After a fun trip to France to celebrate a friend’s 40th it was time to fly home. The day before departure British Airways released two seats in First class from London to San Diego and I jumped on the opportunity to reroute and fly in First. It was my friend’s first time flying a premium cabin and she was already spoiled and in love with her experience on Condor Prime seat, so why not up the game further with British Airways first class.
I have flown and reviewed the new Boeing 777-300er First class with doors previously so this time I am going to really just focus on the food and the fun that we had.
Concord Lounge
The trip started as all should in the Concord Lounge. We flew in from Nice and had a 2 hour layover. Just enough time to enjoy the lounge. The premium lounge has not change much over the years and looks the same as my last review. We went over for breakfast and had some delicious breakfast and bubbles. It’s always nice to be able to have cooked to order food while flying and in a lounge. The current champagne on offer is the Pommery Cuvee Louise 2006. Crisp, light, and delicious. We might have over indulged.
For breakfast I took the avacado “California” toast. The poach egg was perfect!
The full breakfast menu for August is below. Sara enjoyed a very delicious egg benedicts. I failed to grab a photo.
Flying British Airways First Class
Our flight boarded on time and we were on our way to San Diego. The 11:30am departure meant we would enjoy lunch after take off and again before landing. As we had just ate in the lounge, we delayed lunch about 2 hours. After all flight time was nearly 11 hours, so there was no point of rushing eating. Our two flight attendants were gems. Both cheeky and interactive. Happy to help and provide a great experience for Sara’s first flight.
When it came to order we both had the same meals. As great friends sometimes think alike!
The Amuse bouche was some what underwhelming. I like beets too. Just wish they would step up their game with Caviar like most first class flights.
The steam trout honestly tasted like smoked Salmon. It was very good. Plus the Waguy sirloin beef carpaccio was al around delicious.
For the main course we both ate the lamb. Which I feel like is a BA staple. I might have lamb on every other BA long haul flight.
We rounded out dinner with dessert, but I forgot to take a photo!
About 4 hours before landing, I was feeling peckish so I ordered Duck spring rolls from the light bites menu. I thought it was going to be something more fresh and light, but it was instead cooked. And better tasting than I thought it would be based on it’s presentation.
Then about 90 minutes before landing we had steak sandwiches and Creme Caramel dessert. Some what underwhelming for a pre-arrival meal, but this is where many airlines have cut service, even in premium cabins.
Bottom Line
Overall the flight to San Diego to London was very comfortable. The main meal was great, the arrival meal was small but decent. The wine selection was good as well with plenty of options to keep us happy. Most wines onboard did only retail for the $40-$60 range, but then again British Airways is no Emirates. It’s hard to find someone with as good of wine in the air as Emirates. Regardless, this was a great birthday flight for one of my best friends of over 20 years and we had the opportunity to celebrate her 40th in style.
