LHR-HKG 27/3/07

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Member for

17 years 2 months

Posts: 118

hey everyone,

went out to Hong Kong for the rugby sevens last week (ace!) and the airline whisking me eastwards was British Airways. i am now coming to the end of my trip, and am currently absorbing time before online check-in opens for the flight back to LHR. as it is about midnight here right now, i thought i would wirte a flight review of my trip out here and turn it into a two parter later on next week. so here goes!

Airline: British Airways
Route: London Heathrow - Hong Kong CLK
Scheduled Departure: 21:15 BA0031 Terminal 1
class of travel: world traveller

checked in online the day before, so i was able to bypass the queues for all the other BA flights departing T1 and drop my bag straight into the system.....indifferent checkin staff didnt realy say anything (it was a guy who had obviously been there a long time). i got to the airport about 3 hours early. got my boarding pass, and went straight through security....i had to queue for a while, but i eventually got there. i had about 2 hours to burn in the Duty Free international Departures area, aside from a nice (but expensive) dinner, T1 offers very good views over the apron, with two sections of very large, panoramic glass windows. i spent a bit of time taking photos, but unfortunately the glass was extremely reflective, making it hard to get a decent shot. i also got to go down to the gates (the numbers escape me) where the windows are right next to the planes, i.e. there is no seating area before the actual airbridge that is cordoned off. those familiar with Terminal 1 will know where i mean, i hope....

terminal 1 was very quiet once you got into the passenger area. it doesnt present a great impression to passing travellers.....there is a lot of construction work going on and many grotty areas which are in severe disrepair....the only areas which are ok are the ones surrounding the duty free shops and restaurants.

the gate opened at 20:45 and at first, there werent many people there, i thought i had got lucky but a sudden rush of about 300 people confirmed that this flight was going to be choc full of people. great!:D

the aircraft was a B747-400 Jet, reg G-BNLF. all pax were boarded by 9:10, and pushback was 9:35, 20 mins late. the safety video on the individual seatbacks would not play so flight attendants were told to perform the manual safety demo. i was sitting in Seat 51B, reccommended by seatguru.com. it was a comfy seat, with a working video screen and easy to reach touch controls. no individual seat ventilation ports, which was dissapointing.
runway 09R was being userd for takeoffs, so we had the entire length of the runway to taxy before we lined up. this was good, becasue we all got great views of aircraft rotating as we taxied down. 2BA A320's, a virgin A340 (also headed to Hong Kong) and a PIA 777. on the other side of the runway, a BA 777 was taxying at the same speed as us, which was pretty cool. as we passed the world cargo terminal, a guy behind me, who thought he knew everything, said that it was infact T5....i didnt bother to correct him, as his friends did that for me.

taxying for about 10 minutes led to a 9:45 rotation, with great views accross nighttime london including the now complete wembley stadium.

cruising altitude was 33,000 feet for approximately 6 hours, increasing to 37,000 feet as we got rid of all the fuel on board.

BA's IFE is dated and left a lot to be desired. the plane was clean, smelled nice and the cabin attendants were very friendly. the seats (depending on where you sit) are feel wider and are slightly more comfortable than what Virgin's newest seats offer. BA have no VOD system, but you have a choice of 12 movies, some cartoons and a bit of audio. a new addition is games, and you can always (as i did) look at the interactive map and plug in to your iPod. i watched Casino royale. it was interesting to note that BA actually took the time to edit out Virgin atlantic Logos and cut 1 scene (with G-VWIN at the gate) from the movie. i guess the dirty tricks campaign exists in a more subtle environment now:D i also watched happy feet. (quiet, you....)

food was piping hot and was actually ok! dinner was sheperd's pie with the usual roll, juice, pudding, etc. breakfast was an omlette with bread, juice, etc and tea and coffe were served throughout. when meals were not being served, drinks and snacks were not actively offered....you had to go to the galleys, which is especially awkward if you need a drink and have to climb over people, and are not allowed to take liquids on yourself.

cabin ambience was good. no crying babies (luckily) and the cabin was dark for most of the flight. i had a lot of room to the left of me during my flight, as seat 51B has only 1 seat to the right and a window to the left. i got some moderately good photos of dawn and daytime, but a dirty window made this quite hard. was able to take my camera to the back of the cabin and took some pictures out of the exit door windows. i managed to sleep for two hours.

we were woke gently with a detailed announcement from the captain, who explained we would be approaching CLK from an easterly direction and therefore had a very short taxi to the terminal, and that we would be starting the descent shortly. descent was smooth and uneventful; condensation formed on the wing on more than one occasion. the man next to me offered me a foxe's glacier mint, which was very nice. we landed 10 minutes late (16:15 hong kong time) and taxied to a gate which was almost right next to the immigration area. this meant that i did no get to experience CLK's magnificent aerotrain. i was the last person off the aircraft, but unfortunately was told that i could not visit the cockpit for a photo. it was worth asking, right? (cheers adam):D

well, that's my outward trip report....i think i have included everything, but if there is anything that you would like me to elaborate on let me know. photos for this flight will porbably appear in the photo sections in a couple of days, as will the return portion of this trip report. a lengthy read, but i hope you enjoyed it....my BA experience was overall very enjoyable and i would reccommend them....unless really good quality IFE is important to you. the seat was reasonalby confortable, and i am 6'6". if you are travelling alone, (like i was) you may be in with a chance to get an upgrade......especially if you seat was double booked, as is what happened with one lucky B***ard who got taken to the front of the plane before we left.

check the forums for photos if you are interested.

Sam

Original post

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

Nice report lad looking forward to the photos

Member for

17 years 2 months

Posts: 1,037

:) Good Report, Good Report :)

Member for

18 years 3 months

Posts: 79

Nice report! I'd be interested in seeing some meal pictures.

PH

Member for

17 years 2 months

Posts: 118

unfortunately i did'nt consider photographing my meals. they werent much to look at, but were very hot and filled a hole...for dinner you got your main course, a roll, a pudding and a juice drink. same goes for breakfast, except pudding was replaced with fruit salad:D

just to update, the flight back to LHR was more or less a clone of the outward flight.....i was sitting in seat 52J this time, which is equally as good as 51B. 13 hours flight time as BA0028, made up time in the air due to a late departure and i actually slept through dinner. at one point, we encountered extreme turbulence, which was a little too much for a woman a few rows in front of me to take.....she broke down, and the incident report forms went flying.:D

Sam