I had booked a flight on Etihad from Johannesburg to Abu Dhabi with an ongoing connection to London on the American Airlines website. Using points was a great deal, only 30,000 points for both legs. On that day the Etihad flight had a landing gear problem and didn’t take off.
I had a 6 hour connection in Abu Dhabi which would be great for most circumstances but not this time. By the time we had been delayed in Johannesburg for 4 hours and we still didn’t have a confirmed update I decided to make an alternative booking. This is where I ended up booking a BA flight direct to London that evening for about 40,000 miles, still a great deal as I knew I would get the 30,000 points refunded from Etihad. This meant I would get to London around the same time as my original connection from Abu Dhabi, a win all around.
https://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_us/
This flight is on the A380 which is an added bonus.
Going on board:
Lovely view of the engines from the boarding passage. It is so cool when you get to be so close to the engines.
I wasn’t going to be turning left on boarding this time but I was just glad to be on a flight heading north.
I boarded quite early because of my American status and most seating areas were still empty.
Here is Premium Economy I believe though it might be Business Class. Nice separate pods, looks like a fun place to travel in.
Here is regular economy, I had a window seat as always. I like being able to put my bag up against the side of the aircraft and not have to put it under the seat.
Not enjoyable windows, quite small with a lot of wasted space that could be glass.
Popped into the loo quickly, rather basic but acceptable.
Saw this stair way leading up to another world but didn’t go up.
Safety instructions:
There are many exit paths from both levels of this aircraft.
The safety video is quite fun. British Airways personnel in the old west. It is humorous how they give instructions. Look at these ladies on a stagecoach (or is it their dressing room) getting instructions on using oxygen masks.
Nicely descriptive maps showing the route.
I have had a gripe with British Airways for years over the size of their screens. I have flown from DFW to Heathrow on a Boeing 747 which had small 5 inch screens and these didn’t seem much bigger. In contrast I have flown from New York to Dubai on Emirates A380 and they had great sized screens so I know it is possible.
I just don’t know why British are so skint with their screens.
The food:
This was the dinner meal. Spicy chicken and rice, an interesting sour bean salad, roll, butter, cheese and crackers, grenadilla mousse for desert and water. I also ordered red wine and a double Baileys on ice, always great. The meal was very tasty for an economy meal, I really enjoyed the chicken and rice, a nice meal.
Breakfast was a good English breakfast with beans and mushrooms and tomato as well as the regulars. A nice fruit salad and a cupcake to end it off with.
All in all the meals were very tasty. Much better than I would have expected seated at the back of the plane.
Conclusion:
That was my experience on being ‘rescued’ by British Airways after the mechanical issue meant that Etihad did not fly that day – Monday September 15th.
Great being able to experience the size of the A380 again. It was a perfectly fine flight with really good food. I will definitely fly this route again.
