The Centres of Empire - Washington DC to London

[laffer]

This is my first review. Please be gentle.

As a leisure traveller, I have only had the joy (?) of experiencing economy. Unfortunately, being based in the UK and being a member of QF, most of my flights are booked in discount economy and thus earn the paltry rate of 25%. My recent trip to the US was no exception and the trip home from DC earned 919 points.

But alas this is not the point of my post.

Heading for IAD from the centre of DC is fairly easy. Boarding the efficient metro system to West Falls Church is a breeze and the bus to the airport so happened to be waiting out the front of the metro stop to take us away to IAD. The bus from the metro stop takes about 15-20 minutes and costs $10. On a side note, as with most world cities, the efficiency and ease of use of there metro systems is wonderful. It is such a shame that Australia is so far behind in this regard (Sydney in particular).

IAD airport is rather non de script. Boarding a flight to London the ever so friendly TSA official thought it would be amusing to impersonate what he thought to be a British accent to give us our screening instructions. Shoes off, belt off, no liquids, as frequent flyers, I am sure you know the drill. Our passport and boarding passes were inspected all along the way right up to the gate.

Today we were flying BA to London. 747-400. One row behind the exit row and just behind the business class curtain I looked in envy at the leg room of those in front of me. Oh well!

Take off was delayed by 30-40 minutes as a two passengers decided not to board the flight after collecting their boarding passes. They must have been in first class, at least I thought, because the PA announced that the ground crew had to locate their 9 bags in order to take them off the flight. I thought to myself 9 bags- how ridiculous.

Anyway, it seemed when looking at the cabin that most of the economy passengers had decided to bring 9 bags each on board. The boarding crew did not seem to be enforcing any limits. There was absolutely no overhead bin space available for late boarders and one gentleman had at least 5 bags on his own. He had so many that he had to beg the flight attendant to let him put his bags in the spare space in the business cabin. She did. And for his worth he kept popping behind the curtain to check his bag during the flight. I would have been annoyed if I was the business class traveller seated below this guys bags.

After the delay and the excruciating heat sitting on the tarmac in a cabin which did not seem to have working air con we finally pushed back. We then sat on the runway waiting for clearance to take off. We were finally off after about a 10 minute taxi and wait on the runway!

The flight had the new in flight entertainment system. This was new. It was a welcome change. I had only experienced the on demand service previously on CX and the BA version was quite good! Not as good as CX but an improvement on the previous system.

One thing had not changed and that was the legroom in economy. Awful. It was made worse by what I consider to be the inconsiderate passengers in front of us. They had the luxury of being in the exit row and had all the leg room they wished for! Yet they still felt the need to recline their seats all the way back into our faces. It is one of my pet hates on flights and why I lust ever so after the business cabin. Being relatively tall the seat recline crushes into my legs and makes for an uncomfortable trip on so many levels.

Dinner service was a salmon or chicken dish. Both were inedible. Both because of the food and the fact that our friends in front decided not to move their seats forward so that we could take out our trays in order to eat without them pushing into our stomachs. The flight attendants really should take notice of this when handing out meals but they did not and we had to point it out to them and ask them to point it out to those in front which they did. They let us eat, or better described look at our meal, and then reclined promptly into our faces for desert!

A drinks service followed the dinner service with a top up of tea or coffee. I had requested a water with some ice and then had the pleasure of feeling the ice up close and personal as it was spilt all over me. I thought to myself that this is going to be a pleasant flight! Lucky it is only 6 hours or so.

The flight attendant apologised for her accident (it happens) but what happened next disappointed me. I was simply told to get up and brush all the excess ice off my seat onto the floor. My clothes were damp and the seat was damp and the ice was all over the floor. The flight attendant just wandered off. I was worried about the ice on the floor as it was now scattered all over the middle of the aisle, not to mention the fact that my clothes were slightly wet as was my seat. I followed her to ask her if she was going to pick up the ice and she simply said it would melt. I thought to myself that this was technically true but if someone slipped on it then BA would be in serious trouble. It was poor service as a result of her mistake. I was not angry about it at the time (like I said it happens and it could have been something worse like red wine) but the resultant reaction of the FA was most disappointing.

The flight went fairly smoothly after that. There was little by way of service and the cabin crew dimmed the lights and stayed confined to their galleys. We ended up landing at Heathrow slightly late and came into the infamous T5.

Immigration was fast and efficient. Baggage service was great and T5 is a nice way to come into and leave Heathrow. I have taken long haul with BA on a few occasions now and I continue to find them disappointing.

There in flight entertainment has improved greatly. However, the leg room and the service leave alot to be desired. However, as a loyal One World customer, and desperate to reach the upper echelons of the business cabin to avoid the seat in face feel of economy, I continue to fly one world airlines wherever possible. Although given the redemption rates I tend to think I will never get to sit in the 'premium cabin'.

This flight qualified me for Silver Status. As a leisure traveller in the economy cabins (often discount) I do not think I will make the lofty heights of Gold but if considering the US again for a trip then I might consider signing up to a challenge.

I have attached some photos of the leg room and in flight screen.

[openseat]

Heading for IAD from the centre of DC is fairly easy. Boarding the efficient metro system to West Falls Church is a breeze and the bus to the airport so happened to be waiting out the front of the metro stop to take us away to IAD. The bus from the metro stop takes about 15-20 minutes and costs $10. On a side note, as with most world cities, the efficiency and ease of use of there metro systems is wonderful. It is such a shame that Australia is so far behind in this regard (Sydney in particular).

Thanks for the report laffer.

I agree about Washington's metro system. I lived there for 2 years and compared with the woeful system here in Melbourne it is light years ahead. And it is just so simple. High frequency, good speed, no crossing of lines (take note Sydney!) and easy transfers. If only our public transport people would get out of the 19th century.

There is a cheaper bus that is a public bus (5A? ), though somewhat longer, to IAD. It leaves from outside Rosslyn metro station ('first stop in the Commonwealth of Virginia' - as the Metro drivers' said when I lived there). It goes along route 66 and then the Dulles Access Road with a couple of stops along the way. The stop at IAD is a little hard to find, but once you know it, it is a good money saver.

IAD airport is rather non de script.

I rather like the main terminal building at IAD - though I admit it is probably undersized for this era, but could be easily extended laterally.
It is one of the great modern buildings by a very famous architect, Eero Saarinen. It expresses an optimism that is long gone (and was perhaps always pollyanna-ish). de gustibus non est disputandum

[Alanslegal]

One thing had not changed and that was the legroom in economy. Awful. It was made worse by what I consider to be the inconsiderate passengers in front of us. They had the luxury of being in the exit row and had all the leg room they wished for! Yet they still felt the need to recline their seats all the way back into our faces. It is one of my pet hates on flights

Its also one of my pet hates in Y - but some pax (presumably those who make the most of the reclining position) would say that they are entitled to recline how they want, when they want. After all thats how the seats were designed.

For me, I much prefer to recline just a little bit and I feel that is much more comfortable than a full economy tilt.

Ps. CX economy seats which are a special shell designed shape so there is no more "reclining back of seat in your face". The actual seats move back & forth within the shell. Nice work CX.

[serfty]

... Ps. CX economy seats which are a special shell designed shape so there is no more "reclining back of seat in your face". The actual seats move back & forth within the shell. Nice work CX.

The new qantas WHY seats are a better design as well.

While they do recline into the space of the seat behind; the seats also move forward at the base (~5cm on full recline). This significantly reduces the impact on the passenger behind as well as allowing for a greater recline.

[medhead]

Its also one of my pet hates in Y - but some pax (presumably those who make the most of the reclining position) would say that they are entitled to recline how they want, when they want. After all thats how the seats were designed.

No doubt these are also the people who fully recline the seat and then sit upright to watch the IFE, leaving the seat reclined.

the easy solution is to hold their seat as they recline at an acceptable recline angle. Usually they never know the difference.

[laffer]

I am always reluctant to recline as it inevitably starts the domino effect and I try not to do unto others what I do not like done to me. Although I hate the recline generally what pissed me off more was that they were in the exit row with plenty of leg room and would not even move their seats forward when eating.

By the way, now that I am a Silver flyer, and most fly BA, I presume I get no real benefits?

And finally, does anyone know how to search for premium economy fares on the web? I might need a flight back to Sydn in Feb and might look at the option. Not with Qantas though as they are a rip off on premium economy in my view.

[Evan]

You still get 25% bonus on BA and priority check in at business counters for any oneworld flight.

Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Benefits & Privileges - Status Privileges

For BA WT+ you can just check the BA site, What you can usualy find elsewhere you can find on the own airlines web sites, a few exceptions but seems mostly to be the case from my expereince. (give or take a couple of $ anyway)

E