BA 747 Cabin Refresh and Boston in Summer

[yflyer]

There aren't too many opportunities to fly the Queen of the Skies any more. Not out of SIN anyway.

I am of course referring to the 747. BA still flies a fairly large fleet of 744's, and have recently done a cabin refresh across all classes for a portion of their 744 fleet.

How does this compare to the latest BA A380's and 77W's that BA also operate? What about their non-refitted 744s?

I recently flew to Boston via London on BA. I've covered the SIN-LHR sector on the A380 before (Here and here), so I'll not cover the SIN-LHR sector again, and focus mainly on the LHR-BOS sector.

The last time I was in Boston, it was in the heart of winter. Well it turns out that Boston is very different in the summer. I'll also cover off some of the places I ate at in Boston, and a great running route in Boston as well.

Interested? Read on!

[yflyer]

I landed in Heathrow early in the morning on BA12 SIN-LHR...I had an upper deck Y seat this time...



...with great views of London out the starboard side as we approached Heathrow...



T5 is a very pleasant terminal to spend time in transit. I relaxed in the BA Galleries lounge prior to my flight to Boston, but even for those without lounge access, there are many shopping and dining options to keep you occupied.

[yflyer]

At the gate, BA 747-436, registration G-BYGG. What a beauty!



This was a 17 year old aircraft, first delivered to BA in April 1999, and apparently the last delivered, and youngest 744 in the BA fleet.



My last experience on a BA 744 was on their old PEY product from DXB-LHR. While the 744's charisma was still very apparent, there was nothing that could hide the fact that the interiors were dated.

I did not know what to expect on today's flight from LHR to BOS, and was very pleasantly surprised when I boarded to find that G-BYGG was a completely refurbished aircraft.



How I envied those pax who would be making their way up to the 744 upper deck. The A380 may be a double decker too, but riding on the upper deck of the A380 just doesn't have the intimacy of the 744's "Penthouse Suite".

[yflyer]

I made my way past the PEY and J cabins to the Y cabin.

The huge cabin was laid out 3-4-3, with newly upholstered seats (the underlying seat is unchanged) and brand new widescreen IFE.



These were great seats -- good padding, decent recline...



...and good legroom.



The seat armrests go all the way up (Unlike BA's A380 Y seats, whose armrests only go up part of the way).

[yflyer]

IFE is pretty much state of the art -- on par with BA's latest offerings on the A380 and 77W.

You have full AVOD...



...movies, television and a good audio selection as well...



Picture (and audio) quality is excellent...





There is no wifi onboard, but this isn't available on BA's A380's and 77W's either.

[yflyer]

Flight time today was just under 7 hours.



After take-off, cabin service began with a round of beverages.

I love BA's beverage service concept...they offer you a drink from the beverage trolley (Full selection available...), then they ask if you would like wine with your meal, and then also give you your choice of wine right there and then...

[yflyer]

BA offers an "enhanced" economy meal service that is available out of LHR at additional charge.

I pre-ordered a "Gourmet Dining" meal online for around GBP 18, and this came with poached prawns, braised Herefordshire beef cheek and chocolate ganache.

This was served first, along with the special meals...



Apart from the meal itself, highlights include a real wine goblet, cloth napkin, metal cutlery and ceramic casserole and real china cofee cup...

I unwrapped the foil...



I admit to being a little taken aback by the presentation of the main course...not the most attractive presentation I have seen -- a little different from the PR photos of this dish. The mashed potato seemed to have spread out all over the rest of the main course.



It turns out that this was a one-off. The same main course looked much more presentable on my LHR-SIN sector at the end of the trip. This is how the same dish looked on the LHR-SIN sector. Quite different!



In any case, on this flight to Boston, despite the soft mash all over the casserole, it still tasted pretty good. Very good, in fact, with a large and tender portion of flavourful beef cheek.



The poached prawn starter and chocolate dessert tasted very good too.

[yflyer]

Cabin ambience on this flight was very good. despite it being a completely full flight. A very spacious Economy cabin...maybe not as cavernous as the A380 main deck or as bright and airy as a 9-abreast 77W cabin, but far superior to a 10-abreast 777.



Prior to landing, a snack box was served.



Not fancy, but enough to stave off hunger after several hours inflight...



I got up to stretch my legs several times on this flight.

Distinctive dark blue Rolls Royce RB211 engines...



Great views of Maine and Rockland out the windows on this daytime flight...





As usual, very good correspondence between the view out the window and the Airshow Map...



The lavs on this aircraft were still a little retro-looking...



Someone had left the crew rest door open at the rear of the plane. I resisted the urge to head up to the "other" upper deck on the 744 for a peek.



We landed on time in Boston, and once again luck was on our side, and we entered a fairly empty arrival hall for quick immigration formalities.

[yflyer]

Overall impressions of this flight?

The 744 is still a marvellous aircraft to fly on, and with a refreshed cabin, BA's 744 can hold it's own against almost all competition, at least in terms of Y hard product.

I had a great flight, and the fact that an enhanced Y meal was available out of LHR for a small additional fee made the flight feel even more special. Be prepared to get envious glances and questions from your seatmates on how you got the enhanced meal, though!

Next up, a few days in Boston.

To be continued!

[alian]

Overall impressions of this flight?

The 744 is still a marvellous aircraft to fly on, and with a refreshed cabin, BA's 744 can hold it's own against almost all competition, at least in terms of Y hard product.

I had a great flight, and the fact that an enhanced Y meal was available out of LHR for a small additional fee made the flight feel even more special. Be prepared to get envious glances and questions from your seatmates on how you got the enhanced meal, though!

Next up, a few days in Boston.

To be continued!

Nice report yflyer - like the enhanced meal option - I do thinks its a good value add option. 747 what a classic my first long haul was on a QF 747 when I was six

[viraj735]

Thanks for the report! Always a great read. That enhanced meal looks great and those small wine bottles. How did you find the seat comfort compared to SQ's long haul seats?

This got me thinking:
SQ 744s with the 2013 Y, J (1-1 upper deck layout maybe?) and F cabin up front (prefer this over Suites as the ambience of the nose would be more noticeable) would be my preferred choice to get anywhere, even with the 2006 product.

[yflyer]

Nice report yflyer - like the enhanced meal option - I do thinks its a good value add option. 747 what a classic my first long haul was on a QF 747 when I was six

Thanks, alian! I have fond memories of QF 747's as well!

Thanks for the report! Always a great read. That enhanced meal looks great and those small wine bottles. How did you find the seat comfort compared to SQ's long haul seats?

Thanks, viraj735! The enhanced meal is great! I would order it wherever it is available. Mainly ex-LHR. BA are very generous with their beverage service. You often get the whole can of beverage, and often a double serving of liquor e.g. two bottles of gin / whisky. It's win-win: cabin crew save time serving a full widebody, and pax get more to drink.

In terms of seat, I found the refreshed BA 747 seat more comfortable than SQ's refitted 777 seats (My least favourite seats on SQ right now), but not as good as BA's A380 Y or SQ's 2006 Y on the A380. The latest SQ 2013 Y on the 77WN is far ahead of almost every other Y seat, in my opinion.

SQ 744s with the 2013 Y, J (1-1 upper deck layout maybe?) and F cabin up front (prefer this over Suites as the ambience of the nose would be more noticeable) would be my preferred choice to get anywhere, even with the 2006 product.

I think the SQ 744 F cabin in the nose of the aircraft was a classic, timeless design. Hope SQ's next gen F/Suites product is as inspired as that one was.

[FN-GM]

Good report, thanks for sharing.

I would have though they would have taken all the covers off your food before serving.

[yflyer]

Good report, thanks for sharing.

Thanks, FN-GM!

I would have though they would have taken all the covers off your food before serving.

Nope, they treat it just any other special meal. Before the general meal service, they serve the enhanced meal together with the vegetarian, child and other special meals. They just hunt for the seat numbers and place the trays on your tray table. The rest is up to you...

Of course what happens next is that you unroll the cloth napkin and the metal cutlery clatters onto the tray. Then you stand up the glass wine goblet, and take off the plastic and foil cover off the ceramic casserole, and begin buttering your bread roll from the small butter dish, as the aroma from your hot entree starts to waft through the cabin.

It is a great meal to order, as long as you don't mind every pax sitting around you casting envious glances in your direction...

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

Boston Logan Airport is very close to the city centre. So while taxi's (And Uber) are relatively inexpensive, I decided to take an airport shuttle bus to the Boston subway, called the "T" and ride that to my hotel.

On this trip, I stayed at the Sheraton Boston, which is conveniently located next to Prudential Center and the Hynes Convention Center, as well as Boylston Street. It is just a short walk away from Copley Square.



The Sheraton is a huge convention hotel, so you can forget about intimacy, but the rooms and staff are good.

Rooms are fairly standard...





The bathroom...



No separate shower stall...



A comfortable enough room to stay in, although there was nothing distinctive about it.

All that said, the location of the hotel is great, so it is a hotel I would stay at again.