Hello everyone! This is my first ever trip report post here on the IFC! I’m more of the YouTube trip report kind of guy but why not try it out here too! On June 25, 2023 I flew on British Airways from San Jose, California (SJC) to London Heathrow (LHR) aboard one of their Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. So without further ado lets begin! There is also a YouTube video on my channel about this flight so please check it out:
FLIGHT INFO:
Flight Number: BA278
Departure Gate: Gate 15
Departure Terminal: Terminal A
Arrival Gate: Gate 573
Arrival Terminal: Terminal 5C Remote Gates
Seat Number: 35A
Flying Time: 10 Hour 8 Minutes
Airline: British Airways
Route: San Jose(SJC)-London(LHR)
Aircraft: Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
Aircraft Name: N/A
Registration of Aircraft: G-ZBJB
Date of Travel: June 25, 2023
We arrived at SJC at around 4:30 PM. SJC is more of a domestic airport with Southwest & Alaska having bases here. International flights were much common in the late 2010s but since COVID, its just been BA, Volaris, and now recently ZIPAIR Tokyo. BAs check in at SJC is located in Terminal B in between the two giants at SJC (SWA & AS).
We arrived quite early so it took around 30 minutes before we dropped our bags and got our boarding passes. After this we headed through security which took no time at all. Before we knew it we were airside.
We had some food and plane spotted for a bit before heading down to Gate 15. One thing annoying about international travel at SJC is most flights leave out of a central area between Terminal A and B. For us it was quite a walk from check in to Gate 15. Definetly not good if you’re in a rush. But we got over there with around an hour to spare before boarding.
An hour later we boarded the plane. A 10 year old B787-8 registered G-ZBJB. One of their oldest 787s, this plane would turn out not to be my favorite as I’ll explain more throughout this topic.
I was seated in 35A for this flight. At my seat was the standard pillow, blanket, and earbuds. The legroom without anything underneath the seat was okay but I made the mistake of putting my backpack under the seat which messed with the legroom. I’m fairly tall so this was a pretty stupid idea on my part but even without it, the legroom still wasn’t great. The tray table was a good size, the recline was okay, the overall seat comfort was also fine. Luckily these seats have adjustable head rests. Finally the seatback pocket only had the safety card and a puke bag. Looks like in the days after COVID, some airlines are no longer providing magazines. Overall though, the seats felt cramped and weren’t the best. It must be something to do with BAs 787s since I didn’t feel this way on their 777 on the way home. Obviously this was an older Dreamliner so this could be why the seats were on the poorer side.
The IFE on the other hand was not great. The touch screen on all of my families screens were quite poor and we had to use the remote. Now thankfully it did come with a remote but I personally like using my finger to touch so I wasn’t to happy about that. My moms screen would not turn on for the first 20 minutes of the flight. Luckily it did get fixed and she did end up using it, but it was frustrating it didn’t work at all.
Finally at 8:05 (right on time), we pushed back out of Gate 15. San Jose can often be quiet when it comes to traffic, especially at night, so we were up in the air in about 15 minutes. Finally we were on our way to London!
I had an unreal view of the Bay Area out my window plus a stunning sunset 10 minutes later. This was really all the entertainment I needed! A small snack service was served with some pretzels and a drink about 30 minutes into our flight. But it wouldn’t be for another hour that dinner would be served.
Dinner, unfortunately, wasn’t amazing. They had an option of a simple pasta or chicken dish. They had somehow already ran out of pasta but it does make sense since we were seated quite far back. It was essentially a chicken and gravy meal with mashed potatoes along with bread, crackers, cheese, rice, and cheesecake for dessert.
After dinner I decided to get some sleep. Despite the fact the seats weren’t that comfortable, I actually got some decent sleep. When I got to Heathrow I felt quite refreshed somehow and I probably have to thank the 2.5-3 hour sleep I got on the flight. Even though it was quite a restless sleep, it still wasn’t as bad as other flights.
I fully woke up with 2 and a half hours remaining in the flight. It took me a while to wake up but it was daylight out so I had the window view to keep me company.
Soon the crew came around with a small breakfast. It was an English breakfast type meal with eggs, sausage, mushrooms, along with a muffin. Overall it was just okay and I still ate it.
After this we pretty much had under an hour before we arrived into Heathrow so I sat back and watch the scenery go by. Even though there really isn’t much to look at when flying over the UK, its still a good view.
Here are some pics of our decent into LHR:
At around 2 PM, we arrived into London Heathrow about 30 minutes early! What sucked was we were so early there was still a plane at our gate. What didn’t suck was we parked at a remote gate which as an avgeek, is an awesome experience.
So this concludes my review of British Airways economy class on the B787-8. My overall thoughts are all over the place. The seat itself was somewhat comfortable but was quite small and offered mediocre legroom. The service was quite good. The crew as always were friendly and very helpful. The food was very subpar. I had better food coming home and on previous British Airways flights out of SFO. Maybe catering at San Jose wasn’t great or this is the food BA now serve post COVID. Either way it wasn’t great. The entertainment was good. The IFE systems have plenty to watch and you won’t be bored. Unfortunately the 787-8 that BA operate don’t have WiFi. While I’m pretty sure BA are fixing this on their 787s, its not great to have no WiFi at all 8-12 hour flights in 2023. Overall, it was a pretty nice flight. Things could obviously be better but it wasn’t my worst flight.
Whether you just took a peak at this or read all through it. I appreciate you stopping by! Thanks for taking a look and have a good day! :)
