Economy Class & Beyond

You are here: Home / Trip Reports / Snapshot / SNAPSHOT: British Airways 296 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow

SNAPSHOT: British Airways 296 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow

by

Time for another snapshot – this time focusing on the long haul service on British Airways 296 between Chicago and London Heathrow

Pre-departure.

Check-in for the flight was from Terminal 5 at Chicago O’Hare International. Bags were accepted and tagged through to Heathrow.

people at a check in counter

Wait time for TSA screening and clearance: 31 minutes

a person standing in a line in a airport

Lounge

The British Airways Terraces lounge for Club World passengers and BA Silver/Oneworld Sapphire card holders was used. It’s a windowless box.

a room with a counter with food and a woman sitting in it

 

Departure was over an hour late due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft.

a woman standing behind a desk with a sign

The plane 

A British Airways Boeing 747-400 in the Super Hi J Configuration.

a sign on a door

This is a four-class plane with over 80 Club World Seats. My seat was in World Traveller.

a man walking in an airplane
Super Hi-J Club World 

The seat

The seat is the classic World Traveller seat with upgraded seat covers. The inflight entertainment system is in the seat front.

a seat on an airplane

In-flight Entertainment System

The system again is a Panasonic ex3 system, with a touch/swipe interface. In-ear headphones were provided at-seat.

a screen with a map on it

a map of the united states

a screen shot of a television

In-Flight Connectivity

None. These planes are due to be fitted with the GoGo 2Ku solution in time – however, no WiFi system was on board or activated.

Food and Drink

Three separate services were carried out food and drink, with a bar service, a meal service and a pre-arrivals service .

a can of soda and a bagel and a drink on a table
Bar service with Pretzels 

a table with food and drinks on it
Main meal service – Chicken Curry with Rice, Salad, cheese, roll and a Lilly O’Brien’s Millionaires Shortcake desert. 

a bagel and a cup of coffee on a table
Pre-arrivals service. Considering it was muffin before – it’s an improvement. Just.

Views

Not many as at it was a night flight, with window blinds only being raised in the final phases of flight.

an airplane wing in the sky a window of an airplane

The full review and trip report soon!

 

Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.

It’s fast coming up to Aircraft Interiors Expo 2018 – and Economy Class and Beyond will be there covering the latest news and announcements – as well as some deep dives into some of the innovations coming forward in passenger experience. Why not connect with me there?

Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates! You can also follow me on Instagram too!

Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to European reader

Comments

  1. Richard says

    Bizarre coincidence but I was on that exact same plane the day after doing Seattle – London. Given the general chat about how poor BA has become I was expecting a shambles but found the product to be completely passable and comparable or better with other economy products about especially KLM/LH. Seat was comfortable enough, food filling enough, I prefer the cheesey bread to a microwave egg mess for breakfast and the IFE was sharp and had decent content.Also, Im only 21 but jeez the mixed fleet crew made me feel old!