I've just printed off my boarding passes for tomorrow. My friends think I've lost the plot, particularly the one who's absolutely terrified of flying

Hope you have a fab day Pippy, beats the freezing weather over here .... have a great day:-)

Pat x

Kick back , relax and have a great day

Hi andy66,

Calling on your help again lol! I understand that BA are refurbishing their fleet ... would you happen to know if they have refurbished any of their 777-200 aircrafts?

Kind regards,
Pat

Yes , they have , but don't get too excited !! As usual the BA LGW registered planes are treated like the runt of the litter and get upgraded last , by the time they get round to doing them a new seat will be designed
About half of the LHR 777s have the " new " 2010 WTP , I think it's 17 with 14 to do , but none of the LGW 777s have the new seats/ cabins in WT or WTP

http://www.thebasource.com/boeing777-200er.html. The last few flights to PUJ have used GVII *** O/P/R .

I know it's a bit disappointing and it makes you think you are sitting in old seats but I had a couple of flights on the Old 737s last year and they are very ancient and royally slagged off on BA forums etc and I thought the cabins were not too bad and seats very comfortable , and the service was very good too .
As I've said before the LGW crews are really good and very relaxed friendly service , I'm sure you will have a comfortable flight .
I'm flying out in September , on the 3rd , midday to Jersey .

We just flew to Bangkok with BA on the 777 and I have to say it was not a pleasant experience for 12 hours. It was a 777 and very old. The seats were uncomfortable and tatty and the entertainment system was a joke. Having flown the A380 last year which was all fresh and new, it has certainly changed our opinion of BA for long haul and next time would do a little bit more research re the actual plane.

Having not flown on a 380 so far , or even having to rough it in economy on a 777 either , from what I've read a comparison between a fantastic new product and an older product ( which admittedly is around 14 years old but not that much older than most 777s in other airline fleets ) is not really a fair comparison , the economy on the 380 , especially the upper deck of 2-4-2 within small cabins of 8 and 4 rows will never compare favourably with a 13 row 3-3-3 cabin on a 777 even if it had brand new seats
The 380 economy is superior to the 777 and 747

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/122187-british-airways-a380-we-jump-on-board-to-check-it-out

The 380 at the moment will only feature on specific routes like HKG , JNB and LAX , all 11 hour + flights , would be great if on other long haul flights , but I would think that only Emirates could possibly cover many long haul routes with a 380

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/simon-calder-why-the-biggest-plane-in-the-world-isnt-right-for-the-busiest-route-9342854.html

If wanting to research which planes fly certain BA routes then to check recent history go to

http://www.thebasource.com/batracker.html

BA is the only UK airline with 380 in its fleet , virgin are due theirs in 2018 , if wanting nice economy seating on a 380 is important pick upper deck on BA ( but only limited routes ) choose one of the ME3 , Emirates , Etihad , Qatar , ( they have more in their fleet ) or just to prove new and big isn't always beautiful choose to sit with the other 419 passengers on the main deck on Lufthansa's 380 !!

Hi Andy,

Many thanks for your reply.

Disappointing that the 777's are yet to be refurbished ... but hey ho:-) I don't suppose you have any photos showing the 3 rows in WTP?

Kind regards,
Pat

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/travel-classes/premium-economy/world-traveller-plus

Apart from the usual BA blurb , the two links / photos below are more typical of the cabin

http://www.nycaviation.com/newspage/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DSC_0024.jpg

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/3/6/2/1951263.jpg

Thanks Andy .... the 3rd photo is what I was looking for as it show the seats (14A & B) that we have booked, and tbh given the reviews that I have read, they don't look as bad as what I was expecting lol!

I realise that the front row in WTP won't be open up to reserve until 72hr prior to departure, but do these seats actually offer more legroom than others in WTP, and am I right in assuming that the TV comes out from the arm rest?

Kind regards,
Pat

Yes , go for T72 on MMB and see what's available , I think there's a bit more legroom , but no one is going to recline into your space , I'm sure the TV screens come out of the arms , just checked , it does ! As does the table .
Glad you've read a few reviews , I've done a couple of flights on 777s from LGW and the planes were fine , here's hoping you don't get to your seat and find bits of sponge and thread hanging off it !!

lol Andy, well here's hoping that if we do manage to nab the seats in the front row the tables intact the tables intact, IFE working, and hopefully the cleaners will have hovered up the sponge from the floor prior to embarking the flight ha! ha!

Kind regards,
Pat

Decided to upgrade to Club Europe again for my flight to Barcelona in July. I'm a sucker

Hi Pippy , you must be getting close to status !!! Did you get an good upgrade offer ? I'm off in June with my sister and partner to Lanzarote and got CE seats at a very good price when I booked last year , we got them for £300 pp return and economy was £250 , taking into account a bit of extra space , nice service and lounge the £50 extra is extremely good , I have never booked short haul economy and then upgraded to CE , but have heard they email with an offer to upgrade ? What was the main reason why you decided to upgrade ? Treat , price , service level , lounge etc ??
We're just back from Abu Dhabi and had booked CW in a sale at a great price , but I kept looking at reward availability and got 2 seats in First on the way out just 8/9 days before the flight and used AVIOS to pay and got the extra tier points too and the AVIOS we earned from the flight paid for the upgrade !!
Must admit though I've always enjoyed my CE flights , the service has always been excellent and felt very comfortable and relaxed on board , really looking forward to our Lanzarote flights .
Are you staying in Barcelona this time

Also noticed that they have launched a new route to Vienna from LGW from September , I went there a few years ago and would look to do a short stay there next year , I'm fully booked for this year !!

Not overly impressed with the BAEC changes nor their interpretation of loyalty! Have quite a number of sectors booked both in CE and Economy over next few months but thinking of ditching and burning AVIOS if I can find availability.

I'm not overly impressed either with the BAEC changes either, but so far have worked out that I will earn a few less AVIOS on flights because silver status is no longer to be 100% but 50% ( if I was gold , would think this is fair though !! ) and using AVIOS for rewards will cost a bit more , but not so much for me as I travel off peak generally , I don't think the changes will affect me too much for my personal situation but like anyone else would want to be rewarded more and pay less for rewards and have more availability !!

I book 4 or 5 flights a year and one of them will be a reward with Amex voucher so the others need to add to 600 TPs which I have done the last 2 years quite easily , as just a leisure traveller I would use perhaps easyjet for a couple and they would cost a bit less , thomson for a long haul which would cost the same for a premium economy seat approx , but overall I earn the points plus the Amex voucher to get a first flight to Dubai for £500 pp and I won't get that with emirates etc !! It pays for me to put all my eggs in one basket , but realise that for others with differing circumstances it wouldn't work for them ? And the changes about to be introduced mean others would look at alternatives because it doesn't offer them a benefit of using BA exclusively like I do .

Hi Andy, calling on your help again .......

As you know we have booked seats 14A & B (last row) in WTP. Having had another look at the photos you posted of the WTP cabin, it looks like the recline in 14A & B will be minimal and also within very close proximity of Row 15 in Economy which I believe is held for people with young children.

With the above in mind, I will be on the ball at T-72 to try and change to row 12. My question is if I am lucky enough to secure row 12, and somebody with higher status comes forwards for these seats ... will I lose them? .... hope that makes sense?

Regards,
Pat

I really don't think you can lose your seats in this way , if a higher status like gold you could have these seats already booked , if they available at T72 and onwards then no one has wanted them , a silver status could sneak in and book them , but if you get in first as they become available you have as much right and chance as anyone else , I have got row 1 seats quite a few times and don't have the status to book them at time of booking and I've never been turfed out by a gold waving cardholder !! If a gold or silver comes along and books last minute and certain seats have been booked they have no right to override your choice and relegate you back to your original seats . The only way your seats could be changed is if crew ask you to move seats for ops reasons and a higher status member having a strop about wanting a " gold seat " is not really a valid reason .
Just keep looking in to your MMB and hope no one else is doing the same as you !!

I can't find any real info on the recline in row 14 , it looks like they don't recline as much from the photo , but I've not found any negative feedback that row 14 does not recline , also row 15 might not have infants there and the last row in CW in front of row 12 might have infants ?? You can never really know , and you might not even get disturbed even if there is ?? I've never on any airline had any infants disturb my flight , perhaps I'm lucky , or perhaps the evil stare just works !! lol , I like babies really , I just couldn't eat a whole one ( joke , )
I'm sure you will be alright ,but hope you get a result !! You can't try any harder than you can. Set an alarm !!

Thanks Andy:-)

lol, don't worry the alarm will be set ... have plenty of experience in doing so with Thomson:-))

Sorry to be a pain but .... I did also posted a similar message on TA earlier. When I referred to T-72 as being when to log on to check seats for row 12, I was told that seat plan at T-72 is opened up for parents with young children and would therefore have to wait until T-24???

Regards,
Pat