British Airways A318 Club World from London to New York

hello fellow travelers have you ever flown a narrow-body aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean I'm about to you see I'm about to fly an Airbus a318 from here in London out of London City Airport all the way to JFK with just a quick stopover in Shannon Ireland to go through u.s. customs and refuel this is going to be a pretty special journey on an aircraft that's come to be known as the baby bus there's no lounge here so British Airways provides a free breakfast at the restaurant just inside security passengers in this flight are not meant to hang around the airport check-in closes 20 minutes prior to departure and with no lounge and limited shopping there's not a lot to do with London City unless of course you're a plane spotter now this is one of British Airways most unique routes in fact it may be one of the world's most unique routes it retains a very important flight number ba one which also belonged to Concorde keep watching to see whether this is concorde 2.0 British Airways has only one a318 of this unique configuration and it only serves this route that's flying between New York and London with a stopover at Shannon on the return and that's what we're doing today the stop in Shannon will allow passengers to go through u.s. customs and immigration before landing in New York theoretically accelerating our arrival that said the real reason for the stop is to add the fuel required to make the hop against the wind across the pond this boarding process is unspeakably exciting for an aviation enthusiast like me of course the beautiful weather made the experience pleasant even for non-ascii passengers [Music] these seats are in a word a bit tired again they're only 32 of them on an airplane that could fit up to a hundred thirty-two passengers and an all-economy configuration so I'm not complaining too much even though there were only 11 passengers in the plane I was traveling with my girlfriend so I chose to sit with her we could have easily both had our own rows if we'd so chosen [Music] [Music] if you're like me and like flying and views like this as much as I do I hope you'll consider subscribing to the channel simply tap that subscribe button hit the notification bell - that way you'll be among the first to know when I publish a new video and for now let's take a closer look at that seat it's a unique design among the be a fleet which means it has a separate card describing its features in use but you don't need the card you have me the seat adjustments themselves are intuitive and do the trick was easy to find a comfortable reclining position the Ottoman cannot be used as a seat it is within easy reach unfortunately during takeoff and landing nothing can be stored there it's a bit frustrating with two takeoffs and two landings in the route the tray table which will make an appearance in a bit was a little small and a bit wobbly there's a reading light and here's where the seat really falls apart for me there's no storage apart from this impractically small bin in addition to the plug you saw by the impractically small bin there are another two between the seats thankfully ba have opted to provide individual gas pers or air vents in this aircraft there's a fast meal service in the short hour and 12 minutes flight to Shannon I chose the vegetarian sushi which was very nice but before we knew it the Irish coast line came into view and we were already on approach preclearance is available in a number of airports outside the US including among others Bermuda Abu Dhabi and many Canadian cities passengers departing from these airports are able to complete customs and immigration formalities prior to landing in the u.s. passengers with check bags here in Shannon were required to wait a little longer than those who merely had carry-on bags this was so those bags could be inspected and photographed I had a check bag and was shown a picture of it while going through immigration who was asked to confirm it belong to me it's worth noting we had to clear security again in Shannon in addition to all of those other formalities once that was all done we were asked to wait in a slightly upgraded waiting area before rewarding and taking off again [Music] this was the point in the flight when I really settled in the trip to New York would take just about seven hours and passengers are provided with an amenity kit by the white company although it's small it includes everything you'd want on a flight of this length you may have noticed that there's no built-in in-flight entertainment in the seatbacks instead British Airways officer passengers iPads and headphones distributed from a beverage cart the iPads only had 15 movies included and none of them appealed to me I was glad to have brought my own iPad to watch content also the headphones I'm sorry to say weren't that good I was glad to have my own bose qc25 ohs headphones please use the link in the description before buying them if you do this the channel will receive a small commission thanks the food on this flight is prepared by doe & Co it's some of the best I've ever eaten in the air it really was delicious getting in and out of the seat even with a seat mate was okay now obviously if you don't know your seat mate you're much better off in a row of your own if you can swing it now isn't that always true though the cabin is arranged in a two-two configuration with 32 fully live flat seats these seats offer between 72 and 73 inches of pitch and are 20 inches wide one nice feature was that the galley at the back of the cabin has a sort of double curtain so passengers visiting the rear lavatory don't disturb the rest of the cabin with light from the galley although I didn't really fall asleep I attempted to try out the bed for you it felt okay but to be honest was a bit cramped I'm sure it would do the trick for the relatively short nighttime flight from JFK to London City one quick note if you're not like me and you don't know your seat mate there is a privacy partition between the two seats about one hour before landing a light snack was provided a word about this crew they're based at Gatwick and don't always fly this route they seemed nearly as excited about flying British Airways flight 1 as I was they were in a word great but what's this concorde 2.0 and I think not at more than nine hours that's an hour to Shannon an hour on the ground there and seven more to New York there's certainly no time savings like Concorde in fact you could fly a British Airways 747 from Heathrow to JFK in eight hours also unlike Concorde there were no celebrities among the eleven of us on this flight but there is a an undeniable cool factor that goes along with flying and narrow-body baby bus across the Atlantic I mean this was practically a private jet to me this route is ideal for two types of people either one you're someone who needs to get to or from the heart of London's financial district without the hassle of traffic or two you're an aviation enthusiast like me you enjoy the flight for the novelty of it let's take a look at how this flight ranks among other international business and first-class trips I've taken I can't tell you how much fun I had on this flight as an advocate was a very special one and I'm so fortunate to travel as much as I do I never forget how lucky I am but I've started ranking my airline experiences as a frequent business traveler on an admittedly subjective five factor scale let's look at this flight first a lounge well since London City doesn't have one they make up for it by offering a free breakfast I'd say that's worth two out of five stars second the seat it's unique and seems like it would be reasonably comfortable as a bed but the lack of practical storage is a real downer for me now I'll have to go with two stars here the in-flight entertainment is extremely weak with only 15 movies available on an old iPad be sure to bring your own if that's what you're into this too is worth a mere 2 out of 5 stars the food was spectacular I'd say these could easily have passed for first-class rather than business class meals I'll go with 5 out of 5 stars the service was also top-notch the crew were great and syndics as excited as I was about this special route 5 out of 5 here so that leaves BA with 16 out of twenty five stars on their special British Airways flight one light the a318 across the Atlantic between now and the next time see the skies you

Channel: Jeb Brooks

Views: 1,044,175

Rating: 4.6979136 out of 5

Keywords: British Airways A318, British Airways Flight 1, British Airways Business Class, Club World, British Airways A318 Club World, Airbus A318

Id: NVUTCBmh3aA

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 02 2019