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

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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!

 

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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!

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