Airline: British Airways

Flight Number: BA8

Plane: Boeing 787-9

Cabin: First Class

Seat: 1E

This Flight

British Airways operate currently two flights from Tokyo’s Haneda to London Heathrow. One is BA8 (my flight) on the Boeing 787-9, which leaves Tokyo at 09:45 and lands in Heathrow at 15:45 – and other is BA6, which leaves at 13:15 and lands in London at 19:15 – this is operated by the Boeing 777-300ER, which I’d flown a couple of days before.

Both of these are long flights, at around 15 hours – and unusually head west, over Alaska, Canada, Greenland and into Heathrow – almost the same as a flight back from the US to London. Although the flight is bloody long – I had THE BEST Cabin Crew I’ve ever had on any flight, wether BA or otherwise, and this was ultimately extremely a good flight!

Unfortunately, unlike the 777-300’s, the 787-9’s are not yet upgraded with the Club Suites, so whilst I tend not to travel in First as a standard – not being in ‘old Club World’ for 15 hours I was glad about!

Checking In

Checking In was a fairly straightforward process.

I usually try to use home airlines when I fly, so I have the flexibility of checking in; as usually their gates are open all day. Where as on this flight, the BA gate opened (with typical Japanese punctuality) at exactly 3 hours before the flight, at 06:45.

The Lounge

Because this flight was in First (and I am a BA Gold/OneWorld Emerald member anyway), BA’s ‘official’ lounge to use is JAL’s First Class Lounge. Having popped in quickly to see what’s for breakfast (remember I don’t do breakfast!) I decided to head over to the Cathay Pacific Lounge, where I preferred the offering.

The Plane

This was British Airway’s Boeing 787-9.

As I mention above, this plane is not equipped with the new First Suites, or the new Club Suites – but this is working progress for BA.

All of BA’s 787-9’s have 8 x First, 42 x Club World, 39 x Premium Economy and 127 x Economy seats.

The Seat

I’ve previously reviewed BA’s ‘old’ First Class by the window, and essentially it’s the same in the middle. The only difference being there is a divider which comes between you and your neighbor. The ‘old’ BA First does not have doors like the Club Suites, or the ‘new’ BA First.

It’s not a perfect seat (it’s a very good Business Class seat), but I would say is still miles ahead of ‘old Club World’, especially as there is aisle seat access.

There are plenty of power sockets, charging and lighting on the seat – so it’s a very good seat indeed! More importantly, there is plenty of space to work!

Food and Drink

Drinks

Upon boarding, I was offered champagne was offered in a proper glass, and (unlike Club World) nuts were brought too! The Champagne on this flight was Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle NV, which is a popular option for BA passengers – and retails at around £150 per bottle.

Other wines available included Chablis Premier Cru, Vavasour Papa Sauvignon Blanc and Ramon Bilbao Litre Blanc, Chateau Vieux Maillet Pomerol, Banshee Pinot Noir and La Rioja Alta. None of these wines are that expensive, at around £20 to £35 per bottle – so if you’ve paid £8,000 for a First ticket, the money isn’t in the wine!

Once airborne, more drinks were offered – along with a large bowl of crisps! I decided not to drink too much as I had a lot of work to do on the flight. Throughout the flight I stayed on the Coke Zero (apart from eating) and also had a cup of tea at one point too. All of it was served impeccably. If there is a little moan, it would be the quality of the beer – BA still offer Heineken, Brewdog and Heineken 0% in both Club and First – and I really don’t think they are that great at all.

Along with the drinks service, canapés were also served.

Food

One thing BA do have right in First is their dine on demand (although to compete with others, they should be offering this in Club World too). I decided to have lunch around 4 hours into the flight, and the second mean (lunch again?) around 3 hours before landing.

Lunch

On the menu for lunch to start was;

• Smoked salmon
• Prawn and sea bream egg yolk sushi (yuck!)
• Muchroom risotto
• Tomato soup
• Seasonal salad

I decided to go for the tomato soup, which was again severed impeccably. Mark the cabin crew member (more about him later), brought the bowl and a jug and poured it perfectly into the bowl. I’ve never seen any other airline do this before, and it was a nice touch!

On the mains for lunch were;

• Grilled fillet of beef
• Grilled flounder Saikyo
• Djon mustard crusted chicken breast
• Muchroom risotto

The beef was good, albeit small – especially in comparison to my recent Qatar Airways flight. I also tend to find that BA’s ‘sides’ (which in First come in a bowl) are never quite cooked right – for example the roast potatoes are more like new potatoes, and definitely not crispy!

For desert, on the menu was;

• Vanilla panne cotta
• Banana and chocolate pudding
• Praline ice cream
• Cheese and biscuits

Seemingly there had been a bit of a disaster when defrosting the ice cream, so the IFM (In Flight Manager) brought me cheese whilst I waited. I had this with a glass of Port. I didn’t ask what happened to the ice cream as the Cabin Crew had been otherwise so brilliant – but it possibly wasn’t the best presentation I’ve ever seen!

Lunch Again/Dinner?

At this point I am not sure what the second meal was as the flight was so long! However one thing I was very glad about was that this wasn’t the usual (dreaded) afternoon tea!

As a starter, the options were;

• Smoke salmon
• Buffalo mozzarella
• Salad

I chose the buffalo mozzarella, which I thought was very good.

For the main, the options were;

• Pork fillet
• Gnocchi

I chose the gnocchi and found it pretty good.

Desert was green tea opera cake, which I had with a glass of desert wine.

Snacks

During the flight snacky options were available, including salad, panninis, popcorn, crisps and chocolate.

Amenities Kit

I’ve always been extremely impressed with BA’s Amenities Kit in First, and this flight was no exception!

I was offered a ‘sleep suit’ and slippers as I sat down, and then the very high-quality Amenities Kit, jam-packed with goodies was brought to me. Usually BA have slightly different Amenities Kits between men and women, and in my kit was;

• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Comb
• Tissues
• Ear plugs
• Oen
• Lip balm
• Numerous gels and other things
• Deodorant
• Ee mask
• Socks

All of this came in a premium looking bag, and (as I have been previously) I was very impressed. It seemed to be good value for money.

During the course of the flight, I was asked if I wanted my bed making for me. I decided to only snooze on this flight, so didn’t request it.

Entertainment

The screen in First is a good size, although comparable to Club Suites. A usual BA had a reasonable amount of films, TV series, comedy music, etc.

Unfortunately, as I’ve written many times before, BA don’t update the entertainment that frequently, and it seems years go by without new content – apart from major films which is a shame.

Despite this, there is a good amount of entertainment for 15hrs……..unless you’ve flown recently with BA, which point I am sure its repetitive! Slightly annoyingly I did have a few problems with my IFE and it needed a few resets over the course of the flight. All of this was quickly resolved, but a little annoying.

Wifi

Remarkably, this was one of the few planes which was not fitted with Wifi! Really, for a 15hr flight, Wifi would have been most useful given the amount of work I had to do.

The good news is that because I am old school I had printed some of my work, and had downloaded locally others…. Whilst it is what it is, for many other business passengers it would have been useful to have had some advance notice of this – as if you are reliant on the internet to do your work, there’s 15hrs of productivity out of the window!

Cabin Crew

The Cabin crew on this flight were the best I have ever had, not only on any BA flight – but all flights in the last 20+ years including Qatar Airlines.

Leading the First cabin were Mark and Sasha who are husband and wife; BA has a couples policy where couples can fly around the world together, a policy that has been in place for around 25 years.

I could write a whole article on how amazing Mark and Sasha were, but to keep it short, here is why they made the difference;

• Upon boarding, Mark went around and warmly shook each passenger by the hand, greeting them like old friends, while Sasha handed out the goodies
• Every passenger was addressed by name, and Mark and Sasha made a point to remember all the passengers’ names
• Both Mark and Sasha struck up personal conversations with all the passengers, and again talked to all the passengers like old friends
• During the course of the flight, food/drink was offered very regularly, as in every 15 minutes
• The bed was offered to be made by Sasha – not always the case on BA flights, especially daytime ones
• Sasha often went around asked passengers how they were feeling, and Mark gave advice on tackling a 15hr long flight
• Just before landing both Mark and Sasha went round and thanked each passenger, again shaking them warmly by the hand
• Despite what must be otherwise a hellishly long flight (which needs 4 pilots) both Mark and Sasha always had a smile on their face, and were well humoured!

The list goes on and on – but this was absolutely textbook (and beyond) service by two incredibly talented people – who clearly love what they do, and are brilliant brand ambassadors for BA.

These are two people who should be training the rest of the cabin crew how to provide world-class service. I’ve never done it before (I’ve had no reason to), but Mark and Sasha were awarded with a Golden Ticket at the end of the flight.

Landing in Heathrow

After a bit of holding in the North, landing in Heathrow was very easy as usual. It was a quick skip through passport control, and around a 15 minute wait for bags.

Conclusion

This is the best flight I have ever had with British Airways, this flight was world class (and I don’t say this very often), and it’s all down to the service….. The challenge BA have (in my view) is keeping it consistent.

The seat is of course very good, the food good and enjoyable, the amenities kit very good – but there were a few annoying letdowns, such as no Wifi and the entertainment crashing.

However, none of this seemed to matter as Mark and Sasha were just so good – and in many ways a good distraction from some of the grumbles….

All in all, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend 15 hours!