London to Tokyo: BA v JAL
Discussion
So far so good - one hour into the flight.
Stewardesses are charming and are appreciative of my attempts to converse in Japanese. Plus the free wi-if means I can read Pistonheads.
I’ve chosen the Japanese menu with some sake (Junmai-Dai Ginjoshu) - 9 courses
Stewardesses are charming and are appreciative of my attempts to converse in Japanese. Plus the free wi-if means I can read Pistonheads.
I’ve chosen the Japanese menu with some sake (Junmai-Dai Ginjoshu) - 9 courses
Edited by Sport_Turismo_GTS on Saturday 1st April 20:41
I flew JAL First in 2019 on a 777-300ER, and it was excellent. Great service and great food. I think there was only 6 passengers in the cabin and the others went to sleep early in the flight so I pretty much had the crew just looking after me, and wanted to make sure I arrived full and drunk 
I would echo pretty much what was said about BA. Back when it was Mixed Fleet and Worldwide crews, I had some howlers with the young MF crews, such who were clueless about the wines they were serving, which was clearly a lack of life experience, but they should have been trained better by BA. If someone is paying 10k for their First Class ticket, they don't expect McDonalds grade service.
Back in January I had a CW flight which was very hit and miss. I ran into half the crew and their partners the night before, most of them hammered (I was in Santiago, and in 2 weeks hadn't run into a single Brit, so a group of them raised my suspicions. And if you spend enough time around cabin crew, you can spot them when they are in groups on layovers), and many of them suffering the effects the next day. The senior crew member looking after my section didn't start her service until she drank a cup of tea, so was about 10 mins behind the other isle, and barely remembered we had chatted about 15 hours earlier - her husband tried to bribe me with beer if I didn't make the flight as it was overbooked when including those on staff travel, as was I. Granted on the Breakfast service she was like grease lightning, and model of efficiency. And to top it off, the CSD was a right surly cow (she poured the all the Port down the sink after dinner service, as you only drink port at the end of dinner with cheese?!?!?!), and it didn't help as I had taken the seat she was going to give to her partner.
I would echo pretty much what was said about BA. Back when it was Mixed Fleet and Worldwide crews, I had some howlers with the young MF crews, such who were clueless about the wines they were serving, which was clearly a lack of life experience, but they should have been trained better by BA. If someone is paying 10k for their First Class ticket, they don't expect McDonalds grade service.
Back in January I had a CW flight which was very hit and miss. I ran into half the crew and their partners the night before, most of them hammered (I was in Santiago, and in 2 weeks hadn't run into a single Brit, so a group of them raised my suspicions. And if you spend enough time around cabin crew, you can spot them when they are in groups on layovers), and many of them suffering the effects the next day. The senior crew member looking after my section didn't start her service until she drank a cup of tea, so was about 10 mins behind the other isle, and barely remembered we had chatted about 15 hours earlier - her husband tried to bribe me with beer if I didn't make the flight as it was overbooked when including those on staff travel, as was I. Granted on the Breakfast service she was like grease lightning, and model of efficiency. And to top it off, the CSD was a right surly cow (she poured the all the Port down the sink after dinner service, as you only drink port at the end of dinner with cheese?!?!?!), and it didn't help as I had taken the seat she was going to give to her partner.
I’m afraid I’m one of those people that only travel First / Business by using Avios points and Amex 2-for-1 vouchers (or for work when my employer is paying), so maybe I have lower expectations than some.
With this in mind, I’ve not really had a bad BA experience, although I did think that the JAL crew on this trip were extremely attentive and the overall experience was probably better than BA First, although not by a huge amount. However, the plane was really hot, making it difficult to sleep.
With this in mind, I’ve not really had a bad BA experience, although I did think that the JAL crew on this trip were extremely attentive and the overall experience was probably better than BA First, although not by a huge amount. However, the plane was really hot, making it difficult to sleep.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff