British Airways PE

[pthomson]

I have travelled PE on BA and had no problems at all. Seat allocation is everything however. YOu must select (or even pay to book) the seats on the side.

 

[kempvet]

speaking from my experience I would say that BA PE is very much the entry level PE, say no more, not worth the money, just travel in Y and upgrade your hotel or other travel experiences in your destination.

 

[gilant]

BA PE is just Economy with a Business Class seat and a bit more leg room, usually on an old and worn out 747.

Qantas is a much better seta usually on an A380 and you get all the trimmings of Business Class except the flat bed

 

[simongr]

BA PE is just Economy with a Business Class seat and a bit more leg room, usually on an old and worn out 747.

It is most certainly not a business class seat unless you mean domestic business class?

 

[cirqueboy]

We will discover BA PE for the first time in a few weeks. We are flying YUL-LHR and seated 12 A/B bulkhead.

IMHE QF and CX PE are the best product going, everything else is a poor second.

 

[blu]

We used QF A380 old Y+ to LHR (ASA award) in the exit row (38JK). Service was fantastic but the seat was very uncomfortable after 8 hours. Currently BA's WT+ is discounted to under $3 return for my dates (against QF $5.5k). BA often has mediocre service, but now has an equivalent new seat on the 777 service. No priority checkin, toilets are shared with Y from memory unlike QF. So it's basically just economy with a better seat. Neither has lounge access (JL PE does). Only consider new WT+ or codeshare onto QF as suggested earlier if paying for a fare.

 

[PineappleSkip]

The new seats came in with the A380. Can't remember exact details but although not radically different they are a little wider, recline further and have the footrest built into the base of the seat.

QF Y+ also installed slightly bigger IFE screens and fewer seats per row on the A380, the latter made it feel a bit more spacious.

Anyone know what those BA Y+ to J upgrades on check in go for, for say SYD-LHR?

Cheers skip

 

[GCC]

Have just returned from something of a BA Odyssey, traveling;
SYD - SING - LHR - GLA (Y+)
GLA - LHR - JFK (J)
YVR - LHR (F)
LHR - SING - SYD (Y+ with Mrs G, baby & 3 YO).

Also did JFK - YVR in CX Y+.

Had a very bad start to my BA experience when I arrived at the airport at 13.30 for a 15.40 flight to be told it was delayed until 06.15 next morning, & not a text or email or call to let me know. Result was many P***ed off pax, grumpy sleep deprived crew.

A few thoughts:

777 4 class. SYD - SING in seat 21 J (exit). Great hard product, seat comfortable, lots of leg room, good AVOD, great seat for solo or couple.

777 4 class SING - SYD with family in 22 D, E, F for bassinet. Avoid these, as well as the high risk of babies there is constant curtain swishing and noise / light from the toilets right in front of you. Food and beverage slightly better than Y, like a scaled down J meal, not bad at all really.

744 SING - LHR in 28A, LHR - SING in 28 J (both exit). Great seat for solo traveler, no one beside you and acres of leg room which makes up for the seat itself being much older, aircraft noisier and the AVOD much older and smaller.

All in all once I recovered from the shock of the first leg, the WT+ experience wasn't at all bad. I paid around $3300 SYD - LHR return in UK & Oz school holidays. Contrary to posts here there is quite a difference between WT + and Y, and yes, I would definitely fly WT+ in preference to any carrier's Y.

The seat, the size of the cabin, the legroom, IFE (especially on 777) , food & beverage were all vastly superior to Y and quite acceptable. Service was a bit variable, but on 2 of the legs service was actually very good - crew were very nice and helpful with the children and Mrs G. As a long time QF flyer I'm accustomed to inconsistent service levels and BA Y+ not that much different. Have to say too that in the premium cabins the service was consistently excellent.

 

[A330]

Have just returned from something of a BA Odyssey, traveling...

I flew BA Y+ SYD-LHR & LHR-SYD last month (among other EU flights) and it was a bit of a let down. I scored a bargain when BA was promoting switching the aircraft from 744 to 77W. Ticket was only $2000, which is less than I paid in 2012 for Y to LHR.

The aircraft was G-STBF, the newest 77W in BA's fleet, but it had issues in SYD so we were left sitting at the gate for an hour while the plane was "re-booted" as the captain described. The cabin was clean (unusual for BA) but as with Y on the 77W I found the seat very hard. I'd chosen 21D which is a bulkhead seat, so there would be nobody reclining into me and there would be a leg rest.

Leg room is fine - I'm 6'1" and could stretch out my legs to rest on the bulkhead. But the leg rest is useless, it doesn't come out far enough so your feet end up on the ground anyway. Most annoying about this seat is the curtain between J and Y+. When the FA's stomp through the cabin they toss aside the curtain into whoever is sitting in 21D, meaning I was woken many times on the SIN-LHR leg.

Food SYD-SIN was the best of the flights, SIN-LHR & SIN-SYD was the worst by far. LHR-SIN was edible but as this flight was also delayed the food was dried out.

Crew on all flights were cold and surly - BA intra-EU had better crews, even IB intra-EU were better. The above mentioned stomping through the cabin is pretty annoying.

Coming back from LHR the flight was again delayed, this time until midnight. At least BA notified me via text message and email of the delay and advised that check in would close later. I had lounge access courtesy of QF SG status so could fit in a leisurely shower at T5 Galleries South. But I really felt for the pax who didn't have lounge access - T5 shops all close at 10pm so they had a 2 hour wait in an empty terminal.

I chose a better seat for the return flight - 25K by the window. The foot rest is much more useful, and there's a gap between the seat and window where you can leave the blanket/pillow/kit etc when you're not using it.

All in all I wouldn't want to pay more than ~$500 more than the Y price for this Y+ product, but the flights were packed in all cabins so looks like BA may be sticking around on this route longer than I thought.

 

[VMC73]

Flew BA WTP a couple of weeks ago SIN-LON apart from a little extra leg room no different from Y and not in the same league as VA & QF PE. The exit row seats have plenty of room so if you could secure these then maybe, as others have said have a look at other carriers you should be able to get J return for around 5-6k.

 

[MR N]

My understanding (from reading) is that the A380 for BA will be a better PE product. They start HK to London in October (22nd I think).

That said, I was told by a relative in the travel industry Air NZ as a was a good option to Europe possibly stopping in LA on the way.

 

[PineappleSkip]

... I was told by a relative in the travel industry Air NZ as a was a good option to Europe possibly stopping in LA on the way.

I see NZ won the award this year for best Y+ seat: http://www.worldairlineawards.com/Awards_2013/wseats.htm

BTW I travelled DXB-LHR-DXB in BA Y+ in May for the first time in maybe 10 years and it was a blast from the past. The same seats, the same safety videos as long ago. Out in a 744 with ancient battered seats worthy of FJ or PX and back in a 777 with similarly tired old product, so I have no idea what the new seats are like.

Incidentally the food came on china rather than on plastic but the main dish hidden in alfoil makes it look like Y catering. When I took the foil off the breakfast plate on the DXB-LHR a sad surprise. It was served on a broken china dish, see pic. I thought it was a clean break but no, I found myself crunching on shards of china. Draw the attention of the cabin staff to this and one of them was horrified but that was all. Maybe they thought I broke it, but I wasn't impressed that it was not only broken but that had been missed and it was served broken. Or worse noticed and still served broken.

BTW apart from the crunchy bits the meal was OK

Cheers skip