Home > British Airways > 2008 > Review

Taken 3 May 2008 from Dublin - DUB to London, England (Gatwick Airport) - LGW

Flew on the bank holiday weekend, both flights were full, but they were operated in the rather small and dated 737-500. I like that fact that you can check in for a flight with BA and select your desired seat 24 hours in advanced, even though you still have luggage. You can then decide to collect your boarding card at the airport by one of the self-service check in machines.

I haven’t used BA in about 2 years and clearly seen some cost cutting. Ground agent services in Dublin are now operated by Aviance, rather than Aer Lingus. However they done a very good job at checking in and boarding the aircraft that left on time.

BA used rather dated 737’s on both directions on this route. However the comfort was excellent, with very friendly crew even though I notice that they now only have three cabin crew, while as before they had four, so the service has now gone down hill a bit. You are only now served with a drink, which I found very small. I think I would rather have a pay on board bar in which I would have received a decent cup of coffee.

I didn’t find British Airways own check in agents at Gatwick very friendly and boarding the aircraft was done in one go, rather than in Dublin which was boarded by, passengers with children and then seat row numbers.

We arrived in Dublin on time, but we were delayed by 20 minutes getting off the aircraft as we had to wait on a set of stairs. In both airports we disembarked by the rear of the aircraft which I found strange and which benefited the economy passengers more so than the business class passengers at the front of the aircraft.

I don’t think I would go out of my way to book another BA European flight, useless they were the cheapest on offer. It’s a real shame that a once good service has slowly gone downhill, but I guess that’s what the airline industry is like nowadays. Soon it will be impossible to tell any airline apart in the area of cabin service.