BA Euro Traveller
Too mean to buy a long personal title
Wannabe Flyboy: you can do that at BA too, but checking-in online allows you to get the best seats before the great unwashed get a shot.
Gentlemen, I don't hold a Gold Card or belong to your superior SLF fraternity, but I can assure you that I wash! I hope you enjoy all your superior privileges next time you fly, especially when I put your flight into the hold for an hour or two 
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slim... how necessary is a drink then food then another drink on a 45 minute flight, eh? 45 minutes man! You spend an hourish in the departure terminal before the flight - spend that hour or so wisely
They have forgotton Mr x who leaves Pembroke at 2.00 am for a 7.40 flight (do we really expect him to leave an hour earlier in order to grab a bite in the Terminal???) or how about Mrs Y who leaves Hereford at some ridiculous hour???
I always advocated that, because Eurostar is a serious threat with its City Centre to City Centre journey time, the airlines should have gone "over the top" with service on that particular route to keep Eurostar at arm's length!
....But, what did we do at Gatwick??? Put the bloody aircraft at the furthest possible gate ( or, worse still, coached it in or out), reduce catering and take an eternity to reunite customers with their baggage!
No wonder our high-yield customers deserted the service and now, after London (Croydon) to Paris being trhe first route carried out by Imperial (now British) Airways, a piece of history has disappeared. (Croydon services being moved to Gatwick's original airport at the "Beehive" in 1926 - Indeed, London-Paris was the world's first commercial air route!) I wonder what the old stewards of the Handley Page airliners would say!!!
To go back on topic, I hope the OP has a very enjoyable visit to Paris!
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phil_2405 - what an odd person! A flight to CDG? Blink and you miss it! Try London - Tokyo, London- Sydney......proper flying! Sounds like you've never flown before, but there's a first time for everyone.
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Bealine
Aren't your mob a shareholder in Eurostar?
I always advocated that, because Eurostar is a serious threat with its City Centre to City Centre journey time, the airlines should have gone "over the top" with service on that particular route to keep Eurostar at arm's length!
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traveller 5
Why am I odd?? Flying to CDG is perfectly valid!! And for the record, I have flown many times before.
phil_2405 - what an odd person! A flight to CDG? Blink and you miss it! Try London - Tokyo, London- Sydney......proper flying! Sounds like you've never flown before, but there's a first time for everyone.
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After much debate (!) I can say I was impressed with the service offered by British Airways. Although the flights was only 50 minutes long, the inflight service was good and it was nice to get a free snack/drink for once!! The crew did have time for a 10 minute break in the back I noticed so they cant be that rushed!!
Out of interest, how many flights do each crew operate a day? If the crew operates a return flight to CDG, do they operate anymore flights?
We travelled outbound on a A319 and inbound on a A320. I thought the A320's were newer than the A319's but the interior seemed a lot more worn
Overall the self-check-in was excellent, cabin crew were excellent and all flights operated on time or early so I was very impressed. Not 100% sure if I would pay that little bit extra to travel BA over easyJet etc though.
PS - love the new BA uniform!!
Out of interest, how many flights do each crew operate a day? If the crew operates a return flight to CDG, do they operate anymore flights?
We travelled outbound on a A319 and inbound on a A320. I thought the A320's were newer than the A319's but the interior seemed a lot more worn
Overall the self-check-in was excellent, cabin crew were excellent and all flights operated on time or early so I was very impressed. Not 100% sure if I would pay that little bit extra to travel BA over easyJet etc though.
PS - love the new BA uniform!!
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Hi phil
I did the early CDG the other day on a 319. We only had about 40 pax aboard, so the service was much more relaxed.
Crew will usually only operate 2 sectors (there and back) but occasionally 3 if flying to/from nightstop and, very rarely, 4 (the latter are usually domestic sectors). Flightcrew tend to work harder (at least on the Airbus).
Some of our 320s are indeed fairly old, especially those inherited from Bcal, so not all are necessarily newer than the 319s. The latest additions are the 321s.
Glad you approve of the uniform, nice to see it's well received by our pax too.
Can't blame you for looking at the competition....BA staff occasionally find it cheaper and easier to fly Ryan or easy than fly on BA concessions!
I did the early CDG the other day on a 319. We only had about 40 pax aboard, so the service was much more relaxed.
Crew will usually only operate 2 sectors (there and back) but occasionally 3 if flying to/from nightstop and, very rarely, 4 (the latter are usually domestic sectors). Flightcrew tend to work harder (at least on the Airbus).
Some of our 320s are indeed fairly old, especially those inherited from Bcal, so not all are necessarily newer than the 319s. The latest additions are the 321s.
Glad you approve of the uniform, nice to see it's well received by our pax too.
Can't blame you for looking at the competition....BA staff occasionally find it cheaper and easier to fly Ryan or easy than fly on BA concessions!
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AJ - it cant have been my flight then because it was a full load apparently!! I know the overhead lockers were jammed full!!
Must be nice for cabin crew if they do a Paris run or something, the shift cant be too long?
I think the A320 we flew on was G-EUUR so I reckon that is newer than the A319 I flew on.
Can you explain to me the middle seat on the left hand side of the aircraft (ABC)...how do you make it smaller?
Must be nice for cabin crew if they do a Paris run or something, the shift cant be too long?
I think the A320 we flew on was G-EUUR so I reckon that is newer than the A319 I flew on.
Can you explain to me the middle seat on the left hand side of the aircraft (ABC)...how do you make it smaller?
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Phil, I'm not an expert on registrations, but I believe the older A320s are registered G-BUSH, BUSC etc. whilst the 'new' 320s are in the range G-EUUR, EUUL, EUOU etc. etc.
There are other more important distinctions as far as crew are concerned, but I won't confuse you (regarding layout of galleys and crew seats amongst other things).
Everyone has their own thoughts regarding what flights they prefer to bid for; generally speaking, although Paris is short, it's not necessarily popular if it's an early (report 0500) or if its between meal times (flight pay is calculated acording to the time of day i.e. dinner, lunch or breakfast). Longer flights trigger more allowances. And Paris flights are notorious amongst BA crew because we always seem to get delayed on them.
Having said that, I personally quite enjoy them - short and sweet!
Some of the seats on each of our aircraft are 'convertible' which means they can be converted into Club or Traveller dependent on loads. How exactly the engineer converts the seats I don't know, as we are not allowed to perform the conversion ourselves. The seats appear to slide over a rail, and they can be pulled apart (convert to Y) or together (Club). One of the checks crew must do before accepting pax is to ensure that the indicator disk on the side of each convertible seat is grey (locked) rather than red (unlocked).
I'm think I'll watch a little closer on the next turnaround...
There are other more important distinctions as far as crew are concerned, but I won't confuse you (regarding layout of galleys and crew seats amongst other things).
Everyone has their own thoughts regarding what flights they prefer to bid for; generally speaking, although Paris is short, it's not necessarily popular if it's an early (report 0500) or if its between meal times (flight pay is calculated acording to the time of day i.e. dinner, lunch or breakfast). Longer flights trigger more allowances. And Paris flights are notorious amongst BA crew because we always seem to get delayed on them.
Having said that, I personally quite enjoy them - short and sweet!
Some of the seats on each of our aircraft are 'convertible' which means they can be converted into Club or Traveller dependent on loads. How exactly the engineer converts the seats I don't know, as we are not allowed to perform the conversion ourselves. The seats appear to slide over a rail, and they can be pulled apart (convert to Y) or together (Club). One of the checks crew must do before accepting pax is to ensure that the indicator disk on the side of each convertible seat is grey (locked) rather than red (unlocked).
I'm think I'll watch a little closer on the next turnaround...
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Overhead lockers being jampacked are usually down to the pax who feel they are an exception to the rule and bring a trolleybag PLUS laptop case PLUS handbag/rucksack PLUS coat PLUS duty free shopping. I have often seen two passengers fill a locker designed for 6-9 pasengers. The lockers only hold up to 25kg too, so imagine 4 trolley bags and 4 laptops PLUS heavy landing. Recently witness to passenger having a go at the CSD because she was asked to present her boarding pass for security check on boarding , but felt the crew should be helping her with her overstuffed Loius Vitton bags, not carrying out "silly little security policies". Ooooh don't get me started.....!!!
Wannabe- have you ever bought champagne for £4 on BA?? I thought it was only available free in Club Europe. Just wondering where info came from.
Wannabe- have you ever bought champagne for £4 on BA?? I thought it was only available free in Club Europe. Just wondering where info came from.
Last edited by sixmilehighclub; 14th Feb 2005 at 18:50.
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Wannabe- have you ever bought champagne for £4 on BA?? I thought it was only available free in Club Europe. Just wondering where info came from.
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Overhead lockers being jampacked are usually down to the pax who feel they are an exception to the rule and bring a trolleybag PLUS laptop case PLUS handbag/rucksack PLUS coat PLUS duty free shopping.
So maybe these people are not exceptions to the rules, but rather premium passengers?
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Too much hand baggage is always a feature of the rush hour flights. The problem usually is the biz class allowance. At 14 kilos and 3 pieces for a female on BA (dont forget the handbag!), there is no way its all going to fit in and frequently doesnt. Hence the rush by the wise to make sure they are first on board. AF out of DeGaulle seems to take a view that if it fits through the cabin door its small enough.
