British Airways

[philosopher]

London City is a great little airport. Small and efficient. No lounge, but very happily trade some mediocre snacks for a quick and easy airport experience. It is SO much nicer than LHR, LGW or, god forbid, STN.

I booked the return back to City Airport as once transport and Ryanair’s baggage fees are take into account, the cost ended up being almost the same. The outward trip from City, even with the transport to the airport was however a lot more expensive than Ryanair so was hard to justify, hence I went for Ryanair for this leg.

Hopefully I will be lucky and the wind will be from the east that day so I can get good views of Central London and Canary Wharf when landing.

 

[WizCastro197]

Just travelled on G-VIIX in both directions from Gatwick to St Lucia and this particular one seems to be in slightly worser condition than the others in the Gatwick fleet. I used both sections of WT and in there were panels from seats missing, armrest covers missing, screens at the back being held together by electrical tape and the toilet doors are hard to lock on this particular one. However, did appreciate the ride as I always find the sheer size of a 777 to be so thrilling to be in. Are any other Gatwick 777s like this? I have been on 5 of the Gatwick 777s aside from this one and they seem to be in nice condition despite age.

Found catering out of Gatwick to be good as I last found it in July, but I consistently find that return catering (to London) regardless of origin to be rather disappointing when ordering a vegetarian meal as catering companies seem to take being vegetarian at face value abroad, and you are often given fruit for pudding instead of a cake or something in addition to a worse main option when one of two standard meal options are vegetarian anyway. Is this something completely out of BA's control?

 

[Ted633]

Just travelled on G-VIIX in both directions from Gatwick to St Lucia and this particular one seems to be in slightly worser condition than the others in the Gatwick fleet. I used both sections of WT and in there were panels from seats missing, armrest covers missing, screens at the back being held together by electrical tape and the toilet doors are hard to lock on this particular one. However, did appreciate the ride as I always find the sheer size of a 777 to be so thrilling to be in. Are any other Gatwick 777s like this? I have been on 5 of the Gatwick 777s aside from this one and they seem to be in nice condition despite age.

Found catering out of Gatwick to be good as I last found it in July, but I consistently find that return catering (to London) regardless of origin to be rather disappointing when ordering a vegetarian meal as catering companies seem to take being vegetarian at face value abroad, and you are often given fruit for pudding instead of a cake or something in addition to a worse main option when one of two standard meal options are vegetarian anyway. Is this something completely out of BA's control?

Unfortunately, spares are an issue with cabin parts. Lead times are long, hence parts of seats being held together with tape. The older seats were much more resilient (but heavier) to damage. It’s also the tail end of the summer holidays, so load factors would have been higher than normal, with the associated higher levels of wear and tear. Gatwick have also had reliability issues with their 777 fleet (G-YMML was being used recently), so aircraft downtime ha possibly also been less than usual.

 

[RailWonderer]

What's interesting is the 777-200s seem to crossover from Gatwick flights to Heathrow flights and vice versa, not only for maintenance. I thought the Gatwick ones had a different seating to the Heathrow based 777-2s.

G-YMML Flight Tracking and History 22-Aug-2025 (LHR / EGLL-LGW / EGKK) - FlightAware

Track G-YMML flight from London Heathrow to London Gatwick

www.flightaware.com

 

[Pumbaa]

Bad example - ML is Heathrow based, so will just be rotating in and out as needs require.

There are 12x 777 permanently based at Gatwick, with up to 3x Heathrow based frames supplementing at any one time. Gatwick examples retain the original CW seats, Heathrow are fully refurbed into new CS layout.

 

[WizCastro197]

Unfortunately, spares are an issue with cabin parts. Lead times are long, hence parts of seats being held together with tape. The older seats were much more resilient (but heavier) to damage. It’s also the tail end of the summer holidays, so load factors would have been higher than normal, with the associated higher levels of wear and tear. Gatwick have also had reliability issues with their 777 fleet (G-YMML was being used recently), so aircraft downtime ha possibly also been less than usual.

Ah thank you, thought there was a reasonable explanation behind it.

Regarding the food issue I previously mentioned, I complained to BA and was awarded £60 in compensation/eVoucher. Although they say my feedback 'will make a difference' this seems to be the automated complaint response as I've seen on previous emails, and doubt it will do anything.

 

[Snow1964]

British Airways has announced a new route, starting April, 4 times a week, to St Louis, USA

The news article refers to it coinciding with centenary of Route 66 (which passes through St Louis)

Heathrow Tuesday, Wed, Fri, Sun depart 16:25 arrive 19:30
St Louis Tuesday, Wed, Fri, Sun depart 22:00 arrive 12:05 (next day)

• St. Louis is the latest addition to British Airways’ route network, becoming the airline’s 27th US destination and only direct UK link to the city
• The inaugural flight will operate in April 2026, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Route 66, which runs through the city
• The flag carrier will operate a four-weekly service from London Heathrow to St. Louis, with return fares starting from £529
• This follows British Airways’ frequency boost for popular US destinations, including Miami, San Diego and Austin

British Airways is expanding its transatlantic network with the launch of a new direct service from London Heathrow to St. Louis, Missouri.

The new route makes British Airways the only UK airline to offer direct flights to St. Louis – a destination known for its history, culture and character. From its iconic Gateway Arch to its vibrant neighbourhoods, expansive green spaces and thriving food and music scenes, the city offers something for every customer.

Flights will begin on 19 April 2026 and operate four times per week throughout the summer season.

Meet British Airways in St. Louis: new direct flight launches to the Gateway to the West

St. Louis becomes the airline's 27th US destination and only direct UK link to the city

mediacentre.britishairways.com

 

[eoff]

Funnily enough I booked a trip to St Louis today on AA (some segments BA metal).
But those days of the week would not have worked for me.

 

[Snow1964]

Reuters has reported that the launch customer (Lufthansa) of the Boeing 777-X first flights now further delayed until 2027, originally when they ordered initial deliveries were to be 2020.

British Airways has got 24 of these on order, they ordered 18 in Feb 2019 with 6 options, the options were exercised earlier in 2025. When BA ordered them they were to replace 747s around 2022-2024

With deliveries slipping (years) BA will probably remain short of long haul planes, especially as. 747s went during Covid, and their replacements are now delayed to nearer 2029-2032.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/boeing-777x-be-delayed-2027-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-10-02/

 

[John R]

Reuters has reported that the launch customer (Lufthansa) of the Boeing 777-X first flights now further delayed until 2027, originally when they ordered initial deliveries were to be 2020.

British Airways has got 24 of these on order, they ordered 18 in Feb 2019 with 6 options, the options were exercised earlier in 2025. When BA ordered them they were to replace 747s around 2022-2024

With deliveries slipping (years) BA will probably remain short of long haul planes, especially as. 747s went during Covid, and their replacements are now delayed to nearer 2029-2032.

Whereas Lufthansa kept its 747s flying, so presumably is in a better place in terms of recovering from COVID more quickly.

 

[JCO1406]

The 787-10s are due to start arriving next year, so that’ll help out, 38 of those are to come. And they’ll have the GE engines, so no more RR issues. Very unlikely they will get rid of their 777-200s till the 777x arrives, even though the 787-10 are replacing some of them. There are also 6 more A350s on the way aswell. So that will help smooth things over till the 777x deliveries. So it’s not the end of the world for BA.

BA orders:
38 787-10 with 10 options. Deliveries starting 2026
24 777-9 with 9 options. Deliveries expected to start 2027.
6 A350-1000. Delivery starting 2027.

 

[Airline Man]

I think St Louis was last served by British Caledonian, possibly as a stopover on the way to Dallas Fort Worth.

 

[Mojo]

I think St Louis was last served by British Caledonian, possibly as a stopover on the way to Dallas Fort Worth.

Risk of going off topic but I’ve just looked that up on the Great Circle Mapper, quite impressive that the direct route must quite literally be over St Louis as stopping in STL adds less than a mile compared to a direct flight! Cant be many routes like that out there…

 

[AlterEgo]

Risk of going off topic but I’ve just looked that up on the Great Circle Mapper, quite impressive that the direct route must quite literally be over St Louis as stopping in STL adds less than a mile compared to a direct flight! Cant be many routes like that out there…

London to Anchorage to Honolulu is surprisingly direct and was once served as a direct flight with a stop in ANC.

 

[Acfb]

Whereas Lufthansa kept its 747s flying, so presumably is in a better place in terms of recovering from COVID more quickly.

Lufthansa kept their 747s because they can do the maintainence in house unlike other airlines and they have been severely let down by Boeing with the 77X and 787 delays. I don't know how long they plan to keep the 747-8s in particular though.

They have got in a mess with the Allegris rollout on boeing aircraft though whereas airlines like BA have more consistent hard product across different aircraft.

 

[John R]

Lufthansa kept their 747s because they can do the maintainence in house unlike other airlines and they have been severely let down by Boeing with the 77X and 787 delays. I don't know how long they plan to keep the 747-8s in particular though.

They have got in a mess with the Allegris rollout on boeing aircraft though whereas airlines like BA have more consistent hard product across different aircraft.

Didn’t BA maintain them at Cardiff?

 

[najaB]

Didn’t BA maintain them at Cardiff?

Yes. BA did their maintenance in-house as well.

 

[Butts]

How are people doing retaining their Status under the new regime ?

I am going to requalify for Silver having clocked up over 50 BA sectors during the year.

It is a real privilege to select Exit Seats for Free along with Fast Track Security and Lounge Access.

BA connects you to the world from Scotland and most of my 3 Day forays are around £300 mark for Flights and Hotel.

With the amount I save buying smokes abroad/onboard and guzzling Talisker at BA's expense they are virtually gratis.

Yes folks 4 Lounge Visits on each excursion !!

 

[nlogax]

Dropping down from Gold here and I won't be bothering to retain it, so for 2026-2027 Silver it will have to be. If I'd started from scratch in the spring I'd still be able to reach Silver by the middle of next month.

 

[John R]

I had retained Silver by April 10th, by virtue of a First Class leisure trip to Washington under the old double points regime. So this year (and next) I am enjoying the soft benefits mentioned above for my European trips where I only book economy.

But I’ve already booked a couple of EasyJet flights from Bristol for next summer, whereas before I would have booked a BA holiday to accumulate tier points for the following year. As most of my LH travel is business, and most short haul journeys can be done from Bristol, the expected loss of Silver in March 27 won’t be as painful as it might have been.

 

[jfollows]

London to Anchorage to Honolulu is surprisingly direct and was once served as a direct flight with a stop in ANC.

I’ve seen the stuffed polar bears in Anchorage airport when we had to stop there with BA London-Tokyo-Osaka in 1983. I guess it was as direct as was then possible.

The airport was incredibly busy because, at the time, just about every flight from Europe or the US east coast seemed to stop there.

 

[Butts]

Dropping down from Gold here and I won't be bothering to retain it, so for 2026-2027 Silver it will have to be. If I'd started from scratch in the spring I'd still be able to reach Silver by the middle of next month.

If I'd known they were going to change the system I could have retained Gold for a year longer.

Couple of BAH "Doubles" to Bucharest or Sofia would have done the trick added to my existing bookings at the time.

Miss the First Wing and Group 1 but that's about it.

As a leisure traveller 25 bags is far to much - Have avoided expenditure of seven bags by hitting 50 flights which they thankfully brought back.

Cost sub 5K and don't have to book Club Europe for a Happy Meal and a worse seat - do miss the tipples though.

 

[sh24]

Lifetime Gold. Despite that I fly BA very little now. Expensive for what is a mid tier product.

 

[Butts]

Lifetime Gold. Despite that I fly BA very little now. Expensive for what is a mid tier product.

Read the post above yours - if you think that is expensive for what you get you have been spending too much time in the CCR

 

[sh24]

Read the post above yours - if you think that is expensive for what you get you have been spending too much time in the CCR

I haven't done a mileage run in at least a decade and won't be starting that again! A slippery slope to insanity IME.

On my regular routes (long and short haul) BA is materially more expensive than the competition and doesn't offer anything better. I'm also not that bothered about lounge access or some of the other frills. I just want an on time plane with an adequate seat on short haul, and an on time plane with a flat bed on long haul, and some food that is edible.

And shooting for GGL would be utter insanity, though I did enjoy my 7 years of it especially at the start when it was more like Premier.

 

[John R]

BA is materially more expensive than the competition

Especially if you fly Business without status and get charged an arm and a leg for seat reservations. My next two LH flights are to Australia and NZ and I chose Singapore for both. Oh look, no status with them, but I can reserve my seats immediately for free.

 

[Butts]

Especially if you fly Business without status and get charged an arm and a leg for seat reservations. My next two LH flights are to Australia and NZ and I chose Singapore for both. Oh look, no status with them, but I can reserve my seats immediately.

Try Flying Business on AER Lingus from Edinburgh to San Francisco via Dublin as I am doing in January.

Due to the fact it's their offshoot Emerald Airlines conducting the first leg in an ATR you don't get any of the normal perks such as Fast Track Security, Lounge Access et al

 

[AlterEgo]

My Gold status was placed on hold following paternity. I won't be requalifying. Instead I'll maintain my Star Alliance Gold status and construct a path to oneworld Emerald with another oneworld carrier.

 

[eoff]

Very limited flying with BA this (Club) year, I think only 2 trips/8 segments. Holidays all KLM/AF and work trips (economy) a real mix. Not sure if I would even make Bronze but I need to chase up at least one non-credited flight.
I was steering my First(1) or Business class trips to BA in the last couple of years because the holiday offer allowed me to maintain status, I'm no longer doing that.

The next test for me concerning how I feel will be if there is soft landing.

 

[D1024]

How are people doing retaining their Status under the new regime ?

11 year gold here (all paid out my own pocket)- not bothering to try and retain it now with the changes. For one my domestic flying (Aberdeen - London) i have reduced drastically and any remaining has been done by using up a large Avios pile. Secondly, for europe/long haul KLM provide a more reliable* option so I paid £99 to staus match to Flying Blue Platinum and have just requalified that for next year. With another trip coming up and the XP rollover I will be well on my way to requalifying for the year after as well! Total cost - incl the initial status match, and paying for the July/August double XP promotion (£199) - around £2.4K. A bargain compared to The Club.

* in 2024, over around 40 BA Sectors, my total delays were 92 hours! (And a fair bit of compo to boot)