By Mark Hodson, editor, 101 Holidays
Flying across the Atlantic was once a glamorous affair. In Diamonds are Forever - one of my favourite Ian Fleming books - James Bond, accompanied by the glamorous Tiffany Case, boarded a BOAC Boeing Stratocruiser for the overnight trip from London to New York. The aircraft made a short stop in Shannon where passengers were served steak and champagne followed by Irish coffee. On the lower deck of the Stratocruiser there was a cocktail lounge. Ah, those were the days.
By coincidence, the new British Airways business-only flights from London City to New York also stop en route in Shannon. This is because the runway at London City isn’t long enough to allow an Airbus A318 to take off with a full tank of fuel. But what at first appears to be a snag turns out to be an advantage, because - as the aircraft is refuelled in Shannon - passengers can quickly clear US immigration, landing at New York’s JFK airport as domestic passengers.
And the similarities don’t end there, as these twice-daily flights go some way to restoring the allure and exclusivity of trans-Atlantic flying. It’s not a complete return to the 1950s. You can’t smoke on board, as Bond did, or stash a pistol in your hand luggage, but you do get something even more valuable: acres of personal space.
The route - which was launched late last year - is operated by a brace of new aircraft fitted out with 32 forward-facing Club class flat bed seats. Typically, the A318 flies with about 100 economy seats.
Last week I put the service through its paces as a guest of British Airways, leaving London City at 4pm, stopping for just 25 minutes in Shannon and arriving at JFK at about 8pm local time. I was also testing another interesting feature of the aircraft - the ability to surf the internet and send and receive text messages from the air.
London City is by far the most pleasant of the capital’s airports: small, efficient and recently revamped. BA has a small dedicated lounge for the New York service and from there it’s a short walk across the asphalt to the waiting aircraft. We touched down in Shannon in less than an hour and headed straight to US immigration.
It’s not unusual to wait for more than an hour in a queue at JFK then to be given the third degree by an insolent, bullying immigration officer. At Shannon there was no queue and the staff - most of whom have lived in Ireland in many years - were helpful and friendly. Extraordinary.
Back in the air we rose to 10,000ft where a light in the ceiling indicated the OnAir system had been switched on. I tried to get online with my laptop with no success - apparently, a dongle is required. But I could use my iPhone, and this worked just fine. I was able to send and receive texts, surf the web and send Twitter updates. My BA minder even managed to get the BBC1 Six O’Clock News on his iPhone.
However, there’s a catch: the data roaming charges, at £6 per MB, are eye-wateringly expensive. For the cost of streaming a two-hour movie you could probably fly the cast over from LA to act the whole thing out in your living room.
Not all passengers will be overly troubled by the cost of calls. The service is mostly used by high-end bankers, lawyers and businesspeople, some of whom use it to commute regularly between the two cities. The cabin crew - who were supremely friendly and efficient - know many of their regulars by name.
When BA retired its Concorde fleet, it shelved the flight numbers: BA 001, 002, 003 and 004. Interestingly, it has given those codes to the new flights from London City, suggesting it considers it an equivalent service.
It isn’t. The new service is relaxing and sophisticated but lacks the glamour and visceral thrill of Concorde. The inflight dining on my flight was good, but not exciting: comfort food for executives rather than a celebratory feast. Still, the greatest luxury is space. While Concorde was notoriously cramped (and noisy), this new service allows passengers to stretch out and snooze on a wide flat bed.
A fully flexible return fare on the London City route costs around £4,000 - about 5% more than the regular BA Club class fare to New York. But if you’re happy to fly on fixed dates - as most holidaymakers are - you can get a return for about £2,000. If you can afford it, it’s a good deal.
