I flew recently to Lanzarote , we went out in club Europe and returned in economy , I thought I would write about the differences and experience .
The cost of the flights were £160 out and £110 return ,per person , so is CE worth £50 more ? Well we arrived at checkin and no wait , pleasantly issued boarding cards and made our way to lounge , the new Gatwick lounge is very good and we had a pleasant time there , we were lucky to see our plane come in and it was at gate 10 so only a short walk , we boarded and had row 3 seats A and C , there's not a lot of legroom , but good to have sideways space , there were 9 rows of CE and 2 crew serving , our previous flights had about 6 rows , so I felt the service was more stretched than before .
Soon after take off , we had drinks from the bar and bag of snacks and menu cards handed out , the meal was a smoked salmon starter , which I love and missus dislikes , so 2 portions for me !! The tray was given out with starter and dessert and cheese plate , and the main was then served as people had got through their starter , it was a chicken dish and it wasn't really that tasty , I liked the way the menu was set out and the idea of the service , but thought the crew couldn't really carry out the service as intended as there was 36 to serve , they did seem under pressure , the dessert and cheese plate were both good and then there was more drinks if you wanted .
Overall , I guess the lounge would cost 20 each if booking somewhere like no1 traveller , having to buy some food and drink , about 10 to 15 each , so for a 4 hour flight with a bit more room and pleasant service that's about 15 to 20 each , and you do collect more avios and tier points if you are in the exec club , so I think it is good value for the added price I paid .
Return report to follow ......
Checkin was opened about 2 and half hours before departure , very quickly done and through into det lounge , there is no BA lounge to use here even if flying in CE , most return airports do have 3rd party lounges at least which BA use .
Anyway Lanzarote is probably one of the nicest airports I have experienced , plenty of food and beverage outlets , great outdoor terrace and a good range of shops , and it's not that big either so easy to get around yet not overpacked with passengers .
We boarded and found that only the seats 12A and 12F were occupied so the middle seat was empty and there was great legroom. So seating wise , it was actually better than CE on the way out , in a normal row with all 3 seats occupied it would be ok and wouldn't bother me too much if that had happened , obviously it wouldn't be as comfortable and private as travelling in CE with a partner .
After take off , service started and buy on board has been introduced , there were 2 crew to carry out this service , for about 120+ passengers . The crew were very good , but the service they were able to carry out was fairly slow , it took about 2 hours for them to complete it . We had both bought a cheese and ham baguette and crisps in the lounge before boarding at a cost of 5 euros each , we were at the start of the service ( thankfully ) and ordered 2 coffees , total cost £4.60 , no cash is accepted , just payment cards or you can use avios , the payment terminal did accept payment without pin which speeded up the service !! There's not a great range of food , so I would suggest pre buying if you don't like the offer / price or perhaps having to wait 90 mins or have a flight of about 2 hours !!!!
The coffee did taste ok and the flight was comfortable .
Overall , if you want a flight with good service , something to eat and drink and some room , book a CE seat , and if at a low price it's really good value , if you want to just get there or back , and price is most important then book whoever .
BA economy short haul is not bad , just about the same now as LCCs except hold luggage is included in the price and though LCCs appear to be low priced after adding on hold luggage they don't appear to be so attractive , and you are also able to select seats at 24 hours before for free and generally get seats next to each other rather than be very randomly given middle seats rows apart .
In the future if I can get CE seats for a fair price I would book them , if I choose economy I would pre buy food again .
We were going to be sampling ET to Zakynthos to see how bad BOB was, but alas we have had to cancel. We had got a really good price as it was beating Easy Jet.
36 on CE is not good with only 2 staff. You are paying for prompt service( although BA would probably say, as they have be known to do, that anything beyond a seat is complimentary!)
I thought the main was a poorer quality meal than I've had before , I do like chicken breast in a sauce with some veg but if you bake or overcook it then the taste and texture is just horrible , on previous flights I've had kedgeree and salmon rissoto and rice based meals do cook better in a steam oven and therefore taste better .
BA would say they have enhanced the meal and on paper they have , but if the CE cabin is now fuller because a few more people think the extra cost is worth it because of BoB in economy then the service will deteriorate and if they offer a 4 course meal for I guess the same price of a previous 3 course meal then they must have cut the quality or quantity of each dish , they now serve wine and champagne from large bottles rather than the 25cl bottles they used to , wine was ok , nothing to get excited about though .
I think that if you compare with LCCs they have a one class cabin with up to 180 passengers being served by 4 crew and they are set up in the way of operating BoB , with BA you have 2 crew serving full service to 36 and 2 crew serving 120+ in a painfully slow fashion trying to do BoB which is new to them and not as slick and easy as their rivals do it . The crew on our return flight in economy were really good and did provide excellent service and were very polite and had good humour too .
Again I think if you look at the overall package of quick checkin , lounge , flight , baggage then the CE service is good as opposed to economy travel which can be good , but sometimes poor or aggravating .
you just have to weigh up the price difference and what represents good value to you .
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