Recounting the British Airways experience

By Kofi AHOVI
British Airways recently sponsored some journalists from selected media houses in Ghana to the United Kingdom for a short visit ranging from three to 10 days. The trip was to enable the journalists to acquire firsthand knowledge about British Airways’ (BA) Terminal 5 which was established in 2008.

The journalists were treated to the best of BA from the beginning to the end of the trip. First, the journalists, numbering five, were treated to business class services, Club World.

Club World has a 25% wider, more comfortable seat that reclines to a fully flat bed adapting to one’s need and giving flexibility whether working, sleeping, eating or relaxing. The in-seat power combined with comfortable design makes working onboard much easier.

Club World longhaul business class is designed around the passenger. From the moment passenger arrives at the airport to the moment he/she leaves, BA’s Club World ensures that everything is just as the passenger had wished.
The latest Club World cabin can be experience on all BA’s Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 aircrafts. The original, award-winning Club World cabin featuring the world's first fully flat bed is fitted on BA’s Boeing 767 aircraft.

With BA’s Club World, just because the flight has touched down doesn't mean the Club World journey is over. With its end-to-end service, passengers of the service, including the journalists, were fast-tracked through arrival formalities at Terminal 5 at the Heathrow airport in London and this service is also available in some key airports.
Just after arrival formalities, the journalists were checked into Sofitel Hotel, one of the luxurious hotels in London.
We were then transported to BA’s head office at Waterside, about 15 minutes’ drive from Heathrow Airport, to meet with the Director of Finance, William Keith, for an interview. Keith would soon assume the CEO position of BA, after the current CEO, Willie Walsh, moves to take over the overall position of the merger of the BA and Iberia airlines. Prior to our interview, Ben Marshall, the group’s Public Relations Manager for Africa took us on a brief tour of the head office, which could be described as a “one stop head office.” The premises contain all that is needed to confine workers happily making them feel as if they are at their own homes. The premise has training facility for its airhostess and airhostesses, a gift shop, salon, bar, cafeteria, and a café area, among others.

After our 20 minutes interview with the soon to be CEO, we had our lunch at the cafeteria which one could easily rate as a first class restaurant and we were transported back to the hotel where a brief tour was also organized for us.
The hotel, a member of the Arora group of hotels, has a total of 605 rooms including suites (some with internal garden views), 45 meeting rooms for up to 2,000 guests, it has a complimentary gym for guests, a spa with relaxation rooms, two restaurants, two bars and one tea salon, etc.

The hotel is directly connected to Heathrow’s T5 via a covered walkway, it offers superb transport links including free bus and train transfers between the terminals, and the Heathrow Express Rail taking the guest to central London in 21 minutes. Designed by concept architect Stephen Williams, the hotel is instantly recognizable by its five towering steel and glass atria and it is a spectacular addition to Heathrow’s skyline. The innovative architectural theme is one of ‘continents’ to portray the hotel as a ‘gateway’ to the world’ and this is epitomized in all aspects of its interiors, befitting a hotel that will attract international guests from all over the world. The hotel rooms are generously sized and equipped with ‘MyBed’, Sofitel’s unique bed concept combining softness and support.
Dinner was served at the Capricious Italian restaurant where the journalists were treated to special Italian dishes.

The next day was the actual tour day, we began from BA’s Terminal 5. T5 has allowed BA to radically overhaul the airline’s airport lounges. There are six lounges within the new exclusive BA terminals; the Concorde room, the First Class lounge, three club lounges and an arrival lounge. These have been built at cost of 60 million pounds and are the epitome of elegance and luxury. The lounges cover around 15,000sq.m, about the size of two football pitches. Overall, it is possible to fit 50 football pitches over T5’s five floors.

Collectively the lounges, known as ‘Galleries’, are capable of hosting up to 2,500 people. This is 25% increase in capacity in comparison to the current Terminal 1 and Terminal 4 lounges. There is also a 100% increase in the number of showers and bathrooms, a 60% increase in washrooms, 25% more customer service desks and a total of 166 personal computers installed to make life easier for customers.
The baggage system can handle up to 12,000 bags per hour and has a 18km of baggage belt to transport the luggage around the terminal.

We then went to the Borough market in central London, using BA’s Heathrow Express Rail service, and had our lunch at a popular restaurant, Fish, where no meal is served without fish. The London Eye was the next destination. Situated on the banks of the River Thames in the British capital, it provides one with a 360 degrees view of London. In the Eye, one could see all the most important landmarks in the city within a 30 minute ride.

Since opening in March 2000 The Merlin Entertainments London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain. The London Eye is the UK’s most popular paid for visitor attraction, visited by over 3.5 million people a year.

A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye's capsules can see up to 40 kilometres in all directions. The London Eye is the vision of David Marks and Julia Barfield, a husband and wife architect team. The wheel design was used as a metaphor for the end of the 20th century, and time turning into the new millennium.

Back in 2000, the London Eye was known as the Millennium Wheel. At that time, British Airways was the main sponsor, and up until November 2005 they were joint shareholders with Marks Barfield Architects and The Tussauds Group. British Airways also privately funded the London Eye project from the early stages of conception. The London Eye is now being operated by the London Eye Company Limited, a Merlin Entertainments Group Company.

It took seven years and the skills of hundreds of people from five countries to make the London Eye a reality. The London Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution - equivalent to 11 London red doubled-decker buses. Each of the 32 capsules weighs 10 tonnes. Each rotation takes about 30 minutes, meaning a capsule travels at a stately 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour - twice as fast as a tortoise sprinting; allowing passengers to step on and off without the wheel having to stop
The circumference of the wheel is 424m (1.392ft) - meaning that if it were unraveled, it would be 1.75 times longer than the UK's tallest building - One Canada Square in Canary Wharf. The height of the London Eye is 135m making it the fourth tallest structure in London after the BT Tower, Tower 42 and One Canada Square in Canary Wharf.