London Heathrow

In the terminal I followed the signs for international connections. The agent at the entrance to the fast track line verified my passport and my ticket and let me pass. Four agents were on duty and there was no one ahead of me. I passed the checkpoint quickly and was soon on the escalator upstairs where the security check takes place which is always necessary if you connect in LHR as the UK does not consider other states as secure.

Upstairs at the security checkpoints were long lines but like during my previous transit on my way back from Vancouver I walked till the furthest possible checkpoint. Nevertheless there were still ten people ahead of me. The security officers were a little bit slow and a few were talking to each other instead of assisting passengers. A few things could have been avoided easily, e.g. looking if bins were available instead of waiting till passengers asked for bins. There were also a number of empty bins blocking the belt after they were x-rayed. Overall it was not very organized but unfortunately this is also not uncommon for London. Might it as it be, I passed security even quicker than I anticipated after seeing the long lines.

The flight was departing from terminal 5C and therefore the BA lounge in terminal 5B was the more convenient lounge for this flight. I decided to walk to the tunnel to the terminal 5B before being in another plane for 8 hours. I took the elevator to the lowest floor, which is one floor below the train station. There you could walk in both directions because unlike the signs in terminal 5B suggest, one can walk between Terminals 5A, 5B and 5C without need to clear security again. One has only to take the elevator or stairs in case of terminal 5B and 5C one floor below the train stations. This even gives you the possibility to visit the lounge in Terminal 5B during a longer layover, if departing from Terminal 5C.

The British Airways Galleries Lounge in terminal 5B was not very busy and I took a seat and connected to the internet reading and answering mails while sipping on a glass of a rosé wine and sparkling water.
I had already received an e-mail informing me that the flight would depart 30 minutes late and thus decided to spend some more time in the lounge than I usually would have. But my plan was to walk over to terminal 5C and stretching my legs another time before being stuck in a metal tube. I left the lounge around 16:10 and took the elevator down to the connecting tunnel on level -4 and walked underneath the terminal to terminal 5C.

The gate for the flight to Montreal was right where the escalator comes up from the basement / connection train station and the area was not very busy. A few people were standing close to the boarding gate, while others were sitting in the waiting area, reading or playing with their smartphone / tablets.

I was able to get a first impression about our Boeing 777-236 (ER) which would fly us to Montreal. It was the Boeing 777 with registration G-YMMF and a quick research revealed the details of our plane. The plane was delivered to British Airways on May 17, 2000 and powered by two Rolls Royce Trent 895 engines with a thrust of 93400 lbf or 415 kN.. The Boeing 777-236 (ER) was equipped with 48 seats in Club World, 24 seats in World Traveller Plus and 203 seats in World Traveller class. The World Traveller Plus seats on this plane were not the newest generation and did not offer all the feature of the seats in the Airbus A 380-800 and Boeing 787, but was still pretty good for the flight to Montreal.

The configuration was in Club World and World Traveller Plus 2 – 4 – 2 while it was 3 – 3 – 3 in Economy Class. Club World had the standard lie flat seats with a seat pitch of 73 inch or 6 feet and a seat pitch of 22 inch (or 25 inch depending on how you measure it).

Boarding started delayed at 16:15 with passengers flying in Club World, BA Executive Gold and Silver Members and the two highest oneworld elite tiers Emerald and Sapphire. Another ID check was performed before we were allowed to enter the jet bridge. The pre-boarding announcement was also enforced as two passengers were directed back to the regular economy line.

04 December 2014
LHR – YUL
[London Heathrow – Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport]
BA 95 (British Airways); Boeing 777-200 (G-YMMF)
Gate C 54
16:35 – 19:05 [effective 17:19 – 19:56]
Premium Economy Class (World Traveller Plus)
Seat 12 J

I was greeted at the entrance of the plane and given directions how to reach my seat. Between the entrance door and the first row of World Traveller Plus are rows of Club World seats. World Traveller Plus on this type of plane was only a small three row cabin, which is very nice. Both classes are separated by walls from the next lower class.

I passed the two rows of club world and was soon in the World Traveller Plus Cabin. Headphones, blankets and pillows were already placed on the seats. The headphone was swapped in a plastic cover which included also the amenity kit of WTP.

The plane filled with passengers and one lady with a lot of duty free bags took a seat in the middle seats of WTP. A flight attendant passing the cabin noticed it and looked a bit confused. Soon later the inflight manager approached her and asked to see her boarding pass. She was unable to find it. The inflight manager was in the beginning quite friendly, but it was very obvious, that the lady tried to self upgrade and so she asked her for her name, which she pronounced not very clear. The flight manager told her that the other persons were paying to sit here and asked her to leave the plane because she could not offer any document that she entitled to be on the plane. She needed to ask a colleague to call security before she finally found her boarding pass and was directed and escorted back to Economy by two male flight attendants.

While we were at the gate, the captain welcomed us and gave us an update. We had a late incoming aircraft and also some cargo needed to be loaded into the plane before we could leave our gate. This took a couple of additional time and since we had strong headwinds he was most likely unable to reduce the delay. To make it even more worse, with light rain and low clouds, we had to queue up for take-off which would add to our delay. In the meantime a hot towel service was done on the ground and also a pre-departure drink offered which was either water or orange juice, no fancy champagne in World Traveller Plus. Immigration forms for Canada were also distributed.

The safety video was shown on the ground and the crew made sure that the in seat monitors were folded out and after the video was shown stored again. A small printed menu was available for World Traveller Plus and was also handed out while we were still on the ground.

Finally at 17:19 we were pushed back and taxied to our runway. The taxiing offered some nice view of the illuminated building of terminal 5B and 5A. We were finally number 1 for take-off round about 17:46, which was one hour behind scheduled take-off time.

We took off in Western direction and flew straight towards the Irish Sea. The load in World Traveller Plus was very low and only 9 out of the 24 seats were occupied. Everybody had a free seats next to the own seats and thus could spread themselves over two or even more seats.

The World Traveller Plus Cabin on this flight was not the newest one, was already mentioned earlier. It was configured 2 – 4 – 2 and had only three rows between Club World (Business Class) and World Traveller (Economy). The seats recline 7 inches and the seat pitch is 38 inch while the seat width is 20 inch. All seats have their own small 10.4 inch screen, which fold out in the first row or is mounted at the head rest of the seat in front. The inflight entertainment system is powered by Rockwell Collins

My seat in the first row offered enough space as no one could recline in my seat and the space in front of the seat was sufficient, though one could not place anything on the floor. I could recommend all seats in row 12 as these offer additional space.

The cabin crew went to their station as soon as the fasten seat belt sign was turned off approximately ten minutes after we left London. One of the first duties of the crew was to close the curtains between the different classes.

It took only ten minutes after the crew went to their stations before a hot towel was offered, followed by a beverage service. Offered were alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages together with a small packet of sour and cream pretzels. I had already started my laptop and used the in-seat monitor and table of the seat next to me to give me more space to work. I only had a sparkling water with the pretzels as I wanted to use the flight time to work and sent the documents after my arrival to my office via e-mail.

Time for me, to look at the menu (click on icon, opens new window)

It does not took a long time and finally and the main meal service was done. I was a bit surprised that it was that quick and moved my laptop to the tray on the tray table of the window seat. I was asked about my choice of main meal and went for the chicken. Orders were not taken in advance though, but being the first passengers to be served both option were still available. I was asked by the flight attendant which wine I would prefer to have with the meal and asked for a white wine, which was served in a small bottle along with a real glass for the wine. The additional sparkling water was served in a plastic cup though; a roll was also offered.

First Meal Service

Chicken tikka masala with with dal makhani
and jeera pulao rice

The small bottle of wine was not made from glass but from multilayer polyethylene terephthalate (MLPET), which is lighter than glass and has the advantage of being unbreakable. MPLET is also fully recyclable. Since PET usually is not fully blocking oxygen which is in terms of wine problematic, there is a layer of nylon between two layer of PET to nearly fully blocking oxygen transmission. These MLPET bottles does also come in smaller unites as there is no need for dividers anymore reducing the weight and space even more and adding to the saving of fuel. Currently, these MPLET are mostly used for the smaller bottles of 187 ml, 75 cl and 100 cl.

The chicken was actually quite good and spicy, though the rice was a bit dry. Overall I was not disappointed with the meal but I have also to admit that I had very low expectations given what I had heard from friends and colleagues about the catering of BA.

Half an hour later tea and coffee was offered but there was no additional beverage service during meal time. I went with a coffee.

The items from the meal service were cleared a little bit later and soon the cabin lights were dimmed. I continued to work with my laptop, but had a quick look at the audio video system.

The system could either controlled by the controller in the seat or by the screen. Britsh Airways offered a limited selection of CDs, music, films and TV shows / documentations. I did not find anything outstanding which caught my intention or which I wanted to hear. I switched back to the flight map to watch our progress towards Montreal while working on my report, which I needed to have finished this night so my colleagues in Europe would get it after my arrival in Montreal to review if during the morning in Europe. In so far I was not happy to see only empower in-seat power outlets. But since I was travelling with two laptops, it was possible to continue to work with the other laptop if number one was running out of power. The decision to switch to a new power adapter without supporting empower anymore was in this case not the best decision. This was the second time I discovered only empower outlets (the other one was Virgin Atlantic on London to Los Angeles last year and this was even in Upper Class)

The crew did two beverage rounds during the flight offering either water or orange juice.

The lights were turned on round about 80 minutes ahead of our estimated time of arrival and it was time for a light snack. I also went with a coffee.

First Meal Service

Sandwich

The flight deck informed us about our progress to Montreal 40 minutes before we were estimated to touch down. The crew began to collect the items from the snack service and prepared the cabin for the arrival in Montreal.

We were asked to stow the in seat monitors and put the seat in an upright position, though the entertainment system was continuing to run. We were also allowed to use our electronic devices with inflight mode turned on, though were asked to stow laptops, which was again not enforced and I was able to finish my report just a minute before touched down in Montreal at 19:49 and taxied for our gate, which we reached at 19:56, 51 minutes late. Both doors were used and we could quickly disembark and head to immigration. Only six desks were staffed, but waiting time was not long being ahead of the masses back in Economy and also a light load in Business Class.

The luggage belt had no started as I arrived at belt 6. A couple of minutes later it started, but the priority labelled belts were not the first one on the belt and I had to wait some time before it finally showed up. I picked it up, passed customs and was on my way to the 747 bus stop.

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