…] were quite a bit different, however, on my last but one flight (Review: British Airways Economy Class 767) when the crew were really superb throughout – and I said as much in my review. But I left […]