British Airways London-singapore-sydney

[Strawberry Muppet]

From: London Heathrow (LHR) T3

 

To: Sydney Kingsford Smith (SYD) T1

 

Via: Singapore Changi (SIN) T1

 

On: Saturday 23rd March 2013

 

With: British Airways

 

Flight: BA15

 

In a: Boeing 747-400 (52J version)

 

Aircraft Registration: G-CIVT

 

Cabin: World Traveller Plus

 

Sitting in: 11K - bulkhead window

 

Total distance flown: 10,565 miles

 

Scheduled departure from LHR: 23MAR 21:55 (GMT)

 

Scheduled arrival in SIN: 18:45+1

 

Scheduled departure from SIN: 20:15 (GMT+8)

 

Scheduled arrival in SYD: 25MAR 07:00 AEDT

 

Total travel time: LHR-SYD: 22hrs 05 mins

 

Snow, sleet and arctic winds battered much of the UK the day before I was due to fly out and so I kept a careful eye on the weather situation. We really can't cope with much more than a light dusting of the white stuff. I was due to fly to Barcelona and back the same day and managed to get to Gatwick early in the morning, after less than 3hrs sleep. I was at a staff party the night before and had a lovely time with fellow colleagues. Upon arrival at LGW at 08:15 I received a text message from BA informing me that my BA475 BCN-LHR flight was cancelled. A quick check on ba.com showed the following BCN-LHR flight was cancelled as well so I decided not to travel. I confirmed with BA at the ticketing desk to drop my initial BCN-LHR flight and start my itinerary at LHR later that evening. So I headed back to London. I managed to slip on the platform whilst trying to board the Gatwick Express and in doing so I plonked right on the platform with my legs dangling in the gap between the train and the platform. D'oh!

 

After returning back to London I spent most of lunchtime writing an appeal to the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service for a parking ticket I received whilst parking in Notting Hill Gate on a single yellow line. I am determined that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea won't get a penny off me the thieving scumbags. I headed back to LHR just after quarter past six in the evening and arrived at Terminal 3 approx 2.5hrs before my flight. I had already checked in online and reserved 11K. I headed over to the First Class check-in counter where I was given my boarding pass and my bag was checked through to SYD.

 

 

Then it was off to the lounge. First stop the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge near Gate 5. I heard they do awesome noodles to order and I wasn't wrong. I had a delicious bowl of wanton noodles with prawn and pork dumplings. The lounge was nice and quiet with only a handful of people. I wanted to check out the BA Galleries First Lounge as I had only previously used BA shorthaul out of Terminal 5 and heard that the T3 lounge wasn't great. Turned out true. The lounge was packed with many pax waiting for the QF2, QF9, BA9 and BA15 flights to Australasia. I needed a shower but the waiting time was 45 minutes so I left after only 10 mins and returned to the tranquillity of the Cathay lounge where I got a shower cubicle straight away.

 

 

Note the ticket wallet in the old BA livery from 1996

 

Boarding was delayed and due to the aircraft being de-iced there was no air bridge attached to the aircraft. It was a short walk across the apron and as I was admiring the plane I managed to walk outside the coned area and the ground agent barked at me to get back. "Alright darling!" I replied cheerfully. I managed to take a shot of the section where the World Traveller Plus cabin is situated on this 747. It's located behind the nose where First Class is, between doors 1 and 2. The walk up the steps to the aircraft was absolutely freezing! Luckily the heating was on full blast as soon as we entered. I was welcomed on board and settled into my premium economy seat. Seat configuration is 2-4-2 across with 4 rows on the A side and 6 rows on the K side. All the window shades in this cabin were lowered as you can see from the picture below. Strange I thought. Pushback from the gate commenced at 22:38 and BA15 was airborne at 22:55.

 

 

Doors 1 and 2 - WT+ is located in this section

 

 

My seat - 11K

 

 

Legroom shot

 

Pre-dinner drinks were served an hour into the flight and I opted for a Heineken. Dinner was served half an hour later, at 00.22. Main courses are from the Club World menu - the famous BA chicken or beef. I took a gamble on the beef as I don't do curries at 35,000 feet and was very surprised that it wasn't cooked to death. I'd say it was medium-well and quite juicy, and easy to carve with the metal cutlery. I quite enjoyed it, loved the veggies too. Even the bread was soft and tasted almost freshly baked! Amazing! What's going on?!! Is this really airline food? I was almost expecting a piece of dry, tough, chewy meat and I didn't get it! I passed on the starter and dessert as I had already eaten in the lounge earlier. Here is the menu for the first sector to SIN.

 

 

 

 

I conked out shortly after dinner and had a good sleep waking up just a few minutes before 07:00 UK time. A water and juice run came almost instantly and then I pressed the call button to ask for my morning coffee. A stewardess came to my seat in less than 5 seconds! My coffee was brought to me with a Kit-Kat and biscuits and a warm smile. An hour later another juice and water run. Amazing! Am I really flying BA?!! My expectations have really been exceeded! I hadn't flown BA longhaul since 2003 when I flew to Tokyo in economy class. Since then it has been pretty much Star Alliance worldwide with the odd oneworld flight here and there.

 

 

Breakfast was served exactly 9hrs after dinner, at 09.22 UK time - 17:22 SIN time - 20:22 SYD time. There was a choice of an omelette or the English breakfast. I opted for the English and thought it was very poor. The sausage was probably the worst I've had in a long time. Tasted like pork, beef and chicken all rolled in one. I could not determine what kind of breed this sausage was. One bite was more than enough though. The salt content in it was way too much! The egg, mushrooms and tomato tasted rather bland in comparison. I didn't touch the muffin, goodness knows how many E numbers are in it. I love Rachel's organic yoghurt though, bmi used to serve them for breakfast too. You can see that this is the economy class second meal, plastic utensils, no linen napkin, not very good at all for Premium Economy.

 

 

BA15 made a smooth landing at Singapore's Changi International Airport one minute to seven in the evening local time. Being seated in front of the Club World cabin is a real bonus on this 747 and very quickly I disembarked and made my way to the Qantas lounge. A very good crew and a pleasant dinner made the first sector more than bearable. The World Traveller Plus cabin was full and so too was the main economy cabin.

 

 

Just over an hour after landing I reboarded the plane from Gate C22 and returned to the same seat I was allocated. My seatmate in 11J was also flying straight through from LHR-SYD. The aircraft now had a fresh set of crew and the cabin had one passenger less. The crew came round with refreshing hot towels before BA15 pushed back at 20:26 and taxied out to the runway with an estimated flight time of 7hrs 05 mins. The in-seat safety video wasn't working so the crew did a manual demonstration. I gave my full attention as always.

 

Shortly after 9pm SIN time (midnight AEDT) the pre-dinner drinks service commenced and I had another Heineken.

 

 

Here is the menu for this sector. Guess what's on the menu again.

 

 

I hesitated before opting for the beef...again. I concluded that it was healthier than the chicken because there were at least two veggies with the beef whilst the chicken had no veggies and the sauce had cream. This time round the beef was more like well done. Cutting through it was just about okay with the metal cutlery but I wouldn't have been happy if I had plastic utensils. I hope economy class didn't have steak well-done. Presentation wasn't the best - look at the sorry state of the mashed potato! Overall it wasn't too bad and I enjoyed a glass of Spanish tempranillo with it. The starter and dessert was...very uninspiring. I headed off to the land of nod around 2am in the morning (AEDT) over the Indian Ocean with just under 5hrs remaining before landing. I didn't sleep very well. I was awoken with severe turbulence over WA and found it hard to get back to sleep.

 

 

The BA Deli Box was handed out as we approached Sydney with about an hour and twenty minutes to go, still cruising at flight level 390 and at 573mph. It was still dark. Yuck! What do you call this?! A plastic-wrapped Danish twist, small strawberry yoghurt and a cuplet of orange juice. No thanks. So this is what you get on those eastbound transatlantic flights in economy. I fished out a Braeburn apple and a packet of fruit biscuits pinched from the BA lounge from my carry-on bag and had that instead with my coffee. Besides, I would be having a proper breakfast on the ground once I got to my hotel, the Sheraton on the Park.

 

 

The sun was just appearing over the horizon as BA15 landed at Kingsford Smith at 06:47. I was given an Express Path coupon to use but since I had declared something on the arrivals card I couldn't use it. The queue for immigration was very long, QF2 from LHR (A380) and QF6 from FRA (747) had just landed ahead of us. It took me an hour to clear immigration, customs and quarantine as I had my bags searched and questioned by Customs and Border Protection. Soon after I exited the terminal building into the glorious Sydney sunshine.

 

 

[siznaudin]

What an ab$olutely $uperb ex$perience. The parking fine would $eem $omewhat in$ub$tantial by compari$on...?;)