rohank4284
11-29-2008, 04:03 PM
Since, I botched the last thread up. Here's my complete flight review. Hope you guys enjoy it.
This flight review of my flights aboard BA from Denver to Delhi in late May and the return flights in late July.
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8746/350pxbritishairwayslogom.png (http://img29.imageshack.us/my.php?image=350pxbritishairwayslogom.png)
The Outbound Journey:
British Airways flight 218 (Denver to LHR)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-236ER (reg.G-YMMD)
Scheduled Departure: 8:15 pm
Actual Departure: 8:36 pm
Scheduled Arrival: 12:10 pm
Actual Arrival: 12:55 pm
Cabin: World Traveler (Y-class)
Gate: A37
Check-in:
I used BA's manage my booking to book my seats 24 hours before departure. The feature works really well, as long you have decently fast internet. Most of the seats were empty, so I was able to get the seats I needed.
The check-in at Denver wasn't bad, as we had to wait only for about 5 minutes and the staff was pretty friendly and so I was on my way.
Security only took about 10 minutes and so I was on my way.BA delayed the flight for kind of weird reason, supposedly we had a short flight time, which would put us into Heathrow too early, so they delayed the flight by 20 minutes. Boarding was relatively painless and got done very quickly.
The flight:
We taxied for about 15 minutes and then it was time to listen to the massive roar of the RR Trent's :smile: and we blasted off Runway 17L. Since, we were behind schedule, I guess the captain decided to do a very quick cruise and the loud roar of the engines lasted for about 3 hours into the flight, which made it really hard to sleep. To give you an idea how fast we were going, we were at 585 mph with a 10 mph head wind! Afterwards, thee captain slowed down the aircraft to about 555 mph and the engines finally quieted down. Overall, it was a relatively smooth flight with the exception some turbulence over Minnesota. Once we crossed the Atlantic we were put into a hold at Heathrow and we had a smooth landing at Heathrow.
The food:
After take-off, the cabin crew came around with the drinks cart. One thing I found kind of funny, was BA's tiny 6oz. cans of Coke. Half an hour later the crew came around the meal service. I had ordered the Asian Veg meal, which consisted of lentils, okra, rice, a weird kind of salad with large chunks of feta cheese, a few saltine crackers, a cadbury chocolate bar, and a some burfi, an Indian, desert.
The regular cabin meal service consisted of the standard "chicken" or "beef."
The cabin crew around about four times with water and orange juice throughout the flight. After dinner and breakfast the cabin crew came around with plenty of tea and coffee.
Breakfast was kind of skimpy as it consisted of only orange juice and a large cup of strawberry yogurt. I guess this was the down-side to ordering special meals, but I wish that BA could have at least given me a fruit cup, in addition, to my small breakfast. The rest of the cabin received a breakfast box containing a cup of orange juice, a buttered croissant, and a cup of strawberry yogurt. The crew handed out plenty of tea and coffee, as well.
Service:
The BA cabin crew was mostly pleasant and responded well to passenger requests, except for one female flight attendant who was kind of surly. Overall, the BA crew did an excellent job.
Comfort:
Overall, BA's economy class was pretty good as the seats were comfortable, we got blankets and pillows, and we also got a nice little amenity pack containing eye shades, a small toothbrush and a tiny tube of toothpaste, and a pair of socks.
Experience at DIA:
Overall, my experience at Denver was really good, as the BA staff was friendly and security went by quickly. DIA was a pretty easy airport to navigate and some pretty architecture. One thing that I liked about DIA, was the Hospitality Ambassadors, basically these are volunteers dressed up like cowboys, who help passengers find their way. I kind of wish that more US airports had these. The gate areas were fairly comfortable and overall I enjoyed my experience at Denver.
Photos:
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4166/canonrebelpicturessummeto8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1031/canonrebelpicturessummetd6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Scores for this flight:
Check-in: 9/10
Comfort: 6/10
Crew: 8/10
Food: 6/10
Overall: 8.5/10 (not an average!)
Flight #2 BA 257 LHR-DEL
Boeing 777-236ER (G-YMMD)
Departure Time: 5:52 (scheduled 5:15 pm)
Arrival Time: 6:42 am (scheduled 6:15 am)
Cabin: World Traveler
Gate: T4, Gate 424
Connecting at Heathrow Terminal 4:
We are arrived from Denver a little late and the arrival into Terminal 4 wasn't so great, as we had to wait for thirty minutes for a gate. Overall, the entrance to Terminal 4 was a little beaten up and security took about 40 minutes, but the staff was pretty friendly. The T4 departures level was much better with pleanty of nice shops and restaurants, which helped me kill about 4 hours until my flight to DEL.
The Boarding:
The boarding at Heathrow was really chaotic as the BA staff didn't board by row number, instead, preferring to have a single cattle call. So boarding took forever. The BA staff did a really bad job of handling this!
The flight:
Unfortunately, some people didn't show up the flight, so we were delayed as the staff removed those people's bags. Once that was done, we pushed back and the captain started up the engines. [Gotta love the RR Trent start-up :-)]. We were taxiing for about 30 minutes and then we finally turned onto the runway and we roared down the runway. Overall, the flight was very quiet and smooth. Due to traffic congestion, into Delhi we were put into a hold and we arrived into Delhi a little late. The approach was really bumpy and the landing was a little rough.
The food:
Once we reached cruising altitude, the cabin crew served drinks and a pretzel mix. The main meal service consisted of either Indian veg or Fish pie. I took the Indian vegetarian option which included Bengan Bhartha, grilled eggplant with peas, basmati rice, and Aloo Bengan, eggplant with potatoes, grabanzo bean salad, a chocolate bar, Indian rice puding, and raita, Indian yogurt with minced cucumbers and carrots. Overall the meal was excellent. Breakfast included a cup of yogurt and cream cheese bagel with cucumbers and tomatoes. Like the other flights, the crew came around and offered lots of tea and coffee after the meals.
The Crew:
The crew on this flight was very smiley and pleasant and responded well to passenger requests. The crew also came around with trays water and orange juice frequently during the flight.
Comfort and IFE:
The flight was pretty comfortable, but economy class could use a little more legroom.:-) We were once again provided with blankets and pillows, and the amenity pack. The PTVs were once again excellent and a nice selection of poppular Indian and British Shows. The audio also had a nice mix of Indian and British hits.
Arrival Into Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport):
After a bumpy approach and landing we reached our gate and deplaned quickly. IGI was undergoing massive renovation projects and the airport was a little dusty, the airport smelled bad, and the AC wasn't working that well. Unfortunately, the customs area hadn't been renovated and was really old looking and beat up. The customs staff was kind of rude and didn't say anything, they just kept on pounding, not stamping, your passport. My bags took another 30 minutes, so overall it took over 1.5 hrs. Once outside customs you have to clear two more checkpoints and then your outside. While the baggage porters inside the airport are very nice and polite, but the baggage porters outside the airport are really rude and pushy. Also, the blaring horns, the heat, and the crazy drivers really ruined the arrival into DEL.
Overall:
Boarding: 4/10
Crew: 9/10
IFE: 8.5/10
Food: 9.5/10
Amenities: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
The Return Journey:
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/5053/350pxbritishairwayslogo.png (http://img36.imageshack.us/my.php?image=350pxbritishairwayslogo.png)
British Airways flight 256: Delhi-LHR
Boeing 777-236ER (Reg: G-YMME)
Departure: 8:22am (scheduled: 8:15 am)
Arrival: 1:13pm (scheduled: 1:10)
Cabin: Economy
Gate: IGI Terminal 2, Gate 6
Check-in Delhi:
Once again I used BA's online-check and managed to get good seats for my flight to LHR, however, most of the seats were already taken on flight to Denver.
As we approached the airport, I could see how much the massive renovation projects had improved the airport. There were now 8 entry gates, BA passengers enter through Gate 3. In India, only ticketed passengers can enter the airport and the lines to enter the airport were short and orderly and the staff was friendly. Once inside, it was nice to see that the airport had a nice new open terminal with steep parabolic roofs, and the new lighting made the terminal much nicer. Thankfully, passengers no longer have to get their bags x-rayed before getting in line, they now do it after you check-in. Overall, the check-in agents were really friendly. Another, big change I noticed at IGI was that the airport has finally gotten rid of the pre-departure lounge. Security was relatively painless and the departure area was more spacious and now actually had nice and plentiful seating. Overall, I was very impressed with the rennovations that happened at IGI airport.
The Boarding:
The boarding was done in a very orderly manner and the plane was ready for departure very quickly.
The flight:
Once we departed our gate we got stuck in a long line for departure and we had to wait for about 30 minutes. Overall, the flight was very smooth and quiet and the landing into Heathrow was very smooth.
The Food:
Once we reached our crusing altitude the crew started the drink service and we were served breakfast about a half-hour later. The Indian vegetarian meal consisted of upma, a South-Indian entree made from semolina, salad, rice pudding, fresh-fruit, and grabanzo bean salad. The other choice was fish pie. Overall, my meal tasted kind of awful. The breakfast consisted of a dosa, a South-Indian crepe stuffed with potatoes, a cup of fresh fruit, and orange juice. The breakfast was actually really tasty.
The Crew:
The crew on this flight was one the worst BA crews I have ever seen. Only the head F/A was nice to the passengers. The rest of the staff was rude and snickered at many passengers requests. Another surprise was that the crew came around only once with trays of water and orange juice.
Comfort:
The comfort and the IFE was mostly the same as the other flights.
Overall:
Boarding/Ground staff: 9/10
IFE:9/10
Crew:2/10
Comfort:7/10
Amenities: 9/10
Connecting at Heathrow:
The security lines at Heathrow T4 were really bad and it took over an hour to clear security. The staff was really rude and kept on shouting at lost passengers. Once again I killed time by shopping and eating at some of the excellent cafes in the terminal.
British Airways flight 219 (LHR-DEN)
Boeing 777-236ER (registration: G-YMME)
Departure: 3:59 pm (scheduled 3:45 pm)
Arrival into Denver: 6:22 pm (scheduled 6:15 pm)
Cabin: World Traveler Plus
Gate: Heathrow T4, Gate 422
Boarding:
The boarding was done in an orderly manner and we boarded the plane relatively quickly.
The flight:
We had to taxi for a really long time and then we got stuck in a long line. After about 40 minutes it was finally our turn for take-off. The RR Trent gave their classic spool up and we roared down the runway. The flight was mostly smooth and quiet with exception of a little turbulence over Canada. Our arrival and landing into Denver was really smooth.
The food:
Once we cruising altitude the cabin crew came around and served drinks and a small packet of pretzels. I ordered a special Asian vegetarian meal which consisted of Bengan Bhartha, grilled Indian eggplant, Aloo Bengan, eggplant and potatoes, rice, garbanzo bean salad, a small bun, saltine crackers, mango pickle, fresh fruit, and a small chocolate bar. An hour before arrival into Denver, we were served a small dinner box, which consisted of two sandwiches with hummus and vegetables, a cup of yogurt, and a small pineapple spear.
The crew:
The crew came around with free newspapers before the flight. The crew did an excellent job and were very pleasant. After the meals, tea and coffee was provided and the crew came around about three times during the flight with water and orange juice.
Comfort and IFE:
BA's premium economy product was really impressive with nice large comfortable seats and an extra 7 inches of legroom. In addition, World Traveler Plus passengers get a separate cabin with a more comfortable 2-4-2 seating arrangement. The amenity pack was really nice as we got a pen, ear-buds, socks, a toothbrush with toothpaste, and eye-shades. Unlike Virgin Atlantic, premium economy is served the same meals as economy, however, passengers in premium economy are served first. Overall, I would say that for the extra US$200 BA's premium economy product was worth the extra money.
Customs at Denver:
Once we reached our gate, we managed to deplane quickly. It's kind of funny how at Denver they have two gates for the international flights, one is for the departure concourse and the other takes arriving passengers up above the departure concourse to customs. The walk to customs at Denver is kind of long, but you get to use that nice pedestrian bridge, with traditional Native American Music playing in the background and a nice view of the aircraft. Unfortunately, one we reached the customs area there were only 3 officers (one for US citizens, two for international) to process the over 300 passengers that had just arrived from LHR. To compound the problem two Frontier flights from Mexico had just arrived and there were now 3 agents to process over 500 people! I never understood why DEN can't hire more customs officers. Eventually, they added another customs officer, but I ended up waiting for over 40-45 minutes, at least the customs officer was friendly and welcomed me back to the US. My bags arrived about 15 minutes later and I was out in about an hour.
Once again it was kind of funny that the same plane, which took me from DEL-LHR also flew me from LHR-DEN.
Overall:
Boarding:8/10
Crew:9/10
IFE:10/10
Amenities:10/10
Comfort:10/10
The Boeing 777:
As most of you already know, the Boeing 777 is Boeing's newest and largest twin-jet and its first commercial flight took place in 1995, with United Airlines. The Boeing 777-200ER, the variant I flew on, ER stands for extended range, came out in February 1997 with BA.
The original Boeing 777-200ERs were powered with 2x (84,000 lbs. thrust) engines: Examples: GE90-85B, RR Trent 884, or the PW 4084
Boeing later decided that the Boeing 777-200ER needed more powerful engines, so newer Boeing 777-200ERs are powered with 2x (90,000-95,000 lbs. thrust engines): Examples: General Electic (GE90-85B, GE90-90B, GE90-92B, GE90-94B), Rolls Royce (RR Trent 892, RR Trent 895), and Pratt and Whitney (PW 4090, PW 4092, PW 4094)
A little note about noise:[/I]
A lot is made of the 777-200ERs noise levels, most people get confused when one 777 flight is extremely quiet and on another, the darn thing is so loud that you think you're on an older generation Boeing 747.:shock: As above I mentioned about the original 777-200ERs being underpowered, which is why several of those "older" generation 777s are extremely loud. I have flown several BA 777 planes with the newer RR Trent 895 engines (G-YMMC, G-YMMD, and G-YMME) and have found them to be very quiet, in fact, I find them to be nearly as quiet as the Airbus A340-500/600 series! Unfortunately, I have also been on two of BA's "older" 777-200ERs with the smaller, thrust-wise, GE90-85Bs. These planes (reg. G-VIIG and G-VIIH) produced an extremely shrill take-off and were extremely loud throughout my flights. I also was talking to BA cabin crew member who flies on 747-400s and 777s regularly, said that he enjoyed working on his company's newer 777s with RR engines and despised the older 777s because they were so loud. Just to clear one thing up, the GE90 engines aren't necessarily louder than the RR engines at any particular thrust level. For instance, the newer and more powerful GE90-92B, GE90-94B, and GE90-110/115Bs are very quiet and the old RR Trent 884s were very loud.
BA is kind of funny in that it flies 777s powered by two different engine manufacturers, GE and RR.
Below are the BA aircraft registrations for each engine type.
Engine Type: GE90-76B: G-ZZZA to G-ZZZC
Engine Type: GE90-85B: G-RAES, G-VIIA to G-VIIO
Engine Type: GE90-90B: G-VIIP to G-VIIY
Engine Type: RR Trent 895: G-YMMA to G-YMML
Ok, enough with the boring details.:grin: Overall, I enjoyed the my flights on the Boeing 777, I found it to be a very smooth, refined, and fairly quiet aircraft. I also liked the Boeing 777s curved overhead compartments, which allow for large bins and a more open-feeling cabin. The only thing I didn't like about the 777 was the 3-3-3 seating arrangement, which means that siting in the window seat can be uncomfortable, I much prefer the older 2-5-2 seating arrangement used by some American carriers (UA, AA, and DL) or the Airbus A340's 2-4-2 style seating arrangement.
Overall British Airways star rating:4.2/5
Airport Ratings:
DEN:4.2/5
Heathrow Terminal 4: 3/5
DEL:3.4/5
Overall, flying with BA was an excellent experience and I hope that you guys enjoyed my flight reviews. The crews on most of my flights were excellent and always responded well to passenger requests. Another thing I liked about BA was that the F/As actually allowed passengers to stand in the back, if they wanted, unlike other airlines, namely AF and LH. In addition, the captain actually kept us informed of our progress regularly. As of right now connecting in Heathrow is a pain, but the new Terminal 5 should help that.:-)
Since, this my first flight review, I would appreciate it if anyone has any tips on how to improve it. Hope you enjoyed reading!
Rohan
This flight review of my flights aboard BA from Denver to Delhi in late May and the return flights in late July.
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8746/350pxbritishairwayslogom.png (http://img29.imageshack.us/my.php?image=350pxbritishairwayslogom.png)
The Outbound Journey:
British Airways flight 218 (Denver to LHR)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-236ER (reg.G-YMMD)
Scheduled Departure: 8:15 pm
Actual Departure: 8:36 pm
Scheduled Arrival: 12:10 pm
Actual Arrival: 12:55 pm
Cabin: World Traveler (Y-class)
Gate: A37
Check-in:
I used BA's manage my booking to book my seats 24 hours before departure. The feature works really well, as long you have decently fast internet. Most of the seats were empty, so I was able to get the seats I needed.
The check-in at Denver wasn't bad, as we had to wait only for about 5 minutes and the staff was pretty friendly and so I was on my way.
Security only took about 10 minutes and so I was on my way.BA delayed the flight for kind of weird reason, supposedly we had a short flight time, which would put us into Heathrow too early, so they delayed the flight by 20 minutes. Boarding was relatively painless and got done very quickly.
The flight:
We taxied for about 15 minutes and then it was time to listen to the massive roar of the RR Trent's :smile: and we blasted off Runway 17L. Since, we were behind schedule, I guess the captain decided to do a very quick cruise and the loud roar of the engines lasted for about 3 hours into the flight, which made it really hard to sleep. To give you an idea how fast we were going, we were at 585 mph with a 10 mph head wind! Afterwards, thee captain slowed down the aircraft to about 555 mph and the engines finally quieted down. Overall, it was a relatively smooth flight with the exception some turbulence over Minnesota. Once we crossed the Atlantic we were put into a hold at Heathrow and we had a smooth landing at Heathrow.
The food:
After take-off, the cabin crew came around with the drinks cart. One thing I found kind of funny, was BA's tiny 6oz. cans of Coke. Half an hour later the crew came around the meal service. I had ordered the Asian Veg meal, which consisted of lentils, okra, rice, a weird kind of salad with large chunks of feta cheese, a few saltine crackers, a cadbury chocolate bar, and a some burfi, an Indian, desert.
The regular cabin meal service consisted of the standard "chicken" or "beef."
The cabin crew around about four times with water and orange juice throughout the flight. After dinner and breakfast the cabin crew came around with plenty of tea and coffee.
Breakfast was kind of skimpy as it consisted of only orange juice and a large cup of strawberry yogurt. I guess this was the down-side to ordering special meals, but I wish that BA could have at least given me a fruit cup, in addition, to my small breakfast. The rest of the cabin received a breakfast box containing a cup of orange juice, a buttered croissant, and a cup of strawberry yogurt. The crew handed out plenty of tea and coffee, as well.
Service:
The BA cabin crew was mostly pleasant and responded well to passenger requests, except for one female flight attendant who was kind of surly. Overall, the BA crew did an excellent job.
Comfort:
Overall, BA's economy class was pretty good as the seats were comfortable, we got blankets and pillows, and we also got a nice little amenity pack containing eye shades, a small toothbrush and a tiny tube of toothpaste, and a pair of socks.
Experience at DIA:
Overall, my experience at Denver was really good, as the BA staff was friendly and security went by quickly. DIA was a pretty easy airport to navigate and some pretty architecture. One thing that I liked about DIA, was the Hospitality Ambassadors, basically these are volunteers dressed up like cowboys, who help passengers find their way. I kind of wish that more US airports had these. The gate areas were fairly comfortable and overall I enjoyed my experience at Denver.
Photos:
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4166/canonrebelpicturessummeto8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1031/canonrebelpicturessummetd6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Scores for this flight:
Check-in: 9/10
Comfort: 6/10
Crew: 8/10
Food: 6/10
Overall: 8.5/10 (not an average!)
Flight #2 BA 257 LHR-DEL
Boeing 777-236ER (G-YMMD)
Departure Time: 5:52 (scheduled 5:15 pm)
Arrival Time: 6:42 am (scheduled 6:15 am)
Cabin: World Traveler
Gate: T4, Gate 424
Connecting at Heathrow Terminal 4:
We are arrived from Denver a little late and the arrival into Terminal 4 wasn't so great, as we had to wait for thirty minutes for a gate. Overall, the entrance to Terminal 4 was a little beaten up and security took about 40 minutes, but the staff was pretty friendly. The T4 departures level was much better with pleanty of nice shops and restaurants, which helped me kill about 4 hours until my flight to DEL.
The Boarding:
The boarding at Heathrow was really chaotic as the BA staff didn't board by row number, instead, preferring to have a single cattle call. So boarding took forever. The BA staff did a really bad job of handling this!
The flight:
Unfortunately, some people didn't show up the flight, so we were delayed as the staff removed those people's bags. Once that was done, we pushed back and the captain started up the engines. [Gotta love the RR Trent start-up :-)]. We were taxiing for about 30 minutes and then we finally turned onto the runway and we roared down the runway. Overall, the flight was very quiet and smooth. Due to traffic congestion, into Delhi we were put into a hold and we arrived into Delhi a little late. The approach was really bumpy and the landing was a little rough.
The food:
Once we reached cruising altitude, the cabin crew served drinks and a pretzel mix. The main meal service consisted of either Indian veg or Fish pie. I took the Indian vegetarian option which included Bengan Bhartha, grilled eggplant with peas, basmati rice, and Aloo Bengan, eggplant with potatoes, grabanzo bean salad, a chocolate bar, Indian rice puding, and raita, Indian yogurt with minced cucumbers and carrots. Overall the meal was excellent. Breakfast included a cup of yogurt and cream cheese bagel with cucumbers and tomatoes. Like the other flights, the crew came around and offered lots of tea and coffee after the meals.
The Crew:
The crew on this flight was very smiley and pleasant and responded well to passenger requests. The crew also came around with trays water and orange juice frequently during the flight.
Comfort and IFE:
The flight was pretty comfortable, but economy class could use a little more legroom.:-) We were once again provided with blankets and pillows, and the amenity pack. The PTVs were once again excellent and a nice selection of poppular Indian and British Shows. The audio also had a nice mix of Indian and British hits.
Arrival Into Delhi (Indira Gandhi International Airport):
After a bumpy approach and landing we reached our gate and deplaned quickly. IGI was undergoing massive renovation projects and the airport was a little dusty, the airport smelled bad, and the AC wasn't working that well. Unfortunately, the customs area hadn't been renovated and was really old looking and beat up. The customs staff was kind of rude and didn't say anything, they just kept on pounding, not stamping, your passport. My bags took another 30 minutes, so overall it took over 1.5 hrs. Once outside customs you have to clear two more checkpoints and then your outside. While the baggage porters inside the airport are very nice and polite, but the baggage porters outside the airport are really rude and pushy. Also, the blaring horns, the heat, and the crazy drivers really ruined the arrival into DEL.
Overall:
Boarding: 4/10
Crew: 9/10
IFE: 8.5/10
Food: 9.5/10
Amenities: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
The Return Journey:
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/5053/350pxbritishairwayslogo.png (http://img36.imageshack.us/my.php?image=350pxbritishairwayslogo.png)
British Airways flight 256: Delhi-LHR
Boeing 777-236ER (Reg: G-YMME)
Departure: 8:22am (scheduled: 8:15 am)
Arrival: 1:13pm (scheduled: 1:10)
Cabin: Economy
Gate: IGI Terminal 2, Gate 6
Check-in Delhi:
Once again I used BA's online-check and managed to get good seats for my flight to LHR, however, most of the seats were already taken on flight to Denver.
As we approached the airport, I could see how much the massive renovation projects had improved the airport. There were now 8 entry gates, BA passengers enter through Gate 3. In India, only ticketed passengers can enter the airport and the lines to enter the airport were short and orderly and the staff was friendly. Once inside, it was nice to see that the airport had a nice new open terminal with steep parabolic roofs, and the new lighting made the terminal much nicer. Thankfully, passengers no longer have to get their bags x-rayed before getting in line, they now do it after you check-in. Overall, the check-in agents were really friendly. Another, big change I noticed at IGI was that the airport has finally gotten rid of the pre-departure lounge. Security was relatively painless and the departure area was more spacious and now actually had nice and plentiful seating. Overall, I was very impressed with the rennovations that happened at IGI airport.
The Boarding:
The boarding was done in a very orderly manner and the plane was ready for departure very quickly.
The flight:
Once we departed our gate we got stuck in a long line for departure and we had to wait for about 30 minutes. Overall, the flight was very smooth and quiet and the landing into Heathrow was very smooth.
The Food:
Once we reached our crusing altitude the crew started the drink service and we were served breakfast about a half-hour later. The Indian vegetarian meal consisted of upma, a South-Indian entree made from semolina, salad, rice pudding, fresh-fruit, and grabanzo bean salad. The other choice was fish pie. Overall, my meal tasted kind of awful. The breakfast consisted of a dosa, a South-Indian crepe stuffed with potatoes, a cup of fresh fruit, and orange juice. The breakfast was actually really tasty.
The Crew:
The crew on this flight was one the worst BA crews I have ever seen. Only the head F/A was nice to the passengers. The rest of the staff was rude and snickered at many passengers requests. Another surprise was that the crew came around only once with trays of water and orange juice.
Comfort:
The comfort and the IFE was mostly the same as the other flights.
Overall:
Boarding/Ground staff: 9/10
IFE:9/10
Crew:2/10
Comfort:7/10
Amenities: 9/10
Connecting at Heathrow:
The security lines at Heathrow T4 were really bad and it took over an hour to clear security. The staff was really rude and kept on shouting at lost passengers. Once again I killed time by shopping and eating at some of the excellent cafes in the terminal.
British Airways flight 219 (LHR-DEN)
Boeing 777-236ER (registration: G-YMME)
Departure: 3:59 pm (scheduled 3:45 pm)
Arrival into Denver: 6:22 pm (scheduled 6:15 pm)
Cabin: World Traveler Plus
Gate: Heathrow T4, Gate 422
Boarding:
The boarding was done in an orderly manner and we boarded the plane relatively quickly.
The flight:
We had to taxi for a really long time and then we got stuck in a long line. After about 40 minutes it was finally our turn for take-off. The RR Trent gave their classic spool up and we roared down the runway. The flight was mostly smooth and quiet with exception of a little turbulence over Canada. Our arrival and landing into Denver was really smooth.
The food:
Once we cruising altitude the cabin crew came around and served drinks and a small packet of pretzels. I ordered a special Asian vegetarian meal which consisted of Bengan Bhartha, grilled Indian eggplant, Aloo Bengan, eggplant and potatoes, rice, garbanzo bean salad, a small bun, saltine crackers, mango pickle, fresh fruit, and a small chocolate bar. An hour before arrival into Denver, we were served a small dinner box, which consisted of two sandwiches with hummus and vegetables, a cup of yogurt, and a small pineapple spear.
The crew:
The crew came around with free newspapers before the flight. The crew did an excellent job and were very pleasant. After the meals, tea and coffee was provided and the crew came around about three times during the flight with water and orange juice.
Comfort and IFE:
BA's premium economy product was really impressive with nice large comfortable seats and an extra 7 inches of legroom. In addition, World Traveler Plus passengers get a separate cabin with a more comfortable 2-4-2 seating arrangement. The amenity pack was really nice as we got a pen, ear-buds, socks, a toothbrush with toothpaste, and eye-shades. Unlike Virgin Atlantic, premium economy is served the same meals as economy, however, passengers in premium economy are served first. Overall, I would say that for the extra US$200 BA's premium economy product was worth the extra money.
Customs at Denver:
Once we reached our gate, we managed to deplane quickly. It's kind of funny how at Denver they have two gates for the international flights, one is for the departure concourse and the other takes arriving passengers up above the departure concourse to customs. The walk to customs at Denver is kind of long, but you get to use that nice pedestrian bridge, with traditional Native American Music playing in the background and a nice view of the aircraft. Unfortunately, one we reached the customs area there were only 3 officers (one for US citizens, two for international) to process the over 300 passengers that had just arrived from LHR. To compound the problem two Frontier flights from Mexico had just arrived and there were now 3 agents to process over 500 people! I never understood why DEN can't hire more customs officers. Eventually, they added another customs officer, but I ended up waiting for over 40-45 minutes, at least the customs officer was friendly and welcomed me back to the US. My bags arrived about 15 minutes later and I was out in about an hour.
Once again it was kind of funny that the same plane, which took me from DEL-LHR also flew me from LHR-DEN.
Overall:
Boarding:8/10
Crew:9/10
IFE:10/10
Amenities:10/10
Comfort:10/10
The Boeing 777:
As most of you already know, the Boeing 777 is Boeing's newest and largest twin-jet and its first commercial flight took place in 1995, with United Airlines. The Boeing 777-200ER, the variant I flew on, ER stands for extended range, came out in February 1997 with BA.
The original Boeing 777-200ERs were powered with 2x (84,000 lbs. thrust) engines: Examples: GE90-85B, RR Trent 884, or the PW 4084
Boeing later decided that the Boeing 777-200ER needed more powerful engines, so newer Boeing 777-200ERs are powered with 2x (90,000-95,000 lbs. thrust engines): Examples: General Electic (GE90-85B, GE90-90B, GE90-92B, GE90-94B), Rolls Royce (RR Trent 892, RR Trent 895), and Pratt and Whitney (PW 4090, PW 4092, PW 4094)
A little note about noise:[/I]
A lot is made of the 777-200ERs noise levels, most people get confused when one 777 flight is extremely quiet and on another, the darn thing is so loud that you think you're on an older generation Boeing 747.:shock: As above I mentioned about the original 777-200ERs being underpowered, which is why several of those "older" generation 777s are extremely loud. I have flown several BA 777 planes with the newer RR Trent 895 engines (G-YMMC, G-YMMD, and G-YMME) and have found them to be very quiet, in fact, I find them to be nearly as quiet as the Airbus A340-500/600 series! Unfortunately, I have also been on two of BA's "older" 777-200ERs with the smaller, thrust-wise, GE90-85Bs. These planes (reg. G-VIIG and G-VIIH) produced an extremely shrill take-off and were extremely loud throughout my flights. I also was talking to BA cabin crew member who flies on 747-400s and 777s regularly, said that he enjoyed working on his company's newer 777s with RR engines and despised the older 777s because they were so loud. Just to clear one thing up, the GE90 engines aren't necessarily louder than the RR engines at any particular thrust level. For instance, the newer and more powerful GE90-92B, GE90-94B, and GE90-110/115Bs are very quiet and the old RR Trent 884s were very loud.
BA is kind of funny in that it flies 777s powered by two different engine manufacturers, GE and RR.
Below are the BA aircraft registrations for each engine type.
Engine Type: GE90-76B: G-ZZZA to G-ZZZC
Engine Type: GE90-85B: G-RAES, G-VIIA to G-VIIO
Engine Type: GE90-90B: G-VIIP to G-VIIY
Engine Type: RR Trent 895: G-YMMA to G-YMML
Ok, enough with the boring details.:grin: Overall, I enjoyed the my flights on the Boeing 777, I found it to be a very smooth, refined, and fairly quiet aircraft. I also liked the Boeing 777s curved overhead compartments, which allow for large bins and a more open-feeling cabin. The only thing I didn't like about the 777 was the 3-3-3 seating arrangement, which means that siting in the window seat can be uncomfortable, I much prefer the older 2-5-2 seating arrangement used by some American carriers (UA, AA, and DL) or the Airbus A340's 2-4-2 style seating arrangement.
Overall British Airways star rating:4.2/5
Airport Ratings:
DEN:4.2/5
Heathrow Terminal 4: 3/5
DEL:3.4/5
Overall, flying with BA was an excellent experience and I hope that you guys enjoyed my flight reviews. The crews on most of my flights were excellent and always responded well to passenger requests. Another thing I liked about BA was that the F/As actually allowed passengers to stand in the back, if they wanted, unlike other airlines, namely AF and LH. In addition, the captain actually kept us informed of our progress regularly. As of right now connecting in Heathrow is a pain, but the new Terminal 5 should help that.:-)
Since, this my first flight review, I would appreciate it if anyone has any tips on how to improve it. Hope you enjoyed reading!
Rohan