Cold Chicago, Warm Planes – To Chicago with AA and BA
BA98 – World Traveller Plus – Toronto Pearson to London Heathrow
- Let’s Play “Stacking Discounts!” (The Introduction)
- We’re going where the air is free (NX210 to LHR), BA Galleries Lounge AA Flagship Lounge
- AA87 London Heathrow T3 to Chicago O’Hare T5
- Crowne Plaza O’Hare
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- One Time Exception – Millennium Park
- Back to O’Hare T3, American Airlines Flagship Lounge
- AA4253 Chicago O’Hare T3 to Toronto Pearson T3
- Toronto, Oh Toronto…
- The British Airways Galleries Lounge, Toronto
- BA098 Toronto Pearson T1 to London Heathrow T5
- Arrivals Lounge, Homeward Bound
- Warming up slowly…
BA98 Toronto Pearson T3 to London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5
British Airways, Boeing 787-8
Seat 10J World Traveller Plus (Upgraded from World Traveller)
90 Tier Points Earned, 3553 Miles Flown, 3553+3553+888 Avios Earned
Waiting to board
I was welcomed on board, and was directed to the right hand side of the cabin to seat 10J – or… my usual home on British Airways 787, the bulkhead row in World Traveller Plus.
Club World Seat
World Traveller Plus Section
My World Traveller Plus Seat
If you want a full tour of the BA 787, you might want to click on my previous report where I was stuck on one for a lot longer than I would had liked.
Boarding moved at a fast pace, with people in the mood to get to London that evening. Pre-departure beverages were given to us in World Traveller Plus, as the cabin reached full capacity.
Pre-departure beverages
Legroom in the bulkhead seat was reasonable, with the bonus of no-one needing the bassinets that night.
Legroom
Boarding
Menus were also distributed whilst on the ground – a nice touch to see in World Traveller Plus.
And for those who don’t know how to operate the World Traveller Plus seat:
IFE connectivity.
As I’m the bulkhead row, I was requested to deploy the screen for the safety announcement, which has been captured for all prosperity. Whilst I was waiting for the safety announcement I also caught up on the news.
Yup – I still default to BBC News when possible.
Outside views
htts://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSfFLfgj0c
(Although, if we’re all honest, with new cabins rolling out – it could be time for BA to update this video).
As a luggage truck didn’t bump our plane, pushback was on-time, and the 787s Rolls Royce Trent 1000s warmed up as we begun our taxi around Pearson airport. Taxi was a quick process as we begun our take off run for this short trip across the pond.
With a quick climb, my seatmate was taking interest in the seats that we were in – both the Club World seats in the row in front, as well as the Premium Economy seats (to the point where I was plugging things in, and she was wondering about the plane). The flight attendant did a good job of filling her in… and I kind of helped too.
My bad.
Going through the IFE system – it is again Thales i5000 that BA use aboard the Dreamliners, the 777-300ER, the A3880’s and some 777-200ERs.
Interface
Map
IFE Controller
Behold… Minions… TADA!
and Flying Minions! (It’s Phil in the air… bit less comfy than the seat I was in I suspect)
…with a warning of when the IFE will be available to…
No sickbag IFE… but a sign of cost saving across the International Consolidated Airline Group…
Food and drink service was pretty quick off the mark, with 6 hours and 30 on the clock between Toronto and London. Now, if we consider that BA treats this as a sleeper service in Club World (yet a full service in WTP/WT), we have math to do.
Assuming the full 6:30 block, you get the following:
- 00:30 minutes climb out
- 01:30 for Dinner
- 01:30 for Breakfast and landing
You get a about two to three hours cabin black out depending on how fast the staff are – and how fast everyone scoffs.
Drinks – yes, there’s Vodka and cola there with Pretzels. The more things change…
Dinner arrived promptly, delivered on a tray
Caesar Salad
Flatware
Beef Short Ribs – pretty good for an in-flight meal
Nanamio bar. Very rich
Catering out of Toronto is always a good affair (be it on Air Canada or BA), with good strong flavours, well-cooked beef and reasonable accompaniments – certainly a step above the slightly more basic offering in World Traveller.
Clear down was done very quickly too, allowing the cabin to fall into rest too. I put my seat into the recline position too and grabbed some rest whilst I could on this short Trans-Atlantic hop.
Waking up a few hours later… the blinds on the Dreamliner weren’t doing their job again, as this was the colour outside the window
Window control
I’m still not sure about these electronic window blinds.
Breakfast was served about an hour and a bit out of London, and as expected for this short leg, it was the usual disappointing muffin
Disappointing Muffin – with coffee. On the plus side, I got two shots of coffee.
The wing…
As we continued our journey towards London, the welcome video played
I just kept my eye out on the world as morning rose, and de-dimmed the window
Passing over “home”
Time wound its way on, and soon it was time to stow the screens as the plane begun its decent towards London Heathrow
Return to seats… time to land!
Preparing to drop through the cloud layer
Murky.
Lined up for 09L
The plane made a reasonably spiritely landing as it completed its journey. A quick peel off the runway, and it was time for the plane to track back to T5.
Sister 787 following in behind us.
A more classic British Airways bird
The taxi around Heathrow looked hopeful, as we turned towards the T5B/T5C complexes. However, it was not to be as the plane continued to taxi, and over to the hard stands where the plane powered down.
At least it wasn’t raining I suppose.
The plane parked, and everyone begun the mad scramble for exit
Scramble!
Overall: A much better flight this time compared to the previous flight (the plane not being dinged, and it leaving on time helps a lot). World Traveller Plus continues to be a strong product with some of the features of business class, integrated with a large space economy product. Catering was its usual self, being an excellent first service, and a lousy breakfast on these sub 7-hour segments. The crew whilst interactive were mostly forgettable sadly, offering a reasonable British Airways in-flight service.
Put it like this, I still think going through Toronto on the way home is still a valid choice for me.
Next: Homeward… Eventually.