[Anonymous]

[stilllovethejumbo]

My first flight on a BA A380 being a Gold Guest List and lifetime gold member with a long history of flying BA and I was very disappointed.

Having experience the 380 on QF, EK, SQ & LH I have to say I was expecting more from BA.

This aircraft clearly poses a wonderful opportunity for airlines to innovate and go above and beyond at least in the premium cabins. Don’t get me wrong – I think the shower on the Emirates A380 is more a gimmick than a real benefit – but I was still expecting much more from BA.

Boarding was a mess with long queues even though the load was very light.

The route is operated by Mixed Fleet – and while the crew were more than eager to please – it took forever with the basics such as delivery of pre-departure beverage, washbag and sleeper suit.

The storage cubby in my seat had food left over from its previous occupant and I got assistance in cleaning this out. The crew were trying hard, but they still botched the meal service overcooking everything to the point of it being inedible (even after changing my main course, the second one was even worse). The quality of headphones used detracted hugely from the improved Thales IFE as did the business class screen size on a first class seat.

The seat itself is only slightly more spacious than its counterpart on the B777/747. The strange foot stool set up means no support for the calves when one is relaxed watching a movie. Bed mode is decent and I managed to get a bit of sleep.

There was very little about this experience including the Concorde Room that felt First class to be honest – it was very more like a solid upgraded biz class experience.

[esselle]

It really is a shame that sentiment is so negative regarding this missed opportunity to shine.

I haven’t experienced the BA 380 yet, but most of what I have heard and read suggests it is more of the same.

How could BA’s management have missed such a great opportunity to make a statement?

[TravelWise]

What a shame. I am another who is quite a fan of BA, but I have not been on their A380 yet. Such a missed opportunity when you have such a small fleet of them and excitement about the aircraft is still high, so a great chance to do something different.
It seems Emirates manage it very well, even with a huge fleet of these super jets. Maybe I will not rush to try the BA offering yet.

[NNoah16]

It is indeed a real shame; I really like BA but have not even tried to fly on the A380 nor the Dreamliner because of the drab product. I might try Qatar Airways instead of Emirates flying east but certainly not BA. Flying west, AA will be my preferred carrier. Sadly BA will be relegated to European trips just to maintain Gold..

[JohnHarper]

stilllovethejumbo – 18/02/2014 16:06 GMT thanks for an interesting review.

Having tried every other A380 in F somehow I think I’ll give BA a miss. By the sounds of things they’ve reached for the ceiling rather than the sky and not quite made it with the introduction of the A380.

[Scotty01]

We flew LHR-HKG in January and were fortunate to find ourselves moved up rather than in Business. We sat in the back row, row 4 in the middle seats. How was it? The seat is a little bit better than on the 747/777. A little bit more space. As others have said, it really is sad that BA failed to take the opportunity to try to compete with the Asian and Gulf carriers by bringing in a seat that had privacy and more space. Instead BA continue to set their standard with their American competitors. I spend a lot with BA so I am sorry to say this.

The most remarkable thing about this flight was the galley noise level which was higher than I have ever known it on a BA flight. Crew were great but the noise was bad.

If BA was to benchmark how to do a seat on the 380, then they only need to look at Malaysian. It’s a great seat, wider, bigger, better than even EK though not so private. Service that delivers. Only 8 seats in the cabin. Even have Pyjamas in XL. BA still thinks we are all vertically challenged!

[Author]

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