Hi andy66,

Flight to Dom Rep is just around the corner now (20th) Re IFE in WT+ ... are you supplied with ear phones or head phones?

Regards,
Pat

Hi Pat , in WTP they supply you with headphones , apparently you get the noise reducing ones too !!!
I'm not much into watching films usually , but I always seem to watch at least 2 if not 3 on my long haul flights , which I would never do at home , always found the choice of IFE very good

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/entertainment/in-flight-entertainment

You can find all the films for your flight in advance !!
Don't forget your -72 if you want to view seats , (17th )

Hi Andy,

Many thanks again for the info appreciated:-)

Need to pick your brains again .....

As you know we have reserved seats 14A/B in WT+ (Flight No BA2205 to PC) at which time there was only 3 Classes on this flight. I've just been on Seat Guru and it is showing 4 Classes against our flight number .... how accurate is Seat Guru?

Have just tried to go onto Manage My Booking to check our seats, but system is down at the moment. I basically just want to know whether there has been a change of aircraft for our flight as that would have an impact on the seats I have chosen .... any ideas?

Thanks again,
Pat

Hi Pat , the last two months of flights to PUJ BA2205 have all been on a 3 class plane , I haven't checked further back. , but I suspect the flights have been on a 3 class 777
At LGW they have 13 x 777 , there are 3 that are registered G-YMM* which are all 3 class and 10 that are G-VII* registered with 5 being 4 class and 5 bring 3 class , they don't sell PUJ with First seats bring available so try will always use a 3 class plane for that route , rotating different registrations , however .... With the recent fire on a Gatwick registered 777 , think it was G-VIIO , they have one less 3 class plane as the Las Vegas route also uses a 3 class 777 , so they either get a 777 from LHR to keep the schedule up to date or switch things around and you might end up with a last minute substitution and a 4 class plane .
I guess they will " borrow " a 3 class 777 from LHR to replace the out of service one .
I would keep checking your MMB to see if they change things , at about -72 the plane will be 99% finalised as last minute subs can always happen .
I would just say that the BA MMB will be more accurate than seat guru !!

Just to add LHR has 7 x 3 class 777s it could lend
The GVII series are 40 club , 24 WTP , 219 WT
The GMM series are 48 club , 24 WTP , 203 WT

The 4 class GVII are 12 F , 48 club , 40 WTP , 219 WT

My guess is that LHR will send one of the GMM series over , as that would adequately replace the fire damaged one , it has 8 less seats in total , but I doubt that would be a problem , just keep checking your MMB as at the moment there has to a bit of moving around , so a change could be likely

Pippy wrote:

I've decided to go on holiday on my own, this time. I feel I'd like an entire week of doing exactly what I want to do, with only myself to please. I usually prefer going somewhere with lots of places to explore, but next year, all I want is fairly simple accommodation (half-board) and a nice beach no more than five mins walk away

Of course, I should discuss this in the Menorca forum, but it seems the entire board, other than this forum, has been deserted, lol

I think I've pretty much settled on going here:

http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/sol-milanos-pinguinos.en-gb.htmli

Reviews are good enough for me and the beach is long enough to be able to find a quiet spot.

Looks really nice Pippy. I love a few days holidaying on my own. It's great doing exactly what you want to do when you want to do it.

I love our family holidays, and also love my annual trip with friends, usually on a European city break, but I've done a few trips on the own the last few years and really enjoyed them.

Menorca looks really relaxing, and the accomadation ideal for what you're looking for.
I'm also waiting on Easyjet to release their Summer '16 flights.

Hi Andy,

Thanks again for your helpful info ... appreciate it.

I assume that if they do switch to a GMM series from Heathrow,the seating in WTP+ will be the same, therefore the seats number which I have booked are pay for will still stand ... just a bit paranoid that I will end up in the middle seats as I'm not the best of fliers and always book a window seat! Also, if this change does occur, is it likely to be one of the refurbished planes?

Have just tried to log onto MMB and it is still down!!! I suppose the only other way to check if aircraft has been changed is to contact BA by phone, as tried contacting them via their FB page last night ... but no reply!!

Regards,
Pat

Hi Pat , if they do get a 777 from LHR it will still be the same configuration .
The G-YMM* series and the G-VII* series 3 class layouts both have WTP as rows 12, 13 , 14 the only difference is in the club world cabin , one as 40 seats the other has 48 ( an extra row )
You won't lose your paid for reserved seats as the WTP cabin will the same layout regardless .

The G-YMM planes at LHR that are 3 class ( there are 7 ) are the same spec as the LGW ones the refurbished 777 with new WTP cabins have not been done on the G-YMM registered planes , everything about them is " 2000 " in that the WT cabin and WTP is the year 2000 spec , only the club world cabin is the 2006 spec
And the planes were registered MM after the year 2000 !!! might even be the same crew from 2000 !!!

It's a shame that LGW planes don't get the same as the LHR ones in terms of updates , but in my opinion the crews are fantastic , as displayed in the Las Vegas evacuation , the LGW crews have always provided the friendliest flights in my experience .

Just keep checking your MMB as the flight gets closer to check for any updates , I'm sure everything will be ok , I'll just keep an eye out to see if a 777 from LHR is positioned to LGW and check which registered plane it is .

Hi Andy,

Feel better now knowing that I won't lose out on our paid for seats., as configuration will be the same in WT+ should there be a change of aircraft.

However, MMB is still down which doesn't fill me with a lot of hope in accessing my booking at T72 (?) ... is this common for the MMB site to be down for long periods? Tried phoning BA to ask when it is likely to up and running to no avail ..... spoke to someone in what I assume was an Indian Call Centre, couldn't understand a word he was saying, so was of no help whatsoever!!

Regards,
Pat

I actually went into MMB yesterday to view seats and make a payment and it worked ok , obviously with your flights they are having a change around and cannot finalise everything just yet .

Those call centres really annoy me , they use them to filter calls and then pass you onto a " home " centre where you eventually get to speak to a helpful and understandable person ( usually if you're spending money !! )

Personally I can't see anything being drastically changed and everything will be as normal , I've rechecked on whether a 777 had been repositioned to LGW and no sign yet , so they must be rescheduling the current fleet which might be why you can't access MMB , if they did put a 4 class 777 on , there would be a lot of empty seats which is something they wouldn't want to do , but might have to ?? Things might settle down after the weekend

Hi Andy,

Again ... thanks for your help and patience with all my questions:-)

Yes, you right .. perhaps if I said I wanted to upgrade to 1st I would have probably been put through to somebody that would have been of more help and I could understand lol ... as they say ..'money talks!'

Perhaps it's like asking 'how long is a piece of string', but, do you think, IYO, I will be able to access MMB by Thur which will be T72, as I'm still holding out on trying to book the front row (12A/B) if not already taken?

Regards,
Pat

All you can do is keep trying MMB , I'm guessing they are moving things around in the schedule as they are a plane down and haven't brought in another from LHR yet , but I reckon by T72 they have to have a firm plan in place ready for the flight requirements , perhaps by Monday with less than a week to go everything should be scheduled and MMB active to view .
Also remember that -72 works on your return flights too , I always forget which day it is when on holiday !!

Thanks Andy ... will do:-)

Hi Andy,

MMB is still down. Tried phoning BA again ... couldn't tell me when it is likely to be up and running, nor could they tell me which aircraft it is for our flight!! Asked to be transferred to an English Call Centre where somebody could help ... no can do!!

The worse case scenario, if MMB isn't up and running by the time we are supposed to do online check in and print boarding cards ... where do we go from there?

Regards,
Pat

Hi Pat , obviously MMB is down for that flight , as I've just been checking my seats on MMB page and no problems , so far they haven't repositioned a 777 from LHR , so must have enough flexibility with the LGW planes to cover all routes but perhaps haven't finalised which planes are covering specific flights ?? That's probably why MMB is unavailable ?? I'm very sure it's going to be a 777 that is used as no other LGW registered planes are suitable .

You are guaranteed to get your pre paid , pre booked seats 14 A/B as no other configuration for WTP is possible even assuming they have to use a 4 class 777 .
If the MMB stays down , so you can't do OLCI and print BP then the only option is to checkin at the airport when you would be dropping off your bags anyway , but I guess they will MMB for the flight up and running by -72 , so just keep checking up to that point and beyond if necessary , I know you want to see if you can bag 12 A/B if they are not already taken, and if they're not taken no one else is able to get them either if MMB is down , all you can do is just checking often and eventually I'm sure it will up and running .

I have done the odd dummy booking from LGW to PUJ on 20/09 and it allows / or at least shows availability for all cabins , so I don't think it's a full , full flight ?
Just stick to the -72 plan and see what happens .

Hi Andy,

As you have suggested ...will just keep checking MMB. Am happy to know that our booked seats won't be changed even if change of aircraft.

As we will be doing day before check in, do we just proceed to a BA check in desk with our luggage as we have previously done with VA and Thomson? What is the procedure with BA .. sorry for being a pain:-(

Regards,
Pat

Hi Pat , as you know you can view your seats at any time , and at -72 ( to flight time ) other seats get released , that are held for status , and then everyone can do the OLCI , ( on line check in ) at 24 hours before flight .

Normal check in procedures like others , and you can choose to print off your boarding cards or collect at airport etc etc . We always go to the desks which are in Zone A in the North Terminal ( to the left as you enter ) and drop off bags and also collect a boarding card ( and then keep our printed ones we do at home as a back up ) we also have a mobile boarding card too !!! There's no way I'm not going to get on that plane !!! And then just through security .

You can do your own boarding card and do bag drop , but the desks are not really busy and I've never seen big queues ever , so it's just easier to do a normal checkin at the airport , but by doing the OLCI , you've secured your seats .
If you do end up with 2 or 3 types of boarding cards , just use one type through the airport journey , so use the same one at the departure gate as you used at the beginning of the security check .

I'm sure everything will work out fine , if you do manage to get on the MMB at -72 just look at the airline type , at this moment it will just say 777 , at -72 it will say so something like 77A or 77S , which will be the series and registration of the plane , which will narrow down the plane registration you will very likely to be flying on
It's at the top of the page when you expand the flight details and have the option to click " view or change seats "

Good luck and enjoy your flights .

Thanks again Andy. I just like everything to be all done, dusted and sorted prior to travelling to the airport as we have always done in the past .. hopefully I'm worrying over nothing lol!

Regards,
Pat

Hi Pat , just looking back to last week on the flights on the 13th and 10th they used G-VIIU and previous to that they used G-VIIP throughout August
These are 40 CW , 24 WTP and 219 WT and that has been the most common used configuration over the last few months .
Good luck tomorrow and hope MMB is now working ok !!!