[Anonymous]

[neekeem]

This British Airways flight from Vancouver to London will be my last BA flight.

I travel internationally once or twice a year, normally on American but it does vary depending on who I use. British Airways was never my first choice but it wasn’t one that I’d ignore either – but I just found I never ended up on it.

There was no major failing on BA’s part wit this flight. The check-in staff weren’t friendly but also weren’t rude. The boarding was the same as any flight – a stampede and a queue. The big problem was with the aircraft itself. The flight was very full and my husband and I ended up as the end two on a row of 5. It was an overnight flight and I just wanted to sleep but was having difficulty with the passenger next to me. He was very rude and elbowed me repeatedly (I had a bruise the next day) and had his shoes off with smelly feet – just a general neighbour from hell. The steward saw the problem and moved the passenger to the jump seat, where he spent the rest of the flight without in-flight entertainment (or any sense of comfort). Once he was gone I could focus a bit better on the plane itself. The seats were narrow, with a distinct lack of leg room. I am 5’8″ and once the person in front of me reclined, I had to recline as my knees were constantly pushed up against the seat in front. Once I reclined my two inches, the seat became even more uncomfortable. The in-flight entertainment system buttons were hard to access with the tiny seats. My regulation-sized luggage did not fit in the overhead compartment over the middle seats and had to go to some other part of the plane. The toilets were in need of a re-fit, more than other economy toilets I’ve been in. The food was unidentifiable.

There was no drink service throughout the night. I don’t expect trolley service when everyone is sleeping but normally water is brought up and down a few times, or at least is available when you go to the galley. I went to the galley a few times and there was never anyone around. Around 20 seats in the back were taken up for the crew rest area and it appeared that all the crew were on their break at the same time. It was twice as much crew rest area as I normally see on my Virgin or American flights.

Overall it was an uncomfortable, overheated flight with no amenities to improve the situation. If I ever do a long-haul BA again, it would only be in an emergency and I would be forced to upgrade. I would not recommend BA to anyone. Sometimes it doesn’t take any major incident to realise that an airline is just letting itself down.

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