Anyone flown BA Premium Economy to MCO?

[MrRomance]

I think we've pretty much flown to MCO on just about every airline over the years but never on BA. We usually flew Virgin, but after our awful experience last February, I will never use them again. Has anyone flown BA P.E.? How does it compare to VA?

 

[Minniesgal]

I'm not a fan of BA the planes are ancient and there is a real lack of flight attendants. I would fly VA over BA anyway. Especially since VA now have a new fleet of planes but BA are still flying very old ones

 

[gavvy]

I like BA but their world traveler plus product is not as good as Virgins, there is no separate check in or priority boarding. The meal is the same as that in Economy, also as the Galley for PE is at the back of the plane- you share the same crew as World traveler I felt we were a bit neglected.

The seats are like the old virgin PE ones so comfortable and great legroom, that's all you are paying for really.

 

[MrRomance]

That's strange because on the BA website it says that P.E. gets Club meals now, so maybe that's a new thing.

 

[rpbert1]

Flew last July to vegas, in BA PE, and it was very good, and we did get same food as Club got, not sure its worth the price as we only booked as we got a great deal on it, but would never have paid what they where wanting for full price

 

[gavvy]

That's strange because on the BA website it says that P.E. gets Club meals now, so maybe that's a new thing.

At the moment its only for flights from Heathrow- and its only the main dish- the rest of the tray is the same as world traveler. unless its changed recently.

 

[tigger137]

I like BA but their world traveler plus product is not as good as Virgins, there is no separate check in or priority boarding. The meal is the same as that in Economy, also as the Galley for PE is at the back of the plane- you share the same crew as World traveler I felt we were a bit neglected.

The seats are like the old virgin PE ones so comfortable and great legroom, that's all you are paying for really.

I haven't flown the MCO route with BA but have flown WT+ a few times into/out of Heathrow. Regardless of how BA market it, in reality the product is little more than a separate cabin and more legroom - it's more liked United Economy Plus than a true premium product.

On the Heathrow routes the entree is from Club but the rest of the meal is the same as Economy. Depending on the aircraft and configuration the WT+ may or may not have separate toilets. Where it doesn't, you use those in Economy and not those in Club (and I've seen this enforced).

As gavvy says, you share the same crew as WT. My experience has been that the crew simply treat WT+ as the first few rows of WT. Little, if any, acknowledgement is made that you've paid more (usually in the region of twice as much) to be in that cabin rather than Economy.

Last year I wrote a comparison of VA PE and BA WT+ in which VA PE came out well ahead. Unfortunately a more recent experience of VA PE makes me think that the VA PE product standards have now been lowered so much that there really isn't much in it.

From now on I intend to fly with whichever airline offers the route I need at the best price, and expect only a bit more legroom and extra luggage allowance from the supposed premium product. If I experience anything more than that, all well and good. The difficult part is to ignore the marketing of both airlines which can easily lead the customer to expect more of the product than they are likely to experience. The main problem is consistency; the product is far too reliant on how the crew feel on the day.

 

[MrRomance]

I haven't flown the MCO route with BA but have flown WT+ a few times into/out of Heathrow. Regardless of how BA market it, in reality the product is little more than a separate cabin and more legroom - it's more liked United Economy Plus than a true premium product.

On the Heathrow routes the entree is from Club but the rest of the meal is the same as Economy. Depending on the aircraft and configuration the WT+ may or may not have separate toilets. Where it doesn't, you use those in Economy and not those in Club (and I've seen this enforced).

As gavvy says, you share the same crew as WT. My experience has been that the crew simply treat WT+ as the first few rows of WT. Little, if any, acknowledgement is made that you've paid more (usually in the region of twice as much) to be in that cabin rather than Economy.

Last year I wrote a comparison of VA PE and BA WT+ in which VA PE came out well ahead. Unfortunately a more recent experience of VA PE makes me think that the VA PE product standards have now been lowered so much that there really isn't much in it.

From now on I intend to fly with whichever airline offers the route I need at the best price, and expect only a bit more legroom and extra luggage allowance from the supposed premium product. If I experience anything more than that, all well and good. The difficult part is to ignore the marketing of both airlines which can easily lead the customer to expect more of the product than they are likely to experience. The main problem is consistency; the product is far too reliant on how the crew feel on the day.

In all honesty, I don't expect much from the PE product other than legroom and extra baggage allowance. That's why I use it (I have a hip problem and need to be able to stretch my leg out a bit!) The VA product we had in Feb was as I expected, it was the crappy treatment we experienced from the crew member on the way out and the fact that check in staff sat my 8 year old autistic daughter on her own on the way back that narked me enough to stop using them. I think our experience was definitely tainted by a poor crew member.

I'm not really expecting much, the PE product is little more than a gimmick which I'm well aware of but having never used the BA product I thought I'd throw it out to the good people of the DIS for their experiences!

 

[irenep]

In all honesty, I don't expect much from the PE product other than legroom and extra baggage allowance. That's why I use it (I have a hip problem and need to be able to stretch my leg out a bit!) The VA product we had in Feb was as I expected, it was the crappy treatment we experienced from the crew member on the way out and the fact that check in staff sat my 8 year old autistic daughter on her own on the way back that narked me enough to stop using them. I think our experience was definitely tainted by a poor crew member.

I'm not really expecting much, the PE product is little more than a gimmick which I'm well aware of but having never used the BA product I thought I'd throw it out to the good people of the DIS for their experiences!

That's definitely not a good experience.

I have done both and my own view is that VS is a slightly better when it comes to seat space/extras and BA is better with cabin crew. One thing with BA that might be of use is that you can pay to reserve specific seats in WT+ and while there is a slight possibility that might be changed I think you are less likely to be split up than with VS.

I am trying out the paid-for extra legroom economy seats this summer with VS. It will be interesting to see how that works out as I can't justify the cost of PE every time.

 

[Elise79]

In all honesty, I don't expect much from the PE product other than legroom and extra baggage allowance. That's why I use it (I have a hip problem and need to be able to stretch my leg out a bit!) The VA product we had in Feb was as I expected, it was the crappy treatment we experienced from the crew member on the way out and the fact that check in staff sat my 8 year old autistic daughter on her own on the way back that narked me enough to stop using them. I think our experience was definitely tainted by a poor crew member.

I'm not really expecting much, the PE product is little more than a gimmick which I'm well aware of but having never used the BA product I thought I'd throw it out to the good people of the DIS for their experiences!

Sorry you had such a bad experience.

Technically on all our VA flights before the refurbs our under 5 DD was going to be seated on her own as the seats were pairs and her boarding card always showed the single seat. In reality we just switched and DH or I sat in the single. We always check in online too which helps but generally in PE I haven't seen any families split up totally.

I know the crew pays a big part of the PE experience and in 20 legs we have done in the last 4 years we have had some good and some not so good. However the best flight crew we have ever had brought us home after Easter. The FSM came and greeted us by name and offered us a glass of champagne (we have silver FC status) and then the service was perfect and they couldn't do enough for us.