TRIP REPORT: BA296 Chicago O’Hare Terminal 3 to London Heathrow Terminal 5 (World Traveller/Economy Class)
There and Back Again
It’s time to fly the flag back to London. Can a friendly smile make up for a filled cabin?
In this adventure
- Let’s have a Melancholy Introduction
- To the 2:40 Coach and Heathrow Terminal 3
- Lounging in Terminal 3 with Cathay Pacific and American Airlines
- AA99 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare (Main Cabin)
- Into the USA and The Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites, Rosemont
- Airplane Art Extra from the Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites, Rosemont
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Airplane Art Extra from the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- An Unveiled Bean – Seeing Cloud Gate after works at the Plaza
- Did I mention I hate suitcases? The Hunt for a Replacement
- Exploring The Loop from Above with the Chicago L
- Random Food Adventures in Chicago
- Off to O’Hare Terminal 3. Wait. T3? With the American Airlines Flagship Lounge
- BA296 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow (World Traveller)
- Coffee and the Coach
- One step forward
BA296 Chicago O’Hare Terminal 3 to London Heathrow Terminal 5
British Airways
32K, World Traveller
3914 miles flown
20 Tier Points Earned, £195.50 revenue spent, 1,564 Avios Earned.
I headed aboard the Boeing 787-10 and was directed down the aisle to a rather happy crew in Club World. The happiness continued in World Traveller Plus until I arrived at my row in World Traveller.
This is always a good sign – a happy crew normally means they’re up for a giggle and the service will be delivered will be excellent.
This aircraft had the new BA Hardware Configuration on it, so the Club World Seats were the Collins Aerospace Vector seat (or the SuperDiamond with a Door), The Recaro PL3510 in World Traveller Plus and the classic – but good Recaro CL3710 down the back.
Club World (Collins Aerospace Vector)
World Traveller Plus with the Recaro PL3510
World Traveller, based on the Recaro CL3710.
Oh, and the PRIME First Class seats up front.
I was greeted by a member of the crew as I was settling in, who was smiling and seemingly in a good mood – again – a good crew can really make a difference.
So, let’s have a look at the Economy Seat – and as noted, it’s a Recaro CL3710 economy seat – what I consider the baseline of a good economy experience for a long-haul flight. It’s a lightweight seat, with a six-way headrest (which holds its position… something that’s important during flight), fitted with some of the nice Recaro touches that indicate someone has thought about design and implementation.
Seat pitch was better than I expected, with a 31” pitch in a 17.3” seat width. With the window bulkhead, it improves the width a little more, with room for storage too.
The CL3710 features Recaro’s six-way adjustable headrest. It’s good to see BA went with the default model, rather than just the version that goes up and down.
On the seat, there was a blanket and pillow. Perfect for a night flight. There was also a Flying Start donation envelope – where the headphones were stowed.
Perfect for the can of water I had underneath with that Pan Am bag.
That reminds me I have got to replace that thing soon. Whilst it’s a lovely bag, it is showing its inflexibility in some ways – rigid PVC is not the greatest of moves some days.
Sadly, my luck didn’t hold, as a family joined my row for the journey to London. On the plus side, no elbows were pushing in my side for the flight. That’s an upgrade I can take.
At least airlines can’t moan about loads – both of the services I flew on were fully loaded. And yes – that means another game of luggage jenga. Fun.
As for the headphones, again, I suspect DankPods would enjoy blowing these up with “Scarlet Fire“.
Very maraca-like.
With the aircraft loaded up early, there was a short delay in our departure – as our aircraft had to wait for an Aer Lingus A330 to push back and head on its way to Dublin.
As the aircraft pushed back, the current British Airways Safety Video played. This is the Downtown Abbey / Pride and Prejudice / Bridgerton (or the Period Costume) version.
Is it a winged creature of the air or, perchance, a celestial contrivance navigating the skies?”
“No, ma’am. That’s a British Airways A350.”
It’s a reasonable and engaging video, with a separation between the “drama” and “safety elements”, relying on the breath of the BA talent pool. It’s good to see a little originality – although I do prefer in-situ videos aboard an aircraft.
With that complete, our Boeing 787-10 began its taxi around Chicago O’Hare as it hunted for the allocated runway for take off.
With ease, the Boeing 787-10 took to the sky for the Six-hour and 44-minute flight back to the UK.
The dissipating city grids.
Six hours and 44…. That’s not going to be much time to get some snooze when you factor in the in-flight services needed.
Let us get onto the IFE system – which is based on the Panasonic eX3 platform. This should mean a reasonable experience in the air.
This has twin headphones out, with USB-A at the seat.
Being a newer aircraft, British Airways opted for the Panasonic ARC Maps – which have a much higher density of detail and content compared to the Voyager 3D maps (and with discussion with Panasonic Avionics, it’s on a 3-month cadence of data updates. which mean there’s some up-to-date Point-of-Intrest data on this platform).
It’s a more than acceptable user interface and great to play “explore the world” by map.
Switching to the content, British Airways has its partnership with Paramount Plus still in progress, allowing access to some rather good content. Those who will know will guess what I started with.
The Star Trek Delta, highlighted by the USS Cerritos.
Ok. Hum the theme tune. We all know it.
The USS Voyager – NCC-746656. A lineage of starships started with this ship and its journey through the Delta Quadrant, going through to the 32nd century. The original Voyager was last spotted at Athan Prime at the fleet museum whilst Voyager-A took flight in Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2. Even the Voyager-B has been spotted too.
Seriously. Look at the current batch of Star Trek, beyond Discovery and Picard, to Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds. There are some amazing stories there.
Lower Decks. I can go into a full whine-fest about it being the final season… but I’m hearing the words “in its current form” more and more. I hope we see more adventures of the crew of the USS Cerritos – because they have given the irreverent take that Star Trek has needed for some years (as well as a lot of callbacks and love for the lore of Star Trek).
Once through Lower Decks, the 11th Season of The Big Bang Theory was also loaded on the IFE system. That’s an easy burn/fall asleep to thing, once the flight gets into full cruising mode.
British Airways offers a basic level of connectivity onboard the aircraft too – with them offering free messaging for their Executive Club members. It’s a good enough benefit (and certainly a step up on what American Airlines offers on these transatlantic segments).
It would be nice to see low/no-cost connectivity across the cabins (with First Class only granted free access to the network), but in this game, free connectivity is free connectivity.
The first service took a little time to get started – but eventually, the drinks cart rolled down the aisle for the first time. As usual, beverage orders were taken, with wine offered for the meal at the same time.
Gin.
It’s always a good thing to see the crew being able to work at speed yet in a friendly manner. As you can see, some Chardonnay and Tanqary Gin found their way to me.
The meal car rolled down a little later, with a choice of Mexican-style chicken or some sort of Pasta.
I went for the chicken.
Looking at the tray, there’s slightly less plastic with foil being used for the main meal, rather than plastic trays. However, everything else appears to have its fair share of plastic waste and wooden cutlery.
The quinoa salad was passable, without much durable taste, whilst this bread roll could be used as a projectile (it was *that* hard). The main was actually well-flavoured, with a good mixture of rice, beans, chicken and vegetables to fill more than a hole or two.
It was a middling meal, but the crew were helpful to all when distributing trays.
With the meal service complete, the auto dim lights went down (not that you could tell – it was dark outside) and it was time to try and sleep in this seat.
I got the best part of 3 hours in it – for an economy seat on a transatlantic flight. Recaro’s ergonomics are pretty reasonable – but no matter how much padding you put in a seat, you’ll get a numb bottom after a while.
At least the seats are fabric (compared to the eLeather/Leather seats covers on some airlines – Whilst leather can be cleaned quickly, I find leather has an odd way of reflecting heat in a seat, whereas fabric (providing there is room for the back to breath) tends to be a lot more comfortable.
Waking up, it was light outside, but the crew weren’t ready to start service yet. No matter. More The Big Bang Theory to watch and keep me sane.
Sheldon being Sheldon.
Yes, I know it’s an ageing show at this point – but shows like this are perfect for IFE systems. Why? You license a box set or a few a season of a popular show, and it provides a consistent entertainment feed for a flight.
At least then you’re not short-charging people of “three episodes, midseason of an odd-numbered season, and that’s it “ – which we’ve all seen on an aircraft.
By the time I was through another episode, it was time for the breakfast service. This would be the same throughout the cabin, with an egg and cheese bagel offered.
For a combo, that’s different – but passable.
This was served with drinks. I tried to use some BA coffee to wake up…. And failed mostly. I had some orange juice too for some extra hydration – as I was starting to dry out.
I swear I would be on Lucozade Pink for a few days when I got home… that and lots of water tend to be the only things that help with rehydrating after flights these days.
At least the world was blue. Until I turned it normal.
The Welsh Coastline
With service cleared down, the captain announced we would be coming in over Liverpool, descending over Birmingham and finally coming into land at Heathrow. That was also the 40-minute marker for the crew to clean up the aircraft and ensure it was started to be brought back into ready-to-land configuration. Some people got up to have a comfort break – it seemed the couple next to me would be a firm fixture.
Sigh. Oh well. At least the elbow wasn’t on my side for most of the flight.
I took the time to gather my stuff together and watch the English countryside as the aircraft descended.
A green and pleasant land.
Eventually, the aircraft hit the 20-minute mark to landing – and the cabin was re-secured.
Readying for landing.
Our path would take us south of Birmingham and towards the northwest of London, where the Boeing 787-10 would be placed in the Bovington stack to await its slot to land at Heathrow.
Cloudbusting.
Eventually, the aircraft left the North Westen stack, crossing north of London, before turning to make a North River approach to Heathrow. As I sat on the right, I was rewarded with pictures of London.
Turning
North of the River
The old heart of the City of London
Towards the West
The City Underneath
The Shard and London Bridge, with the Walkie-Talkie in shot
Waterloo and the London Eye. For in Waterloo Sunset, I am in Paradise.
The Mother of All Parliaments and the Thames
Buck House.
Hyde Park
With some fluffy clouds, for once my plan did come together.
With ease, the Boeing 787-10 headed further down, targeting Heathrow’s North runway, touching down at its home.
Taxiing off the runway, the aircraft began to make a quick approach to the Terminal 5 Complex – with our long-haul arrivals being handled at T5C.
T5C means at least the shuttle transit would be empty when I boarded it. The downside, it’s a longer hike to Immigration.
A380
Iberia A350
The tail of an A380
Closing in on T5C
The aircraft progressed along the jetbridge arms, choosing to connect directly at the end of one of the toaster racks that are Terminal 5.
With the seatbelts off, there was a rush to get off the aircraft – well, except by my seatmates who were in their own little world. Eventually, I started to get bored and pulled my bag up – which they understood I might want to get off the aircraft.
After a while, they moved out of the way to be with the rest of the family and allowed me to go grab the rucksack and disembark the aircraft.
Overall:
I’ve said this many times – and I’ll say it again – Crew make or break a flight. With a friendly crew, it makes up for the comparatively tight configuration (with British Airways following the pack like a sheep – installing 3-3-3 seating without extra space seats) bearable – especially without elbows bumping into the side of the body.
The onboard catering was more than sufficient for an evening flight, with an interesting combination bagel to wake up. Whilst I’m sure many a New Yorker would be convulsing in pain, there is worse out there – and typically served in classes where you’re paying a lot more money.
I would have loved to see some free basic internet browsing included, but at least there was a joy of messaging – enough to talk to people when I woke up and annoy. One battle at a time when it comes to connectivity in the air
A passable transatlantic experience, made special by a crew.
And before you ask, I made sure I filled in a https://www.ba.com/welldone for the crew members I interacted with. Whilst I don’t have Gold Status (and thus give out Gold Tickets), if the crew do great, the least I can do to thank them is by filling in a Well Done slip.
Next:
Immigration, Luge, Coffee and a Coach. Let’s head to the front door.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond. Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, in-depth coverage, unique research, as well as the humour and madness I only know how to deliver.
Our Social Media pool has expanded. You can find us across most networks as @economybeyond on BlueSky, Threads Mastodon and Instagram!
Also, remember that we are part of the BoardingArea community, bringing you the latest frequent flyer news from around the world.
Leave a Reply