Moving from London to San Francisco!

After my July full of traveling, it was time to return to the US.  This flight was especially meaningful because I used it to move to the San Francisco Bay Area.  In classic Michael fashion, I made it a point to leave the UK permanently in style.  The best way I had to do that is with British Airways First Class.  I found a First Class award ticket to San Jose, CA for the end of July and grabbed it.  There were, unfortunately, no First Class award tickets available to San Francisco.  I could have booked a Gold Priority award for double the Avios points, but San Jose worked perfectly fine for me.  This flight to SJC cost 85 000 Avios plus over £600 of taxes and fees.  BA is known for having high taxes and fees on award flights, but award availability is generally pretty good to the US, and the Avios required are pretty reasonable, compared to the points required for a lot of US carriers that have dynamic award pricing.

I had originally planned to fly to Boston in First Class because I initially thought I’d move to the East Coast, but I decided instead to move to the West Coast.  To change my flight from Boston to San Jose, I had to call BA, but it was easily done.  I wish BA would invest in a better website that would be able to handle changes like this online, but unfortunately, many changes still have to be done manually over the phone.  Because of the travel chaos of this summer, I actually ended up on the phone with BA weekly for several weeks in a row.

The flight to San Jose leaves at 3 pm, which is relatively late for a flight to the west coast, but it means that it’s aligned well with the bigger flights to SFO (which leave around noon and 2).  I checked in my bags the night before my flight for free using a Heathrow Airport-based service called AirPortr that BA partners with. I’d run into problems using this service previously, but this time it went without a hitch, and I was ecstatic that my trip to the airport would be (mostly) hands-free.

I left for Heathrow at around 10:30 am and arrived just after noon; travelling within London really does take a very long time if you need to cross the city.  I traveled by tube because getting to Paddington for the Heathrow Express was not convenient. 

I was surprised when I arrived at Heathrow that it wasn’t overwhelmingly busy like usual, but that was good because it meant I was helped immediately upon arrival in the First Wing.  I was also the only one in the First Wing’s security line, which let me out directly into the Galleries First lounge. 

I proceeded straight through the lounge and followed the signs for the Concorde Room, which is BA’s actual First Class lounge, which cannot be accessed by BA Gold/Oneworld Emerald.  The full Concorde Room is, without a doubt, a substantial step up over the Concorde Terrace that I used on the way to Dallas. 

There are two major differences between the Concorde Room and the Galleries First lounge that I could identify.  The first is that the furnishings are a bit more upmarket and designed to be more homey, rather than looking like they’re in an airport lounge.  The second is that they had staff coming around to take drink and food orders, rather than relying on QR codes.  This also meant that they had physical menus. Both the selection and the waiters were a noticeable step up from my previous visit, which was great.

The lounge was much less busy than the Galleries First lounge, and there was ample seating. I got an entire couch area to myself.

I ordered a glass of champagne from one of the circulating staff and finally had a chance to breathe for the first time in a few days.

The Concorde Room also had a dedicated dining room, which I visited for a late lunch.  Upon arrival at the dining room, I was told that they’d have to check if there was space for me; there was and I was instantly taken to a seat, but I just found it very disorganized that they didn’t actually know how many people were in the dining area. 

I had a quick three course meal, which is a funny sentence, but each course came very quickly, which was nice. 

First, I had the smoked salmon dish.  The dish was just smoked salmon with some capers on top, haha.  It was pretty basic.

Second, I had the chicken tikka masala.  It was some of the best tikka masala I’ve ever had.  The presentation was gorgeous.  On top of the chicken was a piece of naan bread and cucumber.  In addition, the chicken had mango chutney and pomegranate seed on it, which was an excellent touch.

Finally, I had a fresh fruit plate.  The plate was very underwhelming. I don’t really see much in the way of kiwi or mango on that plate, which were, by far, the most interesting fruits promised on the plate.

I also stopped by the shower suites to take a shower.  Compared to the ones in the United Polaris, American Flagship, and Cathay Pacific lounges, these were a noticeable step down.  They are shared with the Galleries First lounge.

One of the biggest complaints about BA First compared to Lufthansa First or Air France La Première is that there is no transfer service from the gate to the aircraft.  You have to make your own decision about when to head over and have to take the same transit as everyone else.  My flight wasn’t delayed, so this wasn’t a problem, but often you can arrive at the gate just in time for a delay to be announced and be stuck in the satellite terminal.  By the time I got to the gate, they were on group 7, but they didn’t have a priority line. 

Upon boarding the aircraft, I was escorted to my seat, 1K, by one of the crew at the door.  After a short while, I was given some pajamas and a welcome drink (I took water).  Apparently, they didn’t have slippers though, which was unfortunate.  We had to wait at the gate for a short while, but eventually, we pushed back and were on our way.

These seats are very comfortable, but really are not aging well. This is the same type of plane and same seat number that I had last time when I flew to Dallas.

Once we took off, service began with drinks and canapes.  BA doesn’t strictly have a dine-on-demand concept, but I was able to request that my meal be delayed slightly, since I had eaten in the lounge.

The meal service in First Class is generally pretty leisurely, since it’s meant to be a fine dining experience in the sky.  First they brought the canapes of smoked salmon and cream cheese, prosciutto with melon, and roasted red pepper with goat’s cheese.  These were served with a glass of water and a Gin Zing.  The cocktail list was basically the same as in Club World as far as I could tell.

Waiting for me at the seat were a blanket and headphones, and then pajamas were brought separately.

Shortly after settling in, I was brought some pre-departure water and an amenity kit.

BA’s first class seat has no shortage of space, especially compared to the previous generation Club World cabin (arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration on this aircraft).

I think the window casing around the exterior windows is a nice touch, but it made more sense on older planes that didn’t have electronically dimming windows.

After takeoff, I was brought a gin zing and some canapes.

The canapes, which were served cold, were fresh and light and a great way to be welcomed on board.

Next, I was brought a Double baked soufflé as my starter, which was served with bread, butter, and olive oil.  I also ordered a glass of Vincent Girardin, Pouilly-Fuissé 2017 white wine.  The soufflé was fluffy and flavorful but a little small given the slow pace of the meal. 

For my main course, I ordered the chicken tikka masala again.  While that does seem a bit silly, I thought this was a very interesting opportunity to compare the BA lounge’s food on the ground directly with the food in the air for a 1:1 comparison.

I decided to also have the cheese course.  It was definitely a step up from the cheese course offered in Club World and Club Europe, or in American Flagship First.

For dessert, I had Crêpes Suzette.  They were pretty good, but I wish they’d had more ice cream.

The physical IFE on the plane was pretty good: free Wi-Fi (for one device), a large TV, and a 120V plug and USB plugs.  Noise cancelling headphones were also provided.  The fact that the free Wi-Fi can’t be transferred back and forth between different devices is annoying; American Airlines offers that functionality.  The Wi-Fi coverage was spotty, and, when it did work, it was not very fast.  However, it was good enough for me to be able to finish signing all the new documents that had come in while I was en route, which was exactly what I needed it to do.

The IFE screen was a touch screen while we were on the ground, but once we were in the air, the screen required me to use the remote instead of the touch screen, which was weird.  The movie selection was not particularly robust, but I did find a few things to watch.

After dinner, I changed into the provided pajamas, and they provided turn down service, but I still didn’t get any slippers. I watched a couple movies, and then finally fell asleep.

Given that I had eaten a three-course meal in the lounge and then a four-course meal late into the flight, I skipped the final meal in favor of sleeping because I knew I’d need to be fully functional as soon as I landed. It was time to officially move in!

In summary, my second experience with BA First Class was a step up from my previous experience, now that travel is largely back to pre-pandemic service.  The ground experience was as good as it gets in Terminal 5 (4/5).  The BA First class seat is a moderate step up from the Club Suite, but it’s really not aging well and needs the door (3/5).  The main meal was well-presented, well-cooked, and interesting and definitely a step up from Club World (5/5).  The service was fine, but not particularly ‘first-class’ (3/5).  The aircraft offered all forms of IFE but didn’t really excel at any (3/5).  Overall, the flight gets 18/25, which means that it was a wonderful flight because it was in First Class but wasn’t remarkable for a first-class flight.

I booked this flight using 85 000 Avios and £580, so it won’t earn me any Avios or tier points.  For the record, the same flight in Club World would’ve been 62 500 Avios and £580, so I’m of the opinion that using only 22 500 additional Avios (worth ~£225) to upgrade is worth it given the better experience and more space. 

The only points back I earned for this flight were from paying for it on my Amex Platinum card that offers 5x points/$.