[VintageKrug]

…and of course the purchase of another brace of A318s.

[GoonerLondon]

Re: Senator’s point on IFE – the original units are now IPADs – and very good they are too!

I actually liked the pre-land snack – not as heavy as mainline CW (Goats cheese and pea shoot salad with some tasty hot savouries – ie no cake and scones!)

[Senator]

GoonerLondon,

I think that is a better option, and I look forward to testing it.

Also want to clarify my comment about F&B. IMO, BA is trying to pitch CWLCY as a notch above CW mainline. Two areas “disturbed” me;
**Wine and Champagne – either not available or dreadful (the Ayala Champagne is)
**Now, I am by no means from Poshville. Nevertheless, I really have an issue with the canteen feeling on most carriers in Club/Business where a meal is served on a tray rather on the linen and dish by dish. They have time for this; certainly on this route. Suggest trying CO BusinessFirst to see how it is done.

[MartynSinclair]

@ 21/11/2011 22:01 GMT

Many thanks for the guidance. Even the BA booking agent was stumped with this one. Saved me in the region of £2600.

Interesting route using LCY as a starting point for Florida – with a boys night out in New York on the way out.

[VintageKrug]

:;

[KeaneJohn]

There was talk of expanding this service but BA haven’t ordered any more A318s so I am not sure it will expand.

BA used to have regional direct services from MAN/EDI/GLA to JFK on a B757 if I recall before cancelling this. (Was great to fly JFK-MAN-SOU or JFK-MAN-JER without the need to do the LHR/LGW shuffle on a NYC-JER flight.

With regards to US CBP at LHR I think the US want to do that but I dont think the UK govt does… I am of mixed opinions here.. If you hit US Immigration at a good time you can be through in no problem at all.

[bbm_123]

I flew on business to New York last week. I had to fly out from LHR as I travelled on Saturday, but decided to try JFK-LCY on the way back as very convenient to get into the office in the morning.

Below pros and cons of CWLCY flight as I experienced:

Pros:
– check-in: I arrived to JFK 15 mins before departure. I had to check in luggage so assumed I had missed it. I had my boarding pass already printed so went to the LCY check-in. A quick call from the staff to baggage handling confirmed I was good to go. Incredible, I was on the plane 10 mins later. I doubt very much they would have such flexibility on a 747.
– seat: more comfortable than CW, wider and more modern feel to it.
– ambience: it really feels like a private plane.
– crew: the ‘private plane’ fee certainly reflected on friendliness and attentiveness of staff.
– food: lobster starter followed by lamb, noticeably better than CW on the way out.
– OnAir: very handy to send final emails of the day.
– arrival at LCY: in theory better than LHR but see weather below.
– arrival at JFK: it took me 1hr to clear immigration on my way there from LHR. (the couple in front of me on the queue had taken the previous LHR flight so had been there for 2hrs, on a Saturday evening which shouldn’t be the worst of times). All-in time of CWLCY would’ve been just about the same, with added benefit of sitting comfortably on a plane/lounge instead of standing in a cramped, hot passport control.
– tier points: 210 (First equiv from LHR), I reckon only Sidney beats it in CW at 240 after a quick check on ba.com.
– miles: 20% extra (cabin bonus awarded as if travelling First).

Cons:
– privacy: divider between seats doesn’t compare to CW. I flew out on CW 64K and had complete privacy. Having said that, I doubt CWLCY rarely flies at full capacity, there were 15 out of 32 on my flight so free seat next to me.
– AV system: Ipad is a nice addition on CWLCY, it works very well and fast. But they need to sort out the existing brackets to make them compatible for the Ipad otherwise it’s an issue to watch TV whilst eating if the seat next to you is occupied. If they sort it out it will make it a better product than CW.
– cabin traffic: despite being a night flight, the flow of crew/passengers down the aisle was much more noticeable than on CW upper deck on a day flight.
– noise: noticeably louder engine and external noise. CW upper deck much more peaceful.
– turbulence: we caught a jet stream on the way back, the bumpiest flight I’ve been on in my life, not much sleep up there. A 747 surely must cope with it better. It seems I was unlucky as some colleagues use it regularly and love it. Interested to know what has been the experience of others here.
– weather: fog around LCY kept us in the air for 45 mins before diverting to LGW. Landed there 90 mins after ETA, so defeats the purpose of flying into LCY. Again fantastic crew on arrival, we got escorted from the plane, no queues at passports and were then given complimentary first class train ticket to Victoria/London Bridge (or car transfer but from LGW rather avoid it). Not sure how often the weather is an issue, but at that time in the morning and after very bumpy ride it made me wish I had missed my LCY flight. Interested to know others’ experience on diversion…

Will I give it another try? absolutely, probably even more on the way out to avoid JFK passports. I sleep better on a 747 so purely on comfort I would choose CW on the way back. But the bonus tier points are a key advantage of CWLCY, especially these days when reaching gold is getting harder with more restricted air travel policy!

Interested to hear any good/bad experiences on turbulence and LCY weather.

[MartynSinclair]

The thought of getting to London City was the only worry I had about, whether to use a taxi (£90) or tube (£2.90). With only hand luggage opted (not too difficult really) for the tube and 1 hour 15 later, walked into London City.

Getting to the airport with under 1 hour to go for a New York flight is not something I am particularly familiar with, but it seemed I was still one of the early ones. Straight to gate and yes the lounge is small with very little service, but this is not the airport to go to if you are looking for a grand lounge experience.

Boarding was quick and the first leg to Shannon took just over an hour.

From getting off to all back on and ready to go took all of 42 minutes. America has its extremes and clearing Customs in DFW as I did in the summer and now Shannon, could not provide a better example of such an extreme.

The novel “mini USA immigration hall” in the midst of Southern Ireland is both quirky and novel, but without any question is simply fantastic and well worth the experience.

In my case, I had arranged to meet someone whom I had not seen for 15 years (but it could have been a business meeting or a connecting flight) and what this system allows, is to more or less provide a guaranteed arrival time without the “subject to customs clearance”.

It seems though that the departure times of the LCY-JFK flights along with the inbound city arrivals, are more suited to ex-Europe passengers than those from the UK, apart of course if you live or work near LCY.

The route would be far more useful if it had an early morning departure, because connections would be easier rather than being forced to stay overnight in one of the crummy and overpriced New York airport hotels.

As for the flight itself. Fantastic in every sense of the word.

Seating – superb

Cabin Crew – superb

Food – special order (Vegetarian) – superb

Atmosphere – an Upper deck without the stairs – superb

On Air – ask me after I get my bill, but the ability to BBM, Text, Email, without having to bring a laptop, thank goodness I had a spare battery for my blackberry – but this was also superb

Two observations:

1. carpets need extra padding as it did sound like a heard of elephants on occasions going up and down the cabin

2. the cabin lights need adjusting when they are switched back to full after a darkened cabin (meant to be on a special gently increasing basis). The CSD agreed that they were too bright. I changed to the aisle from window and it was not so much of a problem.

Overall, a really enjoyable and comfortable flight and one I will use again if I know my route will need a connection.

[KSHaggag]

Hello MartynSinclair !

You made my day !..thanks for your nice ,elaborate ,and most importantly inspiring report on this LCYJFK service ..I do believe it is a ( genious) idea to come up with such initiative ….welldone ,BA …!..ALWAYS ALWAYS a bold innovator …!!!!..I personally am deeply in love with all such type of products extending a feeling of a private business jet e.g,. Openskies ( a BA product still !!!) ,Privatair ( patronised by Swiss on EWR ,LH on some other routes and KLM on Houston ) ,and will be looking forward to sampling that Hong Kong Airlines A332 biz only product on LGW/HKG ….Upssss..forgot the SIA SIN/LAX and EWR on a A345 //…..
I have been anticipating using the A318 LCYJFK service and am booked for next Feb already ….the fantastic attraction too on top of ALL what you mentioned is that you collect First Class Avios and Exec Club points on such a leg !…this is huuuuugely phenomenal !..I love that !….I just have a question to you ,dear MartynSinclair ..at Shannon airport ,do we need to clear immigration and go through Irish visa control ..I am not a EU passport holder but am holding a valid Schengen visa …is it ok for me to clear customs and American immigration in Shannon ????

Thanks a million !

Cheers !..see you maybe on one of those LCYJFK flights soon !

[MartynSinclair]

The direct return flight JFK – LCY has just been completed and this sector was equally impressive.

The crew on board were absolutely fantastic (led by Steven). With my quirky eating habits, I was offered food items off the crew trays, including one cabin crew who offered me her private supply of an item (i.e. she had bought it – nothing more exciting than plain Special K).

To board a 318 for an Atlantic crossing, just doesn’t seem right – but it works and it works very very well. There are apparently 300 crew members who volunteered for this route and they are a tight knot bunch. I felt the service was a business class product with a first class service.

One word of caution, I would avoid row 1, especially on the night sector from USA to UK. You are best on this aircraft to sit as far back as possible.

I am hopefully going to use this service again in April.

[KSHaggag]

Just great !!!..extremely inspiring to read all this !

[JohnnyFox]

The expansion plans for LCY I’ve heard include an all CW 318 service to Washington – but since BA don’t have any more 318s on order, and even the 319s joining from the bmi fleet are too big for LCY runway, it’s doubtful they could support it without losing one of the daily JFK services.

Two afternoon departures is bonkers of course, you really want a morning one to have you in NYC for an afternoon meeting – and another leaving after the London working day. Who couldn’t get that right ?

[BeckyBoop]

One of the best trip reports i have ever read!!! :o)

http://blog.continentalclub.co.uk/flights/ft-exclusive-live-ba001-lcy-jfk-trip-report-30-sept-09/

I wonder if it written by the same continetalclub that uses this site ? 🙂 xx

[KSHaggag]

The LCYJFK connects easily with feeding services from Frankfurt ,Copenhagen and others …in both directions !

[Author]

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