Sky High Luxury: A First-Class Journey on BA283 from LHR to LAX aboard the Iconic Boeing 747

We took this trip in February 2020 but it’s taken me a bit of time to get round the finalising the review and getting it uploaded. Please note that all references are pre Covid-19 so clearly current service will differ throughout.

Photo Credit: BA Media Centre (not 747 configuration)

Index

1. Pre-trip

2. Departure

3. Concorde Lounge

4. Elemis Travel Spa

5. Boarding

6. Flight

   1. Welcome

   2. The Seat

   3. Wash Bag

   4. Food and Drink

   5. IFE (In Flight Entertainment)

   6. On Board WiFi

7. ThePrivateTraveller’s top tips (any areas for improvement?)

8. ThePrivateTraveller’s absolute highlights

9. Useful Websites

Pre-trip

If you book first class with British Airways you can pre-book a spa appointment at the Elemis travel spas in London Heathrow terminal 3 or 5A (link here but temporarily suspended as of writing due to Covid-19). This can be done from 28 days before you travel up to 48 hours before your flight. I’d contacted the special helpline for first customers (yourfirst@email.ba.com) about a month before to check on the specific location in Heathrow before I booked, but they took over two weeks to respond and by the time I tried to book I got an email back saying all pre-bookable appointment slots had been filled. This was extremely frustrating, but although ‘Mrs’ ThePrivateTraveller had managed to get a pre-booked slot I was able to get one on the day itself, albeit not for the treatment I would ideally have chosen.

Departure

We flew to London the night before and stayed over at the Hotel Sofitel London Heathrow (you can read my full review here) - this is in such a great location and connected directly to the terminal. From domestic arrivals, you walk as if going to the adjacent car park and take the lift to the first floor. From here there is a hotel tunnel directly into the lobby. It’s a good hotel and I will post a review on my website separately. Back into the terminal building the morning after and it’s a quick journey through the dedicated First Wing with its own check-in, security and you’re in the First Class lounge within minutes. If you are actually travelling in first, the best lounge is the Concorde Lounge - to get to this, you exit the first class lounge and the Concorde lounge is located opposite. If you come through the fast-track security channel (south) there is direct access into the lounge for eligible passengers.

Concorde Lounge

We have been lucky enough to have been here a few times - the BA Executive Club gold card doesn’t give you access to this. You either need to be a Concorde card holder or be travelling in First (OneWorld Emerald card holders can enter the First Class lounge regardless of which class they are actually travelling in). There is a full service restaurant with small booths for couples (see breakfast menu below) or you can have lighter options served to your seat anywhere in the lounge. There is a full bar and champagne trolleys throughout to help yourself.

If you have a longer stop-over, there are private cabanas for rest, which can be booked once you are in the lounge. Shower suites are next door, adjacent to the Elemis Travel Spa; but the Concorde Room has its own toilets. There is also the Concorde terrace - nice to have some fresh air (albeit still in the confines of the T5 terminal), as sometimes lounges can be quite stuffy.

Once we had had our spa treatments, we got a booth in the restaurant and I ordered California eggs benedict - this was smashed avocado with chilli flakes on sourdough toast, served with a soft-poached egg on top and grilled tomatoes on the side - delicious. I had a Bucks Fizz and some green tea, followed by an extra portion of sourdough toast; what a great start to the day.

Elemis Travel Spa

Other than the pre-booking issue above, this was really good - I had about 15 minutes to wait, but when I went back I filled in a short questionnaire before waiting a few further minutes for the therapist who was going to perform the Leg & Foot Restore treatment (which apparently exclusively for first class customers). After a quick cleanse, both feet and lower legs were massaged with an Elemis massage oil, alternating with hot stones too. Part massage and part reflexology, this treatment was so relaxing. It lasted about 20 minutes but could have been so much longer - really was a nice boost to the day and my therapist gave some Elemis moisturiser samples for the flight.

You can check out the full treatment list here.

Boarding

We were boarding from gate B32, so we left the lounge about an hour before the scheduled departure to travel the few minutes by underground train to the B gates. B32 was nearby, very busy and didn’t seem to be very well organised. After a failed attempt on one side of the boarding crowd we found the Group 1 queue. After getting our boarding passes and passports checked, we were ushered through to a further queue which seems all mixed together with other groups too. The staff member challenged a couple in front of us as to why they were in one queue, they pointed to the boarding sign and she confirmed it was her fault, they were in the right place. She made the comment that she didn’t have a clue what was going on (not exactly great when she was there to organise things) but it was a good summation and probably explained why it was so chaotic. Despite that, we then found through another queue that there was a further Group 1 lane - once there we were through the electronic boarding gates within a few seconds and off down the very long air bridge to the plane.

Flight

Welcome

We were met at the aircraft doors and once the staff member spotted we were First we were both ushered to the front of the aircraft; I think we had the best seats in the house being 1A and 1K. Once seated, we were given Temperley sleep suits and the same brand washbag; as well as being offered a welcome drink. Alison (who was the Cabin Service Leader) served our drinks and within minutes I knew that she would be getting my BA Golden Ticket.On take off, one the crew came round with visa arrival forms which we didn’t need as we have Global Entry. This is such a good thing, once we landed we were through immigration (automated machines very centrally located) within seconds. Once we had picked up our luggage, which took a little while, we were then able to pass through a special exit channel for Global Entry members too.

The Seat

The first cabin on a 747 is made up of five rows - on each side there are 5 window seats on each side, to the rear there are two rows of double seats side-by-side; so 14 seats in total. You can see the cabin layout here from Seat Guru.

The aircraft we were on (G-BYGE) was 21 years old, and to be honest it looked it. The cabin was nice (how can First Class not be) but it certainly doesn’t have the wow factor of the likes of Qatar or Emirates - off to a good start though with Alison, it looks like the crew will make up for any shortfall on the seat and cabin features. Having the two front seats are about as private as you can get, it kind of feels like they are together which is great as a couple (you can comfortably speak across the aisle), albeit you would also have privacy if travelling alone.

It’s a comfortable seat and will move to a full lie-flat bed, the crew will make this up with White Company bedding on demand. There is decent space and storage, two windows to each seat with electronically controllable blinds. After lunch and writing some of this blog, I watched a film and relaxed but didn’t actually sleep, or planned to, so just had the blanket only, without getting the bed fully made up with the seat topper and duvet.

There was decent individual lighting, a USB power source plus an additional socket for various plugs.

At the rear of the cabin (remember, being on the lower deck of the 747 first is situated right at the nose of the aircraft, so situated under the flight deck) there are two toilets on the left-hand-side of the galley. They are small and again, dated, but perfectly clean and the first with a window. Clearly these were designated for first class only, they were immediately in front of the lower deck Club World cabin but as well as curtain there was also a strategically placed red cord across to stop people passing through. They were well serviced throughout the flight - nice touch with a fresh rose in each, Elemis hand wash and hand cream and small towels to hand-dry rather than the normal paper tissues.

Wash Bag

I’d actually never heard of this brand, Temperley but on research (there was a card in the bag) Alice Temperley graduated in 2000 from the Royal College of Art in London and thereafter set up her fashion label. Each washbag (satin grey with black leather embellishments for men) contained:

• A pair of navy blue socks for the flight

• Navy ‘First’ branded eyeshade

• Elemis

  • Cleansing micellar facial wipe

  • Hydro-nourish lip balm

  • Deep cleanse face wash

  • Ultra smart pro-collagen matrix moisturiser

  • Ultra smart pro-collagen eye treatment

  • Skin smooth shave gel 

  • Fortitude deodorant

• Comb

• Toothbrush and decent sized tube of Colgate toothpaste

• British Airways First branded pen and tissues

• Earplugs

Food and Drink

We were given a menu shortly before take-off. This outlined that on our flight lunch would be served followed by a light meal before arrival. Travelling in first though you can opt for food whenever you want - there is a selection of snacks/light bites like a salad, trio of sliders, crisps, popcorn, fruit etc. 

We were offered a drink immediately after take-off, I just opted for some sparkling water with lemon and this came with the canapé selection. As a vegetarian, I had taken my usual vegetarian preference off this booking so that I could choose from the menu - regardless of class, it seems as if you pre-select you will get that meal regardless and sometimes there are more appealing vegetarian options on the selectable menu. In BA premium classes, you can also view and select meals in advance through their website. The downside of not having been flagged as a vegetarian however is that you usually won’t be able to get vegetarian canapés.

Lunch consisted of various starters, mains with a choice of sides, followed by a cheese course and finally a selection of desserts. You can view the menu here.

Alison came round to take our orders and to find out when we wanted to eat. The flight had taken off on time at 10:40am so we opted for lunch at 1pm.

I opted for the Creamy Burrata with lovage pesto, beetroot, orange and hazelnuts - this came beautifully presented with a selection of breads. For the main course I chose the Crispy Gnocchi, this was served with a butternut squash purée, Dorset blue Vinney cheese and chestnuts. I could have had extra sides of Lyonnaise potatoes, glazed chantenay carrots or buttered Savoy cabbage but I just had the gnocchi only. We’d had an amazing breakfast 

Both starter and main course were delicious - the presentation was incredible as was the service, Alison again. I chose to forego the cheese course and went straight to dessert - hard to choose between them, but finally selected the Vanilla bean ice cream with caramel sauce and raspberries. Afterwards there was a choice of teas and coffees or liqueurs. I had a Gin Zing (a tantalising mix of premium gin, citrus and sparking water, served over ice) with the meal so didn’t partake of any further liqueurs but there was a really decent selection. 

The flight (was scheduled to take 11 hours 15 minutes) but estimated on board to be only 10 hours 33 minutes so we had another light meal around two hours before landing. While this would be almost 10pm UK time, the local landing ETA in Los Angeles was 1:42pm. This time I opted for a Seasonal mixed leaf salad with a spicy lemon vinaigrette followed by Truffle linguine. Again both were beautifully presented and tasted absolutely delicious - both meals felt like they were being served in a top notch restaurant rather than being served on an aircraft at 9,753 metres up (about 32,000 feet).

IFE (In Flight Entertainment

I’d checked out in advance what movies there would be on board (you can find out what’s going to be on your upcoming BA flight here). We had specifically saved watching Downton Abbey when it was on at the cinema to keep it for a flight. As well as watching this, I also saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Charlie’s Angels.

On board WiFi

There was WiFi on board, it was easy enough to select the ‘BAWi-Fi’ network but nothing happened. I tried all sorts, removing this and adding it back, switching off WiFi on my Apple phone then putting it back on. I eventually decided to try switching off my phone and back on, that seemed to fix it. I was then able to reselect the WiFi service and then a pop up box appeared. There were payment options for different WiFi packages but the screen showed this was free for first class customers. You had to enter your seat number and either surname as per boarding pass or booking reference to get this free, it didn’t work on my surname but did when I entered the booking reference. This free service was uncapped throughout the flight - it wasn't lightning speed, as you would expect, but it was decent and worked consistently throughout the flight.

I tried to connect my iPad and had the same issue initially, it just wouldn’t connect without switching it off then back on. I tried throughout the flight but had the same iPad issues, although my iPhone continued to work ok. I did eventually, I think on perhaps the fourth reboot of the iPad, get it to connect to WiFi, but my details were constantly rejected so perhaps you can only connect one device per seat.

ThePrivateTraveller’s top tips (any areas for improvement?)

• YouFirst quicker replies - this does seem to have been a blip this time as normally they are very responsive

• Boarding could have been organised much better, or at least have a member of staff that knows what they are meant to be doing

ThePrivateTraveller’s absolute highlights:

• Too many to list - cabin crew service was the best (particularly Alison)

• 1A and 1K front row seats - best in the house!

Useful websites:

• British Airways https://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_us/

• Qatar Airways https://www.qatarairways.com/en-gb/homepage.html

• Emirates https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/

• Sofitel London Heathrow https://all.accor.com/hotel/6214/index.en.shtml?

• Sofitel London Hotel Review https://theprivatetraveller.com/blog/hotel-review/sofitel-london-heathrow

• Heathrow Airport https://www.heathrow.com

• Elemis https://www.elemis.com/us/uk/?redirect=yes

• Temperley of London https://www.temperleylondon.com

• White Company https://www.thewhitecompany.com/us/

• Global Entry https://applyforglobalentry.com/

• Seat Guru https://www.seatguru.com/