Long haul BA

[Mrspopper]

Flying to Singapore with kids and just trying to get prepared!
do they give you blankets (night flight)
also are there usb charging things in arm rests?
thank you!

If you are going economy then yes you will get blankets. They aren't great so I took my own. The USB slots in the seats were hit and miss so my advice is take a power bank.

My other top tips are noise cancelling headphones and an eye mask. Take toothbrushes and toothpaste to freshen up along with maybe a flannel. I also took moisturiser.

Also get bottled water to take on the plane.

The place to ask everything BA (or to find out where someone see has asked it)

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club-446/

I used one of those blow up cubes to put my feet on when I flew premier economy - it was brilliant.

Blankets will be provided.

Do not rely on them to fully provide re foods, take what they like for the journey.

( Regarding an inflatable foot rest BA specifically state these are not permitted for use onboard).

You might want to get an ESIM before you go as buying local SIMS is a pain- need to show your passport and they have to take all the details.

@AttilaTheMeerkat

It was on a BA flight and I'd assumed they would be not allowed. The air steward came over to say how brilliant the cube are and how they were becoming more popular. She said that they had previously not been allowed but were now allowed.

I was surprised as I had presumed they would be a trip hazard if there was an emergency.

I'll go have a google.

@AttilaTheMeerkat
I've googled and they are definitely NOT allowed. I'll stop recommending them 😅😅. Shame as it made a huge difference.

Thank you! Getting excited now x

I flew BA to Singapore 2 years ago and just to warn you, they gave us dinner but "breakfast" was half a sandwich (I kid you not - literally one piece of bread cut in half) and a KitKat.

So you might want to take snacks especially as you're going with kids!

Thanks @ronconcoke that’s a good tip!

If you book seats towards the back of the plane more chance of empty seats around you that you can spread into- don't be afraid to ask the crew about moving as soon as they announce boarding complete. They might let you move then or may hold them for you to move to after take off- they do then stop others moving into them.

".....or may hold them for you to move to after take off- they do then stop others moving into them."

TBH I've never heard of cabin crew actually selectively holding seats back in that manner as being an official policy at BA but it's worth a polite ask.....

They certainly do in my experience. Very little in BA is consistent from crew to crew!

I rarely fly economy and I am gold which may be an influence- but I was approached going to SFO recently and offered an empty middle row of 4 to move into post takeoff. They also did that for some families as well. They made it clear that others couldnt move as the seats were blocked. Had similar on a mid haul last year. I think they moved my bag to under the seat but I couldn't move until take off was complete.

I would ask the crew member in your section how full the plane is on boarding and ask if there are any seats available that would give the children more space for sleeping.

They certainly do in my experience. Very little in BA is consistent from crew to crew!

You may think that, I can't possibly comment...🤐

I'm just cautious of raising the OPs expectations that there's a actual BA policy that means that, if requested, once boarding is completed crew will ensure convenient free seats are kept clear for the OPs use once the seat belt sign goes out.

It's definitely worth an ask, it might work and the cabin crew will do what they can (as you've observed) but I'd ask the OP not to be surprised if they perhaps get a response of "I'll do my best but no guarantees".

Thank you this is good to know. Both children have Sen so BA pre booked seats for free. I’ll ask when we board as would be great to have a bit more space if flight not full

I've been very underwhelmed by BA of late and unfortunately we often end up flying with them. Yes to blankets and USB sockets, but do take your own power bank. They are retro-fitting a lot of their fleet at present to improve the in-flight entertainment systems (we had a new one at new year) and they are better than before with a much larger selection.

What kind of plane are you flying on? If an A380 then the noise is minimal - I've never flown on such a quiet plane - but if you're on a 777 and behind the engines the noise can be so bad that you can't really hear the entertainment unless you have noise-cancelling headphones, so definitely take some if you have them. Take neck pillows too, if you want to sleep, and they don't hand out the little packages containing eye masks any more, so take your own.

Re comments on 380 and 777- just to add to the mix and for info on the Summer schedule which starts very soon the BA15/16 (the flight that goes on to Sydney) is planned to be 787.

EDIT agree with this

Our economy meals on recent flight to the USA were rank. They only had vegetarian left by the time they got to us. Whilst I am a meat enjoy I quite enjoy vegan or vegetarian normally but we were served potato in a wet and runny cheese sauce with mushrooms. The kids refused to touch it and we had to buy crisps and chocolate to keep to keep them going.

We did get blanket, pillow, headphones, great choice of tv and movies on the seat back entertainment.

So next time I would add some snacks etc to my hand luggage.

Our return flight was premium economy and the food was lovely and all the extras were much better.

The kids refused to touch it and we had to buy crisps and chocolate to keep to keep them going

It's amazing how much flights can vary. We flew BA economy to the US last winter, and the food was passable for airline food. But there were so many snacks provided, there was a basket in the galley of chocolate bars, fruit pastilles, pretzels, cereal bars and freddos! Passengers were encouraged to help themselves at any time. We were also given ice cream about half way through the flight.

Hiya it’s a 787. Thank you

And 380 on way home

Which is rumoured to be quieter "down the back" than a 777 but also rumoured (or was when it was introduced) to sometimes be tighter on leg room due to the way the inflight entertainment wiring was routed to the economy seats.

I have no recent experience of flying on the 787 so it would be interesting to here from anybody who has.

FWIW the BA16, regardless of type being used tends (or at least tended), to be very full out of Singapore due to the folks coming through from Sydney but fingers crossed you'll get some free space...

if flight not full

Don't count on this! BA only flies two routes to SE Asia atm - Shanghai and Singapore (they're adding back Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur this year - thank goodness!) and the planes tend to chock full. That seems to be true of all routes though since Covid - you rarely see a spare seat anywhere.

^^

Based on a bit of experience of flying on that route a fair bit, though TBF none of it recent, very much agree.

I'd suggest the number of empty seats on the flights recently mentioned would in the single digits or even zero, certainly in the near future...

The situation on the BA 16 Singapore to London has not been helped by BA switching the flight from the 777-300 to a smaller 787 variant for the (northern hemisphere) summer season.

That's probably down to BA planning for the slight reduction in traffic on the route that normally happens during northern hemisphere summer...PITA for passengers such as the OP but airlines don't want to fly empty seats around if they can avoid it..

Yes to blankets. We've been on that flight twice recently with non working usb charging points despite one of them being a much newer plane.