Onto Passenger Experience... as well as some of the stuff I’ve enjoyed and endured over the year. Welcome to Part Two of Review 2024.
- Part 1: A look back in the mirror of headlines and trends
- Part 2: A Year in Flight and Passenger Experience
- Part 3: My Year in Numbers
I’m leading off with this – these are based on personal experiences this year as opposed to the corporate stuff I’ve talked about in Part 1. As such, this is very qualitative, rather than quantitative.
As always, your experiences may and will differ.
Lounges
It’s back to normal in the lounge, with them being packed as always. Well at London Heathrow Terminal 5 at least.
However, Britsh Airways is working on a plan to “thin out their frequent flyer numbers”.
Highlight lounges for me this year include Cathay Pacific’s “The Pier” in Hong Kong, just for the different experiences.
At Heathrow Terminal 3, The Cathay Lounge Remains my London lounge home.. for now.
American’s Flagship Lounge at Chicago T3 offered a reasonable experience.
Its New York JFK Lounge is one of the best in the AA System.
The wooden spoon for lounges this year? Well, it’s closed now, but the British Airways Lounge at O’Hare T5. I won’t miss that place.
Hard Products
I’ve had a few surprises up the front of the plane this year, ranging from an unexpected upgrade by British Airways, so I could try the new Club World Seat (Collins Aerospace Vector).
Sticking with Collins Aerospace, they’ve seemed to have made the business class seats I’ve liked over the year, from the classic SuperDiamond installed aboard an American Airlines Boeing 777…
To the AirLounge installed on Finnair’s Airbus A350s.
Middling along the way was a Safran Seat for Cathay Pacific.
As well as the Concept D seat for American Airlines,
As for the Collins Diamond… it’s showing its age at this point, sadly.
In terms of disappointments, I’m going to stick with American Airlines. Firstly, I finally got to try one of their Oasis-Configuration Airbus A321neos.
What a hot mess of a disappointment that was. It didn’t help that they didn’t load meals on this flight either. A pretty unforgivable sin, given that this was from their home hub. Add in a poorly configured front-row seat and no IFE screens… I wasn’t impressed.
Down the back, 31″ by 17″ across is the seat width of the day in long-haul economy class. That’s fine – unless you’ve been seat-shifted (thanks AA and BA) or got an elbow in the side of your body for 8 hours.
Not even a newer Collins Aspire Seat or a Recaro CL3710 can change that.
American Airlines Collins Aspire
British Airways Recaro CL3710.
The nicest economy seat of the year? It goes to Finnair and their use of the Acro Series 3ST+ on their ATR72-500 aircraft. A perfect example of the right seat for the right mission.
Catering
Most of the experiences have been “fine”, be it in Club World, Premium Economy or even long-haul economy. My standout meal of the year was on Cathay Pacific with their braised pork main.
Well apart from the omnishambles that is Finnair, with it taking my wooden spoon of the year (again) – this time in premium classes. And it boils down to choices and the lack thereof, as well as a “one and done” service pattern that smacks of “we’ve been told to give you a tray and move on”.
Finnair’s “choice”. Note what’s offered for breakfast.
Connectivity
We’re in an increasingly connected world, so it’s good to see a lot of carriers have adopted reasonable pricing for their connectivity services.
Amazingly, British Airways rolled out free messaging – and it works. Cathay introduced free business class browsing, whilst Finnair gave an hour free.
As for American Airlines – on international routes, paid Wi-Fi is still a thing.
However, on domestic routes, American Airlines has partnered with Viasat to deliver sponsored Wi-Fi Sessions. 15 minutes in the air is better than a kick in the teeth – even in the free.
The only disappointment was Norwegian Air Shuttle – which didn’t manage to install connectivity on their Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Immigration Experiences
The queues to immigrate into a country are a fact of life. I just get on with it as I wait in line like everyone else. Even if the UK’s exit from the EU has added at least an hour to my wait to enter countries this year.
Chicago gets a nice silver star – with immigration times less than 35 minutes both times this year. Singapore gets a gold star for no wait, and Thailand gets a nice silver start too.
The only country I’ve had issues with for 2024 is… Helsinki, with an hour wait to clear the Schengen border. Whilst Helsinki is great for transfers, entering Schengen from Helsinki is a hot mess.
Upgrades this year?
Just the one – with an operational upgrade from British Airways from World Traveller to Club World, with the new Club Suites. Considering it’s a Collins Aerospace seat, I got more than a few hours of sleep on it.
Loyalty
I still maintain my IHG Ambassador membership (mainly as it’s a cheap way to get IHG Platinum). As for airline loyalty, I’m on track to retain my British Airways Silver Membership – for what is probably the last time.
With BA choosing to punish its leisure travellers/low-spender travellers/connecting travellers, my options are more open than ever.
Next Year
My travel year kicks off very early this year, and I’ve got more than a few eyes open on passenger experience with the airlines I’ve got for my first trip of the year – let alone the following ones (and there’s plenty to be booked right now).
I’ll hopefully be able to keep an eye on things travelling across the pond, as well as elsewhere.
Because all the little details make the biggest difference sometimes.
Up next:
My year in numbers. After all, numbers make the world go around.
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