The British Airways A380 First Class tasting menu – in pictures

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• D Carter says:

  3 Oct3 October 08:55

  Miles away from the 777 Tokyo service – we’ve started eating in T5 rather than suffer the truly terrible food on the plane….

  • Jeff says:

    3 Oct3 October 15:39

    D. Carter – may I ask, what is so bad about the BA Tokyo service? (to HND or NRT ?) I’m hoping to fly business from EDI to Japan later this month and am wondering what is the best option (as not booked yet) – should I be avoiding BA altogether? (they’re not even cheap and my budget certainly isn’t limitless) I flew HND-DOH-EDI (business) last month, it wasn’t bad but wasn’t perfect either.

    • Jeff says:

      3 Oct3 October 15:42

      …HND-DOH-EDI with QATAR obviously 🙂

• D Carter says:

  3 Oct3 October 08:55

  Miles away from the 777 Tokyo service – we’ve started eating in T5 rather than suffer the truly terrible food on the plane….

• nick says:

  3 Oct3 October 09:01

  I’m beginning to think that I need to stop relying on the companion voucher. It’s so easy to target collecting say 180,000 avios to use with the voucher for 2 first class returns with ba, when in fact I would be better trying to get to 360,000 and fly the same route using a normal redemption with another airline. The problem is, with no work travel and no ba status, that’s difficult!

  • andy says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:19

    Nick, after flying BA in J LHR-Chengdu then F in BA HKG-LHR my next redemptions will be in J…. Better value in terms of miles burnt and tax paid.Just a thought….

  • Patrick says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:19

    Exactly Nick – my international work travel has stopped so 360k for two returns is too hard to earn.

    I have started buying Avianca miles during their 2f1 offer each year to at least get 2 one ways to Asia using Star Alliance carriers.

    • Nick says:

      3 Oct3 October 14:28

      I’m not complaining – after all, I’ve no entitlement to benefit from a loyalty scheme if I rarely use it for cash fares. And I still thoroughly enjoyed my recent flights in BA First. However, as I walked in to the cabin and saw my seat, my initial reaction was “is this it? Is this really as good as it gets?”. It was more functional than pure luxury – although it is a very comfortable way to travel, let’s not pretend otherwise. I guess I just wanted to see real luxury… and it looks like I need to ignore the companion voucher and look elsewhere for that.

      • Nick says:

        3 Oct3 October 14:58

        …. it also begs the question (which is almost certainly answered on here somewhere) – what is the best first class product you can book with avios?

• Thywillbedone says:

  3 Oct3 October 09:40

  I echo most of the comments here. I flew the same route as Raffles in Sept, first time in First on the A380. I think the hard product is quite good/private (compared with First on the 747 which is more cramped) although as many say, it is near impossible to get a good ‘lounging’ position with the seat. The main fail for me was on food: I would class it as a poor business class meal which was overcooked (I thought the newer ovens would make a difference??) and the afternoon tea looked great but the sandwiches were stale and tasteless (quite a feat!). The cutlery is also really budget in appearance. Best to think of it as Business + as many others say but don’t get overexcited. The only thing that BA really do well is drinks, the LPGS is excellent and they had some excellent reds on board. Its a shame that the only thing they are very good at is something that is hard to make a mess of!! The icing on the cake for me was a screaming baby in the cabin with parents who couldn’t have cared less – that was my bad luck I suppose!

  • Paul says:

    3 Oct3 October 09:55

    I only book long haul premium cabins using redemptiosn and to some extent the reported mediocrity of BA F is not an issue – what matters is how much it costs me to get those miles and the comparison to other carriers. For example its 150k Avios in F plus a 241 for 2 to Mex return vs 200k Flying Mile son VS to CUN. The cost of each flight is broadly the same in spend on BA Amex vs MBNA. So the question then is BA F better than VS UC? (when i asked the question on Flyer Talk i got a resounding vote for BA F) . Yes I’d love to fly on the super Asian carriers in premium cabins but I suspect its going to cost me a lot more to earn the miles required. When I used to be a FF for work I avoided BA as I thought their J class was rubbish and If I had the money to fly premium i’d still avoid them – however as my decisions are just about earning and spending miles BA are good value.

• Keith says:

  3 Oct3 October 13:34

  I thought this was a post about the food, it seems to have given us all indigestion about other topics! I am a totally ‘normal’ bloke and the odd time I have flown BA first I have found the food to be ridiculous. The flowery language used to describe what it is to be is indecipherable. I’ve even asked the crew…….’what is this?’ and often they haven’t a clue either. Perhaps I’m a heathen. I went to the Fat Duck at Bray and thought it was complete and utter tripe (it probably was!). The food for me in First should be simple and fresh. Served in an appetising manner (we eat with our eyes) and understandable. A nice steak with Chunky Chips and Mushrooms and a fresh salad would do the job for me. Ok, ok….I’ll turn right next time I get on a plane!

  • Rob says:

    3 Oct3 October 14:13

    BA is doing a luxury burger now in First Class, purely for this reason.

• Richie says:

  3 Oct3 October 13:34

  Off topic, flying ba back from dubai on Sunday. Which is best lounge to use at dubai?

  • Rob says:

    3 Oct3 October 14:12

    None of them, unless things have changed since I last flew BA out of there 18 months ago.

• poincianakings says:

  3 Oct3 October 16:00

  This post is rather timely. I am currently researching honeymoon options for next year and contemplating F on the outbound with CW on the inbound. One of my reason for thinking F on the outbound was to sample the Concorde Room and the Tasting Menu. However, having read some of the comments on here I am seriously not sure.

  Bearing in mind we will be using our hard earned dosh for these flights what are peoples thoughts?

  Oh and does this tasting menu ever change? IIRC its been the same for about a year now.

  • Rob says:

    3 Oct3 October 19:13

    Without knowing the price gap, and your tolerance for the extra payment, it is hard to tell. Extra £1000 per person return over CW? Probably worth it for a long day flight like LA. Not worth it for, say, an overnighter to Cape Town or a hop to Dubai.

    Remember too that you can probably get indirect flights to your destination for the same price as BA CW. Emirates has good F deals at times for eg as does Etihad.

  • Richie says:

    4 Oct4 October 06:51

    Don’t know if it’s any good to you but you can buy 360,000 avios on ebay at the moment. It could be worth buying those and getting a redemption. Could be cheaper , just a thought.
    Also keep an eye out for the ba evouchers on ebay. They can save you £100 per person or so.

• paula says:

  3 Oct3 October 16:07

  Off topic but my husband is just about to head for SFO for his flight home, Does anyone know if there is a priority pass lounge he can use? I tried checking on the website and it mentions the united club lounge but then says select membership and membership through a US financial institution are not allowed access.(his membership is through the plat card) Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    3 Oct3 October 19:09

    Amex Plat is OK. There are certain variants of PPass issued by US banks calles Priority Pass Select – that one does not work at SFO. A UK Amex issues one is OK.

  • RIccati says:

    3 Oct3 October 19:54

    Priority Pass from the UK-issued AMEX Platinum works in the United Club at SFO. On reception desk there is a note saying that PP issued for cardholders of the US financial institutions not accepted.

    On domestic side, the lounge is tricky to find (no signs). It is in the annex terminal towards Gates 70-90 (Section F). Do not know if there is a separate United lounge in International sections G or A.

    There is another United Club lounge in construction on the ‘ring’ linking all sections. There is also an American Express Centurion Lounge in construction right after domestic security.

    On a side note, the United’s transfer desk at Heathrow Terminal 2 is an abomination.

    There are up to eight staffed counters all behind a single security guy who interrogates passengers. I was asked to produce a hotel reservation for the US before being allowed to come to the counters and told I can stand and miss my flight if I do not wish show a paper reservation from a hotel!

    I have been transferring from Stockholm to the US via LHR Terminal 2 and it was stressful. Terminal 2 seems to have the same flight connection problem as Terminal 5: you have to go through security on arrival (slow and poorly organised), then boarding pass check, then must visit transfers desk (who might reprint your boarding passes, no change of seat, no reason) and then, run to B gates for United which are another 20 minutes away. At the boarding gate, there is a full security check with questions, swipe, laptops out of bag and powered on, and some paper logs.

    Allow yourself well above an hour for Star Alliance transfers via Heathrow Terminal 2. I did not expect the flight connections at Heathrow being so poor.

    • squills says:

      3 Oct3 October 20:11

      Probably a one-off.

      • RIccati says:

        3 Oct3 October 20:44

        On a contrary, there are a lot of problems in pattern of how the Heathrow security and airlines operate on flight connections. Read into the paragraph about all the steps involved and how much time it takes.

        There are threads on Flyertalk about this, mostly the impossibility to connect in T5 under an hour. T2 experience is emerging exactly the same. The airlines have no powers to make security more efficient and CAA seems to regulate poorly. If it takes 1.5-2 hours from landing just to do a flight connection something is massively wrong. Among Flyertalk comments, “He/She should write to the Chairman of this circus that calls itself and International Airport and ask for some answers.”

        I had an original boarding pass printed in Stockholm so I could have proceeded directly to the gate without the need for any interrogation! So much for security.

        Personally, I will avoid connecting at Heathrow as it proves stressful to the extreme. Departing is a different story if you allow yourself 2-3 hours at the airport, on connections you have no choice.

        • squills says:

          3 Oct3 October 21:00

          OK I sympathise with you. Where next?

        • RIccati says:

          4 Oct4 October 02:58

          “Write to the Chairman” and then some.

          Avoid Heathrow connections, for T2 connecting flights specifically there are only two metal detectors/short security belts for the entire terminal. They are bound to be clogged at all times. No chance of smooth connection from the start.

          If have to connect at Heathrow, make sure all flights are on the same itinerary/e-ticket, so that it is the airline’s responsibility to connect, including security and screening delays.

          There are other choices for connecting at EU airports/Iceland where they do not re-print boarding passes and only ask if you have an ESTA – no unnecessary interrogation. Heathrow employs 75,000 staff, what are the odds all of them will be trained and helpful?

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